Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1910 — An Unlucky Debut. [ARTICLE]

An Unlucky Debut.

Stage fright is a disease from which not all experienced actors are free. What wonder, therefore, that it ravages the amateurs? A particularly distressing case is reported from New Orleans by a writer in Success. The Shakespeare Club of that city used to give theatrical performances, notable for the local prominence of the actors. Once, a social celebrity, with a gorgeous costume, as one of the lords In waiting, had only four words to say: “The queen has swooned.” As he stepped forward, his friends applauded vociferously. Bowing his thanks, he faced the king and said, in a very high-pitched voice, “The swoon has queened.” There was a roar of laughter; but he waited patiently, and made another attempt : ~— “The sween has quooned.” Again the walls trembled, and the stage manager said, in a voice which could be heard all over the house, “Come off, you fool!” But the ambitious amateur refused to surrender, and in a rasping falsetto, as he was assisted off the stage, he screamed, “The quoon has sweened!"