STAGE FALLS.
One of the most artistic and catching points with an audience, is that of falling properly.
Do not rise upon your toes when falling, but keep the feet tightly together, let the body drop over to the left side, throw up the arms, put back the head, and break the fall with the palms of the hands.
Do not put out the knee to break it as it ruins the effect of the fall, and is apt to cause injury, if not a lifetime lameness, by maiming the knee-cap.
I would not advise the young student to try a back fall, for few actors in a life-long practice can master the art of breaking the fall upon the shoulder blades.
Fall well, fall heavily, and as the late Barney Williams used to say: “Brace up, my boy, and let her rip.”