"Between the acts he would inject cocaine into my nose with the assistance of a rubber tube."

Lillie Langtry, the British actress who died in 1929, may only be a name that sort of, kind of rings a bell today, but she was remarkably famous during her lifetime and for a considerable period thereafter. In the April 11, 1889 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Langtry, then in New York starring in The Lady of Lyons, shared an odd story with a local reporter who visited her dressing room at the Park Theater. Langtry related a tale about her doctor administering cocaine treatments to her between acts of plays. The same exact thing still happens on Broadway today, though there’s no doctor involved. An excerpt:

“‘I am not at all well,’ said Mrs. Langtry, as the reporter took the chair offered by the maid. ‘Still, I am feeling much better than I did a week ago.’

‘How do you account for so many leading stars breaking down this season?’

‘I was thinking of that very thing myself to-day. It is rather strange, isn’t it? I cannot imagine what the cause can be unless it is the mildness of the Winter. It seems quite remarkable and I don’t understand it. I do think, though, that on the whole we actors and actresses keep up wonderfully well when you consider the hardship we go through. We must plan out work six months beforehand and travel over the country in all sorts of weather. The public little know how we suffer sometimes, even in their presence.

When I was playing Lady Macbeth in New York a few weeks ago I could not breathe through my nose for eight days, owing to catarrhal troubles. I had my physician with me constantly, and between the acts he would inject cocaine into my nose with the assistance of a rubber tube. Of course the pain was very severe, but it wouldn’t do to let the audience know I had suffering. On one occasion I was carried from my bedroom to my carriage and managed to get through the evening without the audience suspecting that I was ill.

I should  like to warn ladies against using cocaine unless advised to by a physician. I kept spraying it up my nose to get relief and because the sensation was pleasant. But I soon discovered that it affected my heart and I had a narrow escape from nervous prostration. Now, I know that many of my lady friends are becoming habituated to the use of cocaine, and I wish to warn them before it is too late. It is one of those habits which creep up on people unawares.'”