CONCERNING NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 5

CONCERNING NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS.

inflated and pompous remarks. .??*** I-object.to in-the.newspaper■ interriews which '.I have been reading is that- one .' affected, self-conscious, and:,pompous; picturo c-f it all. -To go and posp. in., your favourite seat in a shrubbery or : .a; copse., wlierp you think out your books OT'ippemsj in order that an interviewer may a snapshot of you—especially if in additionyou assume a look of owlish solemnity' fta ; -.^ough, you were tlio 'prey of. great thoughts that Booms to mo to bo an infernal '. 0 !' .Posing. But' still worse than that fa™ of con verso-tion in • which people tt T9, ■ t-onipted to indulge in ,the'presenco of $n interviewer. : ..'X.-rnan-: ought not to say to a wandering journalist whom'ho has never seon before; in tbe..prcsonce pf his..wifo, that' women' aro the -and-magnetisms of the- world,-and t n^-,q"vves nil/that ,has made hini what/he isctjD. -the sweet .-presence and : sympathetic of hia Bessy. , This,, it Poems' to m%!JS tho lowest kind of'meloclrama.' •' -thing •.•.may be perfectly true,' tho - t S?WI- I ??y. ;be -often-, in' his -mind, but ;he accustomed to sav such things in OEdinaryvlifo.;., aud one feel's that when' ho say^tb'em;,'tb an interviewer,ho does it in'a thor'oughly'.sejf-conscious mooii;-in order that bft-ftay make an impressive figure before the jpviblic.v '~■■■• • • - :the.conversations in the' ' ■ intervieavs -reading-give me the uncomfort-jMo_'senso-.that..they? have-been thought' out beforeji'aml'frorn the'dramatic, .point of'viow '; earnestly "hopes' that; this ..stjlu'fcion of tho ; situation,, beenuse it woufd'.m'akc'.one'feel• very faint if'ono thought that Remark's of this, kind, were the. habitual tittera'ncofc \of''tho v circlo -- indeed, v ifc would euro; :ono-- -p-orr.; effectually :of ' tho desire to kaotf-anything of. the interiors of celebrated ?ono- thought • .that' "they ;hMitiwlly heroes, of a Sundav school romanoo;-/: •" ...... , v.*--That i's.Mwhy tho reading of these internevpa-: is;;so. ; p>inful, • becauso I .\ih.; tho ' first sure.tbnt ou§ is not realising the a any life of thjese people at 'all, but only 'coking ;cin : at' n 1 tg-bleau vivant 'prepared by themfor-the .occasion; ?nd, secondly, it makes.one-very to think.that people of real eminence and effectiveness caii conO'tisceHd ,;to hehavo in this, aifccted wax* in order tfl. win the applaijsc of Vulgar readers. ~o^.'- v aguelv Impels,indeed...that some of the. disipaj thatvthey, ar<? .repreas... uttering ..may bavo .heen adrlrftswd to theirt in't hp forpi.of l (juosti.oijs by thodiiter-. viewer,.-and ■ that, they have merely STAMMERED A SHAJIEFACED ASSENT. It. makes a real difference,"'for iiistapce, whether, .as a' matter 1 * of fact, a. cejebratt?rl anthores's'leads her galden-hitired children-up to an..interviewer, and says, '•Theso are my brightest, jewels " ; .' or whother, when she tells x her .ehjldr,->n to shako, hands, the inter-viewer.-s'ays,!.'No. doubt. these are 'your brightest:--jewels- A mother, is'-hardly, in-a Return;, an., indignant:nogatire to and>if. slic. utters- an idiotic affirmative, sh'o is probably, credited with tho' 6ngjij^l v 'remar.k-in nlj"its; unctuo'usmjr-s. . ■ It'is.; a .difficult, i question .to decide what'.is the,; roosV.simple-minded thing to: do, if -vou are-, <jn !'.nnhappy : ' position ..of being- *-reque.sted;t6;gr.a'nt a!n interview for. journalistic purposed' ■ ■ .-: My- -feolingv i 5.. that"if 'people really wislytq'ijk'noit how I- live, what I -wear, what I eat/,arid^.drink,.what^hooks I. read,-and what kind,pf■,a-.house;l• live in, t'nov- are perfectly we!fipin;e;ib know. It-does not seem to ni'e thsti,it'would■ det-ract from.the saorednoss of my if a; picture of my dining-room, with,'the.rtablo laid ;for Inncneon in a very ct-ampsdj pgrspective; or'if a photogravure •'of the '.<or,%j»of.;grass and shrubbery that I call :my' ; gaiTMn,';.wfffo to'be PUBLISHED IN A MAGAZINE; A;ll r.'tnat "is" to a certain extent' -public al- ; ready.:;-/ o ;' .. ;. wish.-ta-have a-photograph of ? mysolf.-yn^.bod,'..or. shaving, published in.a magazine,--..bccauso those are not moments whcn:l-.'aro-ittiltned :to- admit visitors. Neither i(lo I.;paHi.cularly want mv private and informal .conyereation. taken down and.ropro--4'®fs..becaj|ise .th# .often consists of opinions which-.'are'hot'my .d<3liberate and thought-out' utterape.'es. .1 should he able to • talk to an; int.ervioww. ou in a way that, would not-dis-cmljt.'ino,'if;it. was made public; and ! hope, too. ,/tnnt;-. decency would restrain mo from Imabing inflated .and pompons' remarks about my-inner beliefs and • motives, :which were not in the least.charaoteristic of;mv usual 'method ef- conversation From "Altar Fires," by A. O..Benson. ■