AN INTERVIEW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1490, 12 July 1912, Page 2

AN INTERVIEW.

WITH. MISS MARGARET COOPER, Miss Margaret Cooper' 9 charm off the stage is that she is so volatile, even when resting after her trip from Sydney on Wednesday morning, -it bubbled out. "I am like- unto oil on the waters," when questioned as to the trip. "We always' have good luck\with our sea voyages, which is a blessing, as I am a very bad sailor, and was pretty seedy coming over on tie Moaua. "I've had a splendid time in Australia —in Sydney particularly. The audie'nees there arc quiet English in their appreciation. They make no concealment about showing you that they like you. Melbourne audiences are good, too, but Adelaide was' peculiar. I don't know that I have-ever sung to audiences quite like those of Ade-laide—-they seemed to be so cold and calculating. It is saddening, for Adelaide is really a very charming city. Then we visited the end of the world—Broken Hill, Port Pirio, Ballarat, Bendigo, and a jot of other places that gave me a good insight into what Australia really is. That's really why I camo.out—l want to see with my own eyes what Australia and New Zealand aro like—to form my own judgment without hearsay or' book opinions. . I. am .more interested in New Zealand than Australia, because I have been told that this is a new England,- and tho people aro very English. And, then, I must tell you I met Maggie,(Papakura) and Bella, the. Maori guide?, and become quite friendly with them when they were at the' White' City. There was a little baby torn there—the first Maori baby born in England, and I was the first white woman to nurse it—it was like a dear little bit of shiny coal. I think my interest in. New Zealand must have commenced thon, We're going to eee as much'of it as we can, and aiter the completion of the tour are going to Kotcrua for a week.. "About my work—well, I was always' fond of tho piano, and of humming songs t , ) my own accompaniment. Then when I commenced singing I dropped into the habit of playing my own accompaniments to my encore songs. I found that this was the more popular manner of singing than when I stood up and had someone else playing, and. then it is always so difficult to get an accompanist to do just what.you.want.them.to do. So I drifted gradually into doing what I nm doing— my piano and myself became inseparable.. ' jUy. first professional engagement >was a funny one—l will never forget it. It was an engagement to sing at' a concert in a little, chaped at Baling. I sang "Entreat'me not to Love Thee". (Gounod) and "The King of Love my -. Shepherd Is." I got 10s. Cd. for singing there, but it might have been,:)£iqoo,' such wasr my joy at being paid to-sing to people. It is all so funny to look' back to, now that ;£-am able'to get .£IOO "and at times .£l5O 'a , night to sing half a dozen songs, at some of the big private functions in London—by .such people as' Mr. Otto Beit, the South African millionaire. Lord -Brassey, his daughter, the Lady Edinn Nevil],'amt ! occasionally the ox-Empress Eugenie. Lord aind'L'a'dy r ''Denman were very-kind to me. in" Sydney,., and' , came twice to my!, concerts, and. Lord Richard' Nevill was cften there. ■"' •' "Before I went to the Palace (London) I. did lots of work at banquets, big smokers' and 'at homes.' There is a really good living to be ■ gained by talented people in catering for those functions. They are all run on certain lines, and for every big "smoker" there aro always certainlady and gentlemen singers and entertainers engaged, and .£2O to .£3O a week may be made during' tie season. This is the golden time in London nowAscot, Henley, tho Covent Garden Opera— everything is on just now—ah, me! It's so far away. Next month—August—sees tho big exodus, and that , s when Igo down to my bungalow at Broedstaire—n dear, delightful little place- on the coast of Kent. "You /haven't heard me sing? Lucky one. Do you know I hear quite a lot of my songs have been sung out here. I think thafs a shame." A song is- written for me, I work nt it and perfect it, and then others copy it ahead of me. They've no right to sing them, you know. I think the publishers arc very lax to allow it. They should appoint someone out here, with legal authority to sue- anj'one singing a copyright. Fong. In my case it iloesn t matter fo much, as I play my own accompaniments, and none of he others do that, and then there's the msiness. If yon have heard some of' he songs, you really hnven't," said Miss Cooper paradoxically. "I vocalise mv songs, mostly adhere to the melody except here and there where it may be I 'necessary to emphasise the sense of a line or to point the humour or pathos. We even' write some of our own songs I composed 'Agatha Green,' 'Catch Me' ami You Always Have to Pay a Little More and my husband (Mr. Arthur M. Humble-Crofts) wrote the lyrics. Verv good they arc, too! I ? et lots of sonra sent me, however, at Home, bundles of a hundred or more at a time, put of -which ?tl y g «T t Jir ee I . or fol,r suitable for one." After Wellington season, Christchurch, «d, then tho North Island. Return visits and Perth, then South Africa, and Home once more to London and the Colkseu™