SINGERS DIFFER

Hokitika Guardian, 9 August 1928, Page 1

SINGERS DIFFER

o(Australian Press Association.) SYDNEY, A at;. 8. Australians Jmve been stirred through a reported reference to them made in Madame Clara Butt's memoirs just published at London. The report is that there is a paragraph in •which it is alleged that Dame Melba told Madame Hurt when she was coming to Australia the first time: “Sing ’em murk! It’s all they under stand!’ ’ Dame Melba lias disowned the saying of the offending words and the result has been an interchange of cables. It is explained that the reference crept into the memoirs without Madame Butt’s knowledge. The publication of the hook has now been stopped. Efforts are being made to recall the copies issued. LONDON. Aug. 8. “What did Melba say in 1908?” asks the “Daily Express” in ah editorial. “Tf we may venture an opinion. the advice iniputated to her is sound as applied to any country, although it is of a kind that is better spoken than repeated in writing. After all, Dame Nellie will be remembered more for what ‘highbrows’ might unpleasantly describe as ‘muck’ on her programmes, than for classical selections. ‘Tosti’s Goodbye’ and ‘Down in the Forest’ were her ‘ace’ and ‘king of trumps.’ She always kept ‘Home. Sweet. Home’ up her sleeve. We urge both ladies to he calm. Muck-raking may be the pastime of a certain type of politician, but it is not for Dames.”