“TH MAD MAJOR.”

Hokitika Guardian, 29 December 1931, Page 8

“TH MAD MAJOR.”

DARE-DEVIL AIR ACE IN FILMS Known to soldiers on every front throughout the war as the “Mad Major,” because of his thrilling exploits in the air, Major Christopher Draper, after living for years on the verge of poverty, is to make his first appearance in a film in which he will do some hair-raising stunts. After the war the famous flier suffered a serious attack of inlfuenza, and while still convalescent, and against his doctor’s orders, lie Look machine into the air, put it into a deep spin and fainted. The machine crashed, and Major Draper was unconscious for many days. For 10 years Major Draper did not touch *an .air machine. He became a concert artist and an actor oil the legitimate stage. 1 When taunted by some of his stage friends that he had lost the nerve which distinguished him during the war, he chartered an aeroplane and swooped beneath the Tower bridge, of London. Many of his concert appearances were with Miss Rosa Loader, the world-famous humorist. “For years things have been veyv bad in the variety world,” she told a Sunday Chronicle representative, “and since the talkies arrived we have had a very thin time. “He has a great personality, and 1 feel: that he would be a great success on the screen.”