TEMPERAMENTAL ALDA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 201, 14 November 1927, Page 8

TEMPERAMENTAL ALDA

MADAME FRANCES ALDA, the New Zealand-born. grand opera star, has kept her promise to “say something about my tour on my arrival in America.” In the American sense of the expression, she has certainly “said something.” Everything in the Dominion is worthy of praise—people, climate and scenery. But poor Australia has come in for a storm of abuse. “I loathe Australia,” says the fiery diva, who proceeds to attack Australians as a whole. Australian theatres, Australian trains, Australian everything. This is all very foolish, of course. Madame Alda has made her home in America and has grown used to American conditions and those prevailing in the older lands of Europe. She came to Australia after an absence of many years and although Australians, according to report, extended her their usual hospitality she was not exactly a success from the box office point of view. Whatever the reason for these sweeping generalisations in condemnation of all things Australian, they are to be regretted. They create a false impression abroad and do not tend to make things pleasant for artists who follow. Australians, however, will probably regard Alda’s criticism with mild amusement. They have artists of iheir own who occasionally indulge in the luxury of a temperamental ebullition. In the meantime, New Zealanders may consider themselves lucky that the tempestuous lady has treated them so well. There were moments on her New Zealand tour when we had reason to fear that we, too, would be flayed on her arrival in America.