Evelyn Laye Back in London

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1004, 21 June 1930, Page 26

Evelyn Laye Back in London

SUCCESS IN NEW YORK CAN’T STAY OUT OF ENGLAND Ev.elyn Laye, the English actress, who became the toast o£ New York in a night, has returned to London for a brief visit before going to Hollywood. In spite of her sojourn in the United States she is more English than ever, delightfully frank, charming and romantic; in fact, a paradox among stars, says a London .writer. When I met her she was seated in a swivel chair, a dainty but businesslike figure in beige, behind a large and severely correct desk. There were no lounge chairs or cretonnes or any of the usual appurtenances of the star. It is wonderful to be hack in London,” she said. “I have been in a whirl all day. Do you know why I came? To continue my singinglessons. 1 have just had a great hour with my singingmaster. 1 have not had a singing lesson for seven months, and it is good to hear oneself criticised. “I have had my test for the talkfilms. I sang a song- from ‘Bitter Sweet.’ It is queer to hear your own voice. They threw it. back at me and I did not know whether I liked it or not. "It was a shock when I saw myself for the first time, too. I believe the photographers had great difficulty with my face. It is all angles. My uose gets in the way.” In this way the famous actress who struggled to stardom with Donald King (who recently returned from making his name in the United States to appear in London in “The Three Musketeers”) told her story. She said that she and Dennis King met when they ivere very young in Edinburgh. They there and then over a cup of coffee in a cafe vowed they would become stars. A bet was made about who would reach the top first. The bet has c-nly just been redeemed

Miss Laye has one firm intention. In her last play she had to cut her j hair short, but now she is going to let it. grow—to her shoulders. “I think all women will do that eventually. You can then do what you like with it. lam not going to cultivate a bun; I shall probably curl it at the crowd.” Although she was feted throughout her tour in the United States. Miss Laye was very reserved about it. “They petted me in New York. Almost spoilt me. “I could never leave England for long. lam terribly English, and there is only one place I will set-tie in. “There is a little place in Susex where I have a circle of friends. They are building houses there now. We are going to become dear old ladies there.” Miss Laye hurried off to meet her mother, telling me, with evident pleasure, of the oysters she had enjoyed in London a few hours before. “You can’t get -the same in the United States. But I found a fish-and-chips shop . . . on Broadway.”