GLADYS MONCRIEFF

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1938, Page 5

GLADYS MONCRIEFF

DISCHARGE FROM HOSPITAL GAY DESPITE INJURY. HER VOICE NOT AFFECTED. “Thank heaven for a sense of humour!” said Miss Gladys Moncrieff, as she hobbled from the Melbourne express at Sydney on crutches. Discharged from Hospital after nearly six months’ treatment for injuries caused in a car smash, she has returned to Sydney for “a good,, long rest.” “But, to begin with,” she said, smiling, “I would like to contradict an. amazing crop of rumours. “In the first place, I have not lost

my voice; there was never any question of my losing it. My right arm has not been amputated. Surgeons have not taken away my leg. “I’m just mentioning it because so many people seem to believe that all those things happened to me. Physically, I feel marvellous.” Miss Moncrieff will retain her crutches for a few more months. She is learning to use her feet again—“slowly, just like a baby.” Part of every day is set aside for practice.

“Get a little confidence and everything will be all right,” the doctor tells her. Getting that confidence, she confesses ruefully, is a slow process. “Can you wonder that at times I’ve felt a little depressed?” she asked. “That’s when the sense of humour comes in handy—that, and the knowledge that I have so many good friends —thousands of them, judging by the letters and telegrams I have received.” Letters came from all over the world during those long, painful days. One was from Franz Lehar, composer of “The Merry Widow” and “The Blue Mazurka,” who sent an autographed photograph and his “truest greetings.”

Her visitors included Richard Tauber, Count von Luckner, and the Lord Mayor and 18 councillors of Melbourne.

“I did a little singing on the train

coming over, just to let the volume go,” she said. “And, if anything, I believe my voice is better than ever. The rest has done it a world of good.” “Her home at Rose Bay was decorated with welcoming flags and bunting. Theatrical friends and representatives of broadcasting companies greeted her at the station, and flowers and telegrams from admirers poured into her home.