REAL BRITISH VOICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 November 1939, Page 8

REAL BRITISH VOICE

"AS GOOD AS A CIRCUS.” Maureen O’Hara has a slight brogue, a sign of her Irish birth. It's just pronounced enough to make her a charming conversationalist. She is a product of the Abbey Theatre, and, I understand. (writes Lon Jones, the' well known critic), won high praise from English critics for her performance opposite Charles Laughton in "Jamaica Inn." This film hasn’t reached the United States yet. It is, according to the publicity, to open shortly. In fact, English films have a way of taking over-long to reach the United States. "Pygmalion" was not shown here until three months after its first exhibition in Australia. Sometimes, in fact, English films are years late. The success of "Good-bye, Mr Chips, had the unfortunate effect of persuading Hollywood exhibitors to send for "The Housemaster.” They were disillusioned. Films about English schools are not necessarily as good as “Mr Chips. At a recent movie picture cocktail party a man with a pronounced American accent asked me for a match. I found he had nothing to do with pictures. He was someone’s friend. "That was Maureen O’Hara you were talking to,” lie ventured, I assented. "Kinda cute kid, I guess," he went on. I guessed she was. My acquaintance assumed a reflective air. "I came ovei from New York on the _ Super-Chief with her two weeks ago," he said. "I sure had some fun.” -You did?” I asked, mildly surprised. “I sure did. Charles Laughton was on the same train. On the first evening out from New York I heard ’them talking together, and do you know what I did?” z I had no idea. "Well, I tipped the guard, and he kept me a seat right behind theirs. And I laughed and laughed.” I was puzzled. “You laughed? ’ “Yes. Until my ribs were sore.” Seeing my non-comprehending look, he added. “At their voices. When you get a real British voice, why, it’s a good as a circus. But you’re British yourself. No offence, .sir, no offence. He was really a very amiable gentleman. He must have extracted a lot of humour from that party. As an interesting commentary on the above, there was a trade-show recently called “Land of Liberty.” It purported to be a “cavalcade of American historv,” and the producers wanted to include Abraham Lincoln’s speech after the battle of Gettysburg. The best rendition of it they could find was that ol Charles Laughton in “Ruggles of Red Gap.” So, while they used an American bit-player to provide the visual element, they used Mr Laughton’s voice as the voice of Lincoln. Unfortunately, I did not remember this until the party was over, and my Mid-West friend had gone.