DAME SYBIL THORNDIKE
Sir. Your article on Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson repeats an error perpetrated in the daily press in stating that they have both been celebrated, singly and together, for over 50 years. Whilst in no way wanting to belittle Dame Sybil’s present eminence, anyone familiar with the English Theatre knows that she achieved fame as a mature artist. Her casting in the lead of Shaw’s Saint Joan was a surprise to many, as up to that time, the early twenties, she was quite unknown to the public, was not in fact "a name." That she worked from 1914 to 1918 at the Old Vic bears this out, as in those pre-Lilian Baylis days no name artists worked this house. The same observation applies to Miss Horniman’s players: celebrated in Lancashire no doubt, but hardly of national renown. Your article reads as though compiled from reference books. The true facts are more interesting. Dame Sybil struggled hard and long before recognition came. Many another great artist has, in my opinion, unaccountably failed to achieve wide recognition at all, There is a vast difference between 30 and 50 years. The national] press stated that they had jointly "dominated" the English stage for over 50 years, which is a ridiculous statement, I doubt if such a statement could be validly made about anybody, with Noel Coward a possible exception (avain 30. not 50 years).
I. R.
MAXWELL-STEWART
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541112.2.9.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 799, 12 November 1954, Page 5
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240DAME SYBIL THORNDIKE New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 799, 12 November 1954, Page 5
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