DAME SYBIL THORNDIKE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 805, 24 December 1954, Page 5

DAME SYBIL THORNDIKE

Sir.-I would by no means dispute that prior to her casting in Saint Joan Dame Sybil Thorndike was, like many another artist who has never reached her present status, well known to a restricted coterie of admirers, among them players as well as audiences, In this respect she was one among Aundreds, and unknown to, and unacknowledged by, the theatre-minded public in general. From the occasion of her casting in Saint Joan she became one of a few, a few of widely-acclaimed renown, and a household word. I do not think that Mr. Clark will maintain that Dame Sybil was a household word, or celebrated, before Saint Joan. I found fault with the statement that she had enjoyed her present status for over 50 vears. Artists of half Dame Sybil’s present status, or even a fraction thereof, did not work the Old Vic in pre-Lilian Bayliss days; this I can state from intimate personal knowledge, The highest salaries paid in those days were of a microscopic dimension and the company frequently resorted to working "shares," on which occasions it was not uncommon for the rank and file players to receive less than £1 in a week. I well remember my father, who for vears had been an admirer of Dame Sybil, and who had worked with her on many. occasions, saying delightedly that it looked as if Miss Thorndike had made a "hit" when reading the reviews of Saint Joan to my mother at breakfast. She had made a "hit" all right.

Incidentally, does Mr, Clark remember the "ante" for the Old Vic pre 1914 -Gods 4d, early doors 6d, pit 1/-, best stalle 2/6?

I. R.

MAXWELL-STEWART

(Wellington).