THEA PHILIPS and a BENT NAIL

Radio Record, Volume X, Issue 5, 14 August 1936, Page 14

THEA PHILIPS and a BENT NAIL

A Chat With A | > Gharming Soprano _ (Specially Written for 3 the "Radio Record." )

ELLINGTON treated Thea Philips right from the very first few days she spent in the cityit provided her with the best old nail she had picked up for quite a time. A very ordinarylooking four-inch nail to me, but Thea Philips saw it with different eyes. "I'm feeling really pleased with myself this morning," she told me, groping in her pocket. "Look at this. Just picked ‘it up coming along the road. It’s a beauty, isn’t it?"-displaying the four-inch trophy. , ""th,--not a bad sort of nail, as nails go, but it’s rather bent-er, isn’t it?’ I -in.my ignorance, hoping that Miss Philips’ recent'cold had left her quite all right. that’s all the better." "Uh eyeing her cautiously. "Aren’t you superstitious?’ she asked. The light of new knowledge dawned for me. This nail business was just another superstition-rather a dull one, in my unsuperstitious estimation, but with Thea Philips it is like collecting stamps or coins. . Wherever she is, an old nail has an irresistible attraction for her, or vice versa, which supports my immediate impression on meeting her, that this English soprano has a most magnetic: personality. "T’ve been’ picking up nails for years now. ~ They bring good luck, you know, especially if they’re bent," she explained, as if this was ‘a new full-time occupation. But-in between ‘nails, as it were, she sings most delightfully-ask anyone who*heard her from 2YA or 1YA. Thea Philips‘ is the sort of person who is best described as "very much. alive." ‘Singing » in opera, both: in . Hurope and Australia, has not given her a forbidding prima donna complex-or eyen a traditional prima donna figure, although. she admitted to. me that she.once dropped 28 pounds in: less than a month on one occasion’ in Australia, when she’ felt- that ‘she ""owed it’ to -her public" for a stage appearance.. (Miss Philips is making up. her. mind to go on the "Highteen Day Diet.") And her ‘stage appearances were. plenty in Australia during the last. two years. She went there as a member of the Fuller Grand Opera Company.; Thereafter she- stayed’ .in-.the Commonwealth for broadcast ‘and’ opera appearances under the Australian Broadcasting Commission. ‘If She hadn’t.liked-the:country.she wouldn’t have stayed there, so her two years in Australia really amounted to.a compliment. Miss Philips, indeed, isn’t particularly- keen on going back. to England’s climate after those two years, but it is necessary for people in’ her profession to keep on moving, and to go back home sometime. Meanwhile she admits to having fallen in love with New Zealand no less than with Australia: "Although the weather hasn’t been very good so far, I am enjoying the place. Last Sunday, they. tell me, is an example: of New Zealand’s fine weather. Well, if you:get days’ like that very often, I’d like nothing better than to

stay here always," she continued. "And while Iam here I’m awfully interested in the Maoris." "Tt was wondering when you would come ‘to that," I broke in. "New Zealanders live here all their lives and learn no more about the Maori than they were taught in school. Yet English visitors somehow find out as much in a few weeks about the native race as the New Zealander does in years." "Well, I suppose it’s like New Zealanders coming to London and seeing St. Paul’s, the Museum, the’ Tower, and so on within a week, whereas the Londoner doesn’t bother about them. But I have heard a little about the Maoris already, and I’d love to be able to study ‘at least something of their music and lives. I’ve been told that the Maoris the visitor sees at Rotorua are -not the true Maori. Is that so?" Declining to be led, I explained that one would have to go many miles away from the town settlements of Maoris to find the "true’ Maori-or what I thought the soprano might have meant by that term... Miss Philips is an enthusiast about all sorts of things besides Maoris and nails. For about half an hour I did my best to turn myself into a New Zealand tourist ‘directory-southern ‘lakes, Franz Josef, Waitomo, the National Park, and so on-until it seemed that she had enough’ to go on with.. In fact,‘ at the end of it all she remarked that it was little wonder that-lots of: people didn’t want’ to go back to England’ to live after being in New Zealand or Australia for'a Her musical laugh is a frequent occasion, which may explain why she knows many a light entertainer quite well in addition to the operatic and other celebrities with whom her work repeatedly brings her in contact. Clapham and Dwyer,, Flotsam and Jetsam, Norman ‘Long, Gillie Potter and. lots ‘of others she knows "personally, and was surprised to learn that, until the arrival of Dora Lindsay and the three comedians -who crossed the Tasman with her, New Zealand listeners had been humour-starved-except for occasicnal performances by people ‘like, Will: Bishop-since the end of last year, relying on the supply of: humorous recordings from Overseas, ‘For a: brief diversion Miss Philips spoke about. her work: Her voice, both in speech and song, is of a specially limpid quality, and her Wagnerian roles have earned her more than ordinary distinction. She has played Elisabeth in "Tannhauser," Eva in "The Mastersingers," Micaela in "Carmen," Leonora in "Il: Trovatore," Guilda in "Rigoletto," and Matilde.in "William Tell". (performed in Italy); Other important works in which’ Thea Philips‘has been associated with some of the greatest singers (Continued on next page.)

(Continued from previous page.) of the age are: "Der Frejschutz," "Magic Flute," "The Bartered Bride." "The Messiah," "Wlijah," "Cavalleria Rusticang" and "Hiawatha." She has also made frequent concert appearances with such fgmous people as Lionel Tertis. During’ her two years of Italian study she appeared under: the direction of the famons Maestro Ser9fin. ‘ After more than three years in Lundon with the Covent Garden Opera Company, this delightful soprano went to Australia, where she has been associated with such artists as Florence Austral, Muriel Brunskill, Browning Mummery, Walter Widdop, Ben Williams, Norman. Allin, Frederic Collier, Bernard Ross and Horace Stevens, under the direction of Maurice de Abravanel. , Put past triumphs don't matter so very much where Thea Philins igs concerned, She lives and sings in the present as far as New Zealand listeners are concerned, and from her performances from 2YA last week it is obvious that nothing more need be said, for her work speaks for itself,