Christchurch Woman Captivated By Rome

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28551, 2 April 1958, Page 2

Christchurch Woman Captivated By Rome

Rome, the eternal city, has cap- | tivated Mrs Ross Brodie, ol Christchurch. As Madam Mae Brodie, she earned a considerable reputation overseas as a singer a tew years ago, but previously when she was touring in Europe she was so busy studying and singing that she had little time to see the countries. She recently returned to Christchurch after a tour which included the United 'States and most ot the countries in Europe. “To me there is no city more beautiful than Rome, Mrs Brodie said. “It is full of history and romance and the more you learn about Rome the more you love it." Since she had visited Rome five years previously there had been remarkable progress in the growth of the city, Mrs Brodie said. New suburbs sprawled out for many miles and there were numerous huge 10-storey blocks of flats and new commercial buildings. Preparations had begun for the holding of the Olympic Games in 1960. Mrs Brodie visited both the Parliament and the Senate when they were in session and she noticed that the number of Communist members had declinea since she was last there. The Italians always gave visitors to their country a very warm welcome, Mrs Brodie said. The country was obtaining great wealth from the tourist trade and the shops were full of beautiful clothes and were open until late at night. "I think Italy is the most alive looking country in Europe today.” Mrs Brodie said she used to buy the “Rome Daily American" newspaper which published tor the large American colony which lived in the city. It was a great help to English-speaking visitors

to Rome and its circulation extended as far afield as Turkey. An official of the Australian Embassy told Mrs Brodie that he had lived in Rome for 14 years and so great were the number of places of interest that he was just beginning to know the city Walking In Rome Mrs Brodie's system for seeing'" Rome was to read about the various places of historic interest and then go off on foot and try to find them. She walked right round the walls of Rome. For about £2O Mrs Brodie bought a railway ticket which was available for one month. Making Rome her base, she travelled to many parts of Italy. She got off the train where she felt like it to spend the night in some small town. She visited San Marino just before the outbreak of the rebellion. Rome was full of interest for the music and opera lover, Mrs Brodie said. Every Tuesday and Friday evening, and sometimes on Sundays, there was an orchestral concert. During the season, from December to May, an opera was presented every night or every second night. Mrs Brodie was present at the opening of the opera season in Rome when Maria Callas refused to continue after the end of the first act. “The opening night was a very glittering spectacle with hundreds of women in beautiful evening gowns and 200 bouquets of pink carnations were hanging from the galleries. We waited for an hour and when I saw the President and his wife leave I knew that the performance was not going to go on. Outside the theatre there was utter confusion because no taxis had been ordered and the patrons’ cars were not ready. “It was extremely rude of Maria Callas and she would not permit an understudy. She came in for some very harsh criticism by opera goers who had gone to a great deal of trouble for the first night,” said Mrs Brodie. Mrs Brodie enjoyed the oppor- ; tunity of speaking Italian but she j found that everywhere she went ; in Europe the local people wanted ] to learn English and did not lose i the opportunity of practising on the tourists. ] Mrs Brodie attended the con- i certs of the Santa Cecilia i Orcnestra held in the Theatre 1 Argentina in Rome. One of her finest memories of Europe was a < concert conducted by the fiery ; little Rumanian Sergiu Celibid- ■

Railway Inefficiency Except for about the three main expresses in Spain, the railways were very poorly operated and their inefficiency had to be seen to be believed, said Mrs Brodie. She was traveiling from Granada to Valencia where she was supposed to arrive at 4 p.m. After about an hour and a half the train came to a halt as there was a large engine blocking the single track. “Noone seemed to know what it was doing there and there were lengthy discussions by the officials. The heat was terrific and there was only one convenience for the whole train. Finally some jacks were obtained and the engine was tipped over on to its side. We arrived at Valencia 12 hours late, at 4 a.m.,” Mrs Brodie said. Discussing television in New York. Mrs Brodie said there were 11 channels to choose from. “I spent the whole of one day twiddling the dials of the television set and I could have easily hibernated and spent weeks there without becoming bored.” she said. "In Paris the shops were filled with lovely elegant clothes which you would not see anywhere else in the world. The traffic, like Madrid, is very fast,” Mrs Brodie said. When she was in London Mrs Brodie went to the theatre frequently and the play which impressed her most was “Roar Like A Dove,” starring John McCallum. She did not have an opportunity of seeing “My Fair Lady" as the theatre was booked out for many months in advance although some tickets were available on the black market at a very high price. Mrs Brodie was the guest of Luigi Infantine in Milan. He said he planned to bring an opera company to New Zealand. His wife. Sara Ferrati. was regarded as the greatest dramatic actress in Italy today, Mrs Brodie said. The cost of living in Mexico City was very low and there were plenty of well-stocked shops, said Mrs Brodie. The city was more than 7000 feet above sea level and had a wonderful climate. It was very popular with Unitec. States tourists and the Mexicans had the same capacity as the Italians for making a visitor feel welcome.