Booted Fairy Danced On—To Success

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30026, 10 January 1963, Page 2

Booted Fairy Danced On—To Success

Forgetting to take her winter boots off before appearing on □ London stage as a fairy in a charity performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the age of eight was the most embarrassing moment of her career, said a young English actress in an interview in Christchurch. She is Miss Patricia Fox, who together with her parents, Mr and Mrs J. H. Dixon, of London, is spending most of a five-and-a-half-month world tour in New Zealand.

A brunette of nearly Mt 2in, Mis* Fox said of the incident: “It wa* terribly cold waiting in the wings to go on, and we were allowed to keep our boot* on. At rebearsala, my teacher bad told the others to follow me a* 1 knew what to do better than anybody. “I wa* abaoluely terrified I’d mis* my cue and I wa* concentrating so hard on counting the beats of the music, that I completely forgot to take my boot* off, and away I went to gain the distinction of being the only booted fairy on the British stage,” she said. Since then, however. Miss Fox’* career has been free of any major disturbances. A former pupil at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she has appeared in about 14 British films, ineluding “Reach for the Sky*’ in which she was a nurse, and as Jean Simmons’* sister in "Woman in th* Hall." Her last film

wa* "Dark Secret,” which was also one of he test films made by Dinah Sheridan, at “Genevieve” fame. Television, stage and broadcasting take* up moat at her time, she said. Just before she and her parents left London, die recreated Cicily Courtneidge’s roles in "The Bride and the Bachelor,” and “The Bride Came Back,” in the West End. NX TV -Dated” Since her arrival in New Zealand, Mias Fox ba* appeared on Auckland television. It had come as a surprise to her to see the age of the majority of programmes on New Zealand television. "Everything looks so dated and old fashioned,” she said. “The talent is here in New Zealand, why not use it,” she said. Another point Miss Fox found surprising was the absence of New Zealandmade programmes on British television. "Australia sends programmes, and there is wonderful material in New Zealand, especially stories about the Maoris -nd the early pioneers which would really go down well with British viewers. I think someone should get down and turn them into plays,” she said. Miss Fox likes tackling widely diverse roles, but feels that the present trend for reality, as depicted in such plays as “A Taste of Honey,” in which she played, is being carried too far. “People are entitled to

entertainment. That’s what the theatre is for—to give entertainment and relaxation, while stimulating the mind,” she said. If the theatre wa* to hold its own against television, it needed to keep its glamour and star personalities. Plays should have a definite plot as well as a beginning, a middle and an end and not be built around four good lines like “A "Taste of Honey” or rely on swearing in every other line to carry it across, she said. • Mias Fox has some tenuous links with New Zeeland. An ancestor of her mother came to New Zealand with Captain Cook. “He was a Banks,” said Mrs Dixon. “Then you could s::y Patricia owes her life to Sir Truby King and his methods of Child cere. They cured her when nothing else seemed tn work,” she added. As an adult she went tn Sir Archibald Mdndoe, the New Zealand plastic surgeon, for the removal of a lump above her right eyebrow. “He refused to accept a fee because he said has daughter was an actress,” said Miss FoX.

On her return to England, Miss Fox intends to prepare for working in America. “You get a polish there that you don’t seem to be able to get anywhere else,” she said.