Accent A Handicap

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31091, 21 June 1966, Page 2

Accent A Handicap

Ginger Skillman is a 19-year-old American who is following in the footsteps of her namesake, Ginger Rogers. She is at present singing and dancing her way around New Zealand in the show, “Oh What A Lovely War.”

"My father was in Austria with the American Air Force when I was born,” she said in Christchurch yesterday. "He had a crush on Ginger Rogers and asked that I be called after her.” Miss Skillman came to New Zealand with her family last year. Her father Is posted in Auckland for three years. Although she has played in many amateur productions in America, this is her first professional show. Her part as a Scots nurse with a solo number, "Keep The Home Fires Burning,” poses quite a problem—her accent is unmistakably from the other side of the Atlantic.

"Having an American accent does make it difficult. I think ahead all the time, and practise off stage. Now Pm starting to correct my family,” she said. Singing is her great love and she has had vocal training for the last 10 years. When the show’s season ends she will audition for the New Zealand Opera Company. Next February an audition has been arranged in Australia with J. C. Williamson’s company. Professional theatre is now Miss Skillman’s career and she loves the life. Her father was a "little disappointed” when she decided not to continue her studies at Auckland

I University, but now her family is quite happy with her choice.