VINIA DE LOITTE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 84, 8 April 1936, Page 16

VINIA DE LOITTE

"NO MONOTONY" MOTTO

The Comtesse de Vilme-Hautmant, who is travelling with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, is the widow of that excellent exponent of Gilbert and Sullivan roles, Howard Vernon. She will be remembered as Vinia de Loitte in many operatic parts, and was heard to remark recently in Auckland that she was proud of the fact that she had the opportunity to create one Gilbert and Sullivan part in an Australian premiere, Princess Kalyba in "Utopia Limited." Most of the other operas of the series were produced before she. was born. . The Comtesse, accompanied by her tall, attractive secretary, Miss Audrey Bond, of Adelaide, autographs her book "Gilbert and Sullivan Opera in Australia 1879-1936" with an excerpt from one of the operas in which she has played. During each performance, she has addressed the audience with a bright speech. "Avoid Monotony" is one of her mottoes in life, and one which she apparently practises in its .fulness.

Born with a title in her own right "Baroness," which became Vicomtesse upon the death of her grandmother (much of whose girlhood was spent in close contact with English Royalty), she appeared with the Royal Comic Opera Company as Nan in "A Country Girl" in Melbourne, and later in most of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera roles. Then came her marriage with the principal comedian, Howard Vernon, a May and December match. Later she toured the world with him, singing and playing in many lands. In Australia she gave time to talking to audiences on "Home Making, and Better Housekeeping"; building a quaint, "weekend" bungalow with a couple of disused tramcars, in a bush setting, near Sydney; writing for the Press (she is a committee woman of the "Society of Women Writers of N.S.W."), her "Howard Vernon Recollections" being syndicated in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, and Brisbane, and in giving a ."one-woman entertainment" in all the principal cities from Perth to Cairns. Then came "Gilbert and Sullivan Teas" in the banquet hall of Milne and Choyce, which became a feature of the Auckland opera season.

Comtesse de Vilme-Hautmant will broadcast from 2YA during the Wellington season. Truly such a life cannot help' but "Avoid Monotony."}