LITTLE HABITS OF THE GREAT

Evening Star, Issue 22228, 4 January 1936, Page 19

LITTLE HABITS OF THE GREAT

AMUSING FADS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE Most of us have some little idiosyncrasy or other which the family has learned to tolerate, and, if any neighbour happens to catch us at our tricks, someone will say, with a knowing smile: “Just a little fad of Betty’s, you know ” —and leave it at that. In the case of a notability, however, these “ little fads ” are seized upon as good copy by biographers, and are even flatteringly adopted by lesser fry. The stray lock of hair, for example, which Elizabeth Bergner allows to fall over one eye is soon going to be seen behind the counters and the milk bars of New Zealand, and bohbypins will he out of favour. If you have a passion for grilled steak followed by fresh peaches, you have something in common with Lloyd George; but if it is chops that you order for luncheon seven times a week, then Lord Sankey shares your taste. Lord Snowden has a standing order at the Carlton, London, for jam tarts, and artist Augustus John is always, without question, served a mixed grill, highly seasoned. George Arliss has a mania for collecting curious old clothes, and wanders about in them happily. He will never ride to work, and might often be mistaken for a tramp as he sets off for the studio. Mario Tempest, on the other hand, will never walk where she can ride. She reads in bed, gets up late, and does all the things that one should not do if one expects to be mistaken for 17, when a grandmother. Yet Marie Tempest celebrated her stage jubilee in London recently, and looked as youthful as a chorus girl. Toti Dal Monte, who sang grand opera roles in Sydney a few years ago, was always eating chocolates when she was not singing. Toti would never be serious, even about her figure. She did not care what she looked like, and was an imp of mischief in a photographic

studio. Just as the late May Moore was about to take her picture she got out of her chair, .rushed to a vase of flowers on a table, and threw them over the partition to another of the company, who was warbling in the adjacent dressing room. The late Dame Nellie Melba also shared this disregard for the camera. "When Miss Mooro asked her if she cared to go to the dressing room before she posed, Dame Nellie said: “ I fixed up my face before I left home, so why should I do anything to it now?” Moscovitch, on the other hand, always had the studio topsy-turvy and all nerves on edge before he was ready to be pictured. Jascha Spivakovsky, the pianist, never uses music when he plays, and yet he takes his great portfolios with him wherever he goes. On one occasion, when he arrived in Sydney, the porter complained at the heaviness of his baggage. Spivakovsky replied: “That’s as may be, ray man; but how would you like to be the artist who carries it always in his head?” One would not expect that a worldfamous violinist could find comfort in jazz music, but Erica Morini, when she was in Sydney, and feeling very homesick at times, would always- ask her companion, Marianne Newman, to play popular music on the piano. Erica’s blues would vanish, and she would be ready to smile across her violin at her great audiences again. Berta Ruck, the authoress, is liable to dash off to Spain or somewhere else equally as far away from England just when she' has invited guests to stay. She is most hospitable, so the visitors usually wait until she remembers them and'comes rushing home again. Somerset Maugham, on the other hand, is noted for his love of privacy. On his frequent trips to the East he' never mixes with the other passengers aboard ship, and takes all his meals in his state room.