A TALENTED ARTISTE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11163, 20 March 1922, Page 7

A TALENTED ARTISTE

AND A CHARMING WOMAN INTERESTING CHAT WITH MISS MAUDE HANAFORD. SOME OF HER IDEALS. Miss Maude Hanaford, of the talented J. C. Williamson Company now appearing at the Grand Opera House m the gripping drama “The Sign on the Door,’* as she reveals herself on the stage in her wonderfully realistic and understanding portrayal of Anne Regan, and the real Miss Hanaford are both charming and impressive personages. There is an earnestness, a thoroughness in both that one cannot fail to note. And yet at one time Maude Hanaford entertained revolutionary ideas against conventionalism similar to those of Beatrix in “Scandal,’’ for to a “New Zealand Times” representative she speaks of having early in life “ran away from home to strike out for herself.”

“I had been brought up so strictly by toy grandparents, with whom I lived, that at nine I was a silent little thing, far too quiet, and the reaction came. I had always wanted to make my own life, so one day I ran away to find work, and they let me try it for a wpek, thinking it would cure me; but it did not.”

The same earnestness of desire and a set purpose which animated the little girl is still apparent in the woman of to-day. When met at lunch she la revealed as a moat attractive personality—intellectual, individualistic to a marked degree, simple, sincere and with a wonderful poise and understanding which appear to make her look below the surface and judge people by their innate qualities ana the possibilities of fineness in them, rather than by their surface attributes. In other words, she hag understanding, sympathy ana sincerity in a marked degree. OUR LENIENT LAWS.

She touches upon many subjects, and always with an intellectual grasp that proves her a keen student or affairs as well as of books, art and mankind. Her clear grasp of American politios and of their degrees of difference from other countries would put to shame many who know very little about the laws and constitution under which they live. iMßss Hanafocd is amazed sit we leniency of our laws and) the inadequacy of the punishments meted] out. She has been rather scandalised at the. license allowed in many directions when, under the pleas of the liberty of the subject, something very like disloyalty and sedition is openly displayed. “It could not happen in the United Sta/tos,” ahe declares, “because anyone who does anything against the constitution knows he null nave to pay, and pay heavily. As we say, ‘Tread on; the toes of Uncle Sam and he is after yod and down, upon you heavy and hard'—that the transgressor against him is made to pay and to suffer severely. “There is one thing I feel I would like to say, and that is when people talk about the American nation, especially as regards our part in the war, they must remember that there is no such thing as an American nation; that at present it is just a number of races -set down side by side, but not yet absorbed into one; that they never speak as one voice as a nation; that there is as yet no unanimity of thought and opinion. This is what made things so difficult to handle In America in the fleet years of the war,” ‘‘l must remember and pot say America,’’ ahe breaks in. “Wo grow so accustomed to doing so, I am afraid, that we do not realise that others may object. X iptos corrected on the boat coming across by some people from South America, so I must learn to say United States of Annua." HER STAGE GARBER. Upon each a object that crops up Miss Hanaford finds something to say that is interesting, or something that opens up a, chain of thought. Bub i* is upon her own career, and profession that ahe most iapenwsts. She has pursued her art with understanding and the hog vision, and has learned to know its inner revealing side.

“I came to New York in 1918,” she expltaltos when asked about her career. “But before tbait I had dttoa ' two ydars in ’stock,’ because X felt the need of the eotoc>ri|Dg^ga<^e^OTimoe who has been oat here, and was afterwards associated with other well-known people, including Mow Leslie Garter, Laokeye, and, just recently, John Barrymore. “Oh, such an artistic actor; so understanding and simple in his art. I do not think people sufficiently realise the value of etmpUaity and the power it is. There is one great notional hero whose life proves it or rather, he is more than one nation’s hero now, for be has beoome recognised by the world—that is, Lincoln ever anyone’s life, one’s alms, marked by more sincere simpttaity P What an ideal to live up to. “With ray Work, I have felt and loved it ever since I came into it. I have, strange to say, always had what they call ‘star’ parts, and I have played many sorts of them for the sake of the experience. I recognise I have been fortunate in the people I have been associated with.

“I have never oeased to study, for T have felt and loved it, and sought to develop and to understand. Mv aim has always been to express with sin-cerity-and simplicity. That, I think Is the secret of the finest artistry.

FAVOURS STRONG DRAMATIC

WORK

“My aim is strong dram&tio work, for that suits me best. I recognise I am not a great comedienne, nor a great tragedian, but strong dramatic work appeals to me. I have played anything that came along for the sake of development, but just reoently I have felt that I must not wander into by-paths any more if I am to attain what I wish. I feel I must concentrate in the one direction. It was just as if a cloak had fallen from my shoulders—something that had rather hidden and smothered .my real individuality, and that I stood revealed to myself as what J[ am and where I am going. Then i realised that the time had come when I must not try this and that sample, but must adhere to the one thing.

“At one time I used to think I was not sufficiently emotional for an actress. I had a violent temper, but I have conquered that,” she adds, a statement which appears a libel upon herself, for the impression she given is of “wonderful poise and of an equable, tolerant nature.’’ “I have learned that it is dot necessary to be emotional or temperamental, as we generally understand it. But one must have understanding, sympathy, and the vision to realise how oer-

tain oharaotens would act in given circumstances. THE STAGE AND WRITING. “I was a girl who had had a good deal of social Hfe t but I felt I must get away from it, that it did not satisfy me, that I needed something in whioh loould express myself more. In the stage I have found this. There is something that I must throw off, give out, and I can do ft through the stage; Chough when I am appearing in comedy for a time I find myself restless, inclined to be hysterical, beoause I have not sufficient outlet. I have resorted to writing, also, as sn outlet, and have written and written, until I have written the trouble all away, and then — destroyed what I have written.”

Little glimpses of a great capacity for love, sacrifice, and wide vision and understanding are revealed by Miss Hanaford as she tells of the brother so oiose to her, with whom she was brought up, and who adored her.

“I have been so much with him and his friends that I thought T knew men. But when I went out into the world I found how mistaken I was. They had all been brother* to me, and I had to learn how few men you meet in the world who have no intention of being brothers. They are different, their view towards you is different; yet when you learn to know them and they learn to know you, you discover how much good there is in the heart of every one of them. It is understanding, sympathy, and honest}- that are needed, and for so many ages these have not been the qualities that have been cultivated between men and women in their friendships.”