MR W. S. PERCY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11435, 3 February 1923, Page 15

MR W. S. PERCY

FUNMAKER AND ARTIST NEW ZEALAND’S MOST POPULAR COMEDIAN. In the minds of tho public Mr TP. S. Percy is the theatrical star keeps all the fun going at the Opera House or at the particular theatre where he may be appearing, but lie has a very human, and also an artistic. temperament in quite another direction. “Billy” Percy his pals call him, and meeting him on intimate terms one might chat with him for hours and never dream of associating him with the footlights. He does not like talking shop, as a “Times” man found out yesterday, when he strolled round to have a yarn with him.

“Not arrived yet,” was the reply given to the reporter’s inquiry, and turning to leave the building h€""Vilmost collided with a. gentleman rather short in stature, with what appeared to be a bundle of pasteboards under his arm. Except that he was middleaged, one would have taken him for an art student, certainly not for the principal in musical comedy. “Just been completing a couple ot sketches of Plimmer’s Steps. Sorry I’m late. Wanted to get them finished yesterday.” This was Billy Percy, riding his hobby with all the enthusiasm of youth, and it is a hobby he knows something about. He has an eye for the beauties of nature, and has transferred many of them, to paper and canvas with a skill far above the average. He delights in the country and is just as much at home in. England as in New Zealand. Charming old country cottages in Devonshire ot Sussex, thatched with straw or roofed with the old fashioned red tiles, ■ and surrounded with the choicest of old English flowers, the magnificent busl) and mountain scenery of New Zealand—he lobes them both alike but will not. can not compare them, for they are so different and each so beautiful that comparison is net possible. But to get Billy: Percy to talk shop, well, it takes some doing. He loves his profession, but he does not love talking about it. He is an “Aussie'* insofar as- he was born in Australia, but he was brought im and has spent most of his life in New Zealand, which is home to him. “Everybody knows all . about me, and can see me any old time for a bob or so, ” was his reply when the “Times” man tried to get some ideas from him regarding the profession. He has spent the . last ten years in England prior to this return to the Dominion, and Sir Alfred Butt sent him on a two years’ tour of Great Britain, during which he appeared in practically_all the principal towns and cities. “Now we are getting qjon'g nicely,’’ thought the pressman, hut the subject of the interview once more turned to his beloved art, and he produced a number of beautiful etchings on which he has spent a good deal of time of late. Here and there were a few water colours, dainty presentations ofthose picturesque Sussex and Devonshire cottages to which reference has already been made, with the little front gardens chock full of the old fashioned, but none the less beautiful flowers.

“I have 1 been ”)Saiittlrtg n ';hedi:ly" ’all ’ my life, but I have taken to etching lately, and it appeals to me very strongly. While m England I spent a lot of time making sketches, and I know the types of cottages so well that if you showed me a picture of one I think I could locate it within twenty miles. I have several of my pictures in Australian and New Zealand galleries, and an etching I have recently done of the old windmill at Auckland has been accepted bv the Wanganui Art .Gallery. ; Just, now I am at work preparing a' series of 20 plates on, old English flowers.” A copy of the etching of the windmul at Auckland was amongst those produced for inspection, and another was of the Devonport wharf, Auckland, while his sketch of the bridge oyer the Hutt river, at Petone, is a local touch of art that is not as fully appreciated as it might he. One more of several appealing pictures was the one of the nuns of St. Mary’s Church, Tamaki, near Auckland, the oldest stone church m the Dominion, built about the forties, and which was used as a fort ini tho Maori wars. His last piece of work with the brush is a painting of his brother-in-law’s garden and porch on the Terrace, where old English flowers predominate. In literature his taste is somewhat voracious, for he told the pressman tliat he read anything from “Deadwood Dick” to the “Einstein Theory.” He has, however, visited; some of the finest libraries in the world, and spent many a happy hour in them. “Any incidents in your career?” met with the reply: “Life is all fun to me. If you , have the sense of humour you can see fun everywhere.” “What sport do I follow? Well, I’ve got a golf stick, but I haben’t met Mr Bogey yet. J don’t get much time ior outdoor sport, besides I have left all that behind me; I get enough sport out of my work.”

He then took the reporter down to the art gallery in Willis street, and Showed him quite a number of his etchings and! paintings. On the way he said that ho had cycled through New Zealand from Auckland to the Bluff at one time or another, and that was the way to see the country properly. This is all the “Times” could glean about “Billy” Percy—from himself. Mr Percy omftted to say that !he has been before the public (in London, Australia, New Zealand) for many, many years, and he has always been a highly popular artist, while in private life ho is held in the highest esteem by a large and ever-growing circle of friends. Friendships made when “Billy” Percy was a hoy have been strengthened as the vears passed, and there is no male performer in Australia or New Zealand who can claim greater popularity than “Our Billy.” His versatility has been proved over and over again, of hie capabilities there ie no occasion to speak—they are recognised everywhere—and the fact that his performance as Joseph Pinglet, in “A Night Out,” is considered to be one of tlio very best in his extensive repertoire show's that he has lost none of his vigour, none of his stagecraft and ability to make an audience laugh, but like good wine, has improved with the years. And iso here’s success to “Billy” Percy—and may wo see him again soon 1