FREE FRANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26290, 23 October 1946, Page 8

FREE FRANCE

VISITING TENOR’S ROLE PROMINENT IN RESISTANCE KNOWLEDGE OF D-DAY SECRET For the first time for nine years—since Richard Crooks appeared in Dunedin —a tenor of international fame is at present visiting the city. He is M. Georges Thill, of Paris, who will give one concert in Dunedin to-morrow night. M. Thill is not only a famous operatic tenor, he is a soldier of the 1914-18 war, and a prominent member of the French Reistance Movement during the occupation of his country in World War 11. In fact, M. Thill was one of the very few Frenchmen in France who kenw the secret of D-Day before the landings commenced. In an interview with a Daily Times reporter yesterday afternoon, he told, through an interpreter, some of his experiences in the war. In spite of his record in two world wars, M. Thill is, and still looks, a comparatively young man. He enlisted in the 1914-18 war at the age of

16, and is now only 48. In the lapel of his coat is a small ribbon which denotes that he is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and he is also the holder of the French Croix de Guerre. He was shot down over the Rhine in 1918 and had both his arms broken. A Message in Song In the recent .war his activities were confined chiefly to passive resistance against the Germans. He does not like discussing his activities during the war, but they were evidently exciting in the extreme. He was one of the Frenchmen who, at the risk of their lives, listened consistently to the 8.8. C. broadcasts. The Germans did their utmost to detect the listeners, and M. Thill and his companions had to be careful that dictaphones were not installed in their homes. The broadcasts from London, he said, had a wonderful effect on French morale, and helped to keep up their spirits in the darkest days of the war. At one time the Germans brought pressure on M. Thill to sing for them, btit he consistently refused. But that is not to say that M. Thill did not sing in public during the German occupation. He put his magnificent tenor voice to good service for the resistance movement. He sang to the French people, and in his songs were carefully disguised messages for the resistance workers. In this novel way vital instructions and news were passed on and the work of resistance helped. One in the Family Enough

M. Thill grows impatient of talking of his part in the recent war. He feels that there were thousands of others who did as much as he did. In reply to questions, he said that, apart from his Paris engagements, he had sung in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and had been the leading tenor in the Royal Command performance of “ Carmen ” in Covent Garden at the time of the Coronation. He had also sung at La Scala, Milan, for two seasons and at the Arena in Verona. M. Thill was interested to learn that Gigli was still singing in Rome, for he thought he had been banished from the Italian concert stage and opera house. In return, he mentioned that Richard Crooks was no longer able to sing, and was confined in a sanatorium for 12 months at least. A singer’s life is not the best by any means, M. Thill feels. A singer is a slave who cannot enjoy life as he would like to in case he affects his voice. When he is at the height of his fame, M. Thill says, the Government takes most of his earnings, and when he is past singing he has nothing left on which to live.

The tenor has two sons, but they are not going to be singers. What singing they do will be confined to the bath-tub, M. Thill affirms. At present they are studying law. M. Thill is accompanied by M. Marcel Mintz, of Melbourne, who is Russian by birth and who acts as the tenor’s interpreter. He speaks seven languages fluently. His pianist is Marcel Lorber.