MADAME BLANCHE ARRAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10963, 4 May 1907, Page 4

MADAME BLANCHE ARRAL.

■-. ♦ -. THE DIVA MATERIALISES, : Madame Blanche Anal has certainly succeeded m rousing the curiosity of the; public concerning her personality." After giving concerts m Dunedin die slipped quietly away to Auckland, and has since sung with phenomenal . -success m tbe North Island, her latest emphatic- triumph being scored m Wellington. • The mystery surrounding her identity may be managerial or it may be legitimate, but the fact that she has been hinted at as a Russian princess, as Madame Calve, and as the modern equivalent of the "Man | with the Iron Mask," does not detract from her 'personality. In a fit .of scepticism as to her possibility at all, a Lyttelton Times reporter waited upon tlie prima donna, with a view* to ascertaining sometliing of her personality and something of her opinions, without trying to 1 penetrate the mystery with which she has chosen to cloak herself. He found Madame /Viral to really exist m the flesh, and that she was not at all the terrible person that a bashful journalist might confidently have expected to meet. The star vocalist disclosed herself as* a quick, brown-eyed, versatile litt'e perron, full of vitality/and brimming over with enthusiasm for her profession. "Yes, thcio is a me." she said, m response to the charge that she had been .•_ long m arriving m Christchurch, and her concerts had been >o often postponed, that tlie public were beginning to consider that she was a mere myth. "There's plenty of nic, too." she added, with a characteristic little gesture. Madame Anal has but little English, and she found it necessary to punctuate what she had to say very liberally with French, the Bohemian idiom of wliich she never hesitated to employ m its fullest lingual warmth. Pereona.ly. she conveyed the impression that, she is probably an artiste of strong color and temperamental warmth. She is vivacious and eager, full of life and keen of criticism, and quick to appreciate the fact that her.^identity was as interesting to the public as her performances. The colonies she has found to be most appreciative of her singing, and whilst she had not too good luck m thc opening of her New Zealand season, the reception that she has received lias more than reconciled flier to the colony. "If they come to me," she explained with a characteristic gesture, ''ah, well, mon Dieu, zey come back again." Of the colony and its inhabitants 6he had little to say, beyond stating that everywhere she had met with the greatest kindness and courtesy, and that it seemed to be thc desire of the people to make her as happy as they could. Her New Zealand [ j audiences had been most appreciative and | most enthusiastic, and she never wished , j to sing to better one..