FAMOUS FOLK AT THEIR WITTIEST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18189, 23 June 1927, Page 8

FAMOUS FOLK AT THEIR WITTIEST.

A TREASURED ALBUM OF RARE AUTOGRAPHS. LONDON, May 2. One of the most treasured yet least known curiosities of London was yesterday taken from its resting place. In a sentimental moment Signor Boriani, a West End restaurateur, opened his private safe at the Pall Mall Restaurant and picked out a small box covered with blue leather. From the box he took an autograph album, neatly bound in blue and gold, and proudly displayed it to a representative of “The Daily Chronicle.” “There you are,” he said. “It starts with a sketch of Caruso drawn by himself, and ends with Adeline Genee.” Famous People. The book is full of autographs of famous men and women, including:— Melba, Tosti, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Tree, Conan Doyle, Sarah Bernhardt. Mr Baldwin, Mr Lloyd George, Mr John Burns, Gustav Hamel, Mr Grahame White. Dorando, Charles Hawtrcy, Ben Davies, Patti, Rider Haggard, Baden-Pow-ell, Marconi, Ellen Terry, Harry Lauder, and George Robey. Lord Gladstone started a page with “Faith in the old country, 1 ” to which Mr Lloyd George added in Welsh, “Liberty will conquer." Then Mr Ben Davies, his compatriot, came along and commented in Welsh, "You are quite right, Lloyd George, but your liberality I has taken most of my money.” Mr John Burns neatly reproved this | remark with “Health is the only wealth, j Insurance Day, 1911.” I Ohe day Mabel Russell, who is Mrs | Phillipson, M.P., wrote, “What do you take me for, a clairvoyant or a chiropodist i ” Mr Baldwin saw this, and add-

ed, “Neither; but for one of my most loyal supporters.” Two Airmen. A few hours after a great flight in 1911 Mr Grahame White dined at the Pall Mall, and burst into verse in the book:—• I’ll eat with you, I'll drink with you. I’ll drink the ocean dry for you. I’ll try for you, and, possibly, dia for you, But I’ll bo d d If I could fly with you. In small writing at the very bottom of the same page the airman Gustav Hamel added this:— Twinkle, twinkle, little hat, Tlow I wonder what you’re at, Up above the world so high. Like a tea-tray in the sky. About the same place in the book a number of people had an autograph debate on a subject opened by Patti. Adeline Patti: A beautiful voice is the gift of God. Yvette Guilbert: An ugly voice is the gift of God. Herbert Tree: Or is it a. visitation of Providence? Addie Conyers: Any voice is the gift of God. Mary Anderson: All things are the gifts of God, only let ua make right use of them. Rider Haggard: But the greatest gift of God is silence. Billie Burke: My voice is no gift—it’s just voice. Sarah Bernhardt’s words are a mystery. Very nervously, after a performance of “La Dame aux Camelias,’* she took the pen and wrote something in long, sloping letters. Nobody has been able to decipher even one word!