PERSONALITY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19365, 23 July 1925, Page 7

PERSONALITY

(By Horace Annesley Vae.hell in the Daily Mail.). Sir Herbert Morgan, writing to The Daily Mail, asks “What is Person ality!” The word might be defined as the capital “I’’ in I —dentity, the irrepressible Ego. But a man . with personality is not necessarily an egotist. Personality has always counted tremendously both in culture and conduct. It counts today more than ever simply because it wtalks hand in hand with publicity. The public has been taught to demand personality and to recognise and acclaim it. A man or woman with personality is never a type. He imposes himself upon others because he is different from them; he exudes from every pore of his skin a sort of “force;” he is above convention and tradition, although he may use both to achieve his ends. Really, he is the apostle of self-expression, land self-expression is almost immeasurable.

Sargent had it. Visitors to thfc Royal Academy knowing little or nothng about pictures would exclaim: “That is a Sargent.” In Paris, during his student days, he impressed his personality upon his fellow-students. All the greatest actors and actresses* have been personalities, but not designedly so. A sham personality is like a faux bonhoinme! sooner or later he is unmasked or unmasks himself. The word is often confounded with “personage.” Great personages ai# rarely great personalities. Napoleon was both. All Sovereigns are personages; how few of them can claim to be personalities. It is doubtful whether “personality” can be acquired. It is doubtful whether it can be repressed. It triumphs gloriously over tall obstacles and even physical disabilities; it is not the attribute of any class. Locke’s “Beloved Vagabond” is a personality, and so is the immortal Kipps. Let us include, too. Elsie, the skivey in ‘ 1 Ricoyman Steps. ’ ’ Personality cannot bo truly defined as the secret of success, because many Successful men arc without it. A Prime Minister may have less personality than the sturdy beggar whose importunity is not to be denied. Some of the world’s most famous and infamous failures have been personalities. Wo kowtow to it wherever wo find it because in all its protean forms it is and remains such an overmastering fluence for good or evil.