PHILLIP NEWBURY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 13, 16 January 1936, Page 6

PHILLIP NEWBURY

T HOSE wh" are attracted by the lure of. the footlights, should mark well the end of Mr. Phillip Newbury. Mr. Newbury was a singer of repute who was at one time well known in New Zealand. Recently he was the subject of a cable message which told of his misfortunes in the United States of America. Despite a line voice and a partner, Madame Spada, equally gifted, the two singers found themselves eclipsed and forgotten by the once adoring public. They assailed the heights and, like manybefore them, found adversity and tears at. the end of the road. Popularity is an ephemeral thing, it comes in a day and it passes in a night. It may never return: indeed, it seldom does. How comes it that stars fall from their firmament? Having proved their worth, they- find that they have no sure foothold on the ladder of fame. Those who are not so sure of their talents should be careful before they- commit themselves to the uncertainties of the life of a public entertainer. Success comes to the very few on the concert platform and the stage, and even their tenure is insecure. For those who do not succeed the drudgery is unending, and the rewards incommensurate with the effort demanded. The stage has been written down as the most heartbreaking- of the professions, and so it is.