TACKLING A CELEBRITY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1020, 23 September 1909, Page 17

TACKLING A CELEBRITY.

LONDON “DAILY MAIL’S” INTERVIEWER IN DIFFICULTIES. THE CHORUS LADY’S ENGLISH. The English interviewer who undertakes to tackle an American artist at Home, frequently finds himself i n difficulties, owing to his lack of knowledge of the “ Americanisms” used colloquially by those whom he essays to interview. A case of this sort is reported in a recent issue of the London “ Daily Mail,” a representative of which called upon Miss Rose Stahl, who, with her. company, is now playing “ The Chorus Lady” in England. The interviewer, savs:— “ I asked her what the Chorus Lady meant when she said, 1 The financial party . that was backing the “ Mood light Maids” got the chilblains.’ “ ‘ Got frosted feet, of course,’ Miss Stahl replied. “ I said ‘ Ohl’

“ Then I asked her the meaning of, ‘ When I think of the men I see other women stacked up against, you win easy.’ “' It means he’s no four-flusher,’ Miss Stahl explained. “ Thank you, ’I said. ‘ And would you mind telling me what is the explanation of ‘ getting along on twenty per?” ’

“ ‘ Twenty bucks a week, twenty simoleons,’ said Miss Stahl. “‘ I see,’ I said. ‘ Then that remark about ‘ Nix with the wealthy water?” ’ “ ‘ Afraid champagne would put her out of business,’ Miss Stahl said. " This was more intelligible. I tried another, ‘ “ Handing out the icy eye to the man behind the bank-roll.” That means ?’

“ ‘ Giving the rich guy the frozen face,’ said Miss Stahl. “ ‘ Thank you very much,’ I said. ‘ And then what about “ the show’s on the pazaz?” ’

“ ‘ The “ Moonlight Maids” were on the blink and got it in the neck,’ explained the Chorus Lady. “ I gasped, but continued. ‘ What «s the meaning of “The comedians were a couple of morgues?” ’

“‘ A couple of dead ones,” replied ■ Miss Stahl, ‘ a couple of has-beens.’ “ ‘ Yes;’ I said, ‘ that makes it quite plain. And “ the big screech in this family?” How would you transluie that into English ?’ “ ‘ The whole thing, the big noise,’ said Miss Stahl. After all, I fancy that she made everything fairly clear. These American idioms are so expressive that most of them explain themselves. Miss Stahl told me that, despite the advice of some of her friends, she had refused to change a single word of “The f'aorus Lady” for English consumption, and she considered that the r? suit so far justified her decision.”