The Washington times., 1922-10-19
Stage Fright Seizes
Artists Before Horn
OfTalking Machines
Miss Helen EIey, Prima Donna
and Veteran at Recording,
Tells Of Mental Hazards
Accompanying a Mechanical
Debut.

Stage fright, or the mental proc.
esses that induce fear and uncer.
tainty in the public performer, is
neither peculiar to the player who
must go before a vaudeville or a
legitimate drama audience nor con.
fined to professional appearances
where the gathering Is known to be
visible and critical. 1t exists also
for the singer or other artist who
is recording his or her talents for
the talking machines and its reac.
ton upon the performing is just as
distressing and equally as much
feared.
Helen Eley, prima donna Of Hello
New York" at the Belasco this Week
is a veteran recorder of mechanical
melodies as we'll as an experienced
performer in musical comedy and
vaudeville, and she makes an in.
teresting contrast Of the nervous
reaction which accompanies a stage
debut and a first appearance before
the great horn of the recording in
strument.
THE making Of a record Is really
a serious and difficult business for
everybody concerned" she says.
1T is so technical and SO interest
ing that l hardly know where to
start" adds Miss Eley. Il think
the layman would be interested In
knowing something about the dis
tance between the singer and the
horn. Most singers stand very
close. being from six inches TO a
foot away. John Mccormack sings
directly into the mouth Of the horn,
while Enrico Caruso, whose voice
was so enormous and had such tire.
mendous vibrating overtones, was
obliged to stand fully six feet away.
Sometimes when taking a high.
sustained or loud tone, he was
obliged to back away at q consid.
cradle distance 80 as not to blast
the wax.
For some inexplicable reason.
sometimes a soprano can use the
same horn to sing into as baritone.
while two tenors or two sopranos
may use entirely different ones. 1t
depends on the individual voice.
One may have too many over
tones and vibrations and the other
a lack OF these essential qualities.
Diction plays a very important part
in registering. II IL because OF these
qualifications that II is Of vital i'm
portance to choose the right horn
for the right voice"
Test records and first expert.
ments are full of mental hazards. ="
says Miss Eley. They have us
many, and I think more perils for
the beginner than singing before a
large audience. The stage fright
incurred by the stage performer at
the beginning of his or her career
Is as nothing compared to the me-
chanical debut. The beginner be.
comes what is called horn shy II
seems ridiculous TO think that a tin
horn can impel such overpowering
fear. for after all, 1t is merely 3
piece Of metal, but somehow the
fear Is decidedly there. AnalyZing
this, ! suppose the subconscious re.
action Is that what one does is In.
delibly recorded, never 10 be eradi-
Gated. In other words what goes
into the horn must come out OF il"
Although comparatively young,
Miss Eley has spent sixteen years
cultivating the soprano voice, just
now delighting Shubert vaudeville
audiences. She is a New England
Conservatory Of Music graduate and
spent six years abroad under for.
eign masters of voice culture. She
sang at Covent Garden and for three
years on the concert and chautauqua
ciecuits. Her recent appearances
were as prima donna of THE Blue
Paradise" and in the series Of Win.
ter Garden Passing Shows" This
Is her first jaunt over the two-a-day
circuits and combined with a con,
tract to record regularly for the
machines, her leisure moments are
really few and precious.