Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-21
CRITICS TAKE FLING
AT MARION TALLEY.
19-Year-0Id Star, Breaking
Precedent, Welcomes Ad-
verse Statements.
b. Consolidated Press

p' 'oisoiluateu PreSS.
| NEW YORK. February 20.-Life
| ionS feudS between temperamental
singers and hard-boiled newspaper
critics have grown out of less than
lhe New York music writer's have
mad to say about Marion Talley, the
| l9-year-old choir girl from Kansas
| city, whose debut as a Metropolis
tan Opera star this week out-spec-
tacled the most spectacular popular
demonstration that even the great
CaruSo ever had
but II the critics expected to get a
rise out of Miss Talley, they We're
solely disappointed. Not that she
/ didn't read all the more or less
caustic things hey said about her.
She read them even before she dipped
into the heavily displayed front page
Stories about her popular triumph.
Hurt by the criticisms? Certainly
not, said Miss Talley with a calm
| smile. Il expect to profit by them.
| realize that / still have much to
! learn. My musical training has not
been very extensive. And l never
forget for a minute what Caruso once
said-that the longer he lived the
more he realized how much there
was for him to learn
Says Criticisms Aid
Miss Tallcy didn't want To go in
detail into the criticisms. She
merely smiled when an attempt was
made to draw her out by a remind er
that Samuel Chotzinoff had called
her top notes little acid: that
Paul Morris called her Just a 10
year-old singer with such faults as
usually befall youthful prodigies'
that Olin DowneS had said she lacked
at present the artistic knowledge To
make the most of her gifts" and that
theSe and all the other critics had
agreed she sang a trife off key at
times.
Il hope TO correct all those faults, -
said Miss Talley. You know, /
haven't stopped work just because |
have had a metropolitan debut. That
was Wonderful-but after all, it was
just a start"
1t is. precisely this quality in Miss
laliey-the total lack of what is
usually called "temperament'-tha /
her advisers count on to make her
III TIME so gorgeous u Coloratura So
prano that even the hardest boiled
critic will not be able to contrast
her unfavorably With Patti and some
or the other by-EOne stars
On the other hand, one of two of
ne critics have inferred ever so deli
catelN. that Miss Tallcy's lack of tenn.
permanent Is one of the things sln
must overcome if she hopes to keen
on felSnlnS as queen among queens
AT the metropolitan. In other words
they suggest that she needs to orit
being simple, unaffected Kansas
CITY girl and develop her Imagination
10 the point where she can throw her.
self with abandon into the roles she
is called upon to sing.
Whichever school of Thought *
right on this point, it is certain that
Miss Talley hasn't developed any
temperament yet. She Is the same
simple, unaffected home type'' of girl
that she was several months ago Just
after Signor Gatti had given her her
wonderful chance. She hasn't bought
any Rolls Royce, or gorgeous Paris
gowns. She hasn't started smoking or
drinking or using cosmetics. She
isn't the least bit up stage"
Father Talley. the railroad tele.
graph opers,or; Mother Talley, the
chaperon and adviser: Sister Flor
ence. who is acting as intercepter of
! the hundreds of telephone calls and
personal visitors Miss Talley has
| dally-al the rest of the family. Is
| somewhat afiutter over the sensation
the youthful prodigy has stirred up.
| But 10 Marion all the fuss and ex
element seems just a part of this
! days work. You'd hardly think she
realized she was the center of it all
| that she, Marion Talley, was a cele
brity.