Newspaper Article – “Patricia” Nelson in a New Role

“PATRICIA” NELSON IN A NEW ROLE.

ON TOUR WITH AN OPERA COMPANY.

Miss Mildred Nelson, of Woodville, whose stage name is Patricia Nelson, and who has had a marked success in revue in Paris, writes very happily of her new role as Queen Maul in the opera ‘‘Les Aventures du Roi Pausole.” Miss Nelson was very fortunate to receive this new engagement on the termination of her contract with the Jackson Revue, and her new managers are the Messieurs Millebert and Marcel Franck, well-known show people of France.

Rehearsing the opera, which is a very long one, in Paris before going on tour to the South of France in February, Miss Nelson said had been very strenuous, and not one of the 40 other members could speak a word of English.

Rehearsals started at 10 and continued until 6.30, with only a spell for lunch. As Queen Maud Miss Nelson wears some lovely clothes and jewels, and as the cast is smaller when on tour, the members have to double, so that in Act II. she has to play the part of a French farmer’s daughter and speak patois, while in a later act she appears as an English schoolgirl. Miss Nelson was delighted to have the chance of touring in the Riviera. By a curious coincidence the leading man in the company is Gustave Nelson, a Frenchman.

The company left Paris in a snow-storm and could hardly find the Gare du Lyon station. They reached Dijon at 2 p.m. and rehearsed until 6.30. It was snowing hard there, too. Fortunately, the theatre was heated, Miss Nelson said, as the dresses of Queen Maud were of very light material, and jewels and a crown did not keep one very warm. After the show the company travelled all night, arriving at Nice about 4 o’clock the next afternoon, but the manager was very good and arranged for them all to travel in comfort. After a very successful and happy fortnight in Nice, the company went on to Monte Carlo. Everyone had been wonderfully kind, Miss Nelson said, and they had been taken for lovely drives to Cap Ferrat and up into the Alps, with many invitations to lunch and dinner as well. She had delighted in the wonderful scenery, the intense blue of the sky and sea, and the gorgeous flowers of the Riviera.

Writing to friends in New Zealand, Mr Albert Russell, of Wellington, who was a recent visitor to Paris, made mention of Miss Nelson, who at that time had just concluded a most successful engagement with the Jackson Revue Company. Mr Russell has known Miss Nelson since her childhood days and is particularly interested in her career. He was delighted to find her looking so well, an indication that a theatrical life was agreeing with her, despite long hours and hard work, and she was just herself in every way enjoying the pleasantness and happiness of life.  The fact that Miss Nelson had stepped from one engagement into another spoke volumes for her work, Mr Russell said, because to-day there were thousands of professionals out of work in England and on the Continent.