Dame Genevieve Ward and Her Secret How to be 21 when the scorer of years calls 84 is a problem in time and mathematics which has been solved by Dame Genevieve Ward, the oldest living actress. She celebrated this Easter her 84th birthday. The King marked the occasion by conferring on her the Order of a Dame Commander of the British Dame Genevieve Ward just refuses to the 84 years old. She declares herself, "I have passed the third anniversary of inv coming-of-age, that is all. I will not admit any more. Why should I when I feel as alive and well as I did when I was 219"
She almost looks it, and certainly acts it. Each morning she goes walking from her home in Avenue-road, St. John's Wood. She bustles about the house and scorns any help for her personal needs. Electric bells and Dame Genevieve Ward never meet. When she wants her maid she calls for her to show that her voice is as full carrying as ever it was. "Alice!" The call travels from upper room to kitchen, through shut doors and along passages.
She reverses the habit of old age. Dame Genevieve Ward will not talk in the strain "I remember the time," but rather of what she is doing and her intentions for the future. Yet her memory is extraordinary. She knows -every Shakespearian part she has played. "word perfect," and when, next month, she appears again as Mar-garer of Anjou in "Richard III." for two weeks at the Old Vic she will not turn to the book.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.