HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1961-04-06, Page 6' He Was A Legend
In His' ,ifetime
"There are only three or Our
of us titans left," Sir Thomas
Beecham boasted on his 80th
'pirthday nearly 'two years ago.
"One by one they depart --
trauss Furtwangler, 'Toscanini,
ahler, moos
feel like Robinson
soe on a'desert island—brit
where's ney
With Sir an
death last
month in T, nd 's (of a cerebral
thronabos ii); one more Wan de-
parted, an outrageously outspok-
en and irreverent titan, to be
sure, but a true Olympian in
spirit and deed. His Jovian fire
was withering to all who felt the
burning lash of his tongue and
pen, but the climate of British
music today owes much of its
healthy vigor to the little battl-
ing baronet with the goateed
chin and the gimlet eye,
With a fortune which came
from Beecham's laxative pills,
the peppery conductor organized
orchestras and opera companies
and brought music not only to
London but to all of the pro-
vinces, He championed Handel,
Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, and
Strauss when those composers
were novelties in the orchestral
reperteiee, not staples as they
are today,
As a conductor, Sir Thomas's
memory was phenomenal—and
variable. At a performance in
Manchester one memorable night
years ago, he walked in at the
last moment, picked up his baton
and whispered to the concert-
master: "By the way, what opera
are we doing tonight?" On an-
other occasion, after performing
a symphony he did not admire,
he turned again to the first vio-
linist and said, rather audibly:
"Why don't you play?" "It's
over," muttered the uncomfort-
able fiddler. "Thank Gad!" sigh-
ed Beecham,
Sir Thomas's contempt for
singers 'vriS as monumental as
his dislike for modern music
("Not only dead, but thrice
damned"). When accused once
of drowning out the great La-
uritz Melchior and Frieda Leider
in a performance of "Tristan and
Isolde," he retorted: "I was per-
forming a public service."
"The ghost of Bizet no less
than of Mozart must surely stir
at the thought of his demise,"
wrote The Manchester Guardian.
"But if he was a genius he was
also a licensed jester, a prodigy,
a prodkel .. . and was at all
times to be watched with awe as
well as affection, like a volcano.
Like Toscanini, he became a leg-
end in his lifetime."
Celt -to -Slenderize
'PRINTED PATTERN
4936
SIZES
14'1-24'1
1V-4 nee 14ites
Flattery for sunny days ahead!
We nominate this softly draped
neckline with a tabbed bow as
one of the prettiest for I^alf-
sizes, Skirt is so slimming.
Printed Pattern 4936; Half
Sizes 141/2, 161/2, 181,201/2, 221/2,
241/2. Size 161/2 requires 3a;%
yards 35 -inch fabric.
Send FIFTY CENTS, (stamps
cannot be accepted, use postal
note for safety) for this pattern,
Please print plainly SIZE,
NAME, ADDRESS, STYLE
NUMBER.
Send order to ANNE ADAMS,
Box 1, 123 Eighteenth SL. New
Toronto, Ont,
ANNOUNCING the biggest fa-
shion show of Spring -Summer,
1981 — pages, pages, Pages of
patterns in our new Color Cata-
logue just outs Hurry, send
35e now!
ISSUE 13 — 1951
L.
•
CHASE AWAY THE BLUES IN THE NIGHT •= Suzane Vaydo, 19,
is the only ail -night disc jockey in Toronto, Canada, and her
soothing husky voice is much appreciated, While on the air, she
gets many phone calls from night workers who just want to
talk. Of course, some callers try to arrange dates but most
are content to talk.
HR(ONICLES
AerA M
Last week the CBC program
"Close -Up" certainly gave view-
ers plenty to talk about. We
thought it was somewhat repeti-
tious but we sat it through to the
end, As we watched neither of
us was too happy about it. For
one thing we knew it must have
been rehearsed and that made
the tears and emotion seem some-
what unreal. As a show it was
excellent but as a news story .. .
I don't know, But still I don't
see how anyone could really
blame Mr. Exelby. He probably'
thought of it as just a job and
a means of making a few dol-
lars, so why not take it? I don't
suppose he anticipated any ad-
verse publicity. Apparently most
of the criticism against him was
because lie resigned from a $6000
a year job last fall, because it
showed `little promise for the
future". Well, what's wrong
with being ambitious—even if it
backfires? Without ambition
few of us would get anywhere.
Ambition is the spark that makes
an ordinary job just a stepping
stone to better things. I know
of two fellows right . now, both
in their thirties, who are resign-
ing from $6000 jobs in a few
months time. One of them is
going to England the other has
been promised a more lucrative
job in Ontario. Maybe things
won't work out for them either;
they might even be among the
unemployed before the year is
out. Birt at least they will have
shown a little initiative.
As for the unemployment sit-
uation we are not in a position
to know too much about it. Ex-
cept this. Judging from_ what we
have seen and heard the unem-
ployment problem is not nearly
so acute as it was in the
"Hungry Thirties". For one thing
men would take anything then
to earn a few dollars. Relief
payments were not sufficiently
attractive to keep men from hon-
est employment. Even white-
collar men learnt to handle a
pick and shovel.
I remember one man we hired
by the day for farm work. We
paid hint a dollar a day and
board — and he was glad to get
it, Actually it was a good wage
for unskilled labour at that time.
Some got less. This fellow had
no means of transportation—nor
hat! we, for that matter, except
a horse and buggy. He walked
a mile and a half night and
morning to and from our place
and worked from seven in the
morning to six at night. Day,
labourers had a lot of pride in
those days — they were content
with what little they could earn
rather than accept relief.
Another matter very much in
the news again now is margarine.
The battle still rages between
butter eaters and margarine buy-
ers. And still another battle
about colouring or not colouring
margarine, You,,have all heard
the arguments — buy butter and
support the farmer: buy marga-
rine and cut down the cost of
living. It is an ,argument that
has been see -sawing back and
forth for years. The Department
of Agriculture can't stop house-
wives from buying margarine so
they have tried to make it un-
attractive by prohibiting the use
of oolour. And it hasn't done
one bit of good. Housewives who
want it buy it regardless. Many
of them don't even bother to
work in the colour bud. So isn't
it time the government stopped
trying to brow -beat them into
buying butter. Women will buy
what they want anyway. Moth-
ers who have to make a number
of lunches every day think they
are saving money with marga-
rine and if another spread is
used on top of it, peanut, salmon
or sandwich meat — you can be
quite sure mother isn't wasting
her time and energy working a
colour bud into the margarine.
There is still another reason
why people buy margarine that
has nothing to do with the cost.
Sonic doctors recommend _ it, tp.
lower the daily intake of animal
fat. At the recent Heart Founda-
tion Conference corn -oil marga-
rine was recommended as being
preferable for patients with high
blood pressure. So, trying to fol-
low good advice, a housewife
may buy a pound of margarine
- doctor's orders — and then
raise her blood pressure trying
to work that darn colour bud
into the mess! You don't believe
me? Well, just you try it. The
same goes for folks with arthri-
tic hands. It could mean hours
of pain afterwards.
Incidentally I have a sugges-
tion for colouring that is some-
what revolutionary. Why not
switch the colouring around?
Have margarine sold with a deep
dandelion colouring and butter a
pale primrose yellow. Most but-
ter is coloured anyway so it
would only be a matter of put-
ting in less yellow. Years ago
in England the best butter was
always lightly coloured and with
very little salt. Cooking butter,
or salt butter, was as yellow as
a canary.
By preference I am ,a butter
eater. Fresh buttered toast —
that's for me! But my doctor
says no butter — corn -oil merge- 1
rine, Wouldn't you know it? So
that's why I'm raising any voice
against the ban on coloured
margarine. One thing I forgot to
point out — butter as a spread
goes farther than margarine. 1
have proved it.
Q. When invited to someone's
home and there are small dishes
of potato chips and peanuts plac-
ed on ' tables around the room,
is it proper for a guest to help
himself without being asked?
A. Since these dishes are oh-.
viously there for the guests. it
is quite all right to help your-
self.
WEDDING BELLS WILL RING IN JUNE — Edward Duke of Rant,
25 -year-old cousin of Queen Elizabeth and eighth tn line of suc-
cession to the throne, and his fiancee, Kathleen Worsley, 28,
daughter of Sir William and Lady Worsley, stroll in the garden
at Kensington Palace. Miss Worsley and, the Duke will be mar-
ried June 8 in the 950 -year-old St. Peter's Cathedral in York.
Making A Purchase
- Persian Style
A pleasant refuge from the
dark political concerns of Telier-
oan is the cluttered antique shop
of Solaiman Rabbi, the Jew. The
window of Solaiman Rabbi'a.
shop is as dusty and jumbled as
the interior of the store itself,
but just intriguing enough in its
array of tribal bric-a-brac, silver
daggers, and fly -speckled Perri'
an miniatures to catch the strol-
ler's eye.
Once caught, and once linger-
ing, the passer-by sees rising
slowly from the dim interior of
the shop a short figure muffled
in overcoat and fedora hat, be-
neath which horn -rimmed spec-
tacles protrude. Solaiman Rabbi
himself is coming to the door to
invite you in.
You, edge warily into the shop,
ready for prompt escape. But he
says nothing and you turn to his
cases of 'trinkets and baubles,
peer as best the poor light will
allow at stacks, of capper trays
turned green with age. There is
nothing , . . and at that moment
Solaiman Rabbi comes forward
again,
"You are interested in old
Persian miniatures?" he asks,
peering up from beneath his hat.
You are willing to look at them,
you reply, and he shuffles to-
ward a back room.
A woman huddled by an oil -
burning hearer -for the winter
is cold in Teheran — watches
your movement from front to
back. The back room is worse
than the front in its clutter, fall-
ing just short of being a flea
market of junk. Switching on a
naked light bulb, Solaiman Rabbi
takes down a battered portfolio
and clears a space on the crack-
ed top of a glass case,
"Here are pages from old
books of Persian poetry," he ex-
plains, "made 140 to 150 years
ago, during the Qajar dynasty."
He scrubs a dry and dirty hand
across the surface of one page.
"You see? Mineral colors .. ,
they will never change."
Each page he extracts from the
SALLY'S SALLIES
'Himself said, 'You'll have to
carry ire In'."
portfolio is yellowed with age
and crumbling at the edges, but
in the center of each page, glow-
ing in soft colors like a jewel, is
a painted Persian scene, illustrat-
ing the 'lines of poetry hand -
painted on the page above and
below the miniature, writes
Harry B. Ellis in the Christian
Science Monitor.
The colors, when held to the
light, give off a dull sheen of
quality, not gaudy or bright.
Horsemen with drawn swords
charge at each other across fields
of flowers. Other horsemen in
flowing robes play polo on a
green field, There are quleler
scenes—men and women picnic
beneath a flowering tree, each
blossom delineated with care,
each fold of cloth, each tuft of
grass. In Persian painting there
is no vacuum; space itself does
not suggest, as in Japanese and
Chinese art. Instead, the painter
of Persian miniatures, his deli-
cate brush tipped with gold, or
orange, blue, green, or pink,
touches glowing color to the very
limits of his picture.
Page after page Solaiman Rab-
bi turns over. -A-beggar in an
orange robe and white turban
importunes a passer-by, who
hesitates beneath the pink blos-
som's of a graceful tree. A noble-
man,
obleman, cross-legged on a golden
divan set in a meadowof flow-
ers, converses with two follow-
ers, seated on lesser and lower
chairs of gold.
You know, as you gaze at'
these unctuous pictures, that you
will not go away empty-handed.
"If I buy two," you say to
Solaiman Rabbi, "what kind of
price will- you give me?"
He fixes you behind his
glasses.
"Thi; is your first time in my
shop. I have given you a bro-
ther's price. Every six months
I may find such a book in some
village. They do not make them
any more ... There is only one
price."
An Iranian enters and speaks
to Solaiman Rabbi in Persian.
The latter fetches a dozen pieces
of oddly shaced green the and
the customer rrrts them though.
What Solaiman Rabbi said about
price may or may not be true,
but by the time he comes back
you have' agreed within yourself
to pay what he asks.
He rolls up your treasure in a
bit of paper and you place it
under your coat igainst the rain
which has started to fall outside
in the Persian dusk. You start
back to your hotel room, some-
how fortified to face the com-
plexities of modern Iran.
I do not care for -arguments,
It's seldom that I'm in one;
I think that they're a waste of
time—
Unless; of course, I win one!
Modern Etiquette
BY Anne Ashley
Q, When you have received 4
business letter signed by a woen-
all, and you are .uncertain as t
whether she Is "Miss" or "Mrs.,"
low do you address your reply?
A. When in doubt, always use
"Miss." ,
Q. Is it all rightfor a man to
use only his initials when sign-
ing social correspondence?
A. No; he should sign his, lull:
name.
Q. Just what is the correct
way to eat peas?
A. With the fork. Correctly;
push the ends of the tines of
your fork under the peas and
lift a not -too -big mouthful onto
the fork,
Q. Would it he fitting for a
father an announce the engage-
ment of his daughter to a gather-
ing of 'relatives and friends in
his home in the form of a• toast
and, if so, what would be an
appropriate toast?
A. This isquite proper. Usu.,
ally, champagne is brought out
and when everyone has been
served, the father raises his glass
and says something like this:
"To my daughter, Margaret, and
my future son-in-law, Bob. Shall
we drink to their happiness?"
Q. I aux separated from toy
husband. When writing my
name, should I use my husband's
full name, or should I use my
first name in conjunction with
his last name?
A. Although separated, you are
still "Mrs. John Smith," Should
you become divorced, you Will
become "Mrs. Mary Burton
Smith," combining your maiden
name with your married nine.
"Hundreds of women in Cana-
da have taken up law," states a
judge. There are also thousands
who lay it down,
Catch' Baby's Eye
One -of -a -kind gift! Dali;,ha a
new mom with this dainty s rib
cc carriage cover. Easy to make-
Perasol - pretty cover ! Baby
loves gay colours — use scraps
for patches; kittens are em-
broidered swiftly. Pattern 827:
nine 5x7 -inch motifs; charts: di-
rections.
Send THIRTY -FIVE CENTS
(stamps cannot be accepted use
postal 'note 'for safety) for this .•
pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box'
1, 123 Eighteenth St., New 'Par-
ente, Ont. Print plainly PAT-
TERN NUMBER, your NAME
and ADDRESS.
JUST OFF THE PRESS! Send
now for our exciting, new 1961
Needlecraft Catalogue. Over 125
designs 'to crochet, knit, sew,
embroider, quilt, weave — fa-
shions, homefurnishings, toys,
gifts bazaar hits, Plus FREE —
instructions for six smart •veil
caps. Hurry, send 250' now!
PASS THE TEAR BOTTLE, PLEASE — End of the world? No, End of tournament basketball game in which the team
of Shortridge High School lost by a point to its archrival in Indianapolis. The girls, Shortridgo rooters, of Course,