Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 2000/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Toscanini Fired!
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 19:31:10 -0400

This was too good not to pass on!

>> September 12, 1953 --- Rotters News Agency
>> Top management at NBC announced today that famed conductor Arturo
>> Toscanini had been fired. This was a result of his failure to
>> conform to the network's "zero tolerance" policy imposed last
>> spring.
>> Toscanini, famed for his volcanic outbursts of temper, had been
>> walking on the thin edge of dismissal since the network, reacting
>> to charges of breaking of batons, throwing of metronomes, defacement
>> of symphonic scores, verbal abuse of orchestra members, criticism of
>> other conductors interpretations, lack of respect for Mussolini's
>> fascist regime in Italy, refusal to conduct Alfano's completion of
>> at the Metropolitan Opera (Geraldine Ferrar was among the names
>> rumored), playing Mozart at excessive speeds, and numerous other
>> offenses, put him on notice that his very next infraction would be
>> his last.
>> The final straw occurred when Toscanini, leaving studio 8-H after a
>> rehearsal, was accosted by a young man who asked him "Hey, Artie,
>> how's things goin'?" The youth claimed that he was physically and
>> verbally assaulted by the Italian firebrand, resulting in severe
>> mental trauma. Toscanini claimed that he had merely grasped the
>> young man by the elbow and told him in an avuncular tone, "Young
>> man, I'm not 'Artie,' to you or any other young punk. Call me
>> 'Maestro Toscanini' and have respect for your elders and betters!"
>> The orchestra's librarian, carrying an armload of broken batons,
>> said that he had witnessed the incident, and supported Toscanini's
>> version of the story. Some observers sympathetic to Toscanini
>> suspect a "set up," since the young man is the son of a New York
>> jazz critic who has been severely critical of Toscanini and his
>> "elitist repertory" and failure to play any music jazzier than that
>> of Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."
>> Orchestra members generally regretted the departure of the conductor,
>> saying "He was a tough old SOB, but he made us play better." However,
>> NBC management said that the image projected by the celebrated martinet
>> was "incompatible with the network's desire to conform to today's
>> culturally diversified climate of political correctness."
>> --Ward Hardman

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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