No Silver Spoon

Twenty years ago Violinist Albert Spalding decided that it was a handicap to be the son of a man so rich as James Walter Spalding, board chairman of A. G. Spalding & Bros., famed sporting goods concern.* First concerts never pay for themselves. All young musicians start out with patrons. But poor boys, even though patronized, succeed far better than rich ones in capturing popular imagination. Silver-spoon talent is regarded as unlikely. Albert Spalding's debut was received with a certain suspicion. Says he: "The audience seemed to expect me to come out in a baseball suit." The wise Spaldings lost little time in sizing up the situation. Father Spalding suggested that his son forego subsidized concerts, start barnstorming, play in small towns for small fees. Through Russia, at 22, Albert traveled second and third class, playing one-night stands. No one knew he was the son of a sporting goods tycoon. His manager was a shyster and pocketed all the receipts. But Spalding made a name for himself, lived down his comfortable background. Today no U. S. musician has greater honor in his own country and in Europe than. Violinist Spalding. Recently in Europe he gave 50 concerts with unusual success, in Berlin had highest praise for his playing of a Beethoven concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic under Conductor Karl Muck. In Manhattan last week he gave one of 50 recitals scheduled for the U. S., played with rare skill and sensitiveness a Porpora-Mozart-Beethoven program salted with pleasant short compositions of his own. Spalding's personality as well as his playing finds favor with his audiences. He is tall, distinguished-looking, dignified. Upper-class Americans admire him because he looks so much like one of themselves. He served during the War as an aviation officer, was awarded the Cross of the Crown of Italy, highest Italian honor ever given a foreign-born citizen. He plays excellent tennis, once won the amateur championship of Massachusetts. He has a home in Great Barrington (Mass.), another in Italy.

* Albert Goodwill Spalding died in 1915. He and his brother organized their business in 1876.

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