Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-25
PROD|G|ES IN MUSIC
Most of Them Mere Creations
of Puff.
HOW THEY ARE MADE
ENTERPRISING MANAGERS MAKE
FORTUNES WITH THEM.
But New Workers. Are Now on to the
Scheme and Hold
Aloof.
HOW THEY ARE MADE

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, October "a, 1902.
The magnihcation Of European musical
ncnenities by paid buffers planted at con-
venient posts on the continent for the pur-
pose Of bringing them out on this side has
at length been seen through by the New
Workers, as, in all probability, the mean
Jugglery has been penetrated by discern
Ing people all over the country. The modus
operandi Is simple, but for a good many
years 1t was mighty effective.
Some shrewd New York manager, prowl
Ing about Europe during the summer
months for the benefit of his health and
his pocket, hears, at obscure con-
servatory or other, the performance Of a
lad who is pretty clever sort of technf
cist, say, the violin. In addition the lad
has much hair and the large, hollow eyes
! necessarily possessed by a growth stunted
human being, whose folks idiotically force
him to practice for twelve or fourteen hours
day on his instrument. The shrewd New
York manager perceives instanter the posi-
bilities of the youth. and he makes haste to
come to terms with the young mans people.
This is easy enough-the lad has never at
tracted any special attention in his own
community, and the very highest they hope
for him. at the end of his long years of In
cessant instruction and practice, Is that he
might at the wind-up of 1t all pull out
fairly profitable job a concert master or
one of the first violins with a good orches-
ira. When the Yankee" manager comes
their way. however. they hold out for what
seems tremendously stiff terms to them
and they get them out of hand. The terms
that seem so stiff to them are almost foolish
in their modesty to the view of the man
| n hl hHya fav,on hat
done with the aid of puffology, and what
huge moneymaker the subject of the pro-
fessional puffologist can be made.
Then the Putting Begins.
So, the bargain made, and the fairly
good technicist of violin-playing boy being
under contract to tour United States of
America ''virtuoso,' the puffology be-
gins. The manager Immediately cables to the
New York papers that he has engaged for
| the approa ching season the great. the phe-
nomental krakatoa, the extraordinary Mag
| var boy, who has amazed Europe with his
maSterful violin playing, who was recently
invited to play for the car and afterward
| presented by the czar with the order of
| the Ta-ra-rum. who walked away with the
! 1shkozinsky prize at the Buda-Pesth acad
| envy without even half trying who is said
to have firmly declined the offer of marriage
| of one of the greatest princesses of Europe,
| who looks not unlike the Able List in the
| latter's earlier days"-and so on, ad naus-
| cam. This Is the beginning of it. Then the
manage in Europe proceeds to assemble
| his gang of skllful puffologists and these
| chaps begin to besiege the New York
| sheets with stories about the marvel
Gus Krakatoa. The stuff that they get
| Is extraordinary in character as well
| as in quantity There are stories of
| the phenom's infantile days, the poverty Of
| his early surroundings, the humility of his
OLD dad of wooden -Shop1 gardener
| for a grand duke. the enthusiasm of his
| strong-willed mother over the marvellous
nature of Krakatoa from his very cradle.
the ease with which he mastered all of the
intricaces of NieuXtemps' etudes when he
was only trifle over four years of age.
how, when he was only six. he so won upon
the emotions of the eccentric King of Bari
taria that the latter hoped out of his sec
ond-tier box onto the stage and frantcally
embraced the juvenile violinist, etc. Occa-
sionally they send over expensive cable
grams to the New York papers, giving the
details of some new eccentricity of the
great boy fiddler.
The Process on This Side
And then, on this side. another merry
game is started. 1t is suddenly announced
that two famous New York managers who
had been travelling in Europe at the same
time the one who secured the contract
with Krakatoa claiming prior rights
to the lads services, basing their claims
upon verbal contracts made with the lads
parents and eldest brother long time be-
fore the signing Of the written contract
and so on. Threats Of suits are entered. The
two New York managers with the prior YER
bal contracts storm notwithstanding to the
puffologfsts stationed on this side-with
statements of suits that they are going to
enter for heavy damages, in addition to a
division of the profits Of the boys tour in
the United States. 1t Is beautiful game
The papers are cluttered with rumors of
\
managers" who all the time. are taking
their schnapps together in quiet little cafes
and foXily winking the other eye.
The marvellous Krakatoa, king-pin Of the
kiyoodlers on the violin, arrives. A hun
dred snap-shooters take shots at him as he
stands the pier. His impressions of
America are in type before he has taken
cab for his hotel. His clothes, his hair his
hands, his feet. his soulful eyes, the whole
cut of his jib stand out in the New York
papers for days in overpoweringly slushy
descriptions. He appears and plays-not
like Ysaye, not like a Sarasate-but he
plays pretty well. His technique is first
rate considering his youth, but there is no
mellowness to his music, note Of matu-
rity. which Is another word for suffering in
It. 1t has the hardness and the cragginess
of hobbledehoy immaturity. But the puff
ologists claaue is on hand. and they set up
a merry clamor. They are both men and
women this claque. and some of them faint
from emotion over the marvellous Kraka-
toa's performance, others Waylay him and
hug him after he leaves the stage for his
carriage. others make as if to haul the car
riage through the streets themselves-and 1t
is done. The boy traipses through the coun-
try the press puffologssts still before him
and behind him. When his tour is at an end
it is compaisantly announced that he has
cleaned up little bagatelle of $500, 600. It
may not be anything like that amount, but
Still it is always a great sum, and the boy
only gets a small rake off from it-but Is
content. for is he not returning to his "be-
loved United States next year, with q
manager from whom he can compel much
better terms.
Scheme About Played Out.
This thing has been worked in New York,
and hence on throughout the country, a
good many times, but there are sundry and