Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-04-10
John McCormack's Genius
Quickly Brings Him Fame
Chance Song Raises Him to
Pinnacle of Fame as Cy-
riI's Born.

It is an old saying that genius tri-
umphs over time. What we usually
mean when we use this saying is that
time, which wears away mountains
and fills up valleys and scatters to
| the winds the dust of millions of I'M
! remembered men, is unable to wipe
/ out of existence the vital, vivifylng
personal force which we describe
under the name of genius. The great
| are immortal.
But there is another sense in which
genius triumphs over time. Genius
oVerrides the obstacles which time
presents and accomplishes within the
brief space of a few years what 9TH
ers could not accomplish In life
time.
A notable instance of this is fur
nished In the career of John McCor-
mack, the great lyric tenor who is to
appear in a recital at the Palace
Ballroom, Blocker and Washington
streets, next Tuesday evening.
Mccormack is now in his twenty
ninth year. When he was twenty
two years old he returned to London
from Italy, where he had been
studying under a great italian mas
ter, Sabbitini, and found In the vast
metropolis that he was only one of
thousands of young singers striving
to battle their way to recognition.
He was not even name In the mu-
steal world of London.
He called upon a certain manager
and offered to work for $25 a week.
The manager shook his head. About
q month ago the same manager Of
fered Mccormack $3.50 a concert for
a series of twenty-one concerts In
the British islands-just fifty times
as much as the figure which was
turned down seven years before. Ii
Mccormack had not been a genius
he never could have accomp ished
what he did in the short space OF
seven years. And so, in more senses
than one, genius triumphs over time.
But chance sometimes comes to the
aid of genius. Some people call it
luck. Others call it opportunity.
Chance, luck, opportunity-call 1t
what you will-came to the aid of
Mccormack when a person of great
influence happened to hear him sing.
This person became interested in him
and obtained for him an engagement
to appear at one of the Boosey Ballad
concerts in London. 1t was the big
concert of the season. On the pro-
gram were the names of some of the
worlds best known singers The
name of Mccormack meant nothing
to anyone in the audience except to
few of his friends. He was down
for only one number. The others on
the program had two appearances.
"The house was like an icicle when
l stepped out on the platform says
Mccormack.
But the ice quickly melted. The
other artists got the usual single
encore, but the young Irish boy was
called out three times. The next
day every paper In London spoke of
the remarkable young tenor who had
created such a sensation at the con-
cert in Albert Hail. Like Lord
Byron, he had become famous over
night.
Immediately after the concert Nc
Cormack sent a wire to his wife, then
with her parents in Dublin, telling
her of the hit he had scored, He |
barely had time to glance over the
papers the following morning when |
there came an answering wire from
his father-in-law:
Double congratulations, Johnny.
A new tenor has arrived"
That is when little Cyril, known
as "daddy's brother" made his debut
on this earthly scene.
After that single concert there was
no question as to McCormack's
standing in the artistic world. The
next season he was engaged to sing
IN Covent Garden. He was the
youngest singer who had ever APP
peared there in leading roles. Every
season since then he has been one of
the singers there.
"John Mccormack" remarked the
London Times last year, has estab-