Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1916-01-14
The Story OF sGredt irish Sinat,

About Man Who Has Sung His
Way Into the Hearts OF
American People.
The following is quoted from.
biographical article by Jane
Lee, appearing in PICTORIAL
REVIEW, February. 1916
This is the true story of John
Mccormack, the most beloved
concert singer in the world to-
day, yet it reads like a veritable
twentieth-century fairy-tale.-
The millions who have heard his
melodious voice will be glad to
read it, and the few thousands
who have yet to hear him sing
Il Hear You Calling Me" will
marvel, but they must believe.
Always l go to hear John
Mccormack in highly critical
mood, promising myself to de-
tect the inevitable flaw in a
singers technique. And always
l end in bathing my soul ir mel.
ody-and forgetting technique. :"
! So said pianist and composer
who has given his life to the
THEORY of music.
i Il may not know Bach from
Chopin-I'll confess to having
slipped out of the Metropolitan
'IOpera House with the last act of
Lohengrin still to come because
was bored, but l can feel the
harmonies of any composer and
believe myself music-lover at 4
Mccormack recital"
This from a clear-headed bust.
. ness man.
i All of which goes to explain
J why John Mccormack is the
musical idol of the unmusical
I public, that great mass of PEG.
: lple honest enough to admit that
melody means more to them than
technique.
| One glorious mid-Winter af'
, ternoon, when New York shed
Tits mantle of sordidness and
. lseemed to smile up to heaven it.
self, l stood watching the Sun
day afternoon concert crowd pour
I into Carnegie Hall. They ca me
, in small motors and big linn
cuisines, in taxis and trolleys
] thousands Of them walked. Dis
Itances were forgotten, heads
were up, lips were humming half.
forgotten airs. Women who had
slipped away from afternoon teas
, and formal receptions eagerly
sought the first tier boxes! Mer
and women of varied business
. and professional interests crowd
: led the orchestra stalls; students
working folks, and musicians
packed the topmost galleries
while those WHO could find nc
, Ispace in the great auditorium
filled the stage. And as turned
to take my place in the long
winding line. tiny bit of a wo
, man, clad in rusty black, with
Iscant hair parted beneath a bon.
net of 1900 style, showed me he,
precious ticket as you might cal
atteltion to some treasure. APP.
Iparently a Mccormack concert
ticket was worth more than its
face value to her.
/ DO you think he'll sing
Mother Machree' to-day p she
asked me. II had to pay a dol.
lar for this cause the cheaper
ones were all gone-but if he
sings Mother Machree' I'll not
think of the price at ALL"
| AS we reached the steps. we
rubbed elbows with white-hair-
led woman swathed in furs of
priceless value, radiating the
perfume Of rare violets as she
guided a group of young girls
from her motor to her box.
"Oh. Grandmother, do you
think he'll sing. All! Moon of
my Delight ! from In Persian
Garden ? just adore that.
record" cried one of them.
And that is why John McCor.
mack is the biggest money-nak-
er in the musical world to-day.
SURPRISING in income even the
lgreat Caruso. He gives the
music-hungry world the music it
can understand, and with it he
gives himself; compelling.
democratic, "I'm-one-of-you' per-
|sonality.
dropped out of the line when
we reached the lobby and watch
ed the crowds clamoring at the
box-offce, and with my own eyes
l saw over two thousand people
turned awav. Then the fire-in-|
spectors took hand and closed
the doors, but not until after a |