Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-01

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were the typical New York groupS-conglomer-
ate races and all that. I'd get one group started
and then move on. Before long was doing
this in many sections of the country. Sud
denly was amazed to find that was being
sent abroad on a European engagement.
ga the ship was preparing to take of.
suddenly heard the sound of music on
the pier, and looking down saw the strangest
assortment of kids ever brought together-they
were a hundred assorted youngsters from
couple of schools. These enterprising youths,
after my original training, had organize6&Ss
band and had come down to serenade me.
That's how my first band was organized,
you please. I had little or nothing to do with
it. Those sweet kids had decided to surprise
me, and there and then decided to surprise
them. I made up my mind that, when got
back I'd organize them into an orchestra"
The Minevitchs, once prosperous merchants
Of Kiev. had come upon unhappier times and
set sail from Riga to America, with its prom
Use of opportunities They settled first in
Boston, later coming to New York.
There were seven youngsters" Minevich re-
lates, land my mother was determined that,
however hard she might have to work, they
would get an opportunity. Well, she managed
to send one brother through Massachusetts,
Tech and turn him into an engineer; a couple
of my sisters achieved Radcliffe, and all Of
them had good educations, But when 1t came
to me, there was no money left. sold papers
and did the usual jobs during grammar school
days. One of my brothers got business break
and got year at Columbia University. The
tuition was too much, and had to go to the
free City College Meanwhile, a brother who
had made quite fortune out of a dye he in
vented during war times lost all his money
when the German products came back; my sis
tiers had all married Harvard students-and you.
know how much an average graduate and pro-
fessor earns at first-and so, there was, Airt-
ing with necessity.
"YoU learn to be shrewd over on the East
Side, and watching the various merch-
ants who make up that feverish, turbulent quar-
ter, got bright idea. During the Summer
season, vendors go about with little carts carry
ing soft drinks.
"They go through the pushcarts Of Orchard
street, and they parade up and down among
the stands and shops of Grand street. This
seemed to me just the thing to do. My brother
had come upon some sort of powder which,
when mixed, made palatable lemonade.
And so was organized the Lemon Products
Corporation, with headquarters in dark, tiny
room over tailor shop. He made the lemon
ade and I went through the Ghetto selling 1t.
But was ambitious. Like all youngsters of
my neighborhood, had been to Coney Island
more IMAM once. i Qec1OeQ TO Drancn OUT, 10
get away from the East Side and join the Sum
day crowds at Coney.
"Once had made the break, I learned q
quick and disturbing lesson. found that
Coney had undergone a change Of taste. The
crowd was going in for orange drinks, and
lemonade wasn't popular any more. And the
Lemon Products Company had no orange prep
aration. That didn't bother me. Deciding that
there would be more money in wholesaing,
had gone to several dozen stands and de-
scribed the merits of absolutely fictitious
orange drink.
ITO my amazement, left with big list Of
orders. They were to be delivered before Sum
day-the day of days at Coney. 1t was now a
Wednesday. The Lemon Products Corporation
went into a quick huddle How were we going
to fill the orders?
Today young Minevitch is AN international
figure. He has lived in a veritable palace off
the Paris boulevards while playing half years
engagement in one of the music halls; he has
demonstrated to the Prince Of Wales how 70
play Yankee Doodle"
Minevitch has never forgotten his Ghetto
days nor the lads Of the streets. His dressing
room receives . dozen tattered boys each day.
tCOpyr1Eht. 1902