Then-President Truman didn't find that terribly illuminating, and fired off an intemperate response to Hume: "I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful," &c., &c. After Truman's letter became public, mail to the White House was reported to run 80-20 in the President's favor.
In that other 20 percent was a letter from Mr. and Mrs. William Banning of Connecticut:
Mr. Truman,Enclosed with the letter was a Purple Heart. Truman kept the letter and the medal in his desk drawer for many years.
As you have been directly responsible for the loss of our son's life in Korea, you might just as well keep this emblem on display in your trophy room, as a memory of one of your historic deeds. One major regret at this time is that your daughter was not there to receive the same treatment as our son received in Korea.
6 comments:
Wow.
I almost blogged that Hume review yesterday, and if I had, my only comment would have been "Small voice of fair quality, sings flat most of the time: not good qualities for a professional singer."
She (Truman) couldn't write either.
I confess to enjoying Murder at the Smithsonian during a brief mystery-novel period. It was at least better than that lady who was working her way through the alphabet.
One major regret at this time is that your daughter was not there to receive the same treatment as our son received in Korea.
[Stuffy British accent] One is invariably reminded of the pop singer Morrissey's bon mot after Margaret Thatcher was almost blown to smithereens by an IRA bomb at a Tory Party conference in Brighton: "The sorrow of the Brighton bombing is that she escaped unscathed. The sorrow is that she's still alive. But I feel relatively happy about it. I think that for once the IRA were accurate in selecting their targets." [/accent]
Can the President have seen Virgil Thomson's Herald Tribune review of December 21 1949?
"The voice is small in size and not at all beautiful ... Of temperament, of the quality that enables a musician to bring music to life, she seems to have none at all."
And so on. It can be found in VT's collection "Music Right and Left" (1951).
I was only about 10 at the time but I remember Harry offering to punch the reviewer in the nose.
I enjoy reading bad literature, (take Steve Allen, for example) it aids the appreciation of the craft (take Jeremy Denk, for instance)
Sorta like P.D.Q. helps with music.
Murder at the Smithsonian
was fun, even funny. A Bulwar Lytton gem.
As to the other, I gave up at "D is for Don't Bother"
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