Manhattan at Mid-Century by Myrna Katz Frommer & Harvey Frommer

Author:Myrna Katz Frommer & Harvey Frommer [Frommer, Myrna Katz & Frommer, Harvey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Published: 2013-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

President Eisenhower unveiling plans for Lincoln Center in 1959, which “transformed the West Side.”

ROBERT MERRILL: Together with a few other artists, I went to the new opera house at Lincoln Center to try it out before it opened officially. Some said it was too large. I did not think so. If you sing correctly and project, you’ll sing well in every house. I did not miss the old Met. It had become difficult to create new productions there, to store scenery. Between productions, sets had to be moved to a warehouse. The old Met had had its day.

STANLEY DRUCKER: Once there was a Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, that was the end of the Lewisohn Stadium summer concerts. An air-conditioned venue was preferable to an outdoor theater, and City College did other things with the site. But what a marvelous thing it used to be to play out in the open air on a summer night. You couldn’t beat it.

Under the name of Stadium Symphony, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra would play a six- or eight-week season at Lewisohn Stadium, the athletic field of City College. It was a Greek-style colonnaded arena of concrete benches with some tables and chairs down below that held twenty-five thousand or more. Tickets cost from twenty-five cents to $1.20. We played six nights a week, had only one rehearsal per concert, and performed a different program every night. We covered so much music, all the Beethoven, all the Tchaikovsky.

KEN LIBO: There could be a symphony, a singer, a concert pianist, all top-notch acts. I may very well have seen Leonard Bernstein conduct, I may have seen the Pittsburgh Symphony, I may have heard Lily Pons sing. Graduations were held there.

Minnie Guggenheimer’s mother was friendly with Adolph Lewisohn, which is how Minnie got the job of organizing the concerts and introducing the performers. She always made intermission speeches, prefacing her remarks with “Hello, everybody,” and the audience would answer back, “Hello, Minnie.” Once a member of the royal family in England was in attendance, and he got lost somehow. Minnie grabbed the microphone and called out, “Here, Prince. Here, Prince.”

Now it’s quite dreadful, really horrible. If you want to see a prison, why go to Danamora up the river? Save yourself the trouble. Go to Amsterdam Avenue and 136th Street to see this prison-like structure that is used for science—what else?—where Lewisohn Stadium used to be.

STANLEY DRUCKER: When I joined the Philharmonic in 1948, Bruno Walter was the chief conductor. The other conductors were Leopold Stokowski, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Charles Munch, Leonard Bernstein—a couple of good names. They were all top level. In New York you got the best the world had to offer. Some I loved less than others, but I respected and learned from each one. You collaborate with a conductor. It’s like playing a duet. It’s communication by a gesture, a look.

When Bruno Walter came out on stage, you thought you were in a cathedral. He walked slowly, his expression was serious. But his approach was quite emotional.

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