Word: fiddler
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...take Petrillo's place as president of the American Federation of Musicians, the assembled delegates elected Little Caesar's own nominee, Herman David Kenin, 56, the union's West Coast representative. A onetime fiddler and bandleader, New Jersey-born Kenin practiced law in Portland, Ore. and dabbled in union politics for 22 years, gave up his law practice in 1943, when he became a member of the A.F.M.'s executive board. His grey-flannel-suited unionism is as remote from Jimmy's overpadded whoop-and-holler style as the violin section from the brasses...
...trumpets in the band, I was the 14th trumpet"). When he hit the top, he called the tune: nobody, from Liberace to Rubinstein, it turned out. could play an instrument for pay in the U.S. without his consent. "What's the difference," he demanded, "between Heifetz and a fiddler in a tavern?" Once he decided to give a concert honoring Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly for political favors, and "suggested" to 23 bandleaders, including Paul Whiteman, Fred Waring. Tommy Dorsey and Kay Kyser, that they bring their orchestras to Chicago at their own expense. They all came, and with them...
...Kaye, guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic for its Pension Fund Benefit, had Carnegie Hall patrons collapsing with guffaws. Unable to read music, Conductor Kaye directed some favorite classics surprisingly well, had audience and orchestra falling from their chairs by: 1) kissing two girl harpists and a bull fiddler; 2) parodying common conductorial techniques, i.e., "the coffee grinder" and "the meat chopper"; 3) arguing with his oboist over an A; 4) falling into the cellos during a crescendo. Said Kaye: "It's the greatest feeling of neurotic power in the world...
...took to the fight with gusto. The rival performers matched each other acrobat for acrobat, lady fiddler for lady fiddler, fight champ for fight loser (as Sullivan and Allen did after the Patterson-Rademacher fight) and, in the end, even blow for blow. When the singer socked the comedian, remarked one character, "it was like George Washington spitting on the American flag...
...voyage back was a terror. Off Cape Cod, Boston almost crashed into rocks; a ship nearly ran down Fiddler's Green. When Boston stumbled ashore in Swampscott one day last week, it was 3 in the morning. "I couldn't find anyone-not even a policeman-to take me home," he said. "I had to walk the quarter-mile." After 25 days at sea, Boston was a severe case of nervous exhaustion. "I've had it," he gasped. "I'll never try it again...