SHURA CHERKASSKY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 480, 9 October 1928, Page 14

SHURA CHERKASSKY

COMING TO AUCKLAND Fourteen years ago an Austrian Archduke and his consort were being driven through the crowded streets of a Bosnian town. At the same time in a big city by the Black Sea there was a baby boy of two, running about the house, clinging to the skirts of his mother and looking up into her face.to read there the meaning of her words. Had the baby been killed then it would have made no difference to the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria. But when he was assassinated in Serajevo it made all the difference to this little boy, for all Europe was immediately plunged into war. The conflagration involved Odessa, where the mother and her boy -were living, and terrible was the ordeal through which all in that city had passed. But the mother seems to have known as soon as her boy was born that she had given a wonder-child to the world. Being a teacher of music herself, she taught him all she knew, and when the chance came, after years of suffering in Odessa, she saw her hope in flight from a city of horrors to one of peace, across the North Atlantic. There she sought aid for her child in the right development of the priceless gifts which she knew were his, and so it came about that in Baltimore her son, Shura Cherkassky, was first manifested to the world as a genius, a born master of pianoforte. “The appearance of this young master, now 16 years old, at the Town Hall last night was an unforgettable experience,” writes a Wellington critic. “He came on to the platform, a short, stockily-built youth, dark in complexion, of immobile features, unsophisticated in appearance, and bowing head almost below the knees in acknowledgment of his friendly reception. It was quickly realised by everyone in that hall at the opening of the recital in his forceful playing of the National Anthem that he was an artist of great musical attainments, for instead of the usual perfunctory strumming of the National Anthem, the audience heard and recognised a work of power and beauty as he interpreted it.” Ov«r 20,000 peoplb take part in British International’s super-production, “Moulin Rouge,” which wil be seen in New Zealand in the near future. It was produced by E. A. Dupont, the man responsible for “Variety,” and the wellknown comedian George Gee plays a small, vivid part. It is, without doubt, the most glittering English film yet made, a triumph of spectacular achievement. A flower shop belonging to Marian Nixon was used in filming “Jazz Mad,” Universal’s great dramatic production. Miss Nixon, who plays a featured part in the production, conducts the business as one of her hobbies. Jean Hersholt is starring and George Lewis plays another featured role. The famous Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and its conductor, Alfred Hertz, are featured prominently.