OSCAR STRAUS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21248, 19 October 1940, Page 13 (Supplement)

OSCAR STRAUS

COMPOSER REPORTED MISSING HUMBLE JEWISH ORIGIN (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, August 20. Oscar Straus, composer of the “Chocolate Soldier,” which is being revival in London, is “missing.” reports the Evening Standard. Some of his friends say he is still in France, others that he is safe in Switzerland. He was in Paris early in the spring. Just before the war France granted him its citizenship as a tribute to his services to the French theatre. He had no residential qualification, having previously stayed in France only for a few months. Another former Austrian who became a naturalised Frenchman at the same time was Kreisler, now in America. , Oscar Straus was one of the bestknown Viennese composers. His “Waltz Dream” has been performed some 35,000 times in 30 years, a record challenged only by “Lilac Time,” “The Merry Widow” and his

own. “Chocolate Soldier.” Mr Shaw Bargained Straus, who is tall, slightly stooping. and a witty conversationalist, ■ rivals Ernst Lubitsch’s consumption jof cigars, according to Hollywood ! statistics. He stresses the point that ! his name has only one “s,” unlike { Johann Strauss and Dr. Richard I (“Rosenkavalier”) Strauss. | He is of humble Jewish origin and j started his musical career as a conI ductor in Vienna. j He speaks Client English and came : often to London to discuss the proj duction of his latest play, “Three Waltzes.” This was shown here as a ! French film, but has not yet been produced on the London stage. | Straus told me then that he had j never met Mr Shaw and that his i agents struggled and bargained with l G.B.S. over the musical comedy ; 1 rights for his play, “Arms and the i Man,” which Straus turned into the ; “Chocolate Soldier.” Shaw never liked the idea, but finally gave his consent on hearing Straus’s tuneful ' music.