[Harp-L] Larry Adler

[Mick Zaklan]

Hi George,
   Our library only had a couple of Gershwin biographies, but I made a
point of reading the larger of the two awhile back.  Couldn't find any
mention of Larry in it and it was pretty exhaustive.  I've read a fair
amount of stuff over the years about George Gershwin and Larry is never
mentioned.  I hope you can unearth a connection other than Larry's own
biography.  I would hate to think that he made this stuff up.
   When Larry played the Tango, celebrities showed up.  I remember reading
that Bette Davis popped in.  In gossip columnist Irv Kupcinet's
autobiography, he gives an interesting account of a drunken Truman Capote
causing a disturbance during Larry's performance.  Myself, I was there the
night Sir George Solti, conductor of the Chicago Symphony, came in and
later extended an invitation to Larry to play with the orchestra.
   I'll always remember one night in particular.  Since I was alone, they
moved me to a table with a half dozen members of the Fred Waring
Pennsylvanians (a choral group) and a very tipsy IBM executive named Don
who had played harmonica since he was a kid.  Apparently the choral group
carried a female dancer and that's why they were there.  She had studied
with Larry's old partner, dancer Paul Draper.  Larry sat down with us and
chatted quite bit.  The IBM executive wound up picking up the tab for the
whole table.  "Somewhere out there," he told us, "there's a bunch of IBM
executives trying to get laid.  I told them I was going to see the world's
greatest harmonica player.  They laughed at me."

Mick Zaklan