BEECHAM’S BATON BOUND FOR U.S.A.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17998, 8 November 1926, Page 1

BEECHAM’S BATON BOUND FOR U.S.A.

BY SINBAD. Sir Thomas Beecham, so they say, is shaking off Great Britain's dust, and making tracks for U.S.A., for in that land he’ll put his trust. “ The British Lion,” he declares, “ has grown decrepit now with age; he cannot manage his affairs, and quite unchecked the strikers rage. The people now one can't expect to have an ear for music good, and that is where I must object, for music is my livelihood. I think I shoot a symphony with more than customary skill, but do the people come to see? .Nay! Rather they the Night Clubs fill. And when at Co vent Garden they put on an operatic show, the people shun the place and say: ‘ Oh, only squeaks and squawks, you know.’ I've waved the baton far too long in Britain for too little thanks. I’ll work no longer for a song, I’m going over to the Yanks. The bouncing band of Babbitts great I praise in terms extremely high. They know how to appreciate a great musician such as I.” Thus Beecham emigrates with glee—in England he has prospered ill, but surely in departing he has .handed out a bitter pill.