Show I I IWHO'S WHO'S NEWS NET THIS WEEK By Lemuel F. F Parton I I IA A Modem Modern Cellini V E YORK Pietro Pietro Mas- Mas Mascagni MasI Mascagni I NEW N cagni the greatest living Italian composer was quite angry and unforgiving about America after his tour of 1902 He has simmered down a lot with the years and now at sev sev- four enty-four he plans another tour this summer with the orchestra of the famous La Scala opera house It is of course course big news in the musical world but the shaggy old composer probably will land on the news pages too as he has a way wa of touching oft off of excitement of one sort or other not other not always musical First oft off there was that unhappy business about the maestros maestro's shirts on on that 1902 tour lour our The laundries tore them up or put saw edges on the collars or stuck them full of pins Signor Signer Mascagni l was so en en- enraged enraged enraged raged that if the laundry hadn't I been a bloodless corporation he would have challenged it to a duel A secondary irritation was the fact that the tour in spite of the signors signor's great genius was one of the most elaborate busts in musical history He brought over a big orchestra with wit l a guarantee of a week for eight weeks There were in internal in- in internal in- in internal rows and wrangles battles with managers bickering and back- back backtalk backi backtalk backtalk i talk with finally the deportation of the orchestra players as aliens li liable li- li liable liable I able to become a public charge There was a fierce tangle of law law- lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits suits and ever since then Signor Mascagni's graying bushy hair has bristled a bit at mention of Amer Amer- ica It was only two years ago that he was saying that New Yorks York's Metropolitan Opera house was all allright allright allright right as a training school but not much good for opera He De was a bakers baker's son helping his father in the bakery bal ery He lIe slipped a tiny statue of the Virgin in a loaf of bread A rich woman customer broke her front tooth on it and dodging his angry parent young Pietro kept on going going going-an an itinerant player and student He was unknown in Italy in 1902 when his was produced The next day he was as aswell aswell well known and as conspicuous as Vesuvius acclaimed as the suc suc- successor successor i cessor of Verdi experiencing what we might call a tri tri- He is a Renaissance man a veritable Cellini with his pen pen- penchant penchant penchant chant for life in the grand manner quick on the draw impatient with dolts and laggards still boiling with creative energy He De was quite a way over to the left in 1922 but finally made his peace with Mussolini 1 Mussolini l had promised senatorial togas for both Puccini and Mascagni l in 1926 but only Puccini's came through That was said to have embittered the maestro but did not halt his work It may be noted in passing that there was little in the Renaissance Mascagni Flattens Laundry Man lan may be a summer headline Sly Old Party HP T THE HE grizzled Japanese General Shigeru Honjo is a sly old party When having snatched the Chinese boy emperor and put him on the synthetic throne he ob ob- observed observed ob- ob observed served that this Henry Yi Pu-Yi had no heir he fixed up the marriage of Henrys Henry's younger brother Pu-Chieh Pu with a nice Japanese girl girl all all in the interest of future permanence and perpetuity of Japan in Asia He e is a dapper little man who likes to go about his business in a quiet genteel way When he con con- conquered conquered conquered in days a Manchuria area as large as a brace of New England states he put on a regular daytime fighting shift with all allhands allhands allhands hands knocking oil off when the whistle blew all lights out at eight and everybody asleep at nine He Ue wa quite complacent about it it having consulted the famous soothsayer who had called every important happen happen- happening ing in Japan before it happened happened- including the fall faU of six cabinets told the general Manchuria would be a push over so he slept ten hours a night He is of a Samurai family a vet vet- veteran veteran veteran eran of the Japanese Russo-Japanese war He was the gentlest strong man who ever worked at that ancient trade taking over Manchuria apol apol- apologetically apologetically apologetically but with dispatch He retired from the army a year ago New American Race D pERHAPS Van Wyck Brooks' Brooks 1 1 The Flowering of New Eng Eng- England England England land left you sad They almost made a culture but not quite Heres Here's fresh hope Dr Ales Hrdlicka the famous anthropologist gist calibrates Boston long heads and round heads alike and finds that Boston is nurturing a new American race They are arc the tall tall- tallest tallest tallest est and largest Americans and still growing They are excellent healthy white stock says Dr Hrdlicka It Its ItIS IS s something of a pity that they ant be kept in an Eden and stay here forever C 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