Yes,
that’s a photo of the world-famous Van Cliburn pianist with my grandson Eric Van Pyrz I confess, however,
that I had to resort to underhanded espionage to manage this prized photo!
Van Cliburn won the first Tchaikowsky piano competition in Moscow during the
cold war (1958) and was received with a shower of ticker tapes in New York City
for this unbelievable feat. At
first, the Russians feared reprisals from the Kremlin for giving this
award
to an “American” and with great trepidation, asked Kruschev if it was
acceptable. He asked, “Is he the
best? “(after eight minutes of standing ovations, I guess so) when they said
“yes”, he than shouted, “well then give it to him.”
A reception was given after his concert and of course the backstage “gestapo” would not let us
through. Leaving, and very
disenchanted, but not defeated. ( I never say die), so we nonchalantly meandered downstairs,
running into - of all people, the hostess of the party who,
after showing a picture of Eric’s dad with Van Cliburn, taken years before, was
convinced that history should,
in this case, well be
repeated.
She led us through a
maze of underground tunnels
(probably, designed by an Egyptian), and called Mister V. out
of his dressing room.
His charm and kindness
exuded through a warm smile and friendly voice. He saw the picture of he and Eric’s dad Cary taken by
Eric’s grandmother Rita and of course agreed that Eric, a budding pianist should follow in his dad’s footsteps. We glanced at the “gestapo” as we smugly left
with camera in hand, delighted with the fait accompli!
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