Aut Caesar Aut Nullus

James Caesar Petrillo, tough little A.F. of L. boss of the big American Federation of Musicians, last week put a hammer lock on two famed fiddlers and a famed orchestra. Boss Petrillo forbade two of the Boston Symphony's scheduled soloists--Fiddlers Efrem Zimbalist and Joseph Szigeti--to fill their dates (two each) this season. Petrillo could call the fiddlers' tune because they had joined his A.F. of M. after resigning from the American Guild of Musical Artists (the boiled-shirt union which Petrillo has been trying to bust).

Violinist Zimbalist said he was disappointed. But he and Szigeti must have known what they were in for when they joined Petrillo's union, for Little Caesar Petrillo has long vowed to bring the Boston Symphony to heel. It is now the only big non-union orchestra in the U.S. Following the policy of its late benefactor Colonel Henry Lee Higginson, the Symphony pays union-scale wages and pensions, but believes that union limitations on rehearsals, hirings and firings would do it artistic harm.

Boss Petrillo also announced that one date which the Boston Symphony's Conductor Sergei Koussevitzky had made for this winter would not be filled: conducting the New York Philharmonic-Symphony, as one of eight quests. The Philharmonic is fully unionized, and Petrillo won't have it led by a man he considers a scab.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.