TO PLAY BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEN
By Peter Vuono
It is the 4th of July and happy birthday to America. It's also the birthday of a favorite entertainer to this author , Solly Violinsky who was born in Kiev in 1885. This author is sure that the reader has never heard of Solly or ever will. So one would wonder as to why he should be written about. A good question indeed.
Violinsky, who was born Sol Ginsberg was a member of a fraternal order of entertainers called The Friars. It still consists of the most notable names in show business. According to comedian/historian Joey Adams, Violinsky was a composer, comedian, violinist, pianist, wit and without a doubt the most unforgetable person that he(Adams) could remember in Friar history. This says a great deal when Adams knew Milton Berle, George Burns, Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers.
In 1910, Violinsky was on tour in London. When he heard that King George V and Queen Mary would be in a procession in front of Solly's hotel he waited. At the exact moment of passage, Solly flung open the shutters and began to play the violin. The next day, he took up ads in the London paper exclaiming, "Solly Violinsky has played before the King and Queen".
Back in New York, the great Rocky Marciano was getting honored by the Friars. Naturally, the Great Violinsky approached the Champ. "I'm a bit of a champion myself", said Solly. Attempting to act interested, Rocky said, "Oh, really?" "Yes," said Sol, "I'm a champ at getting laid off. I've been laid off under 4 presidents for everything except cinema, but give me time, I'll add that too!".
Solly was so talented that he was able to play the violin AND piano at the same time. However he once stated that his violin spent so much time in the pawn shop that"The pawn broker plays it better than I do!".
Irving Berlin, who wrote "God Bless America", started an organization known as the ASCAP- the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. A gold pin was given to all successful composers (Violinsky being one of them) and told to pin it to their overcoats. Violinsky wrote to the ASCAP saying, "Thank you for the pin ;I'm thrilled. However I don't own an overcoat- please advise".
Solly died on May 5, 1963. He lived with his niece and has an extremely modest grave in Johnson City NY. He suffered a lengthy illness and his obituary listed NO calling hours at the funeral home. It appeared that he died without a dollar or an audience. However for those who listen, his life left a message that still rings true. He was not a well known name but he was the best at what he did WITHOUT the vulgarity and crassitude that we see so often in the entertainment world and everywhere else.
It seems that there is very little today that was as substantive as it was in Sol Ginsberg's day. It seems that both America and the rest of the world is seeing more evil, more violence, more vulgarity and a slow dissipating of I.Q's and everything that is good including manners, etiquette, kindness, service to others and the way we teach and raise children. This author hasn't gone to a comedy show in decades because comedians use more expletives than was heard in the movie "Scarface". However the wit and wholesome entertainment of those like Solly Violinsky shows us that we can do better if we take a few steps backward. We can improve with all the aforementioned virtues and take a superior past and make it the present
If it was practiced by more of us , one would think that the feeling of the giver and recipient would be not unlike, "Playing Before the King and Queen"
