“In 1966, NBC broadcast a Bell Telephone Hour program about George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra called ‘One Man’s Triumph.’ Nowadays, most viewers would find it presumptuous for that phrase to be used as the title of a TV documentary about a hundred-man ensemble whose members included some of America’s top instrumentalists. But no one would have thought to complain at the time–for Szell was universally believed to be solely responsible for the transformation of a merely regional group into a virtuoso ensemble…”
Archives for November 6, 2011
THE CHARMING CONSERVATIVE
“It’s impossible to talk intelligibly about William F. Buckley Jr., without talking about his personality. Indeed, it’s far more important to talk about his personality than about his philosophy, which was anything but original. He was a journalist, not a systematic thinker, and in addition to his personal charm, his other special gift was the ability to popularize the ideas of others. The Brits call such folk ‘publicists,’ and Buckley was, if such a thing exists, a publicist of genius…”