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//us Happened fa /fie
Once he washed dishes; and even slept on a park bench.
■ The almost incredible life story of swing's newest idol — Artie Shaw, who got to the top by
walking with trouble every step of the way
BY ARTIE SHAW
As told to Jerry Mason
E
'VER since I was a kid down on New York's lower East Side I've heard about luck. "All you need is one lucky break and nothing can stop you." That line of talk is almost proverbial. It's also a lot of bunk. As far as I've been able to discover, luck and the right breaks don't mean much.
I was lucky to be born with the ability to carry a tune. I was lucky to be born with a healthy body. I'm lucky to be where I am today — but I'm not there because some mysterious Fate decided to smile sweetly on me. Everything I've gotten — I've gotten the hard way.
For twenty odd years it's been work and sweat and heart-break. Every inch of the way has been tough. Some of it has been a lot of fun. If I had it to do all over again, I'd repeat most of it. A lot, though, I'd pray to skip.
Much, too, has been said and written about love and marriage as one of the world's greatest assets on the
way up. That I can neither prove nor disprove. I've been in love. I married twice — two of the finest women I have ever known. But marriage was not for me. I don't know whether it helped or hindered. I know it can provide great happiness and great unhappiness. For me, it did both.
Right now, I am pretty well satisfied. Show-business is a fairly familiar subject to me. No matter how familiar it is, I get a kick out of seeing "Artie Shaw and his Orchestra" spelled out on a theater marquee. There's also a great deal of pride in knowing that you and your organization are able to earn more than a quarter of a million dollars within a year. That's a lot of money. But it's important to me not for what it can buy — but for what it stands. It means I have arrived. I and my ideas about music have been accepted. That's important. And I am perfectly honest when I say it's not the money that
Illustrations by Robert Reiger
Listen to Artie Shaw and his band on the Old Gold program, Sunday nights over Columbia's Network.