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JESSE CRAWFORD
had two hours' notice before playing the organ— for the first time in his life
ARE you one of those who have listened week after week to the swelling beauty of the Poet of the Organ’s renditions? Have you ever wondered whence came the dexterity and depth of feeling necessary to in¬ terpret that music ?
Jesse Crawford was a boy in a Catholic orphanage when he took the first step toward the job that would make him famous. One day, he prowled through the orphan¬ age’s attic and discovered a room crammed with dusty and dented musical instruments. To him, it was a gold mine. He picked up a cornet and put it to his lips. He blew and sound filled ±he room — rand Jesse Crawford was happy for the first time in his life.
Most of his days were filled with dish-washing and sweeping (he had to earn his way through this orphanage) but he did have a few spare moments. He spent them in the forgotten room with his cornet.
One day he looked up and found a priest watching him. Discovered, he cried out in fear, certain that they would take away the instrument. But the priest said, “I will teach you to play it.”
Once given direction, his uncanny musical ability be¬ came startlingly evident. He was allowed to try other instruments . . . and finally the piano. He mastered them all.
Reaching the age of long trousers, he set out to make a living. A friend paid his initiation fee into a musi¬ cian’s union. He received an offer to play the pipe organ
in a theatre. Not once in his life had he played an organ. Fortunately, he had two hours for practice before the show began. He sat down at the console and began to transpose his piano technique to suit two keyboards. He did it — in two hours.
His first big success came in Chicago, where his organ solos were a tremendous drawing card. A rival theatre, attempting to capitalize upon this popularity of the organ, imported a young lady player. One day, Jesse visited her theatre to hear her. He decided her play¬ ing was grand and that she was grander. Within a few weeks he had met her, wooed her, and married her.
When he broadcasts today it is from an organ studio high up in the Paramount Building in New York. There are two consoles. The main one is for him and the extra one for Mrs. Jesse Crawford.
Playing with his back always to the audience has made him very particular about the fit of his coat. He has been known to send a suit back to the tailor’s four times before it suited him.
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