Music: Viennese Acrobat

Early last week a pretty, black-haired, 17-year-old girl from Vienna played a Chopin polonaise in the lounge of the S. S. Samaria to convince immigration officer, that she was qualified to enter the U. S. as an artist. News columns headlinedthe story but few people took account of it until a few days later when she made her formal U. S. concert debut in Manhattan’s Town Hall. Then people who heard her went wild with enthusiasm. Poldi Mildner played at a terrific, breath-taking pace, with a force and authority which few women pianists ever attain. As the audience’s excitement grew she played faster & faster. There seemed no limit to the speed with which her fingers could cover the keys. But aside from her technical skill and tremendous vitality, however, the critics found no more in Poldi Mildner than they would have looked for in a 17-year-old acrobat. Their reviews all advised her to temper her fireworks with study, wisdom, restraint, promised her that thus she might go very far.