Music: Flat Broke

For some three years, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra had been groaning under the ills of insurrection in the ranks, irregular support from the public, the musical tastes of Conductor Karl Krueger and the uncompromising management of Board President Henry H. (“I like this way”) Reichhold (TIME, Feb. 14). Last week it looked as if the ills might prove fatal, though not before President Reichhold, the symphony’s chief supporter, had delivered himself of remarks at the deathbed.

Said he: “We’re flat broke and there are not even tangible promises of money, and as far as I can see now the symphony is all washed up.”

Industrialist Reichhold (Reichhold Chemicals, Inc.) added that it was “a shocking disgrace and all Detroit should be ashamed . . . Apparently if I don’t support the musicians singlehanded, Detroiters don’t care enough about their orchestra to make a move. I think Detroiters . . . are just sitting back waiting for me to underwrite the symphony by myself for the seventh season. But even if I could, I wouldn’t.”

At week’s end, most Detroiters were still sitting back. Symphony critics, who thought that sufficient support could still be found if autocratic President Reichhold stepped out of the top job, were waiting for him to make the next move.

Detroit was not alone in its troubles. The orchestra that hard-working Conductor Izler Solomon had built in Columbus, Ohio had finally tumbled down in its eighth year, unable to raise $90,000 for its oncoming season. Baltimore and Seattle, among others, would limp through their seasons, still on the sick list. But from Portland, Ore. last week came cheering news of a remedy if not a cure.

Like the others, Portland’s Symphony Society had been able to raise only part of the money it needed: $50,000 in a drive for $140,000. The season had been called off. Unlike the others, Portland’s musicians were ready to play at any price. Their solution: 1) the society would use $3,000 for expenses, 2) the musicians would split the box-office receipts, whatever they might turn out to be.