jmace57
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I don’t know why, but this story has been going on in my head, and thought I’d share it.
One day many years ago, back in the 1960s, my Dad was on business in Casper, Wyoming. He was a Petroleum Landman working out of Denver at the time. In a hotel lounge one night, the “act” at the bar was a fiddle player. After listening for a while, my Dad said to the other people at the table “I’ll bet I can tell you who that guy is”. When they scoffed, he said “His name is Hugh Farr, and he used to play with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers”. They sent the waitress up to him after he played, and asked him to join them at their table. Indeed, that’s who he was. He sat around and visited with them at the table. When someone asked him “what kind of fiddle do you play?”, he sort of paused and said “it’s a Stradivarius”. When they asked him how he came to own that kind of violin, he told a story about when he was a kid in the early 1930s, he was in a fiddle contest in the Dallas area. Lots of people competing. He said there was a rich, older man competing and the competition came down to him and this older man. When Hugh Farr won the contest, the man said to him “I will never be the violinist that you are”, and handed him the violin and gave it to him. He was in about 50 of the Roy Rogers movies and lived in Casper at the end of his life.
I saw a quote while looking some stuff up that said this:
“Famed conductor Leopold Stokowski is said to have remarked, when asked in a Walter Winchell interview who was the greatest natural violinist of the century, "It really must be two musicians - the left hand of Fritz Kreisler and the right hand of that gentleman who plays the violin with the Sons of the Pioneers (Hugh Farr). I can't recall his name.".”
Anyway, a strange little story I thought I’d share.
One day many years ago, back in the 1960s, my Dad was on business in Casper, Wyoming. He was a Petroleum Landman working out of Denver at the time. In a hotel lounge one night, the “act” at the bar was a fiddle player. After listening for a while, my Dad said to the other people at the table “I’ll bet I can tell you who that guy is”. When they scoffed, he said “His name is Hugh Farr, and he used to play with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers”. They sent the waitress up to him after he played, and asked him to join them at their table. Indeed, that’s who he was. He sat around and visited with them at the table. When someone asked him “what kind of fiddle do you play?”, he sort of paused and said “it’s a Stradivarius”. When they asked him how he came to own that kind of violin, he told a story about when he was a kid in the early 1930s, he was in a fiddle contest in the Dallas area. Lots of people competing. He said there was a rich, older man competing and the competition came down to him and this older man. When Hugh Farr won the contest, the man said to him “I will never be the violinist that you are”, and handed him the violin and gave it to him. He was in about 50 of the Roy Rogers movies and lived in Casper at the end of his life.
I saw a quote while looking some stuff up that said this:
“Famed conductor Leopold Stokowski is said to have remarked, when asked in a Walter Winchell interview who was the greatest natural violinist of the century, "It really must be two musicians - the left hand of Fritz Kreisler and the right hand of that gentleman who plays the violin with the Sons of the Pioneers (Hugh Farr). I can't recall his name.".”
Anyway, a strange little story I thought I’d share.
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