Blast From the Past #1: Estelle Gray, Part 3
The couple's career was clearly successful. In the Dec. 1919 Lyceum Magazine, Estelle reported that they were concertizing on the northwest coast, and were guaranteed ten weeks of concerts at "$800 per week net"-- a significant chunk of change in that day and age! 1919 also saw an addition to the family, with the couple welcoming a baby boy into their lives sometime that year. A brief article in the Musical Leader of January 1920 states, "After the successful seventy-five concerts of the Gray-Lhevinnes, Estelle Gray-Lhevinne left the Northwest and made a dash for California to this artist couple's summer home on San Francisco Bay, leaving Mischa Lhevinne, who had some thirty more engagements in the Northwest, in order to see her young son. Viro, the small son of the Gray-Lhevinnes, has achieved seven teeth, which his distinguished mother was eager to see. At home Mrs. Lhevinne has had a long distance phone every night from Mischa, the devoted."
But soon there was trouble in paradise. The March 22, 1922 issue of Variety had this short news item: "Too much temperament is the basis of a suit for divorce filed here [San Francisco] by Mrs. Estelle Gray Lhevinne, concert violinist, against Moritz Lhevinne. She accuses him of cruelty and asserts that he was fond of moving the furniture about in the room during the early hours of the morning, and was given to nagging her. In her complaint, she asks the custody of their one child, two and one half years old." The divorce was granted, presumably with more grounds than a predilection for off-hours interior design on the part of the husband. While a Google search for Mischa Gray-Lhevinne provides lots of information on Misha Dichter, Rosina Lhevinne, and even Mischa Elman, the pianist seems to have disappeared from the media once the duo dissolved their partnership.
Estelle remained in their Alameda, California home, from whence she continued to promote her concert career. She seems to have been a born entrepreneur and marketer, from the information gleaned in this 1926 promotion flier. After the split with Mischa in 1922, the flier lists the escalating number of concerts by season: 88 in 1923-24, 137 in 1924-25, 178 in 1925-26, and a projected 245 in 1926-27! She was keeping busy, that's for sure. The listings of paid admissions for the first three weeks of the Fall 1926 season are also impressive, with 11,855 in Buffalo, 10,500 in Cleveland, and 18,300 in Toledo. The venues, however, might not have been so impressive. A 1926 article in the Glenville High School newspaper of Cleveland ("The Torch"), announces a recital at the school. The article, by one Miss Lotta Carson, begins, "Last November Glenville High students were very enthusiastic over the recital given in the auditorium by Estelle Gray-Lhevinne. Her selection of music was interesting because of the different types. She is recognized as one of America's foremost violinists and probably the world's greatest woman player, and will entertain Glenville students on Monday, October 4. Two half-hour programs will be given." The Miami University (of Oxford, OH) student paper of Nov. 9, 1927, features a concert review with a couple of new nuggets of information. One, clearly a story told as part of the performance, is that at the time of the San Francisco earthquake in Estelle's childhood (1906), her violin was being repaired downtown. "When the news came that the fire was spreading, the little violinist dashed downtown and even though the order was to 'shoot anyone entering a building,' she flew past the soldiers, broke into the shop and rescued the historic fiddle." Hmmm. This article also reports that Estelle was asked to accept a life membership in the Cleveland Musical Association, "an honor which few women attain." She joined the likes of Madame Schumann-Heink and Walter Damrosch in this honor.
Viro "Laddie" Gray-Lhevinne
Estelle continued touring college and high school campuses, and as early as 1927 began including her son (age 6) on the programs. Viro, or "Laddie," as her son became known, generated a good bit of press. They are listed as "Mme. Estelle Gray-Lhevinne (violinist) and her young piano virtuoso son" on the 1930-31 Wartburg College artist's series. The Washington State Normal School in Bellingham featured this review of their 1932 concert:
Laddie Boy Gray Plays as Mozart
Uniqueness and finish characterizing their program, Laddie Gray, young boy pianist, and Estelle Gray-Lhevinne, violinist, played in assembly, Monday, Dec. 12.
After Mrs. Gray-Lhevinne had played one group of Classical numbers she stated, "Laddie will give his first group of numbers costumed as the boy Mozart. We are not introducing any prodigy, merely showing you a picture of Mozart in his first appearance in court." The costumed Laddie then played one of that composer's minuets. He played with a confident touch which produced a very good tone.
His next numbers which he played "as himself" were compositions by Bach, Haydn, and Beethoven. These were all cordially received.
Then, after several more classics, preceded by a story about each, the mother played four pieces of her own composition, reciting the original words before playing them."
Laddie began performing at age four, and Estelle was quoted as saying that she only allowed him to travel with her a few weeks each year, for his development. "The rest of the time he lives a rustic life in his San Francisco bay home, with earnest diversified studies in advance of the usual boy his age."
When at their "rustic" home, she and her son continued their interest in dogs. This picture appeared in the San Francisco Examiner in 1930, in an article entitled "Hero of the Klondike." The photo text read, "This famous huskie, Klondike Skipper, 'mushed' alone through blizzards and drifts 85 miles into Dawson to summon aid for a United States mail carrier trapped in a storm. The dog, owned by Mrs. Estelle Gray Lhevinne of Alameda, will be a feature attraction at the dog show, which opens Saturday evening at the Oakland Auditorium." At some point in the 1930's, Estelle married again, to A. L. Heynemann. The couple was known as hosts to many musical gatherings in their Alameda home.
In May, 1933, at the end of a six-week concert tour with Laddie, Estelle needed time to rest before returning to California. She entered a Boston hospital, and sadly and apparently unexpectedly, passed away two days later.
Clearly Estelle Gray brought much joy and music to audiences in her forty or so years of life. I'm glad the internet gave me a chance to know about her.