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BY JOSEPH KAYB
We are welcoming ait this time a new singer to our shbre^. She is Isa Kremer, and^f we are to put faith in reports, she is a prima donna of the folk songs. To our regret, we have heard only sparse reports of Mme. Kremer from the other side, else we would play the host to the singer's talent with more gallantry.- But what we can safely tell you regarding her are some facts about .her career, when her manager sends us two tickets for her debut in New York then we can tell you if you may doff your hats to a new genius.
Mme. Kremer's manager informs us that-,she is an expert linguist, and in Italian especially, she has a flawless intonation. This is an achievement worthy of consideration, and something altogether different from most linguists, who must content themselves merely with fluent speech. What, Jiowever, ,is of more interest to us, and in accord with the chief aim of this page, is, is Isa Kremer a member in good standing? . She is. And in her' possession is a Sefer Torah to attest to that fact. The story is as follows:
In her native Russia Isa Kremer Achieved an enviable reputation as a singer and was very popular for her rendition of folk songs and the ifitimate songs, of the .nations. But, being: a Jewess, her rights of traveling and living in various parts of Russia were restricted. To overcome this handicap she secured a passport as a dressmaker, and so was able to concertize.
During the war, it is related, Mme. Mouronitzeiff, wife of the president of the Duma, Organized a benefit concert .in Moscow in aid of some war charity. The concert, was to represent the Russians at the front. The artists were obtained and the affair was prominently advertised, but no customers appeared for the tickets. Thereupon the committee wisely decided that a revision in the program was necessary, and they asked Isa Kremer, who happened to be passing through .Moscow, if she would participate in the concerts, knowing that her songs were popular.
As it was a concert symbolical of the vsoldiers, the singer consented, saying that she would sing in Jewish,.in honor; of. the Jewish soldiers-who were fighting with their Russian countrymen. The delegation demurred.. Any language but Yiddish, they said; to which Mme. Kremer replied, no language but Yiddish. The delegation departed in ill-humor and a conference was held to discuss Isa Kremer's stiff-neckedness. The. decision was prompted by necessity and Isa Kremer was invited to sing on her own conditions. Then the customers came, the:concert was a success, and Jewish songs were heard; in Moscow.
As a reward for her stanchness, the Tews of Moscow sent her the Sefer Torah, an extraordinary gift, and orte. to be prized above any other possession. 'National martyrs and heroes could hardly hope for a greater reward.
introduced von to Willie Auerbach-Levy. This week we. will acquaint you with Victor David Brenner, another artist who- works sometimes in 9. rather specialized field. Without - actually knowing him, you probably have come in contact with his work many hundreds of times a year. He enjoys the unique distinction of being with you at all hours of the day and m
familiar nlar*� for Victor
is the designer of the Lincoln penny.
From Shavty, a little village in what when the, gentmty ruled a boy of
Brenner. From that obscure little town he was setting out on a mission that was to result in the bringing of art ideals home to even the, poorest home, * for it is to be supposed that, it is poor people who pay the most attention to the pennies. In the Lincoln penny Brenner made radical departures from uninspired designs on current coinage � and produced a neat work of art,
Uft to his sixteenth year young Brenner was employed in his father's little shop and learned the trade of die cutting. Now he wanted work bigger than catering to Russian aristocracy. He traveled about from village to village, taking orders as they came to him by chance or soliciting work at the inns he passed by. Corning to a large town heTentered an establishment which made line engravings for publishers and cut rubber stamps. For nine months the young man remained in this place, learning a new branch of his craft. In his eighteenth year,he halted at Riga long enough to learn jewelry engraving, exchanging for this knowledge his own oT die cutting. At nineteen he. returned to his native province and set up in Kovno as an engraver of musical instruments, jewelry and seals. . . . , . '
x. Still his ambitions were not satisfied. 'America.at this time loomed large in the horizon of aspiring youth, and the vision was fame, fortune'and idealism. Without money, but armed with fine skill in a highly paid profession, Brenner came to New York.
Ignorant of the language and customs of the new land, he did not find his fit place as an engraver, and had to be contented with work in a little shop on Essex Street, on the East Side. There he engraved badges for neighboring clubs and societies and cut dies for jewelers and engravers. Two years later he was sufficiently versed in the ways of America to open a little shop for himself, in> the jewelers' district of New York, and with his savings to send for his parents and his brother. His business, prospered, and so ended the first chapter of Victor David Brenner.
The second chapter began when Professor 'Ettinger, a well-known collector of coins, one day came across in an East Side shop a little badge with the head of Beethoven, used as the emblem of a local singing society. The badge interested the professor so much that he made inquiries and soon located the designer of the badge. The designer interested the collector even more than the badge, and he took him to the president of the American Numismatic Society, who showed Brenner the society's collection of coins�a wonderful collection, which revealed to the eager eyes of the artisan a broad field for his talents. It was then that the idea was born in Brenner's brain that coins can be made a medium between art-and the people. � He saw the value of an artistically designed coin in awakening a love for the beauties of the sculptor's and the painter's art.
Through the influence of the Numismatic Society he obtained several commissions for the designing of medals for various purposes. One of these commissions was* for the execution of the medal that was presented to Nansen and Peary.
These commissions were naturally not enough to enable Brenner to make a living from his new work, and he kept on at his business and did so weft that he began to amass a comfort-aDfe'banking account. Then the artist in him interfered.. It made him dose tip his shop after four years of commerce and transported him to Tart*, to the
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After a. period of ttudy in Pam Brenner returned to New York and hung out bis *hingle a* a medalist. HU ability wa* quickly recognized, and the National Academy of Design placed htm on iti teaching staff. -
Brenner had climbed, but; he was not yet satisfied. 'Three years after his return to New YorJtJie went back to Paris and resumed his studies at the Academic, with the definite aim of finally breaking with commercial art. After this second period of study he Continued en page 17
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