I was perusing old photographic
archives and came across the backcover of Walter Slezak's book C.Kunin
mailed to me a few years ago.
I checked the List
Archives ( Google is a marvelous tool) and noticed that this picture had
not been posted, nor was the question about VN's quote fully
discussed.
At the same time I learned that
CHW found news
about the Juniper Blues in the quad ( Berkeley's posting
on Rev. Knox), which are equally confusing as to what
is more trustworthy: an Oxford dictionary or Time Magazine
interviews, in relation to the latter.
Abstract from 30 Oct.
2004:
CK: "...discussing Lohengrin as a grail story and
Jansy told me how funny she found Nabokov's joke about missing the swan (-boat)
in Laughter in the Dark.
But that's not Nabokov's joke, it
is a famous anecdote from the career of the wonderful tenor Leo Slezak (1873 -
1946).
Laughter in the Dark:
Miller...smiled, and in a new good-natured manner launched into a funny story
about some friend of his, an opera singer who once, in the part of Lohengrin,
being tight, failed to board the swan in time and waited hopefully for the next
one.
What Time's the Next Swan? by Walter Slezak (as told to
Smith-Corona Model 88E): Papa told ... about a
Lohengrin performance...He was ready to step into the boat. Somehow the
stagehand on the other side got his signals mixed, started pulling, and the swan
left without Papa. He quietly turned around [to the audience] and said: "What
time's the next swan?"
Former Ed, DBJ added under
EDMusing. I wonder if the Slezak family anecdote occurs in the original
Russian version. Easily determined by searching the on-line text. And what year
did Walter publish his book.
listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0410&L=nabokv-l -
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