[MARIAN ANDERSON]

[Music] on december 30th 1935 points composed largely of curious fellow professionals critics and concert regulars came to town hall in new york to hear a recital by a complete unknown controller named marion anderson waiting for the artist's usual entrance a walk across the stage they saw the curtains part revealing the singer slightly against the piano the polite ripple [Applause] then she sang [Music] is [Music] is [Music] three [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] the response was immediate it grew with each number it climaxed when the audience learned after the first half of the concert that the singer had broken her foot two days before while returning to her native land from europe but had refused to cancel the engagement had they known the reasons why their admiration might have been even greater the journey to town hall had been a long one of marion anderson longer than the distance between continents beginning south philadelphia where she was born with its maze of the neighbor's doorstep she had scrubbed from the age of six to earn her first spending money of the storefront church where she had sung in the choir there were memories of indebtedness along the way to many people to her mother mrs anna anderson the former virginia school teacher who had taken in washington to support marion and her sisters after their father had died to the good people in the congregation of the union baptist church who collected pennies nickels and dimes for what they called fund for the future of marion anderson and to the great american impresario s hurock who after hearing her sing in paris refused to share her uncertainty about how she weaved back home and invited her to return under his management all this and more were the elements that fused into the deep spiritual fire which the audience sensed that night a town hall [Music] [Music] the next day the new york times added a new name to the roster of great american artists the name has burned brightly ever since our keys of concert halls in every great city of the world marian anderson has sung at the white house and before kings and queens she has received awards from civic foundations nations universities and from the city of philadelphia where she scrub steps in the poor district as a child the highest honor awarded to its most distinguished citizen each year the bark award of ten thousand dollars which he used to establish a fund to help other singers but of all the tributes perhaps none so turned out of 75 000 people who crowded before the lincoln memorial washington to hear her sing and none so professionally heartwarming as the words of arturo toscanini when he said a voice like yours is her once in a hundred years no one who has been to an anderson concert can forget her compelling presence from the second she appears on stage and the complete command of the audience that comes to her without any conscious effort to achieve it [Music] what a beautiful city 12 gates [Music] to the city [Music] making it twenty [Music] what a beautiful city [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to the city [Music] [Music] to the city [Music] [Applause] he's got the whole world in his hands he's got the big rounds he's the whole world in his hands he's got the wind and the rain in his hands he's got the sun and the moonlight in his hands he's got the wind and the rain in his hands he's got the whole world in his hands he's got the lying man right in his hands he's got the gambling man in his hands he's got the crap shooting man in his hands he's got the whole [Music] he's got a little [Music] he's got the whole world [Music] he's not you and me brother in his hands is that you and me right in his hands is that you and me brother in his hands he's got the whole world in his hands oh he's got everybody here in his hands he's got everybody in his hands he's got everybody here right in his hands he's got a whole world [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] never said [Music] my lord and he never said a moment [Music] no [Music] [Music] they pierced [Music] they pierced him inside [Music] and [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] he bowed his head [Music] words [Music] now [Music] frequently at the conclusion of crucifixion the audience has responded with a rare tribute of silence carl van vecton wrote many a listener comes away from one of her recitals uncertain whether he has enjoyed an aesthetic or a religious experience so completely fused are the two ideals in this great artist's own nature this is mariana miss at home in connecticut here among the rolling hills the trees and the land she loves deeply she rests between the strenuous seven-month tours which may average 60 concerts and cover 20 to 30 000 miles of travel asked once how she felt about these by an interviewer she answered we are interested in singing so that somebody will leave feeling a little better than when he came there's relaxation in the work at mariana too the satisfying small activities of rural living weeding the vegetable patch or sowing the new curtains for spring her active energetic mind constantly finds new hobbies and interests she's been experimenting with upholstering and has become a very proficient amateur photographer processing the many shots she makes while on tour but always she manages to return to her favorite hobby puttering with a new recipe in the spacious country kitchen and finally all too soon the moment when mariana becomes a place of serious work as another tour is scheduled to begin it's heralded with the arrival of franz rupp who has accompanied miss anderson for the past 10 years here in the quiet privacy of her studio they'll carefully select the repertoire for the tour and then every number whether knew or sung many times before will be rehearsed painstakingly [Music] foreign [Music] lord is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh don't you want to go [Music] peace [Music] oh [Music] thank you what's next the next one is coming to their eye oh i think i'd like to make a playback [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] smile at me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] you is [Applause] me [Music] after weeks of intensive work the first concert date looms up her seven bags are packed they'll contain no elaborate wardrobe instead her sewing machine a portable radio typewriter and several cooking utensils between the endless train rides a little of the unfinished work of mariana will be continued but always the great devotion will be those fulfilling and intense moments when she lifts her voice in song so [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me [Music] you