Meeting the Heifetzes

Donna Perlmutter’s “Jascha Heifetz: A Mentor Remembered” recalled my meeting with the great violinist (May 8).

While stationed with the Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., one of my buddies and I attended a concert of the Kansas City Philharmonic at which Heifetz was soloist.

After the concert, a crowd formed backstage and followed the artist and his entourage down a long hall to his dressing room, where we were told he needed a few moments to relax. Although he had appeared oblivious to everyone, he must have noticed us because after a suitable interval a woman opened the door and announced, “Mr. Heifetz will see the two servicemen first.”

He accepted our remarks of appreciation and wrote his name very legibly in a pocket notebook that I treasure to this day as a souvenir of the occasion.

As the crowd increased, I moved across the room where Mrs. Heifetz was standing. She had appeared in motion pictures as Florence Vidor. When I remarked that I had seen her in a film titled “The Enchanted Hill,” she quipped, “Impossible, you aren’t old enough!”

FRANK M. FLACK

Studio City