I enjoy Clive James, but in a recent issue of Times Literary Supplement , he casually remarks that the composer Arnold Schoenberg “actually had to concentrate quite hard to stay unpopular.”
No, man, let’s not start thinking down that road. Unpopularity came as naturally to Schoenberg as water to a duck.
When I mentioned James’ odd comment to a friend, he responded: “Here’s something too weird. When he moved to Los Angeles, Schoenberg developed a love for tennis. His neighbor down the street who was Hollywood’s reigning star at the time loved tennis too. So they played tennis together. A lot. The star? Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple and Schoenberg playing tennis. There’s a one-act play there somewhere.”
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