I've attached the email that I received below- if anyone has any information, photographs, or knows anyone who could help the author, please could they private message me, or reply below so that I may pass the info on.
QUOTE
Dear Trolly,
I was looking at your information on the web and wondering, particularly because of your connection to aviation, whether your group might be willing to share information with me. I’m a musicologist (Ph.D., Columbia University) and biographer of Nadia Boulanger (W. W. Norton) now doing research on violinist Michael Rabin (1936 - 1972).
He was a great lover of aviation, a friend of Frank Braile, and had logged over 700,000 miles as a passenger (on the way to and from performances) in his career (1946 - 1972). In 1952, he spent about 5 months touring Australia and New Zealand. A number of airlines took publicity photos of him, either at their offices, in their hangars or at the airport, near their gates.
He used to say that he loved hanging out with both ground and air crews as well as airline and aircraft executives. He was very proud of a chronograph given him once by a pilot, but I’ve never been able to identify that pilot. Estimates vary about how many model planes he collected, ranging from 50 to over 100, some of them inscribed to him by airline executives. And, of course, he had many “frequent flyer†milestone certificates also. After he died, his family, considering his love of aviation “childish,†disposed of his collection and related documentation.
Do you, personally, have in your collection any letters, photos, or other memorabilia from the violinist that I might study? Did you know him? (However, I suspect that only those who are somewhat older than you likely are would have.) Or do you know others who did? Do you know whether anyone else in the aviation community might be still available and might have any memories of the violinist that they’d care to share?
Thank you, in advance, for any help you might be able to provide.
Sincerely,
Léonie Rosenstiel[/quote]
I was looking at your information on the web and wondering, particularly because of your connection to aviation, whether your group might be willing to share information with me. I’m a musicologist (Ph.D., Columbia University) and biographer of Nadia Boulanger (W. W. Norton) now doing research on violinist Michael Rabin (1936 - 1972).
He was a great lover of aviation, a friend of Frank Braile, and had logged over 700,000 miles as a passenger (on the way to and from performances) in his career (1946 - 1972). In 1952, he spent about 5 months touring Australia and New Zealand. A number of airlines took publicity photos of him, either at their offices, in their hangars or at the airport, near their gates.
He used to say that he loved hanging out with both ground and air crews as well as airline and aircraft executives. He was very proud of a chronograph given him once by a pilot, but I’ve never been able to identify that pilot. Estimates vary about how many model planes he collected, ranging from 50 to over 100, some of them inscribed to him by airline executives. And, of course, he had many “frequent flyer†milestone certificates also. After he died, his family, considering his love of aviation “childish,†disposed of his collection and related documentation.
Do you, personally, have in your collection any letters, photos, or other memorabilia from the violinist that I might study? Did you know him? (However, I suspect that only those who are somewhat older than you likely are would have.) Or do you know others who did? Do you know whether anyone else in the aviation community might be still available and might have any memories of the violinist that they’d care to share?
Thank you, in advance, for any help you might be able to provide.
Sincerely,
Léonie Rosenstiel[/quote]
