Leonard Bernstein’s name has appeared in the news quite a bit recently with the controversy and success around “Maestro,” a biographical film about the Jewish conductor and composer. The film stirred up some “Jewface” controversy when it was revealed that Bradley Cooper, who plays Bernstein in the film, wore a prosthetic nose. “Maestro” was also nominated for several Academy Awards, including for best picture, leading actor and leading actress — the winners of which will be revealed this weekend.
But it turns out that, 73 years ago, Leonard Bernstein made an appearance in Baltimore.
Once a month, in our “Remember When” section, the Baltimore Jewish Times shares a page from our archives, which stretch back more than a century. This week, we are highlighting this page from our March 9, 1951, issue. This page was dominated by an ad for an upcoming Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert, conducted by Bernstein, at the Lyric.
Bernstein actually had a substantial history with the Israel Philharmonic. He first conducted a symphony for the orchestra (then known as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra) in 1947. Throughout his life, he conducted and performed with the orchestra dozens of times, including during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.
That Baltimore hosted this historic musical partnership just a few years later is not the only interesting part of this page from the JT’s archive.
This page also features an ad from Acme Markets, with prices we can only dream about now — a pound of butter for 77 cents, five pounds of apples for 39 cents and two pounds of green beans for 33 cents.
