Stokowski's forgotten Youth Concerts

Of the many reasons to commemorate Leopold Stokowski's tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the unique Depression-era Youth Concerts he launched in 1932 have largely been forgotten by history. These were no mere children's or family concerts of the sort we know today. Stokowski made up his mind that he was going to interest a whole new generation in classical music, and the only way he could do so was to give concerts they could afford to attend and involve them in the programming.

In the midst of the Depression, when apple lines proliferated and Social Security hadn't yet been enacted, some families couldn't even afford Victrolas; the only place they could hear classical music was the Free Library on Logan Circle.

In those days the priciest seats to the Youth Concerts cost 75 cents and seats in the upper balconies fetched 25 cents. Stoky saw to it that ten-cent tickets were distributed through teachers and social workers who knew the names of young people who couldn't even afford 25 cents. Stokowski took no salary for those Youth Concerts.

The conductor had an instinctive desire to communicate with young people, and he correctly intuited that adolescents would be receptive to new and unusual music that was derided by their elders. He may have been aloof with his players during those years, and remote in his dealings with the Orchestra's board members, but he was a different person when he met kids.

Cushions on the floor

Stokowski spoke at length with the young people who lined up at the Academy's stage door. He would invite kids to concerts and rehearsals as his guests, and then question them about their reactions to the music.

He'd call teenagers on the phone from his apartment near Rittenhouse Square, play something on his piano and solicit their reactions. Then he'd invite groups of kids to come up to his place for discussions. He would throw cushions and sit on the floor and talk with the kids, but he actually did less talking than listening.

The Youth Concerts were planned by Stokowski and the teenagers whom he picked for an administrative committee. The chairman was Mary Binney Montgomery, a dancer and pianist who lived with her sister in the Main Line mansion that became the setting for Philip Barry's play and film, The Philadelphia Story.

An age limit was fixed at 13 to 21; no adult was allowed in unless he or she was accompanied by ten kids. Even Orville Bullitt, a member of Roosevelt's administration, was reduced to asking his daughter's and son's school friends if they would let him tag along as chaperone.

"'Like a football stadium'

I was fortunate to interview many of those who were involved with the concert series. Helene Hanff, who later became the acclaimed author of 84 Charing Cross Road, said: "Stokowski used to tell us what the programs would be and he ordered us, "'Go down to the library and listen to the Brahms First so you'll know what you're going to hear.' And in those days the difference between a recording and a live performance was unbelievable, so the concerts were magic. The place went wild, like a football stadium."

She added: "He expected us to be adult enough to accept a brand new concerto with open minds, which God knows the adult audience didn't."

Stokowski planned a youth center and concert hall and picked a location on the Parkway next to the Rodin Museum. Ironically, that site became, instead, the Youth Study Center, where delinquents were incarcerated; and now it's the new home of the Barnes Foundation.