* By Daniel I. McNamara I a BRAM CHASINS, brilliant young American musician . -. . com poser, pianist, musicologist ... is a notable exponent of industry in art. He adheres strictly to long schedules in his busy New York studio overlooking Central Park. Luncheons are brief; often he works far into the night. Still in his early thirties, he enjoys world wide prestige. Chasins was born of Russian ^parents in New York City, August |17, 1903. Discovered as a child [Iprodigy by the late Mrs. Thomas [Tapper, musician-friend of juvenile genius, he began studying composi tion with Rubin Goldmark at twelve. Later teachers were Richard Ep stein and Ernest Hutcheson. He studied at Curtis Institute in Phila delphia, remained as piano teacher until 1934. During 1931 and 1932 he made two successful concert tours (of Europe. Chasins' first compositional efforts [were in his student days in Curtis. His “Three Chinese Pieces’’ found (their way into the concert programs [of many leading artists. He made his own pianistic debut with Gabrilowitsch and the Phila delphia orchestra in 1929, playing his own First Piano Concerto. Tos canini honored him in the 1931 season of the Philharmonic by per forming Chasins' “Parade” and (‘‘Flirtation in a Chinese Garden.” (Thrice in a single week in 1938 he (appeared in Barbirolli’s Philhar monic Symphony series, playing his mwn Second Piano Concerto. His regularly scheduled lecture (recital radio broadcasts initiated in 1934 attained great popularity. These revealed facility of oral ex< pression to complement his thor ough musicianship. Chasins is a staunch ally of fellow composers, a defender of the righta in intellectual property created by them. He is a leading spirit of the American Composers’ Alliance, and an active member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. His favorite composers are Bach, Chopin, Brahms and Wag ner. Rachmaninoff and Strauss are his most admired contemporaries. Chasins finds time for recreation in the midst of constantly increas ing activities in composition, con certs and radio broadcasting. He plays chess and bridge, enjoys out door sports. His favorite reading is biography and philosophy, occasion ally a detective story. He converses fluently in three languages. Singularly devoid of the tempera mental instability traditionally at tributed to composers, he insists that hard work 1b his best inspira tion. He loves his work, bears his hostors modestly. Success in youth has not spoiled him. * - ——* {Music Features « Photo Syndicate) DEMURRER GRANTED BY JUD6E IN VIRGINIA TEACHERS SALARY CASE a!ITY OF NORFOLK ADMITS INEQUALITY BUT CONTENDS TEACHER HAS NO LEGAL ACTION — NAACP Appeals At Once Norfolk, Va., June8—Following a three and one half hour hearing in the Circuit Court here June 1, Presiding Judge Allan R. Hanckel denied a petition filed by Miss Aline E. Black, local high school teacher, which sought to compel the Norfolk school board to pay Miss Black and all other Negro teachers in Norfolk, the same salary as white teachers with si milar qualifications and doing the flame type of work. Judge Hanckel sustained a de murrer filed to Miss Black’s peti tion for a writ of mandamus by City Attorney Alfred Anderson and his assistant, W. Old, Jr., and ordered the case dismissed. In sustaining the demurrer which means simply that while the City of Norfolk admits everything in Miss Black’s complaint, it con tends that she had no legal basis for the suit. Judge Hanckel com mented that the case would go to the U. S. Supreme Court anyway. He was referring to a statement noted in the original petition filed last March 2 by attorneys for Miss Black, that they intedded to carry the case to the high court of the decision of the lower court went against them. Within a few hours after Judge Hanckel’s decision Miss Black’s attorney’s: Thurgood Marshall, as sistant special counsel for the Na tional Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People; Leon A. Ransom, of the associa tion’s national legal committee aad completed their appeal for filing before the Virginia State Court of Appeals for a writ of error. The City of Norfolk’s attorney, hq We argument for dismissal #f the case set fourth the following main points: The petition was insufficient in law; Miss Black was employed on a private contract basis and the defendants could either hire her or not and pay her whatever they wanted to; Miss Black could not complain if she accepted such a contract; the courts could not con trol by mandamus action a dis cretionary power that could be exercised by the Norfolk school board alone; Miss Black waived all constitutional rights when she accepted the contract. The NAAOP attorneys, denying that the petition was insufficient in law argued that the high school teacher’s contract was not as is sue in the case. They pointed out that the issue was the establish ment of a salary basis for teachers in Norfolk that did not discrimin ate against Negro teachers. Attorneys for the NAACP cited the salary schedule, which was filed with the petition. This sche dule provides that white female high school teachers shall receive a minimum of $970 and a maxi mum of $1,900 a year, while a [Separate salary schedule for Ne gro high school teachers provides a minimum for female leaehers of $699 and a maximum of $1,106. Miss Black’s petition alleged that the Norfolk School board was enforcing the discriminatory sal ary schedule, actually paying Ne gro teachers less than white teach ers with identical qualification and experience and doing the same type of work, solely on the basis of color. The NAACP attorneys argued that “there is no discretion to violate the United States Consti tution,’’ that the Board, although it had power to fix salaries, had it had power to fix salaries had no power M HUM.WMS-»« J HEARS lA™^ lcur rvti S Okft »o rvv s com« ( l^Sc^oa- —“ ’■■■ IpgtM _ Kioh’ kUCtkkJK* ) HvC£tF ^ ^ ) tVC»tl.6! HOW WHO / k J TTr . -.^E OfUCC —‘ m _ .£&». Vbus.kk*?^ «k| , ■. Of Mr. 1. Knowltt There w«» mor» no<>» »»>«» 10 me «>gwnwniI ■ ‘ i~ s^ssri ,-j^s^rsSS I ' j | El« «n C®ntg°y°^°|^ C® M®“ BIRTH OF A SONG _ By Joseph'R. Fliesler and Paul Carrutfi BOB MILLER was born in rural Memphis,' Tenn., in the heart of the hill billy country. | It was not until he was ten that his talent for j music was discovered. He began to popularize the hill billy songs, and with the aid of a little orchestra he formed, made many recordings, including numBfcrs of hit own composition.. Orphaned at an early age, he ran away at thirteen, large (or his years, made his way as a piano player, did odd jobs — and went back to Memphis. He is a prolific composer and arranger, ond broadcasts frequently. Hi* own favorite com Eeser is Stephen Foster, whom, he says, the hill illiet odore^' Relatives and friends furnished help for him to finish his education at the Southern Con servatory of Music in Memphis, and later at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Bob Miller's hill billy music is generally topical, and bandits and heroes are celebrated alike, as their deeds ore reggrded^ Bob played frequent theatrical engage ments, and even tried the prize ring to help finance himself. But the music of the hills kept coming to his mind. __ Bob Miller it a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and hit hill billy melodies are ova'.laa;« to el{ vlicj>n£ed gitablishmenfs. __