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Life

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2020

‘While the Music Played’

COURTESY PHOTO

“Music has always amazed me. If I weren’t a writer, I would be a musician,” said Nathaniel Lande, the Montecito author of “While the Music Played: A Remarkable Story of Courage and Friendship in WWII.”

Montecito author pens epic novel about courage, friendship during World War II

By MARILYN MCMAHON

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER I t took 10 years for Nathaniel Lande, a longtime Montecito resident, to write his newly published 434-page tome, “While the Music Played: A Remarkable Story of Courage and Friendship in WWII” (Blackstone Publishing, $29.99).

The effort was well worth it, according to the author, who said, “Of the 12 books I have written, this is my signature work. I wrote it for an older readership to remember and refresh and for younger ones to experience time and place during some of the most terrifying events of World War II.”

Beginning in 1939 pre-war Prague, “While the Music Played” focuses on the story of 12-year-old Max Mueller, a budding musician, piano tuner and nascent journalist. When his father, Viktor Mueller, is conscripted into the German army and finds himself increasingly promoting the Nazi message, Viktor’s best friend, noted Czech composer Hans Krasa protests the occupation in every way he can.

As everyone Max loves is compromised by intolerable conditions, he becomes increasingly isolated and is forced to find his own way. Music is the one constant connecting him to the lost childhood he cherishes and the man he still hopes to become. But will it be enough to sustain him against the relentless Nazi threat?

Mr. Lande told the NewsPress that the genesis for the book actually began when he was studying for his doctorate in 1992 at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

“During my research, I learned about Terezin, which was located near Prague,” Mr. Lande said. “It was a hybrid concentration camp and ghetto established by the SS during World War II. It served two main purposes: It was simultaneously a waystation to the extermination camps, and a ‘retirement settlement’ for elderly and prominent Jews to mislead their communities about the Final Solution.

“It was promoted and advertised as a spa for intellectual and artistic Jews, but it was really a transition camp for Auschwitz,” he said. “Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners, and the ghetto also served a propaganda role.

J.T. finds no maker’s marks. But because they are highly decorated and “dressy,” even though they are heavier, I believe these are from a suite of ballroom chairs of the late 19th century, more than likely commissioned for a private ballroom in which the painted walls “matched” the designs on the backs of these chairs.

Folding or not, ballroom chairs are still used today, and have been a tradition since the 18th century.

FYI

“While the Music Played: A Remarkable Story of Courage and Friendship in WWII” by Nathaniel Lande is available at Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza (805- 682-6787, chaucersbooks.com), and Tecolote Book Shop, 1470 East Valley Road in Upper Montecito Village (805- 969-4977).

J. T. sends me photos of two antique metal folding chairs that she tells me are used for conversation starters in her bedroom! She picked them up for $10 each at a thrift store and is curious to know their original function. They appear to be either French or American French Revival (1870- 1880), made in the X form, with a wrought iron surround that frames the backs with a curved crest rail. The framed backs act as support for the central design of a quatrefoil framed with flaming arabesques. The design is of pierced repoussé metal. The seat is absolutely flat: a tortuous looking sheet of metal. J.T. says they are quite heavy.

Any large wedding will feature those indomitable lightweight gold spindle back chairs, too narrow for most rear ends. I myself have an antique example in my expensive storage unit, a very small delicate wooden ballroom chair from the 19th century. Albeit it is spindly and delicate, in the better days, I used it for a spare chair at the head of my dining table, where I could squeeze in just one more guest, and I laugh to remember that usually the heftiest and tallest of my friends would choose that chair for him/herself. It has the dressy look of all ballroom chairs, which never have arms, and are narrow, befitting the gowns and the tailcoats of the period.

Another name for the ballroom beauties of the period is “music box” chairs, because they were often set out for concerts in a wealthy family’s music salon in the grander homes. It was not unheard of to bring one’s pillow for one’s backside. In fact, because the chairs were so narrow, much flirting was done. Many famous period (18th century) style Hollywood movies feature dalliances upon such narrow perches which forced people together for hours. Event chairs were used only when the event was taking pace, and then would be retired, sometimes lined up against the walls of the room or stored in the outbuildings. One’s staff handled that, of course.

Ballroom chairs bring a pretty penny

J.T.’s are metal, which is rare, and was probably thought to be every extravagant when they were commissioned, because metal seating furniture, unlike today, was then a novelty. Ballroom chairs were usually made in lightweight materials, even papier mache. They are always uncomfortable, as the object of the exercise of sitting upon one of these is to be seen, thus the seats are lightly padded if any padding exists, and the backs are very straight. If a seat was upholstered, it was not sprung or raised or filled, it was usually a board over which fabric weas stretched, called a slip seat with no bolsters or tufting.

“During the International Red Cross Inspection in 1944, the camp was transformed into Potemkin Village, a deception and scam of enormous proportions. More than 88,000 people were held there for months or years before being deported to extermination camps and other killing sites.”

The author said he chose music as a theme throughout the book because “music has many dimensions. It transgresses time and place. It is spiritual and magical. It evokes happiness, sadness, memories. There are many landscapes to it. When I listen to a symphony, I hear the strings respond to the brass, who in turn respond to the woodwinds, and it all comes together magically.

“Music has always amazed me. If I weren’t a writer, I would be a musician,” said Mr. Lande, a man of many facets.

Born in Montreal, Canada, he grew up in Augusta, Ga. He attended Avon Old Farms prep school in Avon, Conn., earned his bachelor’s degree at Duke University and studied at Oxford University’s Wadham College in England.

His accomplished career spans publishing, television and films, including stints as creative director for TIME Inc. Magazine Group; director of TIME World News Service; a founding director of TIME-Life Films; executive director for CBS and NBC television networks; and producer/ director for made-for-TV “movies of the week.”

Mr. Lande served as a special White House aide for two U.S. presidents — John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He was married to Linda Hope, daughter of Dolores and Bob Hope, and they have one son, Andrew Lande, a food and wine writer.

He and his wife Natalya Chamkin, a former Russsian ballerina, moved to Montecito in 1999.

When asked if there is another book in the works, Mr. Lande said, “Nothing definite. I’m always noodling, always thinking and exploring.”

Email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

Because the chairs were associated with a formal event, and brought out exclusively for the event, they are often ornamented: J.T.’s has that fancy repousse back, some have Mother of Pearl accents, some have bronze mounts, and the wood is generally treated with a shine: some are giltwood (bight shiny gold) or ebonized (deep shiny black).

Ballroom chairs were usually commissioned in styles that would complement the total décor of the ballroom, which in the last quarter of the 19th C was usually French (as many were in Newport mansions). For these rooms, families commissioned Louis XVI style straight side chairs with slim straight backs and caned seat. These were usually painted a pastel color.

J.T.’s chair folds, but lest she think that the folding chair was a 19th century invention, a folding chair was found by Lord Carnarvon and Carter in Tutankhamun’s tomb (1324BC), and another was found in Denmark, the famed Nordic

Bronze age Guldhoj Chair (1350 BC). Middle Age Priests sat upon folding chairs, some quite tall and grand, with head rests and arms. But yes, the X form folding chair was patented by American John Cram (1855). Those ubiquitous folding aluminum chairs that fell so cold and conversely burning hot in the summer on the bum were patented by Fredric Arnold of Brooklyn in 1947. The value of JT’s chairs is $150 each.

Dr. Elizabeth Stewart’s column appears every week in the Salon & Style section. Her new book, “Collect Value Divest: The Savvy Appraiser,” is available at local bookstores and at amazon.com. Send questions and photos to Ask the Gold Digger, c/o NewsPress, P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara 93102-1359, or email ElizabethAppraisals@gmail.com.