The tedious way to the Wienerwald restaurant in Jacksonville Florida.

 

It's all so long ago so I don't remember how I met Daniel Revenaugh. He was an American conductor who had come to London to record Busoni's Piano Concerto with the RPO and John Ogden. He was a Busoni freak. I was to become one too but I drew the line at hiring an orchestra and recording his works.

Revenaugh invited me to visit him in Jacksonville Florida where he had just been made Chief Conductor of the orchestra there. It must have been in 1969 because he had decided to programme all 9 Beethoven symphonies for the Beethoven year of 1970. 

Jill and I went to Jacksonville to follow this lead. What we found there was another world altogether. Revenaugh drove us around in his sporty Mercedes I think it was, explaining that in terms of area, Jacksonville was the largest city in America. He took us to the top floor of one of the few skyscrapers and introduced us to some prominent citizens at a sort of club there. He also introduced us his business manager with the wonderful name Travis Selmaier. Selmaier was not just from another world, he seemed to come from another planet. He wore snakeskin shoes, a shiny suit. lots of rings and jewellery etc. Actually I'm making this up but you get the picture. Hi manner was, well slimy. He had a mean and hungry look about him. He was unctuous. 

Revenaugh was the opposite; a bit of a shaggy beatnik. An enthusiastic intellectual. Charming.

These two invited us to dinner that evening to discuss matters arising from our visit. We would be dining at the Wienerwald restaurant on Route something-or-other.

The Wienerwald was a fake Viennese place specialising in Chicken. Our waiter was called Fritz. I don't know if that was his real name and in fact he was so drunk that I fancy neither did he. He managed to serve us throughout the meal by staggering on a circuitous path between the kitchen and our table miraculously without spilling or dropping anything. Maybe he did that every night.

Anyway, Revenaugh and Selmaier offered me a job as assistant orchestral manager. 'The old ladies of the committee will just love your English accent!' I asked to have the night to sleep on it and told them in the morning that regretfully I wouldn't be able to accept their kind offer because we didn't want to move from London.

I'm glad I did because Revenaugh was sacked before the season began for some shenanigans with young ladies in his beach hut and anyway, the good citizens of Jacksonville hadn't been ready to hear all of Beethoven's symphonies in one season.