For the Peninsula, especially for Burlingame in 1958, this was no small event.
The Burlingame High School String Orchestra had been given the ultimate compliment. This was the only student musical group in the United States to receive an invitation in August to perform at the Brussels World’s Fair in Belgium.
U.S. State Department officials had chosen the orchestra especially carefully. The group had been formed in 1953 by 44-year-old Lawrence Short, a native of Sweden. Since then, the young musicians, ranging in age from 13 to 17, had consistently won the highest possible ratings at the Northern California Music Festival competitions. They walked away with first-place awards in 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958.
Accolades for Short and his amazing musicians almost became expected. Horace I. Brown, professor of orchestra and strings at College of the Pacific, expressed amazement at the group’s professionalism. “This kind of orchestra training is wonderful and rare,” he declared.
Congratulatory messages flowed into Burlingame High School. Moreover, besides the Brussels invitation, the Burlingame kids received yet another to play for the Society of Music Educators in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Although the students would represent the United States government, the State Department offered no financial assistance. The price tag was $40,000 for the group to travel, and the students were expected to come up with the money themselves. Proud parents gulped. This was an era when chicken sold for 35 cents a pound and a person could buy two large cantaloupes for a quarter.
The necessary cash had to be raised within a month. School officials assessed each family $200. Working eight hours a day, volunteers manned telephones soliciting donations. A few gave goodly amounts; most pledged from $1 to $10.
The County Board of Supervisors agreed to donate $1,000. Local televisions stations filmed orchestra rehearsals and generated money through public service announcements. Burlingame clergymen worked pleas for money into their Sunday sermons. High school students walked door-to-door, tin cups in hand.
Editorials in local newspapers noted that sending Burlingame musicians to Brussels was a major step in generating good will and improving international relations. In total agreement, orchestra director Short told reporters that “a performance by a public school orchestra would do more than any professional group to symbolize American culture to Europeans.”
To generate support even from commuters, the San Mateo, Hillsdale and Burlingame high school bands performed at every railroad station along the Peninsula. To assist, Capuchino and Hillsdale scheduled special concerts. Checks poured in from businesses, service organizations and labor unions.
Short was a tough task master. Every student scheduled to go was required to practice two hours daily in addition to taking weekly private lessons.
By July 30, when the students were to leave for Brussels, they were still $6,000 short of the $40,000 goal. Pan American World Airways agreed to wait for the money. Only when the students were already playing in Europe did the fundraisers go over the top.
Two-thousand Peninsulans gathered at the airport on July 30 to bid the group farewell. Burlingame High School Band, uniformed in red and white, played marches. It seemed like every kid from Burlingame High and excited parents were crowded into the terminal.
All cheered for the gifted, identically dressed, young musicians. Each wore a dark-blue blazer. The 29 girls sported pleated plaid skirts. Trousers for the five boys were dark gray.
Pan American gave the musicians red carpet service. They boarded a DC-7 for the grueling 20-hour flight to London, via Frobisher Bay in northern Canada.
The trip was a triumph. The Copenhagen concert received every possible accolade. Peninsula publicist Hugh Wayne, accompanying the group, termed it an “eye-stinging success.” Danish critics wrote that Maestro Short was “a performer of miracles.”
At Brussels, where they played in the red and white decorated American Theater on three consecutive days, an estimated 7,000 heard the group and responded with “foot-stomping ovations.” Chaperons were “tearfully proud.”
Leaving Brussels, the Burlingame kids visited Zurich and Rome before heading for Germany. A special car was attached to the train so Short could practice his worthies en route. Chaperons marveled. These youngsters constantly misplaced passports, were consistently late, laid awake at night giggling, ran up and down hotel corridors and spilled Cokes. Yet, they performed Mozart, Grieg and Strauss magnificently. Their performance in Munich, Germany, was a rousing success.
In all, by plane and train, the Burlingame gang visited eight countries in 27 days. Baggage and musical instruments were checked on 25 different occasions. All students and most musical instruments returned safely to Burlingame, although baggage handlers were credited with having smashed two cellos.
On Aug. 26, there was a triumphant noon parade down Burlingame Avenue to the steps of the high school.
Short, a longtime resident of the town, retired from the San Mateo High School District in 1976.
© Copyright 2018 by Michael Svanevik and Shirley Burgett. Reach them by mail at 3182 Campus Drive, No. 442, San Mateo 94403.
