(to continue)
But most of my access later was due to being a photographer/photojournalist/journalist/activist in Los Angeles during the 1960s and '70s. Many were pop, folk and other genre musicians: Cass Elliot, Gene Clark, Country Joe, Grace Slick, Mike Nesmith, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Eartha Kitt (really, I need to download my memory or go through my files before completing this.)
Meanwhile, I mentioned this thread to my wife and asked whom she had met while in L.A. before we had got together. Her long list,
which I learned for the first time, included George London, Jan Peerce, Jerome Hines, Eileen Farrell, Marilyn Horne, Paul Robeson, Brian Sullivan, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky!
Leslie was a child then. Her father, Lee Wintner, was a bass baritone who performed frequently in Hollywood Bowl concerts, many of which were sponsored by Warner Brothers, for which he also appeared in films as an extra and/or voice in several of their productions. A sweet and personable girl, she met and charmed many of the guests and performers backstage.
Stravinsky, then under contract to WB, was present at one concert in which some of his music was featured. In the "green room," Leslie was introduced to him and they had a brief chat. He signed an autograph for her, which Leslie said is still somewhere amongst
the piles of stuff that accumulates, but lots of luck finding it. She was 6 years old at the time.
Update: Now she tells me she sat on Stravinsky's knee
! Yow! Can this marriage be saved?
Another update: Jan Peerce called her up and sang Happy Birthday to her. Oh, my head!