GOODBYE, MARGARET TRUMAN….
HARRY S TRUMAN’S DAUGHTER PASSED TODAY, REMEMBERED FOR HER PRESIDENT-FATHER’S OUTBURST LONG, LONG AGO AGAINST A MUSIC CRITIC…..
HARRY WAS TOUGH AS HELL….AND HE GAVE AS GOOD AS HE GOT.
She made her professional singing debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1947 and gave her first Carnegie Hall concert two years later. Critics generally praised her poise but were less impressed with her vocal talent.
When Washington Post critic Paul Hume wrote after a 1950 concert that she ‘’is extremely attractive on the stage … (but) cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time,'’ her father fired off a note on White House stationery scolding Hume for a ‘’lousy review.'’
‘’I have never met you, but if I do you’ll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below,'’ the president wrote.
The note made Page One news — but was not the sort of publicity an aspiring artist seeks. Years later she was able to laugh about it: ‘’I thought it was funny. Sold tickets.'’