Ricci v. Lackey

Two small, dark-eyed Italian boys sat in the New York Supreme Court Chamber at Manhattan last week and heard their futures tentatively ordered by Justice Louis A. Valente. The youths were Ruggiero Ricci, 9-year-old violinist whose Eastern debut last autumn made him the musical marvel of the U. S. and his 8-year-old brother Giorgio, whose promise is little less than Ruggiero's.

In 1927 Pietro Ricci, San Francisco music teacher, father of six, recognized his Ruggiero's unusual talent, took him to Louis Persinger who trained Prodigy Yehudi Menuhin. Teacher Persinger enthused, put small Ruggiero under the care of Violinist Mary Elizabeth Lackey for grooming. Later to her went Giorgio. Less and less did the Riccis see their sons. On Nov. 15, 1928, Ruggiero's San Francisco debut was hailed by critics. Next day Father Pietro signed a legal paper thinking (he says) it was a will providing for his boys should he die. Instead the papers made Miss Lackey guardian for Ruggiero and Giorgio. Forthwith she took them to Manhattan where Ruggiero added to his fame (TIME, Oct. 28; Dec. 9). Claiming they had been duped, the Riccis instituted habeas corpus proceedings, the battle dragged on for months.

Last week's interlocutory (provisional) opinion gave Miss Lackey guardianship of the two until Jan. 1, 1931, the parents thereafter. Most contested clause in the suit was won by Miss Lackey: that Ruggiero shall go through with ten concerts in ten weeks at $2,500 a concert this autumn. The Riccis feared for Ruggiero's health. Lackey counsel pointed to chubby, healthy Yehudi Menuhin.* The Riccis countered with Pianist Josef Hofmann's exploitation when a boy. Declared the court of prodigies in general, of Ruggiero in particular: "No such prodigious task confronts him [Ruggiero] as the one imposed on Hofmann, who, while touring America gave 50 public concerts in two and a half months. . . . May not a career of concert giving, extended over a period of years, produce a loss of freshness and spontaneity in the young artist? He may become jaded with adulation and sigh, like Alexander. . . ."

The Prodigies Ricci will be pondered again by Justice Valente on Dec. 15. If they are taken from Miss Lackey permanently they will be financed by Frederick W. Bartlett of Chicago, Sinclair Oil tycoon.

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