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American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
April 3, 1939
Tom Cyrus (Musical Conductor)
CITY, North Carolina
John W. Bruce, Writer
Revised May 1998, John W. Bruce, Editor
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I have caught up with the elusive Mr. Tom Cyrus (Photograph) who conducts the newly-formed Symphony Orchestra. I was able to interview him in the lobby of the Memorial Auditorium (Photograph). That particular day, the chandeliers were lowered for cleaning and so there were no performances that day so that the audience would not get in the way of the cleaners. Even with its twin sparkling beauties lowered ungainly to the ground, the lobby still carried an aura of elegance and beauty. I conducted this interview on the steps to the main auditorium. After giving Mr. Cyrus my usual pre-interview warning, I sat down to record his answers. To begin with, I asked him to tell me a little about himself.
"Yes, well. My full name is Thomas Lee Cyrus and I am 60 years old. I conduct the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra for a portion of its concerts and practices, there are other conductors who I have to share this job with, and I occasionally play the cello or the violin for them when a vital member takes ill."
"Yes, and could you tell me some about your past?" I queried.
"I was born in Durham in 1879. My parents never moved from that city, even during the deepest heart of this economic depression. My parents used to tell me that at the age of 6, I showed a great talent for playing a small family violin that had been passed down for generations in our family since the Revolution. They eventually
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paid for me to recieve music lessons with Mrs. Bessel, a lady who lived down the street from my family. I went to see her twice a week for lessons on our violin and also on her piano. I suppose that before I go any further, I should tell you that my parents were able to afford all this thanks to my father's job. Our family has traditionally been bankers and my father took up stock brokering as a side option to his customers. I think he did a good job at it, too. With that money, my parents were able to send me to college. Life was very good. I got out of college and started working with my father in his bank. I started to learn how to handle stocks and be a stockbroker. My father said that it was important for a sotck broker to understand the market before he could really do his job right. There was another, private stock broker down the street who kept stealing away our buisness. Eventually, very few of the people with money in my father's bank consulted us about the stock market. I suppose it was just as well because a few weeks after we started to notice a serious decline in our stock brokering, the market crashed. The bank had to close. All the money had mysteriously dissappeared. The stocks had fallen in price dramatically, people couldn't pay off their loans. All the money people claimed they had had vanished. The different problems kept compounding in sort of a cycle. The economy was going haywire. Eventually, the only person in my entire extended family who had a job was an obscure cousin who eeked out a living growing tobacco in eastern NC.
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He had somehow held his farm. And then, disaster struck. There was such a tobacco crop that there weren't enough people to buy it. Most people here either had bought as much as they needed or they didn't have the money. As for exports, the rest of the world was already under a Depression and there was hardly and overseas sale. This overproduction forced my cousin out of buisness and so our family was totally without working men."
At this point, the interviewee seemed to stop. "Please continue," I urged Mr. Cyrus.
"Well, there's not much more to tell. Mrs. Bessel, my former music teacher, had to sell her piano anyway and the violin I had played went a few months later so that we could afford food. We tried everything to raise money. I moved in with my parents again so that we only had to pay for one house. My dad and I tried doing odd jobs, but that hardly paid for food, housing, and all the other necessities of life. Eventually, my family had to play with the law and live in an abandoned house down the road so that we didn't have to pay rent. We had to move a couple times when the police caught us or when people came in looking to buy or rent the houses we were staying in. We had to move less as the Depression went on though. I guess fewer and fewer people had the money to buy houses."
Seeing that Mr. Cyrus was out of things to say, I decided to ask him about how he came to be conducting the Symphony Orchestra here. As I thought this, I noticed that the work crews were leaving. I hoped that they wouldn't try to raise the chandeliers. The noise would certainly interrupt the interview. I asked, "Could you tell me what {Begin Deleted Text} transpired {End Deleted Text}{Begin Inserted Text} occurred {End Inserted Text} to bring you to your job directing the Symphony?"
"One day, I went out like every other day and looked for a menial job or small chore I could do to earn money. As I was
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passing by a small shop, I noticed a sign asking for able-bodied men to run the cash register. When I went in for the interview, it became apparent that the former operator had died much like my parents."
At this point, I told Tom Cyrus that he had not told me that his parents had passed away.
"I didn't? Oh, sorry about that. My parents had died about a month before I found my job at the symphony. Getting back to that, I took the job. After a few days, I noticed that there was one man who came in every day. He always bought a newspaper and a coffee and left. One day, he was called away for a moment before he left, and he left his paper behind. I happened to glance at it (it was a rare luxury for me to get to read a newspaper.) and I noticed an advertisement. The advertisement asked for people in need of good work and with musical talent to come be part of the new North Carolina Symphony Orchestra. I went down for an interview that afternoon in hoped of being selected to play violin again. However, when I got there, the man commented that they needed more conductors. Although it took me a long, long time, I eventually became almost mediocre at conducting. It was a good thing, too because the shop at which I had been working had closed down a week before. I found residence in a housing complex where the rent was based on your income. To my surprise, I later found out that both my job and my residence are funded by a government group called the WPA. I have to admit that I still have my doubts about the job. Conducting does not seem to be my strong suit. Still, it feeds me and puts a roof over my head."
Thanking Tom Cyrus for his time, I began to leave the audtiorium. Mr. Cyrus, however implored me to stay and listen to their next practice, which occured right after the chandeliers were re-raised. Although I agree that Tom Cyrus' conducting does need work, he sounded marvelous on the cello which I took the liberty of recording (Sound).
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