Jascha Heifetz Declines to Answer Questions on Intermarriage

(Jewish Daily Bulletine)

Jascha Heifetz, internationally known Jewish violinist, after having arrived here wth his bride, the former Mrs. Fiorence Vidor, motion picture actress, declined to comment on the question of his marriage to a non-Jewess. His marriage was his private concern, he declared.

“As an artist I feel that I must answer to my public for the quality of my art. Certain things are expected of me, I realize, and my actions must therefore bear public scrutiny. But I am also a private citizen”, Mr. Heifetz declared in an exclusive interview granted the correspondent of the Jewish Daily Bulletin. Mr. and Mrs. Heifetz, who eluded news papermen and photographers by leaving their train in a small town outside of Los Angeles, spent the Labor Day weekend on a yacht cruise. Following his return, Mr. Heifetz pleaded for less interest in his private affains.

In reply to questions of the correspondent regarding his marriage, Mr. Heifetz said: “Some things in life are purely private and sacred in their nature. Unless this were so life would hardly be worth living. The facts of our marriage and acquaintanceship over a period of years are known. There is no additional need of comment on my part.”

When the correspondent pointed out that being a public man, his actions were of interest to the public and in this case especially to the Jewish people, he acknowledged the fact without definitely committing his views. “I realize,” he said, “that the public is possibly curious. Indeed I have a high regard for the public and as to my feelings toward the Jewish people, of whom I am one, I believe they are too well known to need explanation. But don’t you think that I am also a private human being as well as a public artist? I pursue my daily life as any other citizen and as a privat? citizen I do things which are sacred to me and which, I feel, are not the public’s concern. Please tell the people that my marriage is a private and sacred thing to me. It is, after all, something which should concern me only.”