The Independent - London, July 3rd, 2000
IN THE Jewish-Russian world into which Walter Matthau was born, a loud sneeze betokened a listener's incredulous response to the twists and turns of an especially tall story. (Kodly's mock-epic opera Hary Janos opens with a noisy orchestral glissando mimicking just such a sneeze.) In Matthau's case, that sneeze might be his own original surname - the improbable and virtually unpronouncable "Matuschanskavasky" - which was (or so he claimed) arbitrarily bestowed upon him by his father, a Russian Orthodox priest who immediately disappeared from both his and his mother's life.
Whatever the truth ...
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'Obituary: Walter Matthau'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
Subscribers: HighBeam content is only available to HighBeam subscribers. Click the link above for more information.
