The Lost Accord

Although the eight-week strike has been settled, the malady which plagued the orchestra still festers beneath the surface harmony

The point is this is not a poverty-stricken operation. It’s not an affluent one either, except for a marvelous endowment fund (with a market value of $4.3 million as of June 30th, according to Balis) and an equity in a valuable building with a mortgage which should be paid off soon (its size is another mystery not reported for two years, but in 1964 it was down to $389,285).

In the estimation of one knowledgeable outsider who looked over the meager fiscal evidence, the Association is a healthy concern playing sick. Maybe it couldn’t afford what the men were asking, but if it won’t level with the public, who can tell? The real reason no one can look at the books, according to Balis, is because they reveal the bonus arrangements with certain orchestra members and Ormandy’s salary. Why this should be so hush-hush is hard to understand. These figures, as well as a lot of others would help to clarify a lot of the foggy problems.

The Association says, for instance, the average yearly salary in the orchestra is $15,000, but no one can substantiate this because the wages to musicians’ figure of $1,397,824 in the latest 14-month statement also includes salaries of stage personnel. Even the Orchestra Association’s 990A tax form for last year didn’t answer the question, because something else was buried in a figure of $1,139,212 as payment to musicians. It could be Ormandy’s salary. From the skimpy clues Sherlock Holmes might go on to deduce what this top-secret wage is. On the published yearly statement his salary seems to be hidden in with the services of conductors and soloists: $197,015. If you subtract the total reported to Uncle Sam for that year of $109,825 for guest artists only, you end up with a $87,190 — that just might be Ormandy’s salary. Of course, this doesn’t represent his total income which also includes recording fees and royalties from Columbia and earnings as a guest conductor with other orchestras. His yearly income is usually estimated at $150,000.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. The attitude that the Association’s business is no one else’s business is consistent all the way through. Balis is extremely unyielding about "government interference." At one time the City gave the orchestra a $50,000-a-year subsidy. Why did they stop taking it? One outspoken board member replied frankly that they didn’t want it "because Freddy Mann (then Recreation Commissioner) had to go with the package.”

Even though that’s the story Mann himself tells, Balis’ explanation is different. The City had given the Association $50,000 for a few years. In return it had played free concerts. "Finally," said Balis, "the cost of these concerts got up to $53,000 and it cost us more than we were getting and placed certain restrictions on us. It just wasn’t worth it." According to the board, the orchestra loses money on every concert anyhow, but this is the official version.