By Way of Introduction [Honegger] 3/30/28

Many an engaging biography has been spoiled by a premature regeneration of the hero. Nearly all famous persons start on their careers as “enfants terribles.” With the tumultuous twenties behind them, a tangible menace of respectability begins to loom. And it was well said that, contrasted to that horrid state, even the dastardly profession of the Pirates of Penzance would appear “comparatively honest.” Only when senility comes along, flaunting a beard à la G.B.S. or Trader Horn, does the whilom bad boy resume his earlier practices-this time as a “viellard terrible.”