BOSTON -- As a child, Menachem Schwartz, who later became Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, received classical training as a violinist. By the age of 13, he played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A year later, he went on to win national competitions, including the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. It was on Amateur Hour that Schwartz first performed White Christmas. Schwartz's performance was so stirring that it left Mack in tears. "We were all crying," said former stagehand Tim Murray, now 89. "Irving Berlin himself called the network to congratulate us and was weeping as if he'd just lost an arm. After hearing Menachem play that song, I could never listen to that impostor [Bing] Crosby do [White Christmas] again."The recording was found last month in late collector Sean Cannon's warehouse, ironically in the same crate that contained the Jackie Mason recording of Silent Night. Both recordings have just been made available as bonus tracks on Barbra Streisand's new Christmas CD, A Mensch is Born in Bethlehem.
