162 iL 100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



tively, while tramping through England or while visiting German relatives. 

 Albert Szent-Gybrgyi allowed that he was not particularly gifted as a musi- 

 cian himself but that he had grown up in a musical family. His mother 

 reportedly decided against a career as an opera singer, on the advice of 

 Gustav Mahler, who told her that she did not have the necessary physique 

 for a singer. 



Today, the piano in Swope rarely sits idle in the evenings, and people 

 sit outside on the laun listening to the music wafting out the windows. A 

 recent celebration of the work of Woods Hole artist Alix Robinson included 

 a series of concerts, for which as many people may have sat outside on the 

 grass as inside in the formal seats. The regular Sunday evening concerts 

 always attract a full crowd as well. So many MBL people have said that 

 the musical offerings in the little town of Woods Hole remain one of the 

 major drawing points. The official centennial schedule included a perfor- 

 mance by premier flutist Jean Pierre Rampal of composer Ezra Laderman's 

 "The MBL Suite," composed for the occasion. Music gives a cosmopolitan 

 and educated air to the setting, although the MBL music sometimes clashes 

 with that blasting from the large radios of the vacationers waiting for the 

 ferry. 



Hurdy-gurdy music can clash too. One story goes that Conklin, who 

 had no musical ear at all but who knew quite well that Wilson did, hired a 

 hurdy-gurdy man to play outside the labs. The man was playing down the 

 street, complete with monkey and tin cup. Conklin then hired him to stand 

 under Wilson's window and keep playing his grating music. "Don't stop, 

 even if the man inside says to," Conklin insisted; "he just doesn't want to 

 pay. I have already paid, so keep pla3dng." 



The MBL CtuB 



On a slightly different note, the MBL Club and Woods Hole itself also include 

 a healthy dose of sea chanties, and folk singing of various sorts reflecting the 

 changing times. The MBL Club also offers dancing for the community, 

 sometimes with general events and sometimes with boisterous and popular 

 teen dances. In the early years, dancing more often came in the form of a 

 visit from Josephine the Bear, since before 1918 the people at the MBL did 

 not dance much. Only when World War I brought the first temporary naval 

 base to Woods Hole did dancing become a regular feature. Sailors liked to 

 dance, but more importantly, vvath the sailors came a victrola, and that 

 victrola attracted dancers. World War II had an effect as well, since gas 

 rationing kept people at home looking for something to do. The uniformed 

 servicemen attracted attention to light-hearted dancing, even as the MBL 

 rented out buildings to the war effort and as the planes flew overhead. Then 

 as society became more liberal, and as the MBL Club provided a familiar 



