CYRILLE FLEISCHMAN
Fame and Fortune
Boris Tonski, the cantor at a little synagogue in the fourth arrondissement,
got a booking at the Concert Pacra on Boulevard Beaumarchais under the
name of Tony Rosib. Like that. On a whim. Because he had a beautiful
VOIce.
When the president found out, all he said was: "Either you sing in a
cabaret or you stay chazan in the shull Choose."
Tonski had chosen.
He was a curtain raiser several times on Boulevard Beaumarchais, didn't
impress anyone, and in a very few days became an unemployed singer.
At the synagogue they wouldn't even consider taking him back. He was
replaced by the rabbi's nephew, and now came to services on Saturday
merely as one of the faithful.
Soon Tonski quietly changed synagogues for the Sabbath service.
One winter day he vanished completely from the fourth arrondisse–
ment to try his luck in Canada.
In Toronto, Boris Tonski changed his name, anglicizing himself to
become Boris Tony. He didn't have any luck with his new name either: in
the night club that took him on, the boss thought he was Italian and he
became something like Boristoni on the poster. For three days. On the
fourth he lost his job. Then, by chance, at a charitable agency, he met the
daughter of an important member of the community. And so
it
was that sev–
eral months later, reassuming his name, Boris Tonski gave up singing in all
its forms, religious and lay, to become the son-in-law of a wealthy importer.
Judy, his wife, was no trouble. She had a baby every two years, let him
lead his new life as son-in-law blessed with good fortune, and gave him the
royal peace that allowed Tonski to flourish in Canada. He worked in the
family business, which he expanded to a moderate degree until the day
Judy's father died. That gentleman had an only daughter, an only son-in-law,
and Tonski, at less than forty, became-through the intermediary of his
wife-a respected man. He was no longer obliged to expand anything at all
except leisure time with his family. When they came to Europe for a few
days of vacation, Boris and Judy Tonski didn't settle down under the sun in
Paris but in Cap-Ferrat. Of course they had a better chance of finding the
Mediterranean there than in the fourth arrondissement! But that was not
the underlying reason: Boris had revenge in mind!
