The ructions that erupted when Slatkin became Zlotkin
NewsThe conductor Leonard Slatkin has written a fond memoir of his brother, the cellist Fred Zlotkin, who died suddenly at the weekend of a heart attack. Here’s an extract.
… By the mid ’60s, he realized that the name Freddie would no longer cut it, so he changed it to Fred, or more formally, Frederick. We all understood. However, the question I am most asked about him is why his last name is different than mine. Here is what Fred had to say on that subject:
The original spelling of the name, from the Russian and the Hebrew inscription on our great grandfather’s tombstone, was ZLATKIN. A Russian “a” sounds more like an American “o,” hence, Zlotkin. The name was spelled Zlotchin on the ship’s passenger record, and Zlatkine when Levik (Louis) came over in ’23. It is quite plausible that Chaim changed the name to Americanize it, to forget about the hard times they had in Russia and start anew in the U.S.
Our grandmother, when asked about the original spelling of the name, simply said, “Our lives did not begin until we came to the United States. We are Slatkin.” Interestingly, I never heard anyone from that side of the family refer to themselves as Ukrainian.
Our mother was furious! She considered this an insult to the memory of Felix. Fred did not help matters when he named his firstborn child Felix Zlotkin. Mother and son did not speak to each other for a very long time….
Read the full memoir here.
It is sad that this last name issue caused such friction.
By the way, maybe it was not Chaim who changed the name. When my Norwegian grandfather arrived at Ellis Island around 1900 he stated, and spelled his last name, and the clerk he was dealing with snarled “In this country, it’s Nelson.” And so we became, and stayed, Nelsons. The original was Nelsen or Nellesen or some such. Chaim might have dealt with that same clerk.
Similar story — same clerk? — when my Lithuanian grandparents arrived at Ellis Island. Except the American name was entirely different. The story goes that the original name sounded too much like, let’s call it, ‘putz’.
In his book “Récits d’Ellis Island” (1980) Georges Perec tells the story of an old Russian gentleman who was advised to pick ‘un nom bien américain’ like Rockefeller for his entry into the United States. But when said gentleman finally stood in front of the clerk who processed his case and he was asked for his name, he replied in Yiddish “Schon vergessen” (already forgot), and henceforth he was registered under the ‘nom bien américain’ of John Ferguson.
Modern scholarship finds that the legend of Ellis Island clerks changing names to sound more American is a false one.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ask-smithsonian-did-ellis-island-officials-really-change-names-immigrants-180961544/
Thanks so much for the link, but there’s quite a disconnect between the article and the personal reports so many of us received. Perhaps, like the sightings of ghosts and UFOs, unless one were there, it didn’t happen.
A friend of Arnold Schoenberg’s son once told me that the composer cunningly altered the orthography of his surname in 1933 to prevent US immigration confiscating the umlaut without recompense. Cf perhaps (though earlier in the family’s history) Harold C. Schonberg.
That is hearsay, obvs. Apparently Hubert Foss (Musical Times, 1951) cites Schoenberg’s explanation of “deference to American practice”; but I don’t see the two stories are entirely mutually exclusive.
And what about the 19th century German-American financier August Belmont, friend of the Vanderbilts & Astors? His original surname was Schoenberg.
Both names “mean” beautiful mountain, of course.
Not really relevant to your Slotkin Zlotkin discussion. Sorry!
What a heartfelt and bittersweet remembrance. I know Mr. Slatkin reads this blog, so I send my condolences to him.
A touching memoir indeed…may his name [however spelled!]be for a blessing. My best wishes and condolences to all.
Nothing wrong with being named Zlotkin, which derives from the Slavic (Russian/Polish) word for “Gold”…
Aube Tzerko, on the other hand, had to deal with much more existential problems considering that his original last name was “Kotzer” (apparently, Schnabel suggested that he change it immediately when he came to Europe to study with him).
Thanks to Leonard for the beautiful memoir.
I have fond memories of the Los Angeles City Schools’ “All City String Orchestra” 60 years ago. I was 15, and (then) Freddie (then) Slatkin and I were standmates. He was already way better than me. Leonard was a few feet away in the violas.
Hi Peter,
I was “drafted” to play double bass in the Franklin Ave. School Orchestra while you played cello.
I did not feel the need to continue going into King Jr. Hi! My father, Paul Lowenkron, in addition to his main job in the 20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra, played violin under your grandfather in the Pasadena Symphony.
Leonard, thank you for sharing the memories of your brother as well as the rest of your family.
Felix was very important for my well being as was related to you in the past.
David Lowenkron
At Ellis Island, in 1906, my Ukrainian Jewish grandparents went from Zalotuspulsky to Pollack with a stroke of the pen.
No complaints from me.
Nevertheless, Eleanor came east (taking a break from medical treatment) to hear Fred play the Boccherini B-flat Concerto with the Hoff-Barthelson Orchestra conducted by Emanuel Vardi. “Other than
you,” the highly-opinionated Eleanor told Manny, “the only 2 violists worth a damn in my book are Paul Robyn and Alvin Dinkin.” Both played with her and Felix in the Hollywood Quartet.
I drove Eleanor to a New Year’s Eve party @ the Goldenberg’s sometime in the ’60s where your Dad and Mom were also present. Juilliard student Fred and a flutist who I think became his first wife showed up. Moe and Alan were supporters of mine in getting me some outside gigs at NBC.
“@ the Goldenberg’s”—oh, you mean “at the Goldenbergs’ “? I wasn’t old enough to drive in the sixties, but I always knew how to spell the possessive plural.
Also, who are “Moe and Alan”? I have a vision in my head of a guy with a bowl cut giving you gigs but making you suffer for them with slaps and eye-pokes.