The first contestant was a tall blonde from Oregon with a willowy Grace Kelly look. When she rose from the piano after playing Brahms's Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, the ovation was led by the usherettes at the rear of the hall: only three years ago. Pianist Tana Bawden had been a Carnegie Hall usherette herself. But after the slim, curly-haired young man from St. Louis played Prokofiev's Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, the ovation was even louder: at intermission a Carnegie Hall stagehand was making book on him in the lobby...
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