“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same……”

It’s not the thing to quote Kipling’s “If” anymore, I am told. But the poem was popular when I made my debut in this country. I learned it by heart then, took it to heart then, and have carried it about with me since.

Perhaps the words mean something special to me - because an artist, whose life is in the public eye, must steer a mean course between triumph and disaster and learn to live with both. In many ways triumph is the greater test. Many a man who emerges a hero under suffering, succumbs to success.

I met triumph early— at seven years—and never had to face disaster until quite grown up. My first severe criticism was a terrible shock to me and a hard lesson. But even harder for one’s artistic balance is the heady wine of continuous praise.

Yes, triumph and disaster go hand-in-hand with a career. They are the two faces of the coin which is the currency of the world of art.

O.K. - J.H.