Florian ZaBach

Florian ZaBach was a musician, mastering the violin at an early age. He played popular tunes as well as classical arrangements. His most popular melody was "The Hot Canary" and a recording sold more than one million copies.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, another of my hobbies was collecting 16mm movies. I never could afford to buy feature films, so my small collection consisted mostly of comedy shorts, cartoons, and a handful of tv shows. One of the latter I purchased, as part of a collection of miscellaneous shorts, was a "Florian ZaBach Show" from 1954. I found it to be very entertaining - Mr. ZaBach had a pleasant personality as he introduced and played each melody.

I wanted to contact Mr. ZaBach to tell him how much I enjoyed the one tv show of his I'd seen. I don't remember how I found his address, but it turned out he was living in Pound Ridge, New York, about 40 minutes north of me. His phone number was listed, and I called. His wife answered, and she said he was not home at the moment. I explained my interest in Mr. ZaBach's music, and said I'd like an autographed photo. She was very cordial and appreciated my interest. She took down my address and a few days later, I received this letter from Mr. ZaBach, in which he asked me how to obtain the catalog from which I purchased his tv show. He also included this vintage photo.