>Just read his 'Bad Boy of Music' and you will tend to take that particular story with a grain of salt lick.

I have read "Bad Boy of Music", and yes, Antheil certainly was full of himself, a narcissist if there ever was one. But that story is apparently true. I have enountered confirmation from other non-Antheil sources, but as one of his students, Benjamin Lees relates:

www.sequenza21.com/Lees.html

S21: You studied with George Antheil, the self-styled "bad boy of music." What are some of your memories of that experience. Can you confirm or refute the story that he used to pull a gun out of his pocket and put it on top of the piano before beginning to play--just in case the audience didn't like his music?

BL: I worked with George Antheil for almost five years, and while certain details have become hazy with the passage of time I still recall many memorable incidents. George never considered himself a teacher per se. His role was one of analyst. He and I would go over a section of whatever I was writing and having trouble with, and he would then offer suggestions as to how the problem could be met. Never did he actually put his pencil to my manuscript. Never He would often begin by saying "Doctor Antheil senses that there is a weakness in your development," or "Your seams are showing."

Our lessons could last an hour or ten hours. It could be once a week or three times a week, whatever the "patient" needed. My wife and I often had dinner at his home after I had experienced eight hours or so of an exhausting lesson. Not that he was at my side all that time. He would be answering correspondence or working on his own piece. It was a true master/apprentice relationship.

The story of the pistol is true, but relates to only one particular concert in Berlin in the 1920s. George was a fine pianist and his programs mostly contained new works by Copland, Strawinsky, Antheil, etc. The audience at this particular event grew restless and George whipped out a revolver, shouted "I'll kill the first person who tries to leave!" and then placed the weapon on the piano in full view of a cowed audience .

He could be kind, sarcastic, impossible and irrational. In the end he always remained faithful, and therein lay his strength as a person. He loved women -- all women. But that's another story.