The Sultan and the Piano Player

The chance to read about someone who has passed away and who was linked to events in the early 1900s is diminishing with each passing year. But the other day we learned that Ertugrul Osman, a grandson of the last Sultan of Turkey, passed away at 97.

His grandfather was Abdul Hamid II, who ruled Turkey from 1876 to 1909. Ertugrul remembered playing at the palace in Istanbul as a small boy. It's a short obituary, because Ertugrul did not ascend to power. His family was ousted from Turkey in 1924, when it became the Turkish Republic.

The obituary reveals that Ertugrul did not lead a royal life and lived most of his life in a walk-up apartment in Manhattan. This reminds me of the absolute great lead Robert McFadden wrote in the Times when John Lindsay, a former NYC mayor and congressman passed away in February 2000 at 79.

At times he had no pension or health insurance. The riches evoked by his patrician manner turned out to be illusory, and he and his wife, Mary, lived for years in a one-bedroom apartment.

The Sultan's grandson seems to have gotten out a bit and lived a longer life. He was in Istanbul when he passed away.

But here's the connective tissue. Saturday's WSJ reviews a book about Ignaz Friedman, a famous pianist from another era who lived from 1882-1948. Ignaz played for the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid, who commented to him, "It must be difficult to play the piano so well."

Ignaz replied, "Much easier, your majesty than governing the Orient."

Lindsey led New York for 8 years, but along the way found it a very hard place to govern, and afterward lived a simple life in Manhattan in a simple apartment.

The Sultan's grandson it seems lived a simple non-royal life after his family could no longer govern Turkey and the Orient. Ertugrul told a documentary film maker that they'd have more to work with if he had a bad life, "it would be better for your film."

Let this be said for both Ertugrul and John. They were part of big events and saw great power, but they both wound up leading simple lives in small New York apartments.

Ertugrul and John Lindsey were not from the Lower East Side.

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