Photograph by Vic Picetti, courtesy of Olivia de Havilland.

Los Gatans Olivia de Havilland and Yehudi Menuhin met in the Aleutians.




Picture from the Past

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Locals had enduring impact

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By John S. Baggerly

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Three local angles are involved in today's picture from the past. The principals are former Saratogan and 1934 Los Gatos High School grad Olivia de Havilland and the late great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who made separate trips to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during the early days of World War II. The photographer, Vic Picetti, fresh out of San Jose High School and a private in the U.S. Army, had the honor of photographing de Havilland, who by the 1940s was an established Hollywood star. Picetti said in later years he was so struck by the actress that he was unable to speak with her. He photographed the actress and the violinist when they visited Yank hospital patients.

Menuhin, a musical boy-wonder and part-time Los Gatan while his parents lived here, had already played the violin with major orchestras by the time he arrived in Alaska. There he gave concerts for the troops. He died March 12 of this year of pneumonia in Martin Luther Hospital in Berlin. He was in Berlin to conduct the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra.

After the war, Picetti, who served with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, also became a part-time Los Gatan when he house-sat for the home, cat and gardens of his daughter.

Menuhin and his talent became international property when he played and conducted worldwide and was knighted by England's Queen Elizabeth II. He married twice, had three children, became a citizen of England and made his home there.

De Havilland's movie career was not as sudden as that of Menuhin's musical one. Five years after her 1934 graduation from LGHS, she played a leading role in Gone With the Wind and was nominated for an Oscar for her performance. Oscars did come for subsequent roles in Hold Back the Dawn in 1941 and The Snake Pit in 1948. She was also the author of a book: Every Frenchman Has One--A Liver, Not a Mistress.

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