The Boy Who Played Chopsticks
for the Great Paderewski-Fiction!
Summary of the eRumor The story of a little boy
who was taken to a Paderewski concert by his mother. He
slipped away from her, made his way to the platform, sat down at the
concert piano and began to play Chopsticks. The crowd
reacted with anger and said to take the boy away. Paderewski,
when he realized what was going on, went to the piano and began
playing along with the boy, whispering to him, "Keep
going. Don't quit, son. Keep playing. Don't
stop. Don't quit."
There are various versions of this
In some of them, the boy plays "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
In this version, it is said the boy played Chopsticks, a
simple little tune that every child who has had access to a piano
seems to have learned how to play.
There is no evidence this ever happened, however.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was a Polish pianist who gained
world wide fame and was very popular in the United States.
Paderewski experts say the story may have been inspired by a poster
during World War II that promoted a meeting in support of the Polish
Paderewski is said to have organized the meeting.
The poster included a sketch of Paderewski next to a boy at the
The boy was carrying his belongings wrapped at the end of a stick
and was called "Johnny the Wanderer."
Last updated 4/7/03
A real example of the eRumor as it has
appeared on the Internet: