MAGAZINE PORTRAIT INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY DUTCH VIOLINIST AND CONDUCTOR WILLEM VAN HOOGSTRATEN.

Circa [1930].. [1930].. Good. - An octagonal, sepia-toned, 3 inch high by 2-1/2 inch wide portrait has been clipped from a magazine & mounted on a piece of cream-colored card 5 inches high by 3 inches wide. Inscribed and signed on the mount below the portrait: "To Seymour Halpern / with best wishes / Willem van Hoogstraten". There is some minor soiling to the mount with a paper-clip mark & a small, light stain to its right margin. There are small scraps of black paper adhering to the verso where the item has been removed from an album. Good. <p>The head-and-shoulders portrait is inscribed to future Congressman Seymour Halpern, then a young autograph collector.<p>Willem van Hoogstraten [1884-1965] was a Dutch violinist and conductor. He married pianist Elly Ney in 1911 and they toured Europe performing chamber music, recruiting cellist Fritz Reitz to form a trio. Van Hoogstraten conducted a Brahms festival in Vienna and the Mozart festival in Salzburg, as well as guest conducting throughout Europe. He conducted the New York Philharmonic's summer concert series from 1922 to 1939. He served for thirteen seasons as music director of the Oregon Symphony, and from 1939 to 1945 was permanent director of the Mozarteum Salzburg.<p>The Queens, New York Republican Congressman Seymour Halpern (1913-1997) started his political career as a campaign aide to New York's powerful mayor Fiorella La Guardia and first served in New York's State Senate for 14 years before seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress. In Albany Halpern sponsored 279 bills that became law, including measures on schools, housing, civil rights, nutrition and mental health. A Liberal, he was something of an anomaly as the lone Republican representative from New York City, and generally garnered support from Labor Unions and endorsement from the Liberal Party. Yet he never even considered switching parties as he considered membership in the Republican Party a family tradition and commitment. While he found ample time for his private pursuits, including painting and collecting autographs, he took his legislative duties very seriously. Of these, he was proudest of his co-sponsorship of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and of the original 1965 Medicare legislation.