Heimo Haitto

[1][2] The young violinist become famous, and his story inspired a fictional film, Pikku pelimanni (The Little Player) of 1939, in which Haitto played the leading role.

During the Winter War, Haitto partook a Red Cross concert tour which also visited the United States for the benefit of Finland.

[3] Haitto played at Carnegie Hall with Sir John Barbirolli, among other venues, and appeared in the 1941 film The Hard-Boiled Canary.

They moved to Hollywood and Haitto worked with the film industry, then he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and played there till 1956.

After that, Haitto and his family moved to Switzerland and then Mexico, where he got the position of the leader in the Bellas Artes symphony orchestra, but ultimately his wife filed for a divorce because of his alcoholism and gambling.

Heimo Haitto in the mid-1950s. The caption reads: “Jesus is my Saviour.”
The young violinist while filming The Hard-Boiled Canary a.k.a. There’s Magic in Music in 1941.