From Rags To Amadeus Riches: Salieri

Two Ragtime characters remind me of Salieri

One is Elizabeth McGovern's husband. The husband has a quarrel with a sculptor because he believes the sculptor's new nude statue is based on Elizabeth's McGovern's character, a former mistress of the sculptor. This issue involving a woman and an artist reminds me of Amadeus, where Salieri's first frustrations with Mozart began when he realizes Mozart had an affair with Katerina Cavaleri, whom Salieri was in lust with.

Like Salieri's growing hatred of Mozart, the husband contemplates murdering the sculptor and even spends some time in a mental asylum.

Another connection is that there's scene early in Ragtime, where people at a party are listening to sounds of Elizabeth McGovern's husband trying to break down the door, which to me is similar to the scene early on in Amadeus where Salieri's valet and cook nervously listen to the sounds Salieri makes behind his locked door.


The other Ragtime character who reminds me of Salieri is the racist fireman, Conklin. Just as Salieri is outraged that God would grant divine musical gifts to a smutty infantile boy, Conklin is outraged that an African-American should be able to afford his own Model T.

Another connection is that they both have their "funny bed moment". Salieri falls out of a child's bed and in Ragtime the police drag an elderly man out of bed believing he is Conklin before the police soon realize the real Conklin was hiding under the elderly man's bed.

Conklin is played by Kenneth McMillan, the only Ragtime cast member to appear in Amadeus, though McMillan's scenes did not appear in the original version of Amadeus (nor should they have, in my humble opinion).