Some years ago, Vladimir Horowitz went to the theater to see a production of Inherit the Wind, which featured an old friend of his, Paul Muni. Horowitz didn't go back stage, but sent a note saying how much he enjoyed the performance.
A few days later, Muni wrote to Horowitz, "Thank you for your kind words about my performance, but I'm sure I'll never be able to create the electricity that you do when you're seated at the 88." Horowitz said to his wife, Wanda, "What does he mean - the 88?" Wanda responded, "It must have something to do with the piano, because that's where you create electricity." At that point, their daughter Sonia was walking through the room, so they asked her. She said, "I don't know, but maybe it's the number of keys on the piano. How many are there, Papa?" Horowitz replied, "I don't know. I never counted them!"
Many years later, I was relating this story to Heifetz. When I got to the part about Muni's reference to "88", Heifetz interrupted me and said, "But I didn't know Horowitz drove an automobile!" He admitted that he had never counted the keys on a piano, either.
