Farid al-Atrash the man...kindness and morals

In my childhood, I used to see the sweet friendship between my father, Badih Serbey, my mother and the musician Farid al-Atrash and his fiancée, Mrs. Salwa al-Qudsi. After the musician’s departure, and then my father’s departure, Salwa remained a close friend, and every time we talked, the late musician’s biography would inevitably come up.

Yesterday I asked her: Tell me about Farid al-Atrash, was he kind? She said: "Farid has high morals, and he is very kind, and I will tell you an incident that proves that. It happened that I felt a lot of pain, and when I visited the doctor, he decided to remove my gallbladder. The day of the operation was set and Farid asked the doctor when the surgery would be performed, and he told him in the morning. I entered the hospital, and at five in the morning I saw Farid in front of me. He stayed up late and came early to be with me, but he stipulated to the doctor that I would not be anesthetized in the operating room, but in an adjacent room so that I would not be afraid and so that he would be by my side, and that is what happened. When I woke up from the anesthesia, he was by my side, so I asked him for water, but the nurse objected and said that this was forbidden, so Farid took a piece of cotton, wet it with water and moistened my mouth with it."

This image has been converted from the original medium format film, resulting in a sharp and detailed image.

By May Serbey Chehab, from the Book "Boulevard of Stars: The Golden Age of Arab Entertainment".