Ignacy Jan Paderewski and his manager Hugo Goerlitz arrive to New York. Charles Tretbar (a close personal friend of pianist Franz Rummel) meets Paderewski at the docks and discourages the pianist by saying that he doesn’t expect much from Paderewski and his tour. Tretbar then escorts the pianist and his manager to the Union Square Hotel, a second-rate establishment just around the corner from Steinway Hall. Paderewski is appalled by the “noisy commercial travelers, the insects and the mice”.