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I think I read this is an urban legend, like the one where Heifetz picks up the ghost hitchhiker. Snopes.com says this one is false. http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/perlman.asp. Sorry. Great story! Thanks for sharing. While doing research on Paganini for one of my novels, I read that he used to break one of the strings on purpose in order to play on the other three left--he was a great showman as well and wanted to impress the audience. Don't know if this is true. I have read this story before, and I wondered why Perlman didn't borrow the concertmaster's violin or ask someone in the violin section to bring him another string. I don't know if this is true. Someone told me Paganini broke three strings and played with the G string alone. The story I heard continues on that his cab driver demanded more money seeing how much Paganini was paid. Paganini's reply was said to be, If you can drive with one wheel .....

Ihnsouk

Yes--now that you mention it, I remember reading that as well! Also that his dad used to starve him unless he got all the etudes perfect. He was also a consummate gambler and once owned a casino in Paris. If I'm not mistaken, I think he lost his Guarneri because of gambling (hope I'm not getting the details wrong! I didn't check my notes).
Mayra