And Now For The Answers(2)…

September 19, 2017 Leave a comment

  1.  The Happiest Millionaire, “Valentine Candy or Boxing Gloves”, Cordelia Drexel Biddle. The line given seems a perfect description of adolescence and fits Cordelia as she ponders her future.  Is she going to box with boys or date them?  Up till now she’s been a Daddy’s girl, acquiescing to whatever he has proposed.  However, she’s beginning to wonder who she really is outside of her father’s wishes.  Lesley Ann Warren offers a wistful, yet highly emotional rendition of this difficult stage in her life in Walt Disney’s last film.
  2. Goldilocks, “Shall I Take my Hat and Go?”, George Randolph Brown.  The show was written by the Broadway critic Walter Kerr and his wife Jean.  The title confused the audience as did the mixed up ending.  Fortunately, the charming and tuneful score by miniaturist, Leroy Anderson, is a delight for the ears.  Russell Nype sings this song with an exuberant boyish innocence and a touch of pathos.  A superb rendition of an unduly neglected song.
  3. The Apple Tree, “Eve”, Adam.  By selecting three stories:  “The Diary of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain, “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton and “Passionella” by Jules Feiffer, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wished to show the emotional and often turbulent aspect of male-female relationships. Not always a smooth blend of tales, nevertheless,  the show offers a complex and intriguing score, highlighted by top notch performances by Alan Alda, Barbara Harris and Larry Blyden.  Alan Alda has just the right amount of bewilderment and confusion when confronting the first member of the opposite sex.
  4. Funny Girl, “Henry Street”, chorus of neighbors from Henry Street.  The song is a celebration of Henry Street’s first Ziegfeld star to be:  Fanny Brice.  Errata:  the line should be corrected to:  “…young D.D-esses” and “loony” should be “looney.”
  5. Bloomer Girl, “Evelina”, Evelina Applegate and Jeff Calhoun.  A playful, teasing song that introduces the main characters.  In the original production, Celeste Holm sings the song for comic effect, while Barbara Cook sings for purity of tone in the 1956 TV production.  Even Steven.
  6. On the Twentieth Century, “Repent”, Letitia Primrose.  Imogene Coca sings this song by subjecting her comical voice to some unexpected twists.  Her hypocrisy shines through when she admits that she’s glad she didn’t repent before she did it all!
  7. My Fair Lady, “A Hymn to Him”, Henry Higgins.  Many performers have played the main character, but Rex Harrison remains our favorite misogynist.
  8. Li’l Abner, “Love in a Home”, Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae.  In Act 2, the main characters fantasize about the home they might have had before Abner was caught by Appassionata Von Climax and whisked off to Washington.   Peter Palmer and Edith Adams sing this romantic song.
  9. The Music Man, “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl for me”, Harold Hill.  This song reflects Harold’s penchant for women “who have been around.”  He wants affairs not committed relationships.  As he sings, “I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more “A”.”  Robert Preston reveals the criminal and the dreamer to perfection.
  10. Babes in Toyland, “I Can’t do the Sum”, Jane.  In the original 1903 production, Jane sings this song in a garden, while the Widow Piper’s children sit on a wall and tap on their slates as if working a problem.  Of course, these non sequiturs have no solution!  Kim Criswell gives a slightly frustrated version in 1978 on New World Records.  This star of Cincinnati University Singer’s and Theater Orchestra became an even bigger star on Broadway!

 

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The Radical Philosophy Of Allan Kurzberg: Exchanging Thoughts With A Being From Another Planet, Part 2.

August 23, 2017 Leave a comment

Allan:  You seemed quite excited and enervated during our last exchange.  I thought that emotions played a small role where you live.

Tybol:  No, you misunderstand me.  Although reason predominates, emotion plays a significant role in sustaining our well-being.  We gather our emotions under your terms:  E+ and E-, but to understand fully the scope of our emotions, one would need to construct quite an extensive list and even then that is not the same as actually feeling them.

Allan:  Still, in this area you seem quite restricted.  Humans have a vast range of emotions, including OE+ and OE-.

Tybol(laughing):  That is true, Allan.  You’ve got me there.  And because we lack OE+ and OE-, we could not write The Iliad or The Odyssey.  Nor could we compose Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.  But, neither could we have the Inquisition or the Warsaw Ghetto.  However, it is this vast range of emotions that you humans possess that is of such interest to us.  In fact, I have been sent here to investigate these emotions and their possible consequences.  Just a note:  It may interest you to know that we are putting on a show called. “A Dose of Humanity”.

Allan:  Really?  I guess it’s quite an honor to have been selected for interplanetary study.  By the way, what will you include in the show?

Tybol:  It’s far from finished, but as I understand it, it will be presented like one of your American revues with singing, dancing and the like.  The show will begin with a type of overture, composed of parts of anthems from different countries.  I am collecting music that I think will be appropriate–not only for the overture, but for other sections as well.  For instance, we will use Sergei Prokofiev’s “Death of Tybalt(laughing), not Tybol, from his ballet Romeo and Juliet, to indicate the utter banality and emptiness of war.  We feel that this fugue with straining horns and the methodical albeit inexorable marching beats gives an accurate feel for the inanity of war.  To sense the grotesque element of destruction, we borrow another piece from Prokofiev, the “Dance of the Buffoon” from his ballet Chout.  But do not think that America is being left out in our plans for the show.  We plan to use several pieces by Charles Ives, including parts of “America the Beautiful” from the adagio movement of his Second Symphony.  We hope to show humanity in some of its most distinctive guises.

Allan:  But, aren’t you limiting the show’s audience to those that are able to attend and thus creating a restriction and limitation?

Tybol:  Not at all.  You see, we have developed a means of transmitting the program simultaneously to everyone on the planet.  Thus, everyone who wishes, –and they can indicate their desire to see the show by sending an appropriate signal to the performing location, can see the show.  Incidentally, the show is done in the open air in a remote corner of the planet and there will be no audience present.

Allan:  I see.  Not to change the subject, but do you like any of our contemporary songs?

Tybol:  Your world is so different from mine that I’d be making a false statement if I pretended to understand all the pain and struggle your generation is going through.  With lack of understanding, it is difficult to evaluate with any precision.  However, I like many of your generation’s songs, particularly those that emphasize a true kinship with earth.

Allan:  I know you’ve only been here a short while, but do you have a favorite song?

Tybol:  John Lennon’s song, Imagine, resonates within my being.  I like especially the lines:  “Imagine no possessions.  I wonder if you can.  No need for greed or hunger.  A brotherhood of man.  Imagine all the people sharing all the world…”  John Lennon pointed the arrow in the right direction for eventual world peace.  It is up to your people to act on his words and turn this aspect of imagination to achievement.

Allan:  I know.  We have a long way to go and the clock is ticking…

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Musicals From The Past, Quiz#2

August 22, 2017 Leave a comment

Musicals from the past, quiz#2.  See if you can identify the musical, the song’s title, and the character who sings the song from the 10 excerpts below.

  1.  “You’re so lost in the middle of in-between.”

2.  “Though a dream lies dying, I’m the only one who’s crying.’

3.  “She keeps filling up the hut with rubbish like flowers and plants.

And not only is it overcrowded, it’s loaded with ants.”

4.  “Messes and messes of young DDS’s; a loony who teaches voice.”

5.  “But what’s the use of smellin’ watermelon, clinging to another fella’s vine?

6.  “There’s a fiery pit for ladies and a fiery pit for gents.”

7.  “Their heads are full of cotton, hay and rags.”

8.  “And the clock seems to chime:  ‘Come again any time.

You’ll be welcome wherever you roam’.”

9.  “That kind of child ties knots no sailor ever knew.

10.  “If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons

And sailed five thousand miles

With a cargo large of overshoes

And carving knives and files,

If the mates were almost six feet high

And the bos’n near the same,

Would you subtract or multiply to find the captain’s name?”

 

Answers will be provided in a future post.

 

 

 

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My Dad, Atrophy And Mathematics

August 11, 2017 6 Comments

To bring back and extend Dad’s concept of numbers, my sister, Nancy, and I have been giving him simple math problems.  My sister is giving him addition problems that require carrying. I’ve been trying to get him to relearn the multiplication table.  Both my sister and I realize that part of his brain has atrophied.  But we believe that a better knowledge of numbers will not only help him solve basic mathematics problems, but also improve his ability to reason and strengthen his confidence.   I was astounded yesterday morning to see my Dad at 95 solve all my problems in ten seconds!  He was definitely proud of his accomplishment and so was I!

My Dad at work.

 

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A Closer Look At A Chinese Dream, Part 2.

August 8, 2017 Leave a comment

China’s most famous novel, The Story of the Stone, was not published until thirty years after the author’s death.  Then many different versions circulated with dubious claims to authenticity.  What we do know is that Cao Xueqin left an unfinished novel of eighty chapters and whoever completed the next forty chapters remains a mystery.  But what Cao wrote is unique in its multifaceted blending of the supernatural, the physical world of nature, the day-to-day world and especially the belief in a girl’s superiority both intellectually and morally.  Such a belief runs contrary to a Western thesis that women are inherently irrational, overly emotional humans that cannot be trusted to make wise and thoughtful decisions.  This thesis limited women severely in what they were allowed to do in Western civilization.  However, it is the complexity of feminine existence and its interaction with a male dominated world that the author proposes to examine.  He enters this world through Bao-Yu the main character of the novel, an androgynous figure, who likes to view girls in their every day activities, enjoys combing their hair, watches them put on their clothes.  He also has a personal maid of his own, Aroma, who attends to his needs.  As for his opinion of girls, Bao-Yu states, ” …the pure essence of humanity is all concentrated in the female of the species and that males are its mere dregs and scourings…”  He believes that he has no chance of achieving a true understanding of life if his girl cousins are unable to achieve it.  Thus, the author takes pains to point out the skills and inherent intelligence of the girls and women to juxtapose them with the awkwardness and foolishness of the male characters.  Bao-Yu, demonstrating both male and female elements, is the perfect bridge and guide into the male and female realms.

The Story of the Stone begins when the goddess Nu-wa sets about repairing the sky.  To do this, she makes use of thousands and thousands of large building blocks.  But, alas, one block of stone is left, being thought of as unworthy.  It does, however, possess the power of shrinking or growing, a power that is given to it by the goddess.  The stone, thoroughly ashamed, shrinks in size and is taken off by a Taoist monk, Mysterioso to spend its days in the mortal world accompanied by a Buddhist, Impervioso.  As it lives among mortals it acquires a history that is inscribed on the stone when it finishes it’s earthly existence to become a huge block of stone once more.  The stone is set up in the Incredible Crags of the Great Fable Mountains when another Taoist, Vanitas, sees it thousands of years later.  Upon reading the stone’s inscription, the monk learns of its history and of many details of the stone’s life.  He enters into conversation with the stone about another kind of worthiness:   whether the the stone’s complex and intricate life should be published.  The stone argues that his women and their actions and his verses could entertain and perhaps instruct other humans.  In the end, the monk concurs and copies the story from beginning to end to take it to a publisher.  And so the allegorical nature of the novel is set.  Void(Truth) contemplates Form (Illusion) and mixes with Passion to become Form that awakens to become Truth.

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The Radical Philosophy Of Allan Kurzberg: Exchanging Thoughts With A Being From Another Planet, Part 1.

July 30, 2017 Leave a comment

As some of the succeeding postulates become quite involved, I decided to include this fanciful dialogue to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of Kurzberg’s views. In this dialogue, Kurzberg visualizes a being from another planet in which reason is the dominant force that motivates the being’s actions.

Tybol:  Let me say that it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kurzberg.  I’ve enjoyed wandering around the earth and studying its history.

Allan:  Please call me Allan.   Do you have names on your planet?  And, if so, what is your name?

Tybol:  Our sounds are not quite equivalent to yours, but if you call me Tybol, that will be a close approximation. Certain sounds predominate as they do in your languages.  However,  our language is quite precise, has one grammatical structure, and is devoid of the ambiguities and the figurative connotations that are part of your language system.

Allan:  Then, everyone on your planet speaks the same language?

Tybol:  Correct.  I know that on your planet you have quite a myriad of languages, so it is not surprising that communication is often difficult.  But, even if one selected one language, you would still have difficulty communicating, because of the imprecision of terms and the dependence of gesture.

Allan:  Then gesture is not a part of your language?

Tybol:  No.  The sounds that we make are understood by all without the need of gesture.

Allan:  With your emphasis on reason, do you consider yourself an advanced civilization?

Tybol:  We don’t use terms like advanced or backward, inferior or superior, for those are judgmental words that insult those whom we would designate as backward or inferior.  As you have written, judgments of comparison create an “Other” and an atmosphere of distance.  From such judgments anger and mistrust follow.  That situation is what our inner reason tells us to avoid.

Allan:  But isn’t it impossible to have a society that doesn’t use comparisons?

Tybol:  No.  Let me tell you something about life on our planet, Allan.  We view ourselves as a whole which every member of the planet is a piece of.   Each member has something wonderful to contribute to the life of our planet.  We use terms such as “discovery” and “exploration” in connection with our fellow beings.  We try to meet and learn from as many beings as we can, because this is what makes our lives so exciting and surprising.  We would never use terms that induce isolation or discontent, since we would be harming ourselves and depriving us of the joy of getting to know other beings.

Allan:  So you trust your fellow creatures?

Tybol:  Absolutely.  There is no reason not to.

Allan:  That type of thinking would be unthinkable on our planet.  As you probably know, our history is full of mayhem and destruction of our fellow humans.  Doesn’t anyone on your planet ever get the urge to harm or injure someone?

Tybol:  Why should we wish to harm or destroy that which we most admire and cherish?  It doesn’t make any sense.  Further, it would be a sheer act of masochism to do what you suggest, because we would be limiting our own growth.  I cannot understand why you allow such rampant destruction of human life on your planet, which might be depriving you of future medical researchers, astronomers, artists and individuals with great insight into the problems humanity faces.  And, it seems incredible to us that you would follow leaders who are clearly mentally unbalanced and carry out their nefarious orders.  Why do you do this?

Allan:  I really have no definite answer to your question, Tybol.  It is a puzzle to many of us as well.  That certain forms of mental illness are linked in many people’s minds to power and strength, cannot be denied.  Why there is such a strong attraction, yes, and fear to mentally unbalanced individuals, is something we don’t really understand.

 

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The Radical Philosophy Of Allan Kurzberg And His Fundamental Postulates, Part 3.

July 23, 2017 Leave a comment

In this post, P2 is discussed along with its consequences:

By means of the Corollary of Human Existence, which follows from P2, Kurzberg proposes another theory of evolution:  “…  I call my 2nd Postulate:  Reason developed late in human existence.  Thus, humans were affected by strong emotions and irrational tendencies long before reason appeared.  The corollary from this postulate is, I believe, a most important corollary, because through it we can gain a true understanding of humanity.  All human events be they historical, personal, or otherwise should be revealed through the corollary.  I term this corollary:  Corollary of Human Existence.   What it means is that those forces that shaped humans before reason arose are like large emotional magnets that pull us in different directions.  I call these emotional magnets OE- and OE+.  They stand for overwhelming negative emotion and overwhelming positive emotion.  By overwhelming, I mean that they are strong enough to overcome our sense of reason.  Of course, we possess E- and E+, negative and positive emotions, respectively, but these are not strong enough to overcome reason and do not cause major problems.  We enjoy them as simply negative or positive sensations.  Hence, I will concentrate on OE- and OE+, for they are the central forces that govern human behavior.  The Corollary of Human Existence:  Human behavior is fundamentally irrational and is governed by OE- and OE+.  Thus, when we read that man is a rational being, we are forced to admit the falseness of such a statement.  The statement should read that man is an irrational being that is capable of rational thought.  This raises interesting questions about evolution and humanity’s true place in the universe.  For, when we conceive of the countless planetary bodies that are scattered throughout the universe and apply the principle of probability, which works so well in quantum mechanics, we are compelled to concede that there may be beings in which reason developed earlier than us.  If so, then reason would become the powerful magnet that keeps OE- and OE+ in check, or keeps E+ and E- from becoming OE+ and OE-.  If such a civilization exists, how would it differ from our own?  Could we learn valuable information from such a civilization and prevent annihilating our species through reckless, irrational behavior patterns?  These questions continued to occupy my thinking, so I composed an interview between myself and another being, “Exchanging Thoughts with a Being from Another Planet.”  I also realized that there might be civilizations in which reason came into being at a later stage than ours.  In this case, OE- and OE+ would have even more more power over them than they do over us.  If we let small ir denote a completely irrational civilization, then we are somewhere between it and a completely rational civilization.  By rational, however, I do not mean devoid of emotion.  I do mean that such a civilization would be spared many of the problems we face due to a lack of reason.

If we are to survive, we must undergo some evolution away from menacing destructive behavior towards more rational behavior.  It seems we are just beginning to “know ourselves” and that must be our great adventure.  A catalog of parts of OE- seems overwhelming, but there is one aspect of OE- that dwarfs all others and that will be the subject of my 3rd Postulate. 

A barred spiral galaxy that contains who knows how many stars with planetary bodies circling them. “How instructive is a star.  It can tell us from afar just how small each other are.”–Piet Hein from Grooks

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