Paul Goldfinger. February, 2021.
Los Angeles.

“Now d’ya hear about Louie Miller?
He disappeared, babe
After drawin’ out all his hard-earned cash..”

Lyrics to Mack the Knife by Bertolt Brecht.    (Music by Kurt Weill) in 1928 for The Three Penny Opera.

 When I was in a freshman English class at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, my professor was Charles Angoff, the Editor of the American Mercury magazine as well as a full Professor at FDU.

He insisted that we all go into New York City, individually, (20 minutes away by bus) to see the Three Penny Opera in the Village.  I had never seen a New York stage production before. My girlfriend at the time was an English and Russian major.  Her head was filled with Dostoyevsky, so this was exciting for her also.  I tried to provide thrills whenever possible, and she taught me a few words in Russian, but I can’t reveal them;  and off we went.

I can’t express the impact which that live theater production made on me.

If you have a child ready for college, consider sending them to a NYC university, or one nearby.

SOLOMON SONG    by Ellen Greene.    From the 1976 NY Shakespeare Festival revival of the Three Penny Opera.