Just recently in NYC saw the rare influential early concept musical "Love Life" by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner at City Center Encores, which has among its songs one called "Economics" and another, more to the point here, called "Progress" about the striving people do, which turns out makes love look like a juvenile thing and "what is this X that's bigger than Sex?". The song refers to events like "it's a panic, it's a recession, it's a Depression, it's a crash! It's progress -- where every man can own the sky...." It's basically saying the striving is the biggest motivator out there, as long as we are here, and it's a very enjoyable number to listen to. Unfortunately the show had a good run on Broadway but due to a recording strike in late 1948 was never fully recorded. Take a listen and enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rDc8XHXtwk&list=RD7rDc8XHXtwk&start_radio=1
Jonathan, I call you by your first name, since your writings over the years are that of a dear and trusted friend. I’ve written a couple of times and to my astonishment, you answered my postings and rather promptly. As a professional actor and former opera singer who had to have many survival jobs over the years between gigs in a difficult profession, it was especially imperative to me to find ways to learn about investing and grow my relatively modest funds as someone who had chosen the path of the performing artist rather than the Ivy League kind of professional path I had started upon. Your writing is rather unique as an artist yourself – how you’ve opened yourself up by sharing things about your family, your portfolio, how you spend your time and money, and how you are now dealing with a serious blow to your health. By making things so specific, it becomes universal in its implications. Great artists (like yourself – don’t be Humble, feel the love here in these comments) make their audiences ponder their lives and existence, and I want you to know I’ve reread articles and books you’ve written, passed them along to friends and family, and taken them to heart and acted upon many of your ideas; I’m certain these actions were multiplied many times over by your countless other readers through the years. You’ve not just written about personal finance, but about happiness and how to better one’s personal life experience. I was up late last night when I came upon this article, and I felt a sense of shock and sadness, knowing that you’re still a relatively young guy, and actually knowing the names of your family members from your writings and their occasional postings. You’ve added much to make our lives, as well as our portfolios, better. I hope you know that one’s reaction to terrible news (or to good news) makes a lot of difference in how you proceed. May you continue to surround yourself with the people you love and who love you and indulge yourself in the experiences you treasure since I think they will help you to enrich and expand both the quality and hopefully quantity of your life. As I recall especially your love for cycling, perhaps think of now as the most challenging bike ride you’ve ever undertaken, and that your determination to keep peddling will keep you “Getting Going”, to keep experiencing all that’s worth experiencing. Many sincere thanks and best wishes to you again, Jonathan. Lewis
Last year, on Broadway I saw Tom Stoppard’s play “Leopoldstadt” which is about the effect the Holocaust had on a big Jewish family in Vienna. Besides the building climax of the piece where the inevitable tragedies are going to occur over time, one moment struck me as I sat in the audience. At one point, someone mentions that all the photographs in the family collection will at some point in the future be forgotten by future generations who will have no idea who these people were. A woman’s high voice in the audience screamed/yelled in horror briefly when that line was said; she certainly “got it” right there and then about obscurity and who will be remembered/forgotten in the future. Her real-life epiphany was almost as scary and sad as what later was transpiring in the play. Even some folks who were huge movie stars in their time are now mostly forgotten. I love TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and as a kid, used to love revival houses which showed old movies, something I picked up from watching on tv with my parents. Someone like Kay Francis, once renowned for her beauty, her acting and her on-screen wardrobes, had actually fallen into obscurity, even though she made a huge output of films especially in the 1930s into the 1940s, until being rediscovered in more recent years by film buffs. Frankly, she herself wanted to be forgotten towards the end of her life, apparently having had a rough time of it. Another huge star Deanna Durbin, with a gorgeous singing voice, adored by the likes of Winston Churchill, Angela Lansbury and Anne Frank, abandoned Hollywood at the top of her career at age 28, moved to France (out-Greta Garbo-ing Greta Garbo, who despite the reputation as a recluse could be seen frequently in New York in retirement), never to return, granting only one interview in later years. But she was wonderful – hugely loved and influential during her prime, with fans and producers longing for her to return to film for years after her retirement, and her films still give great pleasure if you seek them out. Does anyone under 60s who isn’t a movie buff know her? Even her first co-star in movies, Judy Garland isn’t as well-known nowadays, outside of annual showings of “The Wizard of Oz”, where she’s known more as “Dorothy” to first-time viewers. At holiday times, you’re more likely than not to hear some other singer on the radio singing “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas”. So when I see each year’s crop of Oscar or Grammy nominees and other award nominees and winners, it’s nice that they are celebrating the current crop, but they might be ignoring the fact that others who’ve been in their place have been replaced by others and themselves in turn. Too many audiences have the viewpoint of “out with the old, in with the new”. Maybe they’ll have a channel like TCM (hopefully that something like that remains) to pull them from obscurity in the future. Writers and composers have a better chance of their names and output being remembered – the names and many works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Verdi, Puccini, etc. have endured for many years. Also some visual artists, inventors and also, for good or bad, noteworthy politicians, royalty and other heads of state might be remembered. I think good advice will also live on, even if future generations don’t know exactly who expounded it though. So keep writing, Jonathan – your influence on others on combining personal finance in pursuit of happiness (yes, I’ve noticed a theme over the years) does and will make a difference on those who remember many of the points you’ve made and who will in turn pass on to others some of the worthy ideas you’ve written.
Comments
Just recently in NYC saw the rare influential early concept musical "Love Life" by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner at City Center Encores, which has among its songs one called "Economics" and another, more to the point here, called "Progress" about the striving people do, which turns out makes love look like a juvenile thing and "what is this X that's bigger than Sex?". The song refers to events like "it's a panic, it's a recession, it's a Depression, it's a crash! It's progress -- where every man can own the sky...." It's basically saying the striving is the biggest motivator out there, as long as we are here, and it's a very enjoyable number to listen to. Unfortunately the show had a good run on Broadway but due to a recording strike in late 1948 was never fully recorded. Take a listen and enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rDc8XHXtwk&list=RD7rDc8XHXtwk&start_radio=1
Post: Don’t Push It
Link to comment from April 11, 2025
Jonathan, I call you by your first name, since your writings over the years are that of a dear and trusted friend. I’ve written a couple of times and to my astonishment, you answered my postings and rather promptly. As a professional actor and former opera singer who had to have many survival jobs over the years between gigs in a difficult profession, it was especially imperative to me to find ways to learn about investing and grow my relatively modest funds as someone who had chosen the path of the performing artist rather than the Ivy League kind of professional path I had started upon. Your writing is rather unique as an artist yourself – how you’ve opened yourself up by sharing things about your family, your portfolio, how you spend your time and money, and how you are now dealing with a serious blow to your health. By making things so specific, it becomes universal in its implications. Great artists (like yourself – don’t be Humble, feel the love here in these comments) make their audiences ponder their lives and existence, and I want you to know I’ve reread articles and books you’ve written, passed them along to friends and family, and taken them to heart and acted upon many of your ideas; I’m certain these actions were multiplied many times over by your countless other readers through the years. You’ve not just written about personal finance, but about happiness and how to better one’s personal life experience. I was up late last night when I came upon this article, and I felt a sense of shock and sadness, knowing that you’re still a relatively young guy, and actually knowing the names of your family members from your writings and their occasional postings. You’ve added much to make our lives, as well as our portfolios, better. I hope you know that one’s reaction to terrible news (or to good news) makes a lot of difference in how you proceed. May you continue to surround yourself with the people you love and who love you and indulge yourself in the experiences you treasure since I think they will help you to enrich and expand both the quality and hopefully quantity of your life. As I recall especially your love for cycling, perhaps think of now as the most challenging bike ride you’ve ever undertaken, and that your determination to keep peddling will keep you “Getting Going”, to keep experiencing all that’s worth experiencing. Many sincere thanks and best wishes to you again, Jonathan. Lewis
Post: The C Word
Link to comment from June 15, 2024
Last year, on Broadway I saw Tom Stoppard’s play “Leopoldstadt” which is about the effect the Holocaust had on a big Jewish family in Vienna. Besides the building climax of the piece where the inevitable tragedies are going to occur over time, one moment struck me as I sat in the audience. At one point, someone mentions that all the photographs in the family collection will at some point in the future be forgotten by future generations who will have no idea who these people were. A woman’s high voice in the audience screamed/yelled in horror briefly when that line was said; she certainly “got it” right there and then about obscurity and who will be remembered/forgotten in the future. Her real-life epiphany was almost as scary and sad as what later was transpiring in the play. Even some folks who were huge movie stars in their time are now mostly forgotten. I love TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and as a kid, used to love revival houses which showed old movies, something I picked up from watching on tv with my parents. Someone like Kay Francis, once renowned for her beauty, her acting and her on-screen wardrobes, had actually fallen into obscurity, even though she made a huge output of films especially in the 1930s into the 1940s, until being rediscovered in more recent years by film buffs. Frankly, she herself wanted to be forgotten towards the end of her life, apparently having had a rough time of it. Another huge star Deanna Durbin, with a gorgeous singing voice, adored by the likes of Winston Churchill, Angela Lansbury and Anne Frank, abandoned Hollywood at the top of her career at age 28, moved to France (out-Greta Garbo-ing Greta Garbo, who despite the reputation as a recluse could be seen frequently in New York in retirement), never to return, granting only one interview in later years. But she was wonderful – hugely loved and influential during her prime, with fans and producers longing for her to return to film for years after her retirement, and her films still give great pleasure if you seek them out. Does anyone under 60s who isn’t a movie buff know her? Even her first co-star in movies, Judy Garland isn’t as well-known nowadays, outside of annual showings of “The Wizard of Oz”, where she’s known more as “Dorothy” to first-time viewers. At holiday times, you’re more likely than not to hear some other singer on the radio singing “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas”. So when I see each year’s crop of Oscar or Grammy nominees and other award nominees and winners, it’s nice that they are celebrating the current crop, but they might be ignoring the fact that others who’ve been in their place have been replaced by others and themselves in turn. Too many audiences have the viewpoint of “out with the old, in with the new”. Maybe they’ll have a channel like TCM (hopefully that something like that remains) to pull them from obscurity in the future. Writers and composers have a better chance of their names and output being remembered – the names and many works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Verdi, Puccini, etc. have endured for many years. Also some visual artists, inventors and also, for good or bad, noteworthy politicians, royalty and other heads of state might be remembered. I think good advice will also live on, even if future generations don’t know exactly who expounded it though. So keep writing, Jonathan – your influence on others on combining personal finance in pursuit of happiness (yes, I’ve noticed a theme over the years) does and will make a difference on those who remember many of the points you’ve made and who will in turn pass on to others some of the worthy ideas you’ve written.
Post: Forget Me Not
Link to comment from February 17, 2024