Jewish Stereo Types

First is something that is making me happy: Patrick Stewart is reading #ASonnetADay : We've reached Sonnet 17, a mini landmark in these 154 sonnets. #ASonnetADay pic.twitter.com/tVBxrrW1fE — Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) April 5, 2020 Shakespeare is a long way back but as he reads them they are as fresh as today. (Thanks for finding this for me goes to my sister, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah!) * * * * * Also, today's song calls back to yesterday's song, being that the same people--Milton Ager and Jack Yellen--who wrote this song also wrote "Happy Days Are Here Again." And the title of the song, of course, harks back to Friday's post: "Happy Feet": Video posted by warholsoup100 (Yes, I know. That song is not in the movie with the dancing penguins. But the title is the same!) (Okay, yes, I only know because I looked it up. And I'm not perfectly sure that that is a movie with dancing penguins. It looks like it's a movie with dancing pe...

Ever notice how often "happy" songs are, strictly speaking, not happy? If you actually listen to the lyrics of "Get Happy" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, you'll see that umm, well, hmmm, really, I mean...look, it's about dying. In a manner of speaking. But, you know, get happy! Nevertheless, this performance makes me happy every time anyway--Judy Garland singing "Get Happy" against Barbra Streisand singing Milton Ager and Jack Yellen's "Happy Days Are Here Again": Video posted by TheJudyRoomVideos *** We have a bunch of Jewish songwriters here: Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow," "Stormy Weather," "The Man That Got Away") was the son of a synagogue cantor ; I can't find much about Ted Koehler ("Get Happy," "Stormy Weather," "Moon Over Dixie")'s personal life, but he seems to be counted among Jewish lyricists ; and both Milton Ager ("Last of the Red Hot Ma...