The Bluebird of Happiness

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henceforth, these book reports will be a time-saving device. You need not read entire books anymore. Read these condensed versions instead. You'll have that much more time for your own blog.

Today I Read "The Bluebird of Happiness The Memoirs of Jan Peerce" by Alan Levy, published in 1976.

Peerce was a famous opera singer for the Metropolitan Opera. His childhood name was Jacob Pincus ("Pinky") Perelmuth. No wonder someone changed his name.

Born in June, 1904 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he began violin lessons at an early age, but in his teens, switched to singing, at which he was equally if not more talented. He was an Orthodox Jew throughout his life; not surprisingly, his parents expected him to become a doctor. He toured as a singer instead, and eloped to boot. When informed of the courtship, both sets of parents were forgiving.

The young couple moved to the Catskills in 1929, where Peerce often performed. As a singer, I mean. It was there he recommended a singing teacher for the teenage Roberta Peterman (later aka opera singer Roberta Peters). Life was tough for the Peerces, as Jan and Alice were on a shoestring budget. She threatened to leave him and take their baby with her if he didn't stop his compulsive post-show midnight poker-playing with his showbiz pals. There was also a rumor brought to Alice's attention that Jan was having an affair. But that rumor turned out to be false.

Erno Rapee, a musical arranger (I don't know why his name wasn't changed) decided to have a song written for Peerce, called "The Bluebird of Happiness". The song was a hit from the moment it was introduced in 1936.

In 1938, Peerce, then a Wagnerian tenor, ironically enough, was discovered by Arturo Toscanini. His career soared after that. He did radio shows, but was still going on cross-country tours through the early years of the War. His wife Alice was his manager.

Yet, after having only two children, the Upper West Side was becoming too expensive, so they moved to New Rochelle. Their second child, a daughter, had expensive medical problems.

Nevertheless, like most people, their lives improved over the years, but Peerce was only human. He disowned his son for several years, for marrying outside the faith. His son, Larry, became a famous Hollywood director anyway. Yeah, go look him up on the imdb.

From 1974 to 1975, Peerce broke his femur, developed a peptic ulcer, had an embolism, and eventually suffered from cataracts in both eyes.

He lived to be interviewed for the book, fortunately. Actually, he died in 1984. He might have lived longer if he hadn't smoked two packs a day in his early years. (This is true.)

I recommend this book for older opera fans. It may provide some sweet reminiscences.

A Many Splendored Thing

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henceforth, these book reports will be a time-saving device. You need not read entire books anymore. Read these condensed versions instead. You'll have that much more time for your own blog.

Now onto the book. Today I read "A Many Splendored Thing" by Han Suyin.

This book was published in 1952. It was made into a movie in 1955, called "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing". It has a trite plot (read "romantic chick flick"), so there have been many similar movies made since, such as "Up Close and Personal" and "Bridges of Madison County".

The plot is, two lovers can't be together, due to various circumstances. This book is especially appropriate for an American movie plot due to thought-provoking subplots-- pro- or anti- war sentiments can be thrown in, and political correctness, too. The female, Han Suyin, is Eurasian (Chinese and English), and she's a doctor (a very rare profession for females in the late 1940's). She is a widow with a young daughter. Her late husband was a promising Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist) officer, killed in the civil war in China, of course. The male, Mark Elliott, is married with two kids. He is a war correspondent based in Asia. He travels a lot, and his family does not stay with him. Little is said about his family.

Suyin and Mark are introduced to each other at a dinner party in 1949 in Hong Kong, amidst the backdrop of the imminent Communist takeover of China. There is apprehension that the danger will spread to prosperous Hong Kong; prosperous because the colony trades with everyone, regardless of political persuasion. The colony is also a generous haven for refugees, even leprous refugees.

Many astute people, such as missionaries and wealthy foreigners are fleeing the region altogether, purchasing passports, returning to the democratic, civilized countries from whence they came. One such individual is the author's younger sister, Suchen, the black sheep of the family. Suchen, also Eurasian and a rebellious type, fears for the safety of herself and her young, ill daughter, because she works for a European firm, and her own traditional Chinese family is abusive to her. Suchen eventually convinces Suyin to permit her to flee to America. Chinese custom dictates that she needs her older sister's permission. The rest of the family (numerous siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc.) accepts its fate, and stays in Chungking. It is cowardly to flee. They let Fate do what it will.

Suyin, being half-Chinese, and a doctor, is dedicated to helping the people of China. She wants to return there to accept her fate. Since Mark works for a free-press newspaper, and the Chinese government is in the process of kicking out all people who would accurately report what's going on, he would not even be allowed in, to stay with his lover there.

However, Suyin changes her mind after seeing the cultish Communist brainwashing. She becomes afraid she herself will turn against her lover and consider him an enemy, and of course, that is intolerable. So she stays in Hong Kong, and they continue the romantic fantasy that they will one day be together. The author spends endless pages debating love, peace and happiness.

In the summer of 1950, Mark is assigned to report on the conflict between China's Soviet-aided sister Communists, and America's freedom-loving people, in the two Koreas. What do you think happens? He writes Suyin a letter every day, until the day he dies as a casualty of the war, a couple of months later. She writes this book about their romance. Ho-hum.

Crossing the River

Today I read "Crossing the River" by Victor Grossman.

This autobiography tells how an American defected to East Germany during the Korean War. A very unusual story, indeed. He was brainwashed by his parents, intellectual Communists, both, in the 1930's and 1940's.

He tried to rationalize his penchant for suffering by saying that the cruel and unusual goings-on in the US actually provided a worse way for people to live, than the East Germans did. In the early 1950's, the McCarthy era was in full swing, the US had ousted the leader of Guatemala in a bloody affair, and instigated another shameful coup in Iran; there was the ugliness at Peekskill, there was still segregation; besides, the Soviets had helped defeat Germany. Comrade Stalin was a god, to the Communists.

The author argues that in 1960, the quality of life wasn't so bad in East Germany. Yes, there were severe food shortages, but everyone's medical care was paid for, and everyone had a job or was provided with necessities for survival, and assistance for finding a job, according to his own need. Of course, the people also spent needless hours every day manually washing clothes and dishes, lighting a fire in the pot-bellied stove, and patiently waiting for public transportation, or hoofing it, because they couldn't afford a car.

In the early 1960's, the East Germans kept trying to attack the integrity of the Federal Republic (of West Germany) (with good reason) by publicizing the fact that a large number of ex-Nazis (who had committed unspeakable war crimes) were working in civil service-- as judges, even(!) and in the West's armed forces. It was somewhat alarming that so many Nazis were helping Germany to re-arm, and becoming a pivotal force in NATO.

In the late '1980s, the East German leaders staged a few media incidents, trying to continue to isolate the "German Democratic Republic" (the misnomer that was East Germany) clinging to power, believing that only they could be keepers of the flame. The East Germans, like the Chinese, were into self-criticism circles. They had "tutors", who bullied doubters and discouraged free-thinkers, saying stuff like, "Are you questioning the collective judgment of experienced Marxist leaders, able to assess factors far better than any individual? Could you be more correct than they are?"

It was a traumatic time for the author when Krushchev revealed Stalin's crimes in the mid 1950's. But the author continued to rationalize that his adopted homeland was still a better place to live than imperialist America. It's an excellent book anyway.