{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/wp9t14vf5p/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Merrill, Robert and Barry Tucker"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","metadata":[],"provider":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/776/small/RobertMerill-BarryTucker.jpg?1618941042","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - X2503_Merrill_Robert_and_Tucker_Barry.mp4"]},"duration":6390.04869,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/776/small/RobertMerill-BarryTucker.jpg?1618941042","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-milken.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/110/776/original/X2503_Merrill_Robert_and_Tucker_Barry.mp4?1616086592","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":6390.04869,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Edited Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  I want to welcome Mr. Robert Merrill.  This is a great honor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Thank you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  To be talking with you.  And, as I told you just a little while ago, I, I first heard you when I was five years old.  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, no, then I must have been 14.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Something like that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  All right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=14.0,31.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  But we only met in operatic, backstage, context at that time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Mmm-mmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  We never talked about what we’re going to talk about today.  And we want to welcome Barry Tucker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Thank you, Neil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Son of the great, great American singer and hazzan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And which we want to reemphasize, more and more…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And that, he put first.\t\t\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …Richard Tucker.  And he put it first.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Put it first.  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Always put it first.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=31.0,55.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And the association between the two of you, of course, goes back a very, very long way.  You could jump in at any time.  Sort of just give me a signal, or so forth.  And I’m going to just introduce here, just something about some of the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Can you hear him?  I can’t hear him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …early days.  You, you began, you, you sang in synagogue choirs, when you were a little boy, didn’t you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=55.0,76.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yes.  I was a young teenager.  It was about 13, 14, 15 years old, 16 years.  I started with Oscar Julius.  He was a famous choral, Jewish choral director.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I never realized, and I — he taught me solfeggio.  He taught me how to read music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You didn’t know it before then?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=76.0,93.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  No.  And, but it, but I, but I sang with great hazzanim.  He was a choir, his choir was used by wonderful cantors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  How did you get, how did you find Oscar Julius?  Or how did he find you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, I lived near him.  I lived in the same neighborhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Bensonhurst?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=93.0,111.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Bensonhurst.  And he, he heard about me somewhere.  I must have sung somewhere, and, and he called me to come down.  And I sang for him.  He said, “Fine.”  So, he made me a member of the choir.  So I…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  It’s in the genes, though, isn’t it, Bob?  Because your mother was a singer.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=111.0,129.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  That’s true.  That’s true.  My mother was a singer, with Lillian Miller.  She sang in Jewish concerts, and she sang at WEVD.  She had her own program, once a week, a half hour.  Lillian Miller Show.  So, perhaps you’re right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps — now, think back, I think, through her, I met Oscar Julius.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Didn’t she also sing with Zilberts?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  The Zilberts Choir.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  With Zavel Zilberts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s true.  My mother sang with Oscar Zilberts’ choir.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Zavel Zilberts.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=129.0,156.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Zavel, Zavel, Zavel Zilberts.  And the, I went to Carnegie Hall.  He had a concert at Carnegie Hall, and my mother was there.  And he gave her about a 15-bar chorus, solo.  And she belted it out, ‘cause she was in Carnegie Hall.\u003cbr\u003eShe was quite a gal.  Yeah, Zavel Zilberts was excellent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That was, you’re talking about the Zilberts Chorale?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  The Zilberts Choral Society.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Choral Society, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s who my father started out with.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Also?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=156.0,182.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  He started out, when he was a teen, a young man.  Stopped singing about 13 years old.  Then went back to the choir around 19, when he was around 19, 20 years old.  And then, became first lead.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, the rest is history, when he sang his first time at the Allen Street Synagogue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  There was a volume written by a Mr. Hyman Fliegel.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=182.0,208.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  And in Mr. Fliegel’s book, they reprint a letter by you, Mr. Merrill, talking about your mother singing with Zilberts.  Fliegel was a crony of Zilberts’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, according to Mr. Fliegel — I don’t know if this is true or not — Zilberts taught Richard Tucker voice.  I don’t know if that’s true or not.  It could be at an early stage, before he went to Paul Althouse, I don’t know.  But that’s, Mr….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=208.0,227.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  My father claimed, okay, that he had one teacher in his lifetime.  And the, the man was Paul Althouse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat Zilberts may have taught my father was certain intonations and renditions of certain pieces, and may have been coaching him that way.  So, if that’s how he wants to take it at, that he was a voice teacher, I’ll accept it.  Okay?  For, for the Tucker family.  We’ll accept that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBecause he was, he was a great name, a great man.  A great man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  What was the basic repertory that they sang — the Zilberts Choral Society?  Was it Yiddish songs?  Was it…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=227.0,273.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Hebrew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Hebrew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hebrew?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hebrew.  Mostly Hebrew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Mostly from the liturgy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Uh-huh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And beautiful arrangements.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  His own arrangements, mostly, I imagine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, mostly.  Beautiful.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=273.0,286.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  ‘Cause he was a — yeah.  And that was the era when Hebrew started.  Was, was, there was the whole Hebrew revivalist thing…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …that’s a whole cultural period here.  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And they used to sing quite a few concerts a year.  In Town Hall…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=286.0,299.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Carnegie Hall.  Those were, at that time — I’m going back then — those were the big institutions, if you want to say, for that kind of music and audience.\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And then he had, of course, he had all the hazzanim, all the cantors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Absolutely.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=299.0,316.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  The, maybe — what? — over a hundred, sometimes.  Two hundred.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  He had a hundred, 200 cantors together in one room?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Carnegie Hall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Wow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s — wow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  As a chorus.  There was the Hazzanim Farband Chor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.  You’re right.  Correct.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And that’s where, that was the same time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, how about before then, though?  As a child.  Did you ever — I mean, before your voice changed, did you sing in shul?  Did you…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=316.0,338.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I was very shy.  In addition, I sang for my public school, high school, when I was quite young.  And they liked my voice.  They want me to — thinking I was very shy.  I used to hide, when I had to sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Was it a baritone already, at that point?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=338.0,354.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  It changed.  Just about changing, at that time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But before it changed, was it an alto or a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was soprano.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Soprano.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Soprano.  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Sopranos, boy sopranos become baritones or basses.  Altos become tenors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  Become tenors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It’s amazing, how there’s a change.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=354.0,368.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"No, I was very shy.  And when my uncles used to come to the house, and they wanted me to sing, I’d run in the toilet and lock the door.  I was very, very shy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI came out of it, when I finally did sing somewhere.  At a wedding, I think, or something.  Then, I realized, this is what I want to do.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBecause I got five dollars.  And my father, rest his soul, was, Depression-era, and he was earning 15 dollars a week or 20 dollars a week.  And I got five dollars for singing three or four songs.  So I said, this is my, this is what I want to do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=368.0,405.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Because my uncle had a dress, had a factory, and I used to work for him, deliver dresses in, in the 39th Street, 38th Street.  I used to push that little truck cart with, with dresses around.  I’ll never forget this.  I was pushing it, the backstage at the Met, was on 30…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Three…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Ninth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Thirty-ninth.  I felt that, and they had a thing going up, and I walked by, and I heard voices.  Beautiful voices.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=405.0,428.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So, now I had about 20 dresses on.  So, I rolled it up to the Met, inside, and I stood there with these dresses, listening to these beautiful voices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinally, someone came over — “What are you doing?  Where, what is it, costumes?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Well, yeah.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=428.0,442.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"It was Rosa Ponselle.  And I just became fascinated.  I couldn’t leave.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinally, they said, “All right, get out.  Come on out.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I left.  I went back to my uncle.  About an hour later, an hour or two later.  I should have been back 15 minutes, a half hour ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “Where were you?  What are you doing?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “I, I, I was listening to the Metropolitan Opera.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=442.0,467.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He says, “What’s that?  They sing in, they sing in Italian?  What do you need it?  Come on, you’re, you’re going to be a, a dress salesman.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut that was my first entrance, entrance to hear beautiful voices.  I became terribly fascinated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  When you started with Julius, now, he didn’t pay you five dollars, I’ll bet you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tMERRILL:  I’ll tell you what I got, my first year with him.  Seventy-five dollars for the service.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  For the whole year, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=467.0,494.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And, when we, when we were out of town, like Newark or somewhere, he would pay the hotel bill, or what was it?  Four dollars a day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  A day, yeah.  That was Julius.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I didn’t — I, I saw these rooms with, and, and had to room with another couple of singers.  I said, so I, I found a, a place, and I’d knocked on the door.  It said, “Room service.”  We, we have room, people from private rooms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI knock on the door, a lady answered, “Yes?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “I want to know how much?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “Six dollars.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI says, “You got it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I’ll take it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  So I, I paid more money, but I’d like my privacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Yeah.  Now, this was for what?  High Holy Days?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Or Pesach, or stuff like that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yes, yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=494.0,531.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And so he had, he conducted, or….  Because he often had substitute conductors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Who, Oscar?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Julius, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, no.  He conducted every one that I sang.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You were in the ones where he actually conducted?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yeah. And, and then, he, he recognized that I had good high notes, and I would — I forgot the hazzan.  I don’t know if it was Koussevitzky, but somebody else.  A famous hazzan was singing.  And Julius, back, when we had a little time period, wrote new notes for me on this.  And he wrote high As and high B-flats.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=531.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I came to the part and I started, (sings), and the hazzan, who was a tenor, he couldn’t hit those notes.  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Who was that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He told Oscar Julius, he says, “Don’t let him sing high notes again.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, it was a great experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  How old were you at that time?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=556.0,574.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I would say about 17.  Sixteen, 17.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So the Hebrew, the Hebrew is familiar to you.  I mean, the, the t'filla was, the prayers were familiar to you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Which?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The prayers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The prayers, the Hebrew, the text, the, the davenning.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=574.0,591.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Not really.  I’m sorry to say.  It, it wasn’t, really.  I learned, I learned from the music, and from listening.  But I wasn’t brought up in that kind of home.  My, my, although my, my father went to shul, when he had to.     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, I, I learned that way.  And I fought to appreciate the beautiful sounds of the hazzanim.  I, I could, I could tell, for some reason or other, who really was good, and who really had the — we call the taam, the dreidl.  (Sings)  Ooh, I, I, it killed me.  But the hazzanim that sang straight, didn’t affect me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Who were some of the great…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Koussevitzky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Who thrilled you the most?  Who thrilled you the most, of the hazzanim?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=591.0,637.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Well, I, at, I can’t think of all the names, unfortunately.  Koussevitzky, I remember.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Koussevitzky was one of the greatest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, my gosh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=637.0,645.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  He was a terrific guy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He was fantastic.  He gave a concert at Carnegie Hall or somewhere, and I went.  He was a marvelous, marvelous — he could have been, he could have been an opera singer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He was, he was.  In, in Poland, Russia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=645.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  He — of course, we used to go to his home on Friday nights for dinner.  And he showed us — I’ll never forget — albums filled with pictures of him, in costume, in Poland, where he performed opera.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut when he came here to the United States, his shul would not allow him — Flatbush — would not allow him to participate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Flatbush or Borough Park?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Borough Park.  I meant Borough Park, I meant Borough Park.  I meant Borough Park.  Would not allow him to do it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=660.0,695.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eLEVIN:\u003c/strong\u003e Yeah, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=695.0,721.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  You know.  But you just do, you’ve got to do the right thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In your father’s case…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …even though he was a Metropolitan Opera artist, and he did appear on Saturday afternoon broadcasts…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …he subsequently officiated in Orthodox synagogues.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And davenned every day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  So, let’s say he…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And davenned and laid tefillin every day.  Every day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Really?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=721.0,743.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e Didn’t miss a day.  One of his biggest arguments was if — let’s just say he was flying, or something like that.  He would come home, because he didn’t do it, late in, in the afternoon, and do it, just because that was a tradition that he had going for him.  But it always traveled with him.  Always with him.  Every day.  Didn’t miss a day.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=743.0,766.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But that’s how he felt.  That — you know, everybody has to have their own beliefs and feelings.  And, as he wore tsitsis every day.  Same thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And hung them up in the dressing room.  You could, when you walked into his dressing room at the opera house, it was always over his white shirt that he wore, when you walked in.  And there it was, sitting there.  He wasn’t shy about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Who was the, the — it might have been a baritone, a famous baritone.  Who, who, always put a cross in his, in his shoe?  Does that ring a bell to you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Who was what?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Put a cross in his shoe?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In his shoe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  A baritone?  Mmm, I don’t know that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=766.0,801.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I put a, I put a Jewish star in my shoe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah?  What’s the result of that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Only when I had to hit high notes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  My father put a penny in every one, every performance, in his shoe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Always.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Was it the same penny?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sometimes — yes, it was, for years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  His dresser saved that penny — Angelo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=801.0,826.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Right.  And he put the penny into the boot or the shoe.  And, you know, it was put underneath his, by his toes, and that’s where it was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Superstitions were…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Superstitions…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …were rampant, backstage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  You know, if you found a nail on the outside of your dressing room, on the \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e, you had to take it and pick it up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Pavarotti’s very superstitious.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Even now?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=826.0,847.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Oh, please.  About nails, and all kinds of things.  Sure.  The color purple.  If a, if you walk into his dressing room, it’s a terrible, it’s a bad color.  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Delmonico was a fine tenor.  Mario Delmonico.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Excellent tenor.  Great tenor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Great voice.  I used to sing, I used to sing Trovatore with him, Pagliacci.  And I had the next dressing room.  And I’d walk by to say, you know, Baculupo, you know, him, before we…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he had a picture on his dressing table.  And just before he’d walk out, he’d, he would expectorate on the picture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Who was the picture?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=847.0,880.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  After the second — and I couldn’t believe it. So, one day, I went, I said, “Mario, per que?  Before you go on, before the, you” — and I can’t use the word — “spit on the picture.”  I said, “Why?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he said, “It’s because this man was my first teacher.  And he told me I’d never sing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo he, that was his superstition.  He was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And he’d do it before every performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Before every performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Before every performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Yeah.  In your family, did your parents speak Yiddish?  Did your mother speak Yiddish around the house?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=880.0,915.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  My — oh, yes.  When I grew up, in Williamsburg.  I only spoke Yiddish.  That’s all I knew be, before I started to…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Before English?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …before I went school.  That’s… and it took a little while, really.  You know, with the, when I started to study, it wasn’t easy.  But then, when I, then, when I finally spoke English, it didn’t, I, I still remembered the words, and I would speak, whenever possible, in Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI love the language.  It’s fluent, and it’s a lovely language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  When your mother began to sing on the radio, how did she prepare the songs that she was going to sing?  Did she know songs, or someone taught her songs?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=915.0,940.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  She had an accompanist.  And he used to come to the house and work with her.  And he played the piano for her on, on the radio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne time, she had me as a guest.  What do you think I sang?  The only song I knew, in those days.  The Donkey Serenade.  That was my big number.  That’s what I sang in the, well, in the Second Avenue Theater.  But…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In English or Yiddish?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=940.0,978.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMERRILL:\u003c/strong\u003e Not in Yiddish.  But, but they loved it.  People, people like it, and I, I didn’t know really any Jewish, any Yiddish songs that I could sing.  Because there were Yiddish performers.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=978.0,990.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBOOKSPAN:\u003c/strong\u003e Wow.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=990.0,1008.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMERRILL:\u003c/strong\u003e Donkey Serenade and Chazzan of Shabbos, and Figaro from The Barber of Seville.  And I loved, I loved the, (sings a little of it).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I remembered the way he, he, he’d, and I loved, I loved this song.  I love it.  I used to sing it at UJA affairs, when they had big dinners.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1008.0,1044.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"They were, we were running the Truman, honoring Truman, one night.  And it was UJA.  And I, and I sang this number.  (Sings a little)  And the people were laughing, they were, they were applauding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I walked by Truman, sitting there.  He says, “What’s that song about?”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1044.0,1062.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I told him the story.  A cantor, big cantor came to a small town.  He never were there.  They didn’t pay him, but he had to sing for them once a year.  And that’s what he did, in the little towns of Jews.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1062.0,1073.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Truman says, “That’s very nice.”  He was happy I explained the song to him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  When you sang in the Second Avenue Theater, how old were you when you…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  You mean the Jewish theater?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  In the Jewish theater.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  In, in a, I was already a, in my 20s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, now, those were like revues, musical revues, or, or Yiddish vaudeville?  Or was it whole, entire shows?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was a Yiddish vaudeville.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1073.0,1100.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Yiddish vaudeville.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Very famous.  Very popular.  Weekends.  The National Theater.  It was very, very popular.  But I loved it.  Had a good experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd they were the biggest hams.  Excuse me for saying “ham,” but we went to eat together, you know, between show and home.  I got Moishe Oysher.  And he, all, they talk about themselves.  You, you’d talk about the Italian opera singers and I’m thinking these guys were, “Yeah, hab gazayn, and I was the greatest.”  And they talked, oh, they raved about themselves.  I loved it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1100.0,1131.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  They loved themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  You knew Moishe Oysher?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmm?  Oh, my goodness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did you know Moishe Oysher?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Moishe Oysher, yes.  There was another young singer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  What did you think of Moishe Oysher, as a voice?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, I liked it.  It was a beautiful voice.  He had a good top.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou know, he auditioned for the Met?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Didn’t know that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He sang for the Met.  Yeah, he auditioned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And was not accepted?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1131.0,1153.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Because he had had no repertoire.  And he, but he, somebody in his family sang in the chorus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Sternberg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sternberg, the twins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Sternberg twins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s it, that’s it, that’s it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He just passed away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Those guys were, were unbelievable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Those two guys.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1153.0,1162.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.  Every time I’d walk over, I’d walk through the chorus in the scene already, the scene was on, I’m trying, they would stop me.  “Zayn gut, zayn gut, der holeden,” and they’d start talking Jewish to me.  I’m, I’m concentrating on it.  They’d never stop.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  One of their daughters is…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Is Marilyn Michaels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Marilyn Michaels — that’s it, that’s it, that’s it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1162.0,1183.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah, I sang with Marilyn.  That’s when she started.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Because I used to see her.  She used to come to the theater a lot, you know, and stand backstage or in, you know, in our dressing room area.  And they used to come down to her father.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Well, that’s — Moishe Oysher’s sister is Fraydele.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Fraydele.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Fraydele.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Fraydele was married to Harold Sternberg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Harold Sternberg is the bass who, incidentally, whose father was a very famous, famous synagogue choir bass in Europe called Yossele Bass.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I didn’t know that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And there’s even, even — what’s that book by…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Vigoda.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1183.0,1215.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Vigoda.  You know, writes about the famous Yossele Bass.  Very, very famous.  I mean, famous.  In synagogue, in, in European, in Eastern European synagogue circles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, their daughter, Harold Sternberg and Fraydele Oysher, is Marilyn Michaels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Michaels.  That’s right, that’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Fraydele told me that Harold thought he’d have an operatic career.  And every time they gave him a solo at the Met, he choked up and couldn’t sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Who was that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Sternberg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sternberg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Every time he, he was in the chorus.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1215.0,1241.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yes, yes, yes.  He had a good voice.  He had a good voice.  But, obviously, wasn’t operatic, you know, in his temperament.  But he thought he was….  Pinza, Pinza meant nothing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Is he still alive?  Harold Sternberg?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He just died a few months ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Really.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1241.0,1257.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Last — in the fall.  He was about 88.  About 88.  But she’s still… have you spoken to her?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I’d spoken to her after he passed away.  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Menashe Skolnick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Menashe Skolnick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  He, he sang a Chazzan’del Oif Shabbos?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Wow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  (Sings a little of it)  But he, he, he was marvelous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He acted.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1257.0,1280.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I used to listen to that.  I fell in love with it, of course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Mostly acting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Mostly acting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He could take, he could take, it really wasn’t the voice.  Sort of like the way Rex Harrison did…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Exactly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He was an actor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  My Fair Lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  My Fair Lady.  He was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  A nice man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Seymour used to sing that song, also.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Seymour Rechtzeit?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Seymour Rechtzeit.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1280.0,1300.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yes.  He had a good tenor, he sang on the WEVD.  The same station my mother sang on.  And he’d sing maybe after her half hour, before her half hour, would sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did you sing on EVD also?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did you sing on WEVD?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Were you on that station?  Did you…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1300.0,1315.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  My mother had me as a guest, once.  I was a young, \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.  I sang, (sings) Falling in love with someone, someone very — Nelson Eddy was my hero.  So I imitated him.  (Sings) Yes, I’m falling in love…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In the days of the Julius choir, how did that, when did that end?  I mean, how many years did you spend…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I sang with him about three or four years.  Three or four years.  Three, four, five years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1315.0,1338.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Then, I started to become a professional in my own way.  I went to the Catskill Mountains after that, called The Borscht Circuit.  Got great, great…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Now, how was that…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …experience.  It was wonderful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You do had to do some, some Jewish songs there?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1338.0,1355.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Oh, yes, yes.  Haggadah Ayley(?), Chazzan. Little things.  But then, I sang The Barber of Seville.  It was the big number on Saturday night.  All the Jews wanted — “Sing Figaro!  Sing Figaro!”  So I had to sing Figaro, Barber of Seville every Saturday night.  It was a big hit.  It was wonderful.  Great experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  This was long before your opera career.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Long before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Many, several years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1355.0,1372.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Yeah.  But even after, even in the height of your opera career, in those circles, I can tell you, you were most known for Figaro.  For, for that, for, for that, for that aria.  Wouldn’t you say?  Operas?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, because people related to it.  That they, it was….  But, but I did sing a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But there’s a Figaro, there’s a version in Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Of Figaro?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Moishe Oysher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Moishe Oysher sang arias on EVD in Yiddish.  He sang the Prologue to Pagliacci.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I have a Moishe Oysher record, of singing, with Figaro in Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s it.  That’s’ what I’m talking about.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  That’s what I’m talking about.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1372.0,1405.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  But with Moishe Oysher, it wasn’t quite clear whether he was a tenor or a baritone.  ‘Cause he sang tenor arias, also.  In key.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, he had a, he had a very high range.  Very high range.  But, it was great days.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  But those were some great days of some great cantors.  When you had Moishe Oysher, Pinchik.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Pinchik.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Do you remember Pinchik?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Pinchik sang for Julius, too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1405.0,1434.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s right.  In Newark, New Jersey, I think it was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And you, you heard Pinchik?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You heard Pinchik?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, I certainly did.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What did you think of that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1434.0,1442.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  The people, the women, sat upstairs, you know, in the shuls.  The men were up on the bima.  And the women loved him.  And he knew it.  So, he would sing to the women.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was a showman.  You know, most of the hazzanim were showmen.  You know, the, they were theatrical, in many ways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You know, you mentioned, we mentioned Pinchik and Moishe Oysher.  I’m going to go back a few years, to California Avenue in Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  The Galicianer Shul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  My father was at the Galicianer Shul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  The Austrian Galicianer Shul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1442.0,1475.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  The Austrian Galicianer Shul, right.  Pinchik was down the block, and Moishe Oysher was two blocks even south of that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They, people would go from temple to temple to temple.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Let me tell you — you have to come, we’re going to get together one day, and I’ll show you a video footage.  We did, like we’re doing now, we did a scene right there, two years ago, right?  Two years ago, on a hot August day…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  In…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  We went to Douglas Park.  We had a police escort, of course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Of course.  You have to have it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  But that’s to protect the equipment, not us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  We had a police escort with, and it’s, you know, and it’s more, it’s not as dangerous as it looks, but nonetheless, it…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1475.0,1512.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e We stayed — I’ll never forget.  It shows you how you can remember. We stayed in the shamus’ home, Wald.  So we didn’t, because, we, all the time, we used to stay at, at that time, it was the Sheraton Hotel, or the, you know, downtown, on Michigan Avenue.  It was too far away to travel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTherefore, we stayed at Mr. Wald’s home, apartment.  That’s myself, my mother, my father, and the Walds, no less.  I don’t know where we slept, but we did.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1512.0,1538.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But I used to sit, go upstairs to sit — because it was Orthodox — with the women, the women.  Upstairs.  And I’ll never forget — she used to bring cookies, and all kinds of things to shul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Let me ask you about one famous personality from Chicago, who I’m sure you remember.  Mr. Hyman.  Mr. Joseph…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  J. Hyman…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1538.0,1557.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  Joseph Hyman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  J, Joseph Hyman was my father’s — call it manager, representative, who used to book my father.  Okay?  He was a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  When did your father first meet Hyman?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh.  If I was to say that Hyman got him that job.  In…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In the shul?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1557.0,1576.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  In the Austrian Galicianer shul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Hyman knew him before he was in the opera.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  From where?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I heard that he sang somewhere on the radio, and Hyman signed him up for a contract in perpetuity, in the late ‘30s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Could be.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1576.0,1588.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  And there, thereafter, he would send out brochures for your father all around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Where did you hear this?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Hyman…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But the word in the street…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  When your father got in the Met, immediately, that year, he was davenning at a Yontiff in Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Before he had an international reputation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, well before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In the Sephardishe Shul.  And Hyman was the agent.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1588.0,1605.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  That’s right.  He was.  Hyman got paid very well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, as he booked every — that’s exactly what you’re saying.  It’s still there.  You know, the buildings are still standing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Everything is there, everything…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I’m going to tell you, I’m going to tell you a story.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1605.0,1617.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I went out to Chicago, oh, a few months ago, to hear, as I said, opening night of Mephistopheles with Sam Raimi.  I was backstage, and a gentleman comes over to me, and he says, “I hear you’re Barry Tucker.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I said, “Yes.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he says, “I knew your father.  I used to help him dress, and things like that.”  At the Chicago Lyric Theater, I’m talking about.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1617.0,1642.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But he says, “More importantly, I’m going to tell you a quick story.  I was a young boy who lived off California Avenue, behind the shul.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd he was not Jewish.  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “When your father used to sing, I would sit on the fire escape, just to listen to that sound, of how beautiful it was, coming from the temple,” over his fire escape, in the back.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1642.0,1670.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I just thought it was just such a beautiful story, from a non-Jewish person.  You know, here is a young man, at the time.  You know, listening to these kind of things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’ll bet you haven’t been back to that neighborhood since…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Never.  I have not been back.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’ll tell you what.  Next time, if you’re in Chicago, I’ll come there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1670.0,1689.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  I’m going to Chicago in two weeks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Okay.  I’m going to be there, Pesach.  If you want, I will, I, during the daytime, it’s okay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Aaron Krantz, the rabbi…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Lenny Krantz? No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The rabbi?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: Rosenkrantz.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA: Eisenstein.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER: You’re right. You’re right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA: He’s still around.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL: No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA: Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL: No. You know how old he is?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: He’s very old.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA: He was old then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL: Thank you. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Independence Boulevard, California.  All those synagogues — the Austrian Galician, where your father sang.  Pinchik is down at the, at the Anshe Sephard.  It’s all standing.  The Russishe Shul is still standing.  And yet, they’re all, of course, Baptist churches — every one of them, now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But it’s still…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1689.0,1721.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  It’s the same like on the Grand Concourse, where my father was in, on 169th Street.  Adath Israel is now a Baptist church, I believe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  And then…l\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The only…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …written off, my brother’s said, he wouldn’t even know what it is on a map.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And the only one that’s still standing is the Brooklyn Jewish Center, which turned into a Lubavitcher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmm, hmmm, hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1721.0,1743.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Now, with Oscar Julius, you didn’t sing in, you sang mostly in these, at hotels?  For holidays.  With Oscar Julius.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  No, he was in Bensonhurst with him, on holidays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It was in a shul?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1743.0,1756.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Oh, absolutely.  Only in the shuls.  I’m trying to think of the name of the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I think he was singing with Julius before the hotel era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Uh-huh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Julius really didn’t get into hotels…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s exactly right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …until later, later.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Mmm-hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was before the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  The era that Jews were going so much to the hotels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Like in the Pines, where my father first…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUlCKER:  …started out, at the Pines Hotel.  I’ll never forget it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Hmmm.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1756.0,1777.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And then, the Concord.  The Winaricks, who were friendly with my father, because of another family who owned another set of hotel — Gibbers Hotel — came over to the Pines and said to my father point-blank, “You’re not going to sing here anymore.  You’re going to sing for us.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd that’s how he started at the Concord, for many years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, what year did he start at the Concord?  About?  I mean, what, what frame?  ’54?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1777.0,1804.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Maybe, early — I want to say early ‘50s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s that, it’s that long ago — early ‘50s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Mmm-hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Yeah.  He was there was for eight years, I think.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  Eight, eight years.  And then he left.  And it was so stupid.  It was all because of money.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1804.0,1819.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He, he brought in — the clientele that he brought in, from South Africa, from California, from all around the world.  But — for both holidays, I’m talking about — for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And for Passover?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And for Passover, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now, Secunda conducted for him?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1819.0,1834.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Secunda conducted both.  Passover was the worst holiday to sing.  The worst.  Difficult.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: Two seders. Two services.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  A lot of work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You had the Ma’ariv…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  First Ma’ariv.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1834.0,1847.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  …the seder.  Then, you had the temple, the next morning.  Then you had the seder.  He didn’t do the Ma’ariv, he did the seder.  Then, you had, the next day, you had…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Second seder.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Second day.  Then, during the week, he gave a concert.  Then, the second, the last two days of what-do-you-call-it, he davenned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Ma’ariv?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The Ma’ariv and the davenning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Two more days.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The two.  So, it was eight times in eight days.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It must have been an enormous…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1847.0,1871.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And, and he worked.  I mean, those seders.  They were difficult to really sing.  Because he gave blood and guts there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  When he left the Concord, he, he never did that again?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The Concord?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  He never did it again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Never did a Passover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Never did a Passover anymore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Never did another Passover again.  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I think he went to Vietnam once, on a Passover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I sent him there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Well, we have film of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I sent him there, right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  We have a film of it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1871.0,1893.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e Right.  What happened was, we were sitting in — he had just come home from the White House.  And he had sung there.  And he said, “McNamara, and this and that.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd we went to a Chinese restaurant, the four of us — Joan, and my mother, and myself.  And I said, “You know, it’d be a good idea for you to sing in Vietnam.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, my mother’s reaction was, “Sure.  You want to kill us early, don’t you?”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1893.0,1922.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"My father didn’t say a word.  Once he never said a word, I knew his brains were working, somehow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAbout 11, eleven thirty the next morning, he calls me up in my office, and he says, “Not a bad idea.  But I’m going.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Where are you going, and what was the good idea?”  ‘Cause I completely forgot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “I’m going to Vietnam.  I spoke to Westmoreland already, through Secretary of Defense McNamara.  And they arranged the whole thing.”  One, two, three — just like that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1922.0,1953.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And Hebrew National helped out, Manischewitz — all these companies sent over all the food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd they did it in Quonset huts.  And they filled them up.  And then he did concerts, besides.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  That’s not a story dissimilar from when he was in Israel, just before the Six-Day War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s correct.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  When the State Department said, all Americans get out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And Roberta also…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And Roberta and he stayed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Stayed on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Leinsdorf packed his bags and scooted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  Scooted.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1953.0,1980.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  That’s right.  And they, they both — both Roberta and my father — sang at different places, entertaining the Israeli troops, the air force and the army, and things like that.  All over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You were telling me about the experience at Caesaria.  In, in…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Aida.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  For the Aida.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1980.0,1998.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMERRILL:\u003c/strong\u003e We did six performances of Aida.  Jerusalem, Haifa, and, and the, the last one was at Caesaria.  It was the most wonderful experience.  Zubin Mehta conducted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA guy by the name of Tucker was supposed to sing.  But he canceled, because he wasn’t well.  And they had another tenor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it, but it was just marvelous, to see.  In Jerusalem, we sold out for three performances.  They, they had 4,000 people at each performance.  I mean, they, they couldn’t get enough music.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=1998.0,2032.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Because these people came from all over the world.  They were musicians, and so on.  It was a great experience for me.  Really, really was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The Israeli audiences are really so appreciative.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Incredible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In those days — you’re talking about what year?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  ’75.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2032.0,2048.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Oh, so, that’s different.  But there was a time when the stars, such as yourself, and your father, sang — of course, if they sang Italian opera, they sang it in Italian.  But the chorus sang in Hebrew, in the same performance, right on the same stage.  But I don’t think that by ’75, I don’t know.  Do you know?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I think, by that time…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  By that time, they were changed.  But I remember that, going back.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2048.0,2067.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"‘Cause my father used to go, every other year, to Israel.  And he, he sang — if I told you, we were generally there a month.  He would sing 20-some-odd times in a month.  Every hospital, every home.  He was that kind of guy.  And, you know, and he just couldn’t say no.  And he just opened himself up.  And I’m sure the others did, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Who was the lady that was the head of Israel?  I can’t remember names anymore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Eddis DeFelipe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Eddis DeFelipe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  You mean, you mean the Prime Minister.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Prime Minister?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  ‘Cause that’s the opera…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Golda Meir?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Golda Meir.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2067.0,2104.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I was singing my 25th anniversary at the Met.  It was a big night.  And they introduced all people.  The mayor came, and everything.  And she was sitting in the box.  She was going to speak at the U.N. the next day.  But she sat with her guards — you know, the people taking care of her.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2104.0,2122.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She says, “I’m going on the stage.  I want to see you.”  So, she went with — and as I walked off, she grabbed me.  She says, “What is a Jewish boy like you doing in a place like this?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, the 25th anniversary of Israel, I went there.  I was there, and we gave this big, huge concert.  And then, we went back, and she was greeting the artists.  So I, I embraced her.  She was a wonderful lady.  I said, “What is a nice, Jewish girl like you doing in a place like this?”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2122.0,2156.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She says, “Come to my home.  I’ll give you sponge cake and tea.”  Oh, she was a marvelous woman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI had great experiences there.  I was supposed to sing Otello, Iago there.  And during the early rehearsals, I jumped, or something like that, and hurt my knee.  And ultimately, had to leave Israel.  I never sang it.  But I was looking forward to that audience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did you sing concerts in Israel, in addition to operatic performances?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Only — no.  Only, only operatic, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did you know — Martin just mentioned, Madame Edis, or Eddis?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Who was that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  How does she pronounce it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Probably Eddis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Eddis.  Madame Eddis DeFelipe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  She, she was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  The head of the Israel Opera.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  She was the — I knew her.  She was the head of the opera company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2156.0,2197.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And my father’s deal was, she constantly, constantly, all the time, begged him to sing there.  And his loyalty was only, really, to the Israeli Philharmonic.  And he didn’t want to upset.  But Mr….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Frankly, it would not have served his interests…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  But Mr. Domingo gives credit to her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Exactly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2197.0,2217.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Tremendous.  Because that’s where he studied all — and the, the basis of all — learning his roles…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …was over there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I saw a Traviata there early — no, it must have been later ‘50s.  Or early ‘60s.  The production was terrible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2217.0,2235.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  The singers were awful.  But there was a tenor who was absolutely sensational.  And of course, it was Placido.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Placido.  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What year was that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Um…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Early ‘50s, I would say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That far back?  Early ‘50s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No, I think, it wasn’t…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He asked me if he should go to Israel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Really?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2235.0,2249.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  He, he used to come backstage when he was at the City Opera.  And come into my dressing room, when I was at the Met.  And he was talking about, he says, “You know, they asked me to sing in Israel.  Should I go?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I said, “Absolutely.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “I don’t know if they’ll accept, you know, I’m a…”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “You go.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And then, the next I heard, of course, it was sensational.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2249.0,2270.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  He speaks a kind of — what shall I say? — plural Hebrew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes, he does.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  But he makes himself understood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And he understands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I don’t think her name, it wasn’t — she made up the whole, the accent was all made up, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  DeFelipe?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I think it was Ginsburg, or something like that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Amazing man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  She even created the phony accent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You’re right.  But no.  You’re, you’re right.  It wouldn’t have served him well to sing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Not at that time, no.  Not at all.  But Domingo….  But…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2270.0,2298.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Getting back to Barry’s statement, Jay Hyman, to me, was a Damon Runyon character.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He was a Damon…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Okay?  Did I say it correctly?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He really was from a different world.  When he died, that mold was broken completely.  He was really a real man, kind of manager type of a person.  But his only interest was, a, my father; and, b, what he could make on, on the situation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  He handled it the way…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …that managers used to handle prizefighters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Wasn’t he responsible for your father coming to Chicago for the, the Park Synagogue?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  How did that happen?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I’ll tell you how that happened.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2298.0,2345.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The Park Synagogue originally started out with a group of guys who got together.  And they came to my father on a, on a — strictly on a speculation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I’ll never forget — they came out to Great Neck.  They came to New York.  About six of them came to the house.  And they sat down and they said, “We have no money.  We can’t offer you anything.  What deal do you want?  Tell us, and we’ll be, we’ll try to do it.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2345.0,2380.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eLEVIN:\u003c/strong\u003e Kleinerman.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2380.0,2403.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  It was Kleinerman, right.  And they had a group of men who thought that they could build a synagogue.  Nothing else.  If I told you there were 15 of them, 20 of them, maybe.  That was it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut six of them came in to meet my father.  And they took a spec.  And the spec was, this is what we should charge; this is how we should advertise.  And the first moneys all went to a pool, into a pool, where that money would pay for Richard Tucker’s salary.  And that’s how it all really began.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There was, there was no synagogue first.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  None.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, that’s the story, that’s what I’ve always heard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  None.  None whatsoever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You think, you heard there was a synagogue?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  There — where was the synagogue?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2403.0,2446.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  The synagogue had the services in the hospitality rooms of various apartments in the near North Side.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Apartments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  They didn’t have a structure, but it was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, okay, fine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …functioning as a synagogue for several years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But what did they do for the holidays?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  What did they do for the…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2446.0,2460.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  For the holidays, they would rent a, rent a facility, and go for the holidays.  And they had a permanent cantor before your father was there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Who was that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Burton Lowell Kaplan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Never heard the name before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I don’t know about that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I know Burton Kaplan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2460.0,2470.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  And Burton Lowell Kaplan parted ways with them.  And they were fearful that he was going to open up in competition, and have services at the Medina Temple, not from the, the Sheraton.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It wasn’t called the Park Synagogue?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  It was called the Park Synagogue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’ve always heard it told this way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Mmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I was there then, I remember, I was in high school.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I remember the Park Synagogue.  And they rented the grand ballroom…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Sheraton Hotel.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2470.0,2491.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Sheraton Hotel, the grand ballroom.  And that’s where it was held.  And they…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  And didn’t our friend Danny Newman do the public relations work?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Really?  Is that where he got started?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  No, no.  Danny Newman was a very dear friend of my father’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Mmm-hmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  For years.  From the Chicago Lyric, going back.  And Danny was a very Orthodox man, who belonged to the Loop Synagogue.  And others, I’m sure.  And he got involved in this because of my father.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Danny Newman’s wife was a famous…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Dinah…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Dina Halpern.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Dina Halpern.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Yiddish actress, in Yiddish movies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  So…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  She was very good, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2491.0,2525.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  So…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And he was a Yiddishist, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And he still supports it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And that’s my recollection of it.  Now, you may be right, in that it did hold, in small hospitality rooms.  But I don’t call that a synagogue, really.  But you can call it what you want.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm-mmm.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2525.0,2545.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  But this was their first really major kind of thing.  And it was a real shock for them.  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, my father had nothing to lose.  ‘Cause the money — if, if he didn’t, if they didn’t sell the tickets, he wasn’t going to go.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It became an institution.  And, in some ways, I guess you could say it’s the, it was the last of its type, where people from that — you know, from such a broad element — not just the handful of hazzanas aficionados.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean, people came from around the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Came, came from around to hear Richard Tucker.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2545.0,2574.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Sure.  There was a, there were, I know there were ten or 12 people from California alone.  I know of people from Texas.  I remember people from Tennessee, who came up.  People from Florida.  People from the East Coast also came in, just for the holidays.  And they stayed the whole week, by the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  It was the last situation like that, in terms of hazzanas, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2574.0,2598.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But Hyman is, was very much — not only Damon Runyon, but it’s like, as I say, prizefighter type guy.  I mean, the stories — he, he would, he would disappear, during the year.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You — I never saw him during the year.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  Because he’d take…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Never heard of him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  He got away with all kinds of stuff.  There are some tremendous stories.  But he represented a lot of, a lot of hazzanim.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There was a Pay, did you ever hear of Paysele Karras?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He was a boy hazzan.  What was he?  Twelve years old.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2598.0,2623.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/112","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  The closest I came to singing hazzanish was The Sacred Service.  Bloch’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Ah, Bloch.  Let’s talk about Bloch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Bloch’s Sacred Service.  I remember.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Let’s talk about how that started.  How did it, how…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I recorded it.  I, I sang it in Carnegie Hall with Lenny Bernstein.  It was a performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was a matinee.  We did three performances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2623.0,2644.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/113","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  The last one was a matinee.  And after, and, and Columbia Records decided to record it.  So, after we did the matinee, we all went — orchestra, chorus — they took us to a Manhattan hotel, I think it was.  A ballroom.  And we recorded…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Was it the St. George Hotel, in Brooklyn?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2644.0,2663.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/114","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Manhattan Center, on 34th Street?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That was at, it was at, I think, Manhattan Center.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  They recorded it at — they used to have the St. George as a recording venue?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yes, sir.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You’re kidding.  Where?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Who?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Columbia used it, quite a lot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  By the way, we did it there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Columbia also used 30th Street.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Tremendous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  But that, I heard of.  But the St. George…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  The St. George…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  How did you come to pass to, to…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  A number of philharmonic recordings were done there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2663.0,2682.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/115","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  How did, how did it come to pass that you were involved in singing the concert version, to begin with?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  How did, how were you engaged to sing?  How did it happen?  The Avodat Hakodesh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I auditioned.  I sang for Lenny.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Hmmm.  And do you remember who else auditioned?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Do you remember who else auditioned?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.  It was a, it was only one soloist that actually…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  But I mean, who, is there anyone who auditioned and didn’t make it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.  No.  Not, not auditioned.  He already — he, he…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, he wanted…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2682.0,2711.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/116","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  He made me, but I just wanted to sing it for him.  And went to, after the huge success we had in Carnegie Hall, we went, the company, umph — everyone.  They have orchestra, chorus there.  Right to the Manhattan Center and recorded it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And Lenny wrote something in my score which I treasure.  He says, “Bob Merrill, you were born to sing this part.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I was so thrilled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBerg’s, the daughter, the sister, the daughter…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Suzanne.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Suzanne.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Suzanne.  The daughter of…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Suzanne Bloch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Bloch.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2711.0,2742.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/117","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Bloch’s, came backstage, after the last performance.  And she was crying, tears rolling down her eyes.  She says, “My, my father would have loved it.  He would have been…”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was wonderful.  And this album, this thing, it, it was a, one of the best-selling albums made.  And in England, it was a tremendous success.  Oh, but it sold many, many, many wonderful…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, Bloch was very…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2742.0,2765.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/118","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  In the first place, Bloch is very popular in England.  And for a strange, in a strange sort of way, other pieces, pieces are — the C-Sharp Minor Symphony.  You never hear that here.  Who — I, when was the last time anyone…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But it was a great experience for me, to be involved.  Now, I worked on the Hebrew on the text, with a, with a friend of mine, who…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, with a personal friend.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  ‘Cause I was going to ask you who coached the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  And I must say, I was very happy with it.  Everyone was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  That performance is still available now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  It’s still available now.  It’s been reissued, on CD.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  It’s on CD now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2765.0,2794.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/119","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And it’s re-selling.  It’s, it’s, it’s one of the best things that, the most wonderful things that I’ve ever — and I’ve had, I, I recorded what?  Forty albums in my lifetime.  And all operas.  But this is one, this is one of my, this is one of my favorites.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I put it on periodically, just to listen.  You know, it’s a Saturday night service.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Friday, Friday night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Friday night.  Excuse me.  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, actually, it’s, in a way, it’s…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  There are elements of both.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There are elements of both.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2794.0,2817.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/120","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Friday and Saturday morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And Saturday morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Because, for this reason — because he wrote it to, according to the Reform, the Reform ritual, which incorporated, since, since they really didn’t have a Saturday morning service for many, many years, they put everything into Friday night.  So that, you’re right — they did take some of the Saturday liturgy…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I was invited to sing, and we were invited to sing it in, in the church, in St….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Patrick’s, I think it was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm-mmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In New York?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  St. Patrick’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I, I don’t remember.  Was it St. Patrick’s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The, the Catholic church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  The Catholic church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah, that’s right.  It was St. Patrick’s.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2817.0,2855.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/121","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  We were invited to perform it in, in the Catholic church.  St., St. Patrick’s.  My God, what a thrill.  The people loved it.  And to be invited to sing a, that piece in the Catholic church was a great, great honor.  And the, the newspapers covered it.  And it was a marvelous experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Was that with orchestra?  The full orchestra?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Full orchestra.  Full chorus, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And the, and Leonard Bernstein conducted it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Bernstein conducted?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I don’t think so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL: No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Not in the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2855.0,2889.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/122","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Oh, gosh.  I can’t think of the conductor.  It wasn’t Bernstein, though.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But Bernstein did the, the Carnegie Hall performance?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, my God, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yes, sure.  Did Abe Kaplan conduct it in the church?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Maybe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Gee, you know, you…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  ‘Cause he prepared the chorus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  He prepared the chorus.  No.  I, I — you know, something?  It just…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He might have.  Very often, Abe…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …’cause he prepared.  And this was a large chorus.  It was a very, a pretty good-sized chorus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Sure was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2889.0,2912.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/123","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  What an, what an experience, singing there.  And singing it up on the, in the, the chapel, up on the top, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I forgot what they call it, the technical term.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The altar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  And the sound…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The nave.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …it was huge, huge.  It was a great experience.  I wish I had a copy of that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Was it taped?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did they tape it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  We need some pirates.  Like we’ve got it.  How many pirates floating around?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2912.0,2941.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/124","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Last Saturday night, the, I had, did a concert in a, up in Stamford.  And don’t think they didn’t tape it up there.  Lakeford.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEVIN:  There were probably pirates.  Unless you collected, there’s probably pirates of your father’s…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  St. Patrick’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …from Italy that you’ve never heard of before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Let me tell you.  I’m going to answer you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople tell me that in Italy and other places in Europe, you can buy performances…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2941.0,2965.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/125","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Right there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …right there, of the performances, things that he did in Florence — eight performances, eight different operas in Florence, in Rome, in Vienna.  He, all the performances from the Metropolitan Opera are being sold on tape, on CDs now, in Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s true.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  From here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  They look the other way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  They are called pirated records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm-mmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I was in Paris in — what?  What?  Two years ago.  My wife and I were walking.  We walked by a, a record shop in Paris.  And there was my picture in the front, on an album.  I said, “Where the hell did they get this?”  It was pirated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  From a, from a radio broadcast…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …I did at somewhere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI walked in and I said, “How much, you know, I want to buy it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “Fifty dollars.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePirated records, all over the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And we don’t, we don’t earn a nickel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Nothing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=2965.0,3017.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/126","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And I have so many of them.  Because…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’ve got a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …of all the radio shows and TV shows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Verdi Requiem with Tibaldi.  You can’t buy that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s in pirate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Were you on a, a weekly radio show before you got into the Met?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Was he ever!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I sure was.  I had a show called Music America Loves Best.  The RCA, at 2:00 in the afternoon on Sundays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Sundays.  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And before that, I had a radio show.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I had a show with part of the NBC orchestra.  Music of — I forgot the name of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut anyway, I hosted all these shows.  And we had great, great guests on it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3017.0,3049.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/127","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Jascha Heifetz was once a guest.  And all the RCA Victor artists came down.  And it was, it was a marvelous experience for me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.  And Dr. Frank Black was the conductor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Dr. Frank Black was the conductor, yes.  It was a great experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In various journals that were for the music world and the singing world, there was a voice teacher who used to advertise as the only voice teacher of Robert Merrill.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Samuel Margolis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Samuel Margolis.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3049.0,3075.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/128","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  He was the only voice teacher.  My mother brought me to him.  Her pianist, the man that used to play for her, played for some of Mr. Margolis’ students.  And he appreciated the, the sound of his students, you know what I mean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, my mother was talking to him, and says, “He should have a teacher.  You know, he’s…”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, he mentioned Margolis.  And she says, she called him.  My mother’s very aggressive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tSo, we, we, we took the subway from Bensonhurst to — and his studio was at the Metropolitan Opera.  And next to the Metropolitan Opera, it was a studio building, where they taught voice, and everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Near 40th Street.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I remember.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3075.0,3110.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/129","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  So, there I go up, with the elevator, to the thing, and I’m, I’m hearing Caruso, I’m hearing everybody, you know, in this great place.  And I went up and sang for him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  How old were you at the time, Bob?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  How old was I?  I would say, 21, 22.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Uh-huh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And, and my mother said, “Well, how much?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “Well, it’s, I, I get, eight, $8.50.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy mother’s like, we couldn’t afford it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo I \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e he said to her, “I tell you what.  For six months, I’ll give him a, I’ll give him a, but I’ll pay” — you know, what do you call it?  You know…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Free.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  A scholarship?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3110.0,3152.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/130","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  A scholarship, for six months.  So, I studied for six months with Mr. Margolis.  And boy, he opened it up, and everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd after I started to earn money and everything, I sent students to him.  And repaid, repaid him for all the, all the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  At $8.50 a lesson?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  At $8.50 a lesson?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But that was pretty expensive, then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Oh, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, I was, I started to earn pretty good money.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3152.0,3173.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/131","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And I, and I recommended some wonderful singers to him.  Jerry Hines.  Many.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s interesting.  And I mean, this is already a technical — I mean, vocally.  You had one voice teacher for your lifetime.  Your father had — essentially, leaving aside whether it was a preliminary voice teacher, you know.  Zilbertz doesn’t count, because that’s, that’s a choral director.  A lot of times, choral directors were the people’s voice teachers, too.  But there was no formal…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  But it was really Paul, Paul Althouse, who for — and he didn’t, and he wasn’t with him long.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3173.0,3203.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/132","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Because he died, I think, not, it wasn’t more than two years that my father really had him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And then that was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And that was it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And I can think of, we could think of others, also, who either had one, one or nobody.  But certainly one, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, you can look at an unnamed roster of current people…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That jump around today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …who, every three months, I made a new, a breakthrough with a new teacher and new vocal technique.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3203.0,3225.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/133","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah, well, that’s, the problem these…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s the problem with these young singers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I, I speak to some of them, young artists, and they, they tell me the same thing.  I said, “If you don’t know you’re studying correctly…”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tNow, how did I know, as a young singer, that I knew I was on the right track?  Because when I finished a lesson, I wasn’t tired.  My voice felt light.  And that’s the secret.  To know when you’re doing it correctly.  To know when you have the right teacher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You see, I can think of a particular tenor, for example.  And I’ve made, done many recording sessions with this, over a period of 15 years.  And there are no two recordings…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  That sound the same?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3225.0,3258.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/134","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  That — worse than that.  There are no two recordings that have him at a time when he was with the same voice teacher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, really?  So you’re hearing a different sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Each time…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You’re hearing a different sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …the recording, a month, two months afterward, he would say, “I wish I could do this over again.  Because I got a, I have a new voice teacher now.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd students — I have maybe ten students like this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Constantly changing.  But many people, it was one teacher.  One thing.  This is not the only case.  I can think of many like that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Oh, sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  My mother — before I went to Margolis, my mother…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Beverly Sills.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3258.0,3290.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/135","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  …my mother had a, in Brooklyn, a tenor.  Marbini, his name was.  He sang at the, he sang opera…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Machbein.  Herman…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Herman Machbein.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.  Marbini.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  That was his Italian name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Italian name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I used to — I went to, I went to study with him, voice.  After the second lesson, before the second lesson, I was hoarse.  He made me scream — you know, ayeah!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI came home and I said, “Mom, I can’t study with him.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe says, “What you mean, you can’t?  How do you know?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Because my voice is tired.  It’s not for me.”  Now, the heck did I know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3290.0,3324.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/136","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And she says, “Oh, no.  He’s a big star.  He’s a, he sang in the,” in that big theater in New York, at the auditorium.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Second Avenue Theater.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?  And — Marbini.  I said, “No.  I’m not working with him.”  It’s the best thing I ever did.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, take, for example…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I recognized, and I felt it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tBut students today, the young artists, they don’t know whether they’re singing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did your mother work with this teacher?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did your mother work with that teacher?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No, no.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Just the reputation.  But, you see, take, for example, when you, when your father would do Yom Kippur, let’s take the Park Synagogue, because I, there, I’ve heard it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3324.0,3354.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/137","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Now, frankly, I’ve known a lot of opera singers, in my time.  And when they, I tell it, or they’ve heard this.  If they’re not Jewish, or they’ve not been in a synagogue.  And they cannot understand how he could be in voice, let alone probably the best voice of the whole Yom Kippur, at Ne’ila, after singing straight for 18 hours, practically.  And I’m accounting for the breaks, and I’m accounting….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut that is a fact, isn’t it?  He sometimes was in his best voice at…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Was, as tired…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …davenning for 24 hours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …as tired as he was, physically — okay? — that’s how he got this inner strength at Ne’ila, to come on.  And the voice just flowed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  For the hazzanishe?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  My father, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He was about to do The Lucias, with Sutherland.  So, at the opera house, at the Chicago Lyric, he invited Marilyn Horne, Alfredo Krause, and two other singers.  And Danny Newman brought them over.\u003cbr\u003eNow, Kol Nidre was from, let’s just say, six, to close to ten o’clock.  Okay?  The way he did it.  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen it was over, Krause came over to him and he said, “Do you realize how much singing you just did tonight?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, my father looked at him, he says, “I sang what was, you know, you’re supposed to do.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3354.0,3437.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/138","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He says, “In terms of opera, you did two German operas just now.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But that’s true.  Because every, every one — but I guess they don’t think about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And from a physical point of view, it’s an amazing thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  His father was one — we did concerts together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I’m glad you got to that.  Because…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3437.0,3460.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/139","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.  We were the only two males to do recitals and concerts, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We opened at Carnegie Hall, it was a big success.  And we traveled around.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd every time, before we’d walk out, they’d look, we’d look at the audience from the side.  He says, “No singles, no doubles, no triples.  Only home runs.  Let’s go.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI mean, it was, he was an, he was fabulous.  And before we did the Met, the closing of the old Met…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The famous Forta Della Stata.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3460.0,3486.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/140","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  The famous duet we did from Forta Della Stata, we went through the same thing, before we walked out.  “Home runs — let’s go.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  We got it on tape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now, that, that was the last performance of Forta?  At the old, at the old Met.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You mean the big gala?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  You’re talking about the gala?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No, no.  We’re…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …talking about the big gala.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The big concert.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You’re talking about the gala Saturday night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But that afternoon was Bohème, wasn’t it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Uh, he did the Bohème.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Hmmm-mmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Bohème?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  For that, I would, the Bohème?  I was a freshman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He did the Bohème in the afternoon, and did the gala at night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  But who did, who, who, who was the baritone?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  For Bohème?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The last Bohème at the Met, in the, in the matinee.  And what did you, what happened?  You changed a word or two.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3486.0,3529.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/141","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I changed a word in Bohème?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  If it was you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He changed a word, or I changed?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  There’s, I’m trying to remember the baritone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But what, what did I say?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, it wasn’t.  It was a very…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I remember we did Bohème in English, once.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, this was the last, this was the matinee.  This was deliberate.  This was to say good-bye to the old house.  Instead of…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I changed a word.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, it wasn’t you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3529.0,3549.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/142","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Now, you’re not thinking about the Martha performance, are you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Where he changed…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’ll come back to me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …where he did the aria in Italian.  The Ma Pari.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, I didn’t even know about that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, yeah.  That was — he, he did nine performances of Martha in English.  And he, I was away.  And I called in on Friday night.  And he said, I said, “What’s new?”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3549.0,3574.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/143","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And he said, “Well, there’s a very good chance I’m going to get thrown out of the Met.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Why?  What’d you do wrong?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “No.  I’m going to do something.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I said, “What is that?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tHe says, “I made a decision.  I’m sick and tired of singing this aria in English.  I want to sing it in Italian, the way it should be, the way it was written.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I said, “Well, who’s going to know about it?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “I will alert the conductor that, the moment we walk out, that he better watch me.  He, I don’t watch him.  He better watch me.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3574.0,3607.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/144","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that’s what he did.  And as they were walking down the stairs, to go on the stage and the maestro going out into the pit, he told him, “Watch me, maestro.  Be careful.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe didn’t tell.  And, all of a sudden, he started, went into the Ma Pari.  The audience went crazy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut that night, unfortunately, Bing was there, and Bob Herman and, I don’t know — a whole, most of the management.  And he, after the act was over, he shut his, locked his door.  And they were pounding on the door to come in.  Because they really were upset with him.  Because what had happened is, when the Met makes a contract with a librettist to write the words, they must stick to these things.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3607.0,3655.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/145","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Here, this was the last performance before the Met was going on tour.  And what it did for the tour at that year was, the opening night was in, next, it was Boston.  Like on a Monday or Tuesday night.  And the headlines would be, “Is Tucker going to sing in most of the cities?  Is it going to be English or Italian?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tBut he had to promise Bing that he wouldn’t do it again.  Because they were really, really upset with him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  But didn’t Columbia do a lot of recording of operas in English?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They did operas in English.  On stage at the Met.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We did Bohème in English.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  What do you think of opera in English?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3655.0,3692.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/146","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I don’t like it all.  It just didn’t fit — the words didn’t fit the music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou see, when these composers and writers did it, they did it respecting the sound of the voice, the sound of the music, and the words fit.  And when you took it out of that, it, it just, it didn’t, it wasn’t musical.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Who sang, can you remember who sang — it was the Shonar?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  The Kolina.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Kolina.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  The Farewell to the Coat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  At that last performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  It had to, it could have been Tuttsi, or somebody else.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s what we’re just saying.  It could have been Tuttsi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He would, when he, instead of saying, “Good-bye to my coat,” don’t you remember?  He turned and he said, “Good-bye, my opera house.”  That was the last staged performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Of his, of his…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Of anything.  Because that night was the gala.  That didn’t, that was excerpts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That closed up the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But, but…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And then, the wrecking ball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And then, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3692.0,3738.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/147","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Right.  It was, those were great times.  They were really exciting times, and, and some great singers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut not just one.  When you would go to the opera, you didn’t get a Robert Merrill only in a cast.  You got, let’s go with a, a Forte Del Destino, as an example.  Leontyne Price, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, Baccaloni.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Jerome Hines, see, or Sieppi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Or Sieppi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  In the cast.  Those are five dynamite names.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  There’s not one.  Then, if you went the next night, to hear Traviatore with Correlli, and whoever it may have been, it was three great singers, also.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3738.0,3791.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/148","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So, we are very spoiled.  Because what you heard in seven performances during, for the week, were all seven great shows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Most of the singers were American.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  A lot were.  A lot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In the post-war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In the immediate post-war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And there were some great American singers, that…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Was Leonard Warren American?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Times…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Times did a story on it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What was his…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Warrenoff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Warrenoff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Warrenoff?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  Warren, Eleanor Steiber.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3791.0,3822.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/149","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  He was Jewish, wasn’t he?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Eileen Farrell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Leonard Warren was Jewish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Originally.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He didn’t practice it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, he converted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He converted, he converted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  He did.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He converted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  His father was, his father was, I met his father in Washington.  The state of Washington, I gave a concert.  Mr. Warrenoff, an old man then.  He wanted to see me.  So, I went up to his apartments.  He came up to my dressing room to talk.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3822.0,3841.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/150","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He was so embarrassed.  He says, “My son.  Can you imagine doing a thing like that?  But, but forget that.  Does he feel all right?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe became Jewish again.  I mean, it was a, it was the greatest.  I don’t know.  Well, that’s the way he felt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Look — he had to live with it.  They did it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean, that’s….  I want you to tell us about the time you met Toscanini for the first time.  When you went up to…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, the stage, you mean when he….","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3841.0,3866.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/151","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, Toscanini heard me sing De Provenza on my Sunday afternoon radio show, with the RCA orchestra.  And I, I sang what, I sang De Provenza.  And he was casting Traviata at that time.  And he happened to listen to it, and he called Shatzinoff, who was, who was the head of the music, and head of the NBC.  He says, “I want this man.  I want this voice I hear.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, Shatzi came over to me, he was a friend of mine.  And he said, “Bob, how would you like to sing with Toscanini?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tI said, “Arturo Toscanini, or another Toscanini?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “Toscanini.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “My God.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tFinally, what happened, I did.  It was engaged, and I went up to my first rehearsal.  Expecting Jan and Leecher, and….  A little rehearsal in the studio.  And they weren’t there yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I walked in, and the old man was sitting at the piano, waiting for me.  And as I walked in, I was twenty — what, five or six?  I looked 19.  To do Papa Germond.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3866.0,3933.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/152","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And he looked at me with those eyes that burned right through you.  Five minutes, I stood there.  I wanted to die.  I’m, how do I get out of here?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd finally, he says, he came over to his piano, and he’s looking at me again, for another two minutes.  Talking to himself.  So finally, he says, “Excuse me, Merrill.  Are you a father?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “No, no, no, no, maestro.  I’m not even married.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe looked at me for another minute or two, and he says, “All right.  Let me play to you.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3933.0,3965.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/153","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I sang the whole role — my role — with him.  And he was not the greatest pianist in the world.  But I did it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinished, looked at me again.  “All right.  I make you a father.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI think it was the most wonderful thing.  I, I flew out of that studio.  I mean, I could….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tAnd then, at the performance, when I sang, I was singing De Provenza.  His face became a father, and he looked at me.  He didn’t, he conducted the orchestra, but he was.  Can you imagine that experience?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=3965.0,4000.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/154","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  You also told me a story about a tap on the shoulder at a particular spot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  On the head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  On the head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, I just…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was in Traviata, it was a syncopation.  (Sings)  And I didn’t have that much trouble, but it wasn’t the, the….  So, I’m trying to get \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.  (Sings)  No, no, he gave me the downbeats with them on the head, just a little.  (Sings)\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He tapped.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He’d give me a little tap on the head.   And every time I sang it at the Met after that, every time I sang it, to come to that part, I’d, I’d feel the tapping on the head.  Oh, he was quite…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did you sing more Traviatas than any other single opera, would you say?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4000.0,4044.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/155","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.  And more than any, any artist at the Met.  At the history of the Met.  They tell me, they had a run-down of things.  I sang more Don Carlos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  How about Carmens?  Didn’t you do…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  More Carmens.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  There was a Rigoletto?  Did you do a lot of Rigolettos?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  A lot of Rigoletto?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I sang many Rigolettos.  But I don’t know whether I sang more than other people.  Because they, but I, I think…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The Traviatas and the Carmens were…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Traviatas were the most famous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Because I did 800 performances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.  And you mentioned Amon Azrael before, in Aida.  You sang a lot of Amon Azraels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, maybe, maybe with, with Amon Azraels, too, I did more than anybody.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4044.0,4081.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/156","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I, I never realized it.  But they, they broke it down once, in a booklet that they printed.  I couldn’t believe it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There’s another thing you were famous for singing, and it’s not opera, and it’s not Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The Star-Spangled Banner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The Star-Spangled Banner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4081.0,4096.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/157","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Well, actually, before that, I sang the, I recorded The Whiffenpoof Song.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Oh, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Do you know that song?  (Sings)  We’re poor little lambs who have lost….  I sang it on, on my broadcast, RCA show one day.  On a Sunday.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tMonday, the dealers all over the — the RCA dealers around the country — called and they said, “Hey.  Let Bob Merrill make the record.”  He says, “We’ll, we’ll…”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI didn’t even like the song.  I mean, it was a yeh little….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSure enough, this show was on a Sunday.  Tuesday, the orchestra, the chorus, we went into a studio, RCA studio, and recorded it.  And also, Rigoletto, Aida, Traviatore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Of course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was a million-sale record.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Really?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4096.0,4141.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/158","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.  It was, it was wild.  Whoever dreamt, you know, that…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That was on a 45, probably.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No, a 78.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  78.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  78.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  A ten-inch 78.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  A ten-inch 78.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And then, it came on 45.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  And it was reissued…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I made the first 45 record, ever.  You know, for RCA Victor.  It was The Whiffenpoof Song.  It was wild.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  On the LP, they put it with the Stephen Foster songs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  On the LP, they put it with Stephen Foster songs.  It was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Stephen, who’s singing Stephen Foster songs?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You sang Stephen Foster?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Stephen Foster, probably, yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4141.0,4166.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/159","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Your diction’s even better than Biorlink.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And what, and then, what happened with The Star-Spangled Banner?  How did you get to be the, the Yankees’…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, Columbia, Columbia bought the Yankees, before Mr. Steinbrenner.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4166.0,4185.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/160","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  Yeah.  CBS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  CBS, rather.  And the guy that ran CBS, name escapes me, was, called me.  He says…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Michael Burke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  “Would you, would you sing the national anthem for us?  The Yankees.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tOh, I recorded it.  Yes.  I recorded it.  And they played the record.  Instead of me doing it in person.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, Steinbrenner buys it, buys the thing, and he says, “Get down there and sing it in person.  I don’t want to hear any records.”  And that’s when I started.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSee, it’s my 30th year, now.  Thirty-second year,that I’ve been doing the national anthem.  It’s a great experience.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4185.0,4219.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/161","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And when I walk out of the Yankee Stadium after the game, the press door, with some of the ball players, and they have two or three hundred young people standing around.  And they yell, “Hey!  There’s the Oh, say, can you see guy!”  They used to say, “Hey!  There’s Rigoletto!  There’s Aida!  It’s the Adondadio.”  “That’s the Oh, say you can see.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I thought it was wonderful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  You played minor league baseball at a time, didn’t you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4219.0,4246.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/162","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Not quite.  Almost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Almost?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  I played in Brooklyn.  I was a pitcher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Uh-huh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And we used to make ten dollars a game for, for churches, for \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.  And Tommy Holmes was on our team.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Oh, really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  He started.  And I just didn’t have it.  I, I was good.  But not, but not good enough.  But Tommy Holmes — we played together.  We used to get five, ten dollars a game.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Became one of the leading hitters in the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Great center fielder for the Boston Braves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Leading.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right field.  I thought he…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right field?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He had the, he had the record, until — 45, 25 games in a row, he got hits.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4246.0,4279.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/163","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  Oh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And then, Joe DiMaggio…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Before Joe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And he broke the record of Billy — Billy Rose.  Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Pete Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No, not Pete Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No, the ballplayer.  The guy that was thrown out of baseball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Pete Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That was Pete Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Pete.  He broke Pete Rose’s record that day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  No, it couldn’t be.  Pete Rose must have broken his…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Broken his record.  And then, Joe, but I thought Joe DiMaggio…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Well, DiMaggio…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …was ’56.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  …was in ’56.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, Pete Rose broke his record.  Excuse me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4279.0,4308.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/164","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And I was sitting with him at Shea Stadium, when he did it.  And he was happy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  ‘Cause nobody, forgot, they forgot Tommy Holmes.  Now, they, they say they had headlines.  “Rose breaks…”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  As a, as a former Bostonian, I will never forget Tommy Holmes.  From my hometown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  One of my hometown teams.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He managed, after that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He managed Cincinnati, I think.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yes.  And apparently, a very nice guy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, a wonderful guy.  And, what can I tell you?  He kept telling, you know, when he was interviewed, he says, “Yeah.  Bob Merrill, he used to pitch for us.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Didn’t you once make a record with Molly Picon?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Molly Picon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  With Molly Picon?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Fiddler on the Roof.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  How did that come about?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4308.0,4343.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/165","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  She sang, Molly.  She sang with… what?  How do I, I, I engaged her.  I…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, first of all, let’s go back to talk about Fiddler, to begin with.  I mean, you, how did you get involved in recording it?  I think you did, didn’t you do that in England?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I sang about 500 performances of Tevye, all over the country.  That’s when it started.  They asked me to record it, and we went to London.  To London Records, to record it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I said, “Gee, Molly Picon would be wonderful.”  And she loved it.  And we went to London and recorded it.  And that, it was a marvelous, wonderful experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did you ever do it live in, in London?  On the stage?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.  I did it all over the country.  Every…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I don’t even know if it played there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I can’t see my….  It’s a different kind of humor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  What’s that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It was, in England.  The audience wouldn’t react quite the same way.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4343.0,4397.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/166","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Oh, I don’t know.  It sold in a lot of countries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, the record.  I’m talking about the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, the performance?  I don’t know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …humor in it.  Not the musical part of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We did it in stadiums that sat 12,000 people up.  And maybe half of them were not even Jewish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But they were…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  It would appeal to everybody.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  They loved it.  It was….  And I love the role.  I used to, couldn’t wait to get on the stage and perform it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  This was when?  This was, let’s say, the show opened in Broad, Broadway was 1964.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4397.0,4423.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/167","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"BOOKSPAN:  ’64, right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  ’64.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, what was this?  Like, in the late ‘60s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  The director of the show I worked with on a show before, before I went out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOh, I loved it.  I couldn’t wait for the evenings.  And I had so many performances.  Eight a week.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Eight a week!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, yeah.  You’ve got two matinees, and one dark day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I couldn’t, I couldn’t wait to get on the stage and do it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4423.0,4446.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/168","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Lovely.  Love, loved it.  Great part.  People said, “What is the greatest operatic role you sang?”  I say, “Fiddler.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  How was Molly Picon to work with?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, wonderful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What was she like?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  She’s a lovely, wonderful woman.  And her husband was there.  He was a writer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yankel Kalich.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Did you know her before you recorded the show together?  Did you know Molly Picon before you recorded it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I had met a few times at, at dinners.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Uh-huh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4446.0,4471.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/169","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  You know.  And I fell in love with her.  I mean, she’s a great lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  You know, just a wonderful human being.  Great lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  This, yeah — no, this was after.  What was the show?  Milk and Honey?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Milk and Honey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  This was after that, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Milk and Honey — was that her last Broadway show?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  I think so.  I think so.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4471.0,4487.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/170","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  I don’t know.  It must have been.  That was at, I don’t know.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA: Robert Wheaty? \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: But that was, Milk and Honey was running in the early ‘60s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Right?  Wasn’t it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I loved the dance.  (Sings)  If I were a rich man, yada, da, da….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, Mr. Tucker and I…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …were going to do it on T.V.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s true.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  So…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Boston Pops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Boston Pops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  With Arthur Fiedler.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4487.0,4507.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/171","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  With Arthur Fiedler.  So I said, “Look, we’ll do the medley.”  I said, “Now, when I come to the part where we dance…” — I forgot the sound of it, when they dance.  What the hell was the song, anyway?  It was….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “What do you mean?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “I’ll choreograph it.”  (Sings)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo he, we did it, and I choreographed the dance, and we danced around.  It was the big hit of the show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, it was great.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And then they play it on television periodically.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They do.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I can’t wait for that part with, he was, he says, “Bob, how can you do it?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, there is a, there is, this was the Boston Pops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Boston Pops.  Arthur Fielder.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And you did one excerpt of the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  Bob did…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4507.0,4545.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/172","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  What did he do with your father?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I’ll tell you.  I’ll tell you.  Bob did If I Were A Rich Man.  My father did…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Sunrise, Sunset.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sunrise, Sunset.  And then, the two of them did a medley together of a duet where they danced together, and they ended up on some big high notes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4545.0,4564.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/173","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  But it was all from that show?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  All from Fiddler.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  All from Fiddler.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now, but that…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We did in concert.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So there obviously is a videotape of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Concerts, it was a, the people couldn’t wait for it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I’ve, I’ve seen it.  It’s in color.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But it’s been re-shown?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  In — oh, yes.  Many times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But it’s not been released to the public ever, has it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Why?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4564.0,4578.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/174","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Because they don’t, the Boston Pops do not release any of their shows.  It’s all owned by, I think, by the New England Conservatory of Music owns the tapes.  I believe so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  Oh, it was great.  We, we couldn’t wait for that medley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Well, speaking of Fiedler, you did a radio series with Fiedler much earlier than what…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  …we’re talking about now.\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.  The RCA show, every Sunday.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Every Sunday, you came to Boston.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  In the old Boston Opera House.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And it was called Sunday at 4:30.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4578.0,4604.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/175","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  And it was you, 70 players from the Pops symphony orchestra…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  …Fiedler, and a, a great radio show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, it was very…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  So, your association with Fiedler went back way, way before…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  …before this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, I…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We had a marvelous time.  I was doing an aria when I, one day, in the — Eres Tu — boom de bada boom.  And Fiedler was late, coming in to rehearse.  He had a dog, and when there was fire…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Sparky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Sparky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  The dog used to follow the fire, and he’d follow the dog.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4604.0,4645.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/176","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And, and there was… so there was, it was a fire, and he didn’t show up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, I’m conducting.  I said, “Look — we can’t.  We have no time.”  So, I get up, and I mean, I get to the podium, and I’m conducting.  (Sings)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImagine, conducting the Boston Symphony.  The sound that came out!  I was, (sings).  And I’m singing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tFinally, he comes running in.  “What are you doing?  What’s going on here?  Give me the baton.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Wait, wait, wait.” I give it to him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKoussevitzky was conducting the, in the morning, in the afternoon, his regular concert hour.  You know, he conducted the Boston…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4645.0,4676.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/177","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  And he was upstairs in his dressing room.  And he sent somebody down, he says, “Hey, find out who conducted that, that part of the Eres Tu.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, they sent me up.  I said, “Yes, maestro.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says, “You conducted that?  Very good.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Well, I sang it with Toscanini.”  He didn’t like that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  The wrong thing to say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Ooh, they were…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …like this.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4676.0,4705.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/178","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e One of my great thrills — excuse me — is, talk about, just à propos what Bob was saying, just now, about conducting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe at the Foundation honored Bob one night, one year.  A few years ago.  And one of the gimmicks were, we gave him, through Mr. Steinbrenner, who I approached, gave us a mounted, framed Star-Spangled Banner sheet music.  We got a bat from the Yankees, and I had all the stars of the show, the opera singers, sign the bat, and gave it to him.  Mayor Giuliani was there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4705.0,4740.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/179","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And what I did was — and I rehearsed this.  I want you to know, I did rehearse it.  But it was still one of my great thrills.  I mount, got onto the podium and conducted the last ten, 15 bars of The Star-Spangled Banner, and had the audience and Bob sing together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, conducting that orchestra — this, you don’t realize what a thrill it really is.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4740.0,4764.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/180","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  The power you have.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  First of all…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s a power trip.  I mean, there’s no question about that. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I, I conducted it in rehearsal, without Bob, on Saturday morning, at the Met.  So, after we did it two, two times, the, one of the horns, who knows me when I, from I’m growing up, this high, this high, “Don’t give up your day job,” to me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut I must tell you, it was such an adrenaline trip.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOKSPAN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4764.0,4788.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/181","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  I got the beat from Ray, who was the concertmaster at the Met.  And you really count, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  To, to start off at the downbeat.  You just don’t start off flay, you know, flaying the baton.  You’ve got to put these 85 or a hundred people together, all at once, to go.  And they’re looking at you for that beat.  And it was great.  It was a great feeling.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Good experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There are a number of other things I want to touch on about, it, the prognosis for the future in cantors.  And you know what I want to talk about.  I mean, but let’s just take a brief W.C. break.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  There was an incident that happened.  What was that incident that, up at the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Oh, up at the Concord.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4788.0,4832.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/182","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"My mother was my father’s biggest critic.  And best critic.  Okay?  And she liked, she loved Sholom Secunda, who — my father and Sholom were, had a relationship of, like a father and son type of a, that kind of relationship.  And Sholom wrote 90% of his music, cantorial, for my father, really, to do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4832.0,4864.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/183","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So, at the Concord, they were doing a kiddish, the kiddish.  And it came to the Shechiyanu.  Sholom had written a Shechiyanu that was okay.  I’m not going to say it wasn’t okay.  But my mother had loved the Machtenburg Shechiyanu.  And had pleaded with my father, “Why don’t you just do it once?”  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tUnbeknownst to Sholom, he goes through the first part of the kiddish, beautifully, with the chorus, and everything else.  Choir.  And comes to the Shechiyanu, and he goes into his own key of Machtenburg’s Shechiyanu.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4864.0,4911.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/184","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sholom was so upset.  But the audience thought it was Sholom’s.  They didn’t know it was Machtenburg’s.  And they just loved it.  So, throughout the whole night, everybody came over to Sholom and complimented him on his great Shechiyanu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo it’s a, a true story that took place, but it…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Did it happen very often that your father…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4911.0,4933.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/185","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  …sang things other than Secunda’s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But what did the choir do?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes.  He did a lot of Lind’s work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He did a lot of Lind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  A lot of Lind’s work.  Jacob Lind, who lived in Chi…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Joshua, Joshua Lind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Joshua Lind, who lived in Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, Joshua Lind is my teacher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And I do a tremendous amount of Lind, and we’re recording a lot of Lind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.  And that’s…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4933.0,4948.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/186","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  …who my father did a lot, especially in Chicago, he did him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In fact, when I was at NYU, looking through the Secunda Archives…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …there were a few pieces of music that they thought erroneously was Secunda’s.  It was Lind’s handwriting, I recognized.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Lind’s, Lind’s, okay.  Sure.  Sure.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4948.0,4965.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/187","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Sholom Secunda conducted at the Concord.  I was making an, an appearance there, as a guest.  And of course the big numbers like Figaro, Largo Futura, maybe, is what they wanted Saturday night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tBut they had a conductor there that used to conduct for me, at the Concord.  I forgot his name.  A young man.  He was very good.  He conducted shows, he was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It was… not Chester?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, he…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  White?  Jonathan White?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Jonathan White.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Jonathan White, or Weiss, depending upon…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  He conducted, you know, my….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo, Sholem comes over to me, and he says, “I want to conduct Figaro.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said, “Well, I, we rehearsed.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe said, “I don’t need a rehearsal.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=4965.0,5004.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/188","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, what can I tell you?  It was so slow, mmm!  I aged two years, when I finished it.  So I tried to push him.  He made a stupid song out of it.  Oh, it was really a time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, and, and then, when he was finished, I said, “Sholom, do you think it was slow?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tHe says, “No.  That’s the tempo.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat, what could I do?  You know, he was, he was an interesting character.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, but then, then, the next show I did, he wanted to conduct the whole show.  Well, but I did, I had a routine.  You know, I had special arrangements, and, and this young man was used to it, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tSo he says, “No.  I want to conduct for you.  People expect me to conduct.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI says, “I can’t, Sholom.  This man, he knows the, he knows my music, and he’s going to…”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5004.0,5054.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/189","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sholom, Sholom took me to his side, you know.  I don’t know whether you know this.  He was the head of the Jewish Mafia.  There were the Jewish gangs that would — did you know that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That used to…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And he says, “My…”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …Go to all those…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Huh?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …concerts up there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  He says, “My people will take care of you, Bob, if you don’t.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI could not believe my ears.  I said, “Sholom, forget it.”  I said, “When I give a big concert, I’ll have you conduct it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tHe never spoke to me again.  I mean, that’s a very strange attitude.  He was a talented man, there’s no, no, no doubt about it.  But he was not a conductor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5054.0,5092.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/190","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  What could I tell you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  And they said, of the Yiddish theater conductors, he was the worst.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Excuse me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Of the Yiddish theater conductors, he was the worst.  Elstein was better…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, Elstein was wonderful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  You worked with Elstein?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tMERRILL:  Yeah.  I think he conducted the, the, the theater I sang, the Jewish theater.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Very likely.  In the ‘40s?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  At, at, but a very good conductor.  He could conduct everything.  You know, he had a good sense of….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it’s strange, about people, you know.  They…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They get a mind-set about themselves.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5092.0,5118.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/191","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And that they’re holier than thou, so to speak.  And that’s the way Sholom was, you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean, actually, his synagogue music is not, wasn’t his forte.  His forte was the theatrical music, or more popular things.  There were some things that are good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  There are some things…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And for your father, he, didn’t he arrange things, didn’t he write things specially for your father?  No?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5118.0,5144.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/192","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Sholom Secunda wrote primarily for my father.  And if you would take that music and, if you were a cantor, to try to do it, you couldn’t do it.  You couldn’t do it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Didn’t he also write things, though, that were not published, that he made special arrangements, just for your father, for the Concord?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  For the Concord.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  Because, you see, you can tell that.  Because the…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5144.0,5164.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/193","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  If you look at his music down at…\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It doesn’t stand up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …at the library, you’ll see.  You’ll see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, that’s we’re going to try to uncover.  Because the, because the published pieces…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Are…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …do not stand up on their own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The published, the published pieces are the ones that he did on records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But they don’t, but they don’t, the synagogue pieces…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That was…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’m talking about…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And the synagogue pieces — right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …Sim Sholom or the Hallelujah 150, or, well, you name it, I don’t care.  They don’t so much stand on their own in the way that some of the songs do.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Exactly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But I suspected always that he wrote — for the, for the Concord, he wrote specially.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And the Pesach stuff, which is not, that’s not published.  Very little of the Pesach stuff is published.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Very little, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You see, which was the more effective things, probably.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5164.0,5200.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/194","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SEROTA:  And he used to put on pops concerts at the Concord, with orchestra.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Like you mentioned, Chol HaMoed Pesach…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Doris Cohen sang with your father?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Absolutely.  And the other one, too.  Uh, from the choir.  I forget her name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Oh, uh…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Tall girl.  Um, it’s just, I see her, but I don’t remember her name.  She lives in Jersey.  They come to our concerts.  You know, and they come over to me at, at the Foundation.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5200.0,5227.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/195","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  You did, you did some shows with Danny Kaye, and people like that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I sure did.  Did many shows with Danny.  He was quite a talented man.  You know, he had a good voice?  Danny could sing very well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And conduct.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And conduct.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He conducted for my father.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  For your father.  Yeah, he conducted, from Washington.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Down in Washington, yeah.  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The only time I heard him sing was in Hans Christian Andersen, but that wasn’t him in that, was it?  It was a soundtrack.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Oh, I’m sure it was him singing.  But…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Was it him?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, Danny was a very talented guy.  We, we, we had a lot of fun together.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5227.0,5257.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/196","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I remember riding in a cab with him.  We were going to the theater.  And we both sang, we were singing, you know, and he (sings), he was singing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen, when the cab got out, he says, “Hey, that tenor’s damn good.”  We both sang.  He says, “I like the tenor.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He liked the tenor better than the baritone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, no.  Danny was, Danny was quite a guy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have a story to tell you, and it just left me for a minute.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’ll come back.  But…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5257.0,5280.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/197","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Oh, my mother, he used to — when I sang in the National Theater — I’m, I’m going, keep going back there.  She had a, a fellow translate some of my songs in Yiddish, to Yiddish.  So, there was a song called (sings) Acta Balalayka… you know, Nelson Eddy, you remember that?  So she, she had this guy write it in Yiddish.  And I sang it in Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  A Nelson Eddy song in Yiddish?\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, I sang it in Yiddish, yes.  People liked it, but it lost something.  Excuse me.  It’s, it wasn’t…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The ta’am.\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  That’s it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Well, I, I had a recording…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But the people enjoyed it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I had a recording of Seymour Rechtzeit singing Summertime in Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e0:","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5280.0,5318.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/198","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  Yeah?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  And I noticed, Jelenick had a program, a night or two ago, on the subject of Gershwin.  I thought that would have been an interesting addition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes.  That would have been.  I heard, last night, Renee Fleming do Summertime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5318.0,5333.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/199","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  She was just great, last night, singing her rendition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  But I think you have, I think — some of these things, I mean, let’s, I mean, let’s face it — if they’re done in Yiddish, it’s more or less as a joke.  More or less…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Nowadays.  And, even then, I mean, it’s, it’s a curiosity.  It’s not, you know, it’s not — it’s supposed to be a cute thing.  Whereas you’re talking about — because your mother, because, in those days, Yiddish was spoken, so it was…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5333.0,5357.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/200","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And he listened to his mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You listened to your mother.  That’s something else, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  You mean, the, the, on the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  In, in the National Theater.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He translated something into Yiddish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, it serves a different purpose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But I used to have fun, too.  Sometimes, I’d — they knew I was involved in the opera, so I used to invite a friend, a big friend of mine, he was tall.  And he used to sit up, I got him a seat in the, in the box, in a lift.  And I’d introduce him as Ezio Pinza.  And everybody’d get up and he’d get up and go….  So every, every performance.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5357.0,5387.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/201","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I then had another friend come in.  I introduced him as, I don’t know — some big Italian.  And they said, “Boy, you know, you know everybody.”  And I, they loved it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Of course.  Of course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But, it was fun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Cute.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Moving to today, look — we’ve, we’ve talked, you and I have talked about this a lot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean, the whole cantorial situation is very much minus the, the great superstar cantors of the, of the days…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  The ones we mentioned before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That we mentioned before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And the Koussevitzkys and the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …Hirschmanns and people.  You know, let’s talk about it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5387.0,5427.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/202","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And your father.  Yeah.  Nor is there anyone at the, whether it’s, whatever opera — whether it’s Metropolitan Opera or anywhere else — who has that cachet, you know, to….  Why do you think that is?  I mean, and what’s going to happen?  I mean, is there, can you see a, the cantorial world…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Changing?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5427.0,5449.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/203","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  …changing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Going back?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Well…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  I, I fear that some of the temples in Westchester, my temple, they hired a female hazzan.  Which is real, it’s fine.  Number one.  She’s got a lovely voice.  But that ta’am…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s sposhnisht.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …that I was growing up with is not there.  It’s a like a little — she’s singing beautifully, it’s like a concert.  It’s not a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  …you know, the dreidlach, the feeling, the expressions.  Which I miss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  It’s…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5449.0,5480.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/204","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I mean, I’m thinking, right.  They, they don’t have, I don’t think they have the, the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I don’t think we’re ever going to have — and this is my opinion only — we’re ever going to have the great hazzanim that we once had, all at once, again.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5480.0,5500.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/205","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"First of all, there’s not a, there’s not a real market for it.  A great, big market for it.  Yes, there’s a market for it in Chicago; there’s a market for it here, in New York.  I’m sure there’s a, a big enough market for it in Israel.  But where else would this create tremendous excitement?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I think people today have different expectations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Okay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  When you go into the opera house, you expect to be inspired by music.  And I think, years ago, when people walked into a synagogue…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You were by…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …they expected to be inspired.  They were predisposed toward this.  And people today don’t have those types of objectives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Except…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5500.0,5538.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/206","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  That’s true.  In fact, it’s the — I’ll even go further.  They don’t even want — it’s not that they don’t have enough expectation.  They almost, in some cases, have a resentment.  Because…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  But don’t the rabbis today take over…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …the temples and direct the flow of the public towards them…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …away from the cantor, from the cantor?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5538.0,5557.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/207","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  That’s the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER: As an example, whether it’s Reform, Orthodox or Conservative, I see it when I go to different temples, what these rabbis are doing to the cantors.  They are cutting them down mid-stream.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo can there be, as we mentioned before, a California Avenue, with three or four great — not mediocre; great — hazzanim on one block, so to speak, again, in our lifetime?  I don’t see it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  That’s not going to happen.  I’m not even thinking of that, because that’s a sociological function…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5557.0,5594.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/208","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e As for opera, as for opera, look — I have had many conversations with Jimmy Levine about opera singers.  And he admits, it’s harder today to put on a traditional performance of Aida than it is for a Susannah — something, a new work, so to speak.  Because to get real great singers to sing Aida — the Yamon Asro or the Aida or the Radames or the Aza Cha — the mezzo, the queen, or the Romphus…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5594.0,5637.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/209","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  What do I know?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …or whoever it is.  You know.  Or whoever it would be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  That wasn’t your part.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  Whoever it would be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Omneris.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Omneris.  Whoever it would be.  You need great singers.  Today, they, they fill it in.  Because they know the curtain’s going to go up and come down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, let me tell you the problem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You need — one, all they need is one star, today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  If that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  If that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5637.0,5658.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/210","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MERRILL:  I’ll tell you the problem.  You used to have a 12-week season, when we started.  Twelve-, maybe 13-, 14-week season.  I don’t know how many operas, but, but, you know.  Today, it’s 32 weeks.  Twice as many operas.  You have to fill those casts, all the time.  The first casts leave, and the second casts come in.  You cannot have quality that way.  It’s finished.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tNow, the people that sing in Europe don’t want to come here.  They come here quickly and go back.  So, you don’t have the same casts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You don’t have the continuity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  We used to have a cast for the whole season, the same cast.  It’s not there anymore.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5658.0,5691.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/211","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Well, because people couldn’t fly back and forth, all over the place.  And there were a lot of things.  But the people — it’s also not there.  You’re talking, never mind an all-star cast, which is the same as the five, ten — there were ten, actually, not five — ten — cathedral-type synagogues, with, each one with great hazzanim.  So it’s a good analogy, in a way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut let’s talk about even one.  I mean, you see, the question is — it’s a hypothetical question.  But there’s a, there is a resentment.  The very people today who even like to go the opera, they’re not interested to have serious hazzanut in their, in the service.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Mmm-hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But I’m asking myself, what if your father were here today?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He’d still be doing…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He’d still pack the house, wouldn’t he?  As a hazzan.  I think so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He, absolutely.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5691.0,5733.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/212","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  He would still pack the house, only because you’re going on reputation.  So would a Koussevitzky.  Still pack the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  But your father was in a different league, because of the fact that he had an international reputation as a great singer.  So, people who may have been somewhat assimilated and removed from the Jewish sphere…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  They knew him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  …they had an inner Jewish feeling, they wanted to be in a synagogue, and they recognized the name Richard Tucker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And they attended.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I have an uncle by marriage.  They were not cultured people.  They never went to the opera.  They were rather common people.  And, but, and synagogue, I mean, the shortest possible service, at that point in their life.  But when, from the very first year of the Park Synagogue…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5733.0,5782.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/213","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  …the first year of your father there, anyway, whatever it was, “We’re going this year.  We’re going to hear Tucker.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, they weren’t opera-goers.  But you see, the combination of the… so….\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’m, I don’t know, but…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  But the answer to your question is, after he left the Concord, did you see how many cantors after he left they had up there?  And what happened to a great place?  They didn’t build more rooms, that many more rooms, to fill more people.  They just couldn’t get the flow of people from around the world to attract to come to the Concord.  They needed that international career.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I mean, I suppose if, if Domingo, today, made, held a press conference and said, “Look.  I have to tell you something I’ve been hiding all these years.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  “I’m Jewish.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5782.0,5832.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/214","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  “The fact is, I’m Jewish, and I’ve been studying hazzanas secretly, and I’m doing my first High Holidays next year.”  I imagine you’d have a, a packed synagogue, anywhere in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Let me ask you a question on that, on that subject.  Years ago — ten, 15 years ago, whatever — if a Jewish organization wanted to have a concert, and they wanted to hire an artist, engage an artist who was Jewish but had an international reputation, there were a number of artists that they could engage.  Merrill, Peerce, Tucker, Roberta Peters.  Right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5832.0,5863.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/215","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  I’ve heard you many times in Chicago singing for various Jewish organizations, in Orchestral Hall, in the Auditorium Theater…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Right now, in terms of people on the concert circuit, if somebody wants to hire an artist of the highest operatic ability who has a Jewish background and a Jewish flavor, are there any artists?  And if not, why?  Not one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  There’s one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Who?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5863.0,5884.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/216","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And that’s Neil Shicoff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He doesn’t have that kind of name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No, no, no.  In Europe, he does.  Not here in America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah, but I’m talking about here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Not here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Because we talked about that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  That’s exactly…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He wouldn’t sell one extra ticket.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  He wouldn’t sell a ticket.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  And that’s now, even, even when he, even before he left, he wouldn’t.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Because he never made…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s only among opera-goers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Because he never really made it known that he really wanted to do…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  He wasn’t enough of a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  …cantorial.  Right.  And yet, his father was a very good…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  His father was a cantor.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5884.0,5912.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/217","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Sidney Shicoff was a, a…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Hmmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Aside from that, in the operatic world, how many operatic singers are there that have reputations in the general public beyond their operatic singing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou had a reputation, you sang on broadcasts on a weekly basis, you sang American theater.  You don’t find that among too many singers today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  And, and then, in those days, you know, not too long ago, how many times, the television shows that were here.  Such as, from Ed, Ed Sullivan, Mike Douglas, Johnny Carson, Telephone Hour, Fireside Show…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Voice of Firestone…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.  All these shows wanted these people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What was the one that Howard Barlow conducted?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That was Voice of Firestone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That was Voice of Firestone?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5912.0,5955.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/218","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So, what I’m saying is, you don’t have these shows today to promote these kind of people.  Now, you have Jay Leno and you have the guy from Channel 2 — whatever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Letterman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Letterman, right.  But they don’t use, other than Pavarotti…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s right.  They don’t.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5955.0,5977.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/219","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  …or Cecilia Barkley, or somebody like that.  But you’re talking about a whole different level, okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe young singers — whether it’s Richard Leech or Jerry Hadley, who are real good singers — tenors, okay?  They don’t go out and get promoted onto these television shows, to make their careers.  Or maybe they’re not, they’re not asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But even if they did, so, what would they sing in the television show?  You see, they wouldn’t sing A Chazzan Loves Shabbos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.  They would sing…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  They would sing…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=5977.0,6009.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/220","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  They’d have to sing an aria.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Either an aria or, or…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Or a show tune.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  …or a show tune.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Because today is crossover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Right.  So you still wouldn’t have, you still wouldn’t have — it was a, it was a phenomenon.  That there was a, that there were these people who were known to the, to that part of the Jewish community who didn’t know the, otherwise didn’t know classical music.  That you don’t have.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6009.0,6031.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/221","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Look.  I know that there wasn’t a Jewish organization, whether it was here in New York or any place around the world, that didn’t call my father for an engagement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well, we’ve got all the plaques.  Remember, the cartons we went through?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.  You remember, I gave — plaques from every conceivable…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6031.0,6054.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/222","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Every Israel Bond office, in every city, every, hospital, every school.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I mean…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But, you see, there is no one to fill those shoes today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And I mean…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  I made a good living out of singing in those kind of bigger organization, Jewish organizations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And I did what were called club dates.  I would go out and perform for them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  Today, the answer is…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  But they don’t do that anymore.  Very little of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  They do it with a comedian.  They don’t do it with a singer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And that’s the difference.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  That’s right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Today, it would be a comedian.  All right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6054.0,6081.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/223","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  They don’t have, we, they’re not available.  They’re not around, the singers.  They’re just not.  And unfortunately, there are not Jewish singers around who are singing today, in the opera world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Why?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  I can’t answer that.  I can’t answer it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In other words, in the years right after World War II, it seemed like there was a rush of Jewish singers that went into the Met.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  In the Met.  You came into the Met, Tucker went into the Met.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Peerce was there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Peerce was there already.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6081.0,6110.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/224","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Roberta came in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Resnick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Resnick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Resnick.  Oh, we forgot about Resnick.  Yeah.  Well, look — there are many reasons.  There’s no one reason.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, they were \u003cINAUDIBLE\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And one of the many reasons is what you talked about, and this is the same reason there’s no cantors.  This is one of the reasons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s because there are no choirs.  You, you, you were what?  Fourteen?  You were in a choir.  Most people stopped — most, most every great cantor was singing in a choir when he was six or seven.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Right.  Like my father.  And Zilberts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s right.  So, you know, as far as I’m concerned, that is one of the main…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6110.0,6139.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/225","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  They gave him the fundamentals.  That’s how, what I say.  And, but today, it’s a different world out there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd as to answer you, to answer you why there aren’t any Jewish singers?  It’s a misnomer to me.  I, I can’t answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tAnd yet, I can honestly say to you that, in the world of opera, today, the American singer is taking, is a big factor, force, in the opera world today.  Because look — Pavarotti and Domingo are not going to sing forever.  Okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut after that, you have the Renee Flemings, the David Daniels, the Jennifer Larmores.  These people — the Dolora Zajicks.  These are people who we have recognized as our winners over the years, who are just knocking out the lights today.  They are the stars of tomorrow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, as for cantors…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSEROTA:  Where are the future Richard Tuckers and Robert Merrills?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6139.0,6196.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/226","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  Unfortunately, I’m going to answer you this way.  They’re not around.  They don’t, these young people do not have the devotion and the focus…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It’s the devotion and the training.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  And the focus and the training that these guys had.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tLook — if I tell you my father never sang in the house.  His house was his home, New York was his workplace.  He made that division.  And he was very focused and serious about this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6196.0,6228.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/227","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  And he studied.  He can, he could study four hours or four-and-a-half hours a, five hours a day.  That was it.  But he studied, intensely.  He was a very quick learner of operas.  Okay?  And he, to his dying day, he was learning Ernani at the time, before he died.  So…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Well, the young artists today learn.  But…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They don’t…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  They don’t…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  They do it once or twice, and they pass it on.  And that’s the…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  Yeah.  They, they go to another opera.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  You can’t do it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  And they don’t grow in the operas.  You… I would rather have…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6228.0,6261.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/228","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"TUCKER:  How many performances did he do of Traviata?  He — I don’t want to say he’s still learning, but every time he did it, he did it a touch differently.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  You grow in the role, as you sing it.  It’s not how many roles you sing, but how do you grow in the roles that you sing?  You, you know what I’m saying?  If I sing, they, they’d sing one opera — one — they’d learn one opera, two or three operas, and they’d sing it.  Then, next year, they wouldn’t sing it anymore.  They're on…  You can’t grow, that way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tToscanini told us.  He said, when he, when he con, when he finished, he, he conducted opera.  Of course, he was a great opera conductor.  But when he finished opera, he says, “I have to work an opera, I, I do it many times, all the operas.  Verdi, Puccini.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6261.0,6300.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/229","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eTUCKER:\u003c/strong\u003e They don’t mature enough in what they’re doing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6300.0,6323.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/230","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  We’re going to wrap this up.  But this has been a most fascinating — actually, you’re talking about growing and learning.  That’s what I’ve been doing here sitting here, for the last few hours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  There you are.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Learning about all these facets, about — some, I knew — obviously, about Avodat Hakodesh.  Anybody knows that you recorded that work, of Bloch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  What’s that?  Bloch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  But a lot of the things, I had no idea.  And someday, I’ll, I’ll, soon, I’ll get together some of the Oscar Julius things I have, and I’ll, I’ll send you some copies.  Because I have all of the Oscar Julius materials.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Good.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6323.0,6354.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776/transcript/24226/annotation/231","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And we’ll, we’ll share them.  Anyway, I want to thank you for…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Thank you for having us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  It was a pleasure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Thank you for the afternoon getting to know you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I’m looking, I’m looking forward to seeing this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’m looking forward to it as well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  ‘Cause I’ll learn a great deal from it.  Especially what my friend here was talking about — Richard Tucker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Thanks, Bob.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  All right.  And I’ll…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  I knew Richard as well as he did, knows Richard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  No, I’m kidding you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Absolutely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Maybe better.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  Maybe better.  You want to talk…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah, I wanted to give a suggestion.  Just wait, wait till you…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERRILL:  What’s that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTUCKER:  No, he wants to…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/39401/file/110776#t=6354.0,6390.04869"}]}]}]}