-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 07-01-19  02:28 <=-

 >  > In the movie version, there is a spot where you do see a fiddler
 >  > fiddling from atop the roof....  Dunno as I ever have seen a stage
 >  ML> In the movies, they can do anything. In the play, the
 >  ML> fiddler is more along the lines of a dream or hallucination.
 > That's somewhat the implication, even on the movie...  
 ML> I've not experienced any but the musical version;
 ML> back in high school I read Tevye's Daughters but
 ML> have no distinct recollection of the details,
 ML> especially whether there was a dream scene in it.

I don't think I've read the story... a Jewish friend of ours loved the
movie so much he got the video of it and played it a lot...  
 
 >  ML> I'm not sure, but I think he's symbolic of the character's
 >  ML> mental anguish or the breakdown of society, much in the
 >  ML> same way that boomboxes were when they came out.
 > According to the script, it's symbolic of the precarious balance of
 > life between tradition and modern forces... 
 ML> That seems compatible with my idea. Not having had 
 ML> the script, the nuances may have escaped me.

It may have been more obvious in the movie version...?
 
 > As to boomboxes, that breakdown has continued to happen... it was
 > cars that functioned as boomboxes, driving through the neighborhood...
 > and now it's whole houses booming out the sound.... We can hear the
 > neighbor's "music" booming through their and our closed windows at
 > times.... 
 ML> See, the researchers and inventors who worked so hard to
 ML> make energy efficiency a reality didn't count on our 
 ML> infinite capacity to create waste and annoyance.
 
You mean transistors instead of tubes, and so forth...?  No doubt this
sort of thing never entered their minds,,,,

 >  > production of Fiddler... though I did see Zorba the Greek on the
 >  > stage (in Syracuse) once... 
 >  ML> I never had anything to do with the theater in Syracuse but
 >  ML> did see The Menaechmi once.
 > I've seen only a few plays/musicals on stage over the years... not from
 > lack of inclination exactly, just haven't done....
 ML> Oh, my own experience with the genre is limited,
 ML> except at that professional level, where insight and
 ML> enjoyment just simply are not part of the equation.
 
Hard to see the stage when one is in the pit, eh....?

 >  >  ML> We also seem to have a more vexed relationship with
 >  >  ML> the dollar than most.
 >  > It does seem so... 
 >  ML> Someday I will be guaranteed to have enough money
 >  ML> for the rest of my life. With my luck, I'll die the
 >  ML> next day.
 > I expect that I'll not run out... but I'm not really thinking much about
 > it now... We've done our saving and collecting, and there are cushions,
 > even if relatively slim... 
 ML> I don't have much of a cushion, but then I've
 ML> always been a shoestring person.
 
Richard tends to be more the savings type... but he encouraged it in
me... It's rather ingrained now...

 >  ML> Beyond that level are
 >  ML> respected, eminent, renowned. I'd say Kreisler
 >  ML> was in his day those things, but calling him
 >  ML> accomplished is like calling Ralph Terry 
 >  ML> merely accomplished because he wasn't Whitey Ford.
 > OK...  You do remember that I have a talent for understatement...?  (G) 
 ML> There's understatement, and there's understatement.

OK...
 
 >  >  ML> It also serves as a consolation prize when I'm not
 >  >  ML> getting upgraded, which is more and more frequent.
 >  > That's somewhat of a benefit... 
 >  ML> The free food and booze helps a lot, even though 
 >  ML> it's (by the rules) one drink only. That's a little
 >  ML> skimpy (a drink an hour is a sensible allowance), but
 >  ML> the crew tend to bend the rules a bit. American is
 >  ML> more generous with the alcohol but not the food.
 > Apparently, as in the hospital settings, rules are there to be enforced
 > only when the situation would otherwise get way out of hand....
 ML> Well, Rochester must be more enlightened than Boston,
 ML> where "standard procedure" is applied at the earliest
 ML> opportunity.

Possibily.... or I've had exceptionally good luck staying under the
radar when pushing the limits...  
 
 >  ML> Luckily I fit nicely into a skinny coach seat,
 >  ML> and in fact first class seats I slide around in
 >  ML> too much for real comfort. It's the legroom that
 >  ML> I most covet (though as you know I'm not tall). 
 > Being able to stretch out the legs completely is a Very Good Thing... I
 > find that more and more important as my knee joints tend to tighten and
 > need to stretch out and "click" to keep from hurting...
 ML> Sounds almost like a Hanschka complaint.
 
Probably for similar reasons... 

 > ... I want to be what I was when I wanted to be what I am now
 ML> There's really not much point in wanting to be anything.

I suppose...  

ttyl      neb

... A friend hears the song in my heart... and sings it when memory fails.

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