FW: [2ND-GEN:7773] Re: Perry Como

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

This letter was posted on a mailing list of children of Holocaust 
survivors.   I thought it would be interesting for this mailing list.
I have removed all identifying markers of personal names so that we 
can respond only to the content therein.  Just to orient people: the 
person writing the letter beginning with "a propos Perry Como" is 
an Orthodox Dutch Jew married to an American and now living in Israel.
I thought you would enjoy the incongruity of these scenes.   

As for me I have had for the last five years or so made sure not 
to miss Luciano Pavarotti's annually telecast PBS Christmas show 
(including the annual multiple re-telecasting on every PBS cable 
channel) because I love how he sings every single Christmas song, 
including "Silent Night".  I have never been able to bear hearing 
this song from anyone else [I went to the frumest girls Yeshiva 
girl in Brooklyn and I basically deaden myself to the December 
theme], but the die-hard Luciano fan that I am, listening to 
Luciano sing it, sing actually just about anything, raises me 
several feet off the ground every year.  It plays in my ears for 
months after the December season which brings ethereal joy to my 
heart, but it of course has nothing to do the meaning or symbol of 
any of the songs.   I guess this Montreal concert had to have been 
extraordinary since they repeat the show every year for so many years.   
The fact that he sings the Latin version of "Silent Night" whose 
words are opaque to me I guess helps me block out all content in the
song.   Didn't see it this year though but I have been too busy to 
watch any TV.   Anyone else feel this way about any rendition of 
Christmas or Christian music?   Or is this something that only 
opera lovers can feel?   I don't think that the fact that my husband, 
Josh Waletzky, directed a film with Luciano in the late 1980's for 
PBS (called "Luciano Pavarotti and the Tradition of the Italian 
Tenor"), is a factor in any of this (I was already a die-hard fan 
by then), but have others here had the same reaction to this singer 
or that Christmas show?

BTW, the thread below started with the discussion of Jewish 
superstitious beliefs, such as licking a child's eyelids of kids
who awoke from a nightmare.  

Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky




--------------------------FORWARD---------------------------
> 
> And speaking of Perry Como...
> 
> In my house growing up, somehow my mother never saw anything
incongruous in
> the fact that she could lick our eyelids when we kids had terrible
nightmares
> (see previous post on this subject) and chant a Yiddish ditty that
all our bad
> thoughts and ills should be transferred to the "goyem's kep" AND
the fact that
> we never, ever missed a Perry Como Christmas or Easter special. 
Come to think
> of it, year after year we religiously (pardon the pun) watched Bob
Hope's
> Christmas specials, Bing Crosby's Christmas specials (who one year
had David
> Bowie as a special guest and they dueted on "Little Drummer Boy" --
imagine
> that!),  and Andy Williams' Xmas specials.  In fact, my mother
would make it a
> point to finish up the dinner dishes and be done with general
household duties
> so she could free up her evening for viewing these holiday specials
-- my dad,
> too.  When I look back at it now, it does seem bizarre, given their
staunch
> stances against assimilation.
> 
> But Perry Como was a particular favorite in our house --him and
Dean Martin --
> OY, did my mother love their singing!  To this day she maintains
she has yet
> to hear anyone, Jewish or Gentile, sing a more soulful rendition of
"Kol
> Nidre" than Perry Como.  Since I never heard this, EVER, I have
always been
> more than a bit incredulous about this -- could it be true?  But my
mother
> remained adamant -- yes, it was true and she could still "hear" his
voice in
> her ears!  Well, to tell you the truth I stopped making an issue
over it.  And
> then just this past summer, I ran into an acquaintance (parents
also
> survivors) who swore that yes, it was indeed true!  His mother
practically
> wore out an album on which Perry Como sang "Kol Nidre," so he could
verify
> this for me.  Alas, he has no idea whatever became of the album and
we both
> had no doubt it must be long out of print.  I would love to get my
hands on a
> copy of this, if only to hear it once for myself.....and then to
give to my
> mother.
> 
> Anyone else out there familiar with Perry Como singing Jewish
songs, and
> (bonus question) whether any recordings of this still exist?
> 
> [name]


===================================================== 

---------------------------


a propos Perry Como 
when people in Holland asked my husband's name, i would say- you know
Perry- like in Perry Como and then everyone knew.
A propos songs. We are an observant family. When our first child got
married he asked whether we wanted any special songs played during
the reception. Perry - not Como- [very Jewish sounding last name]- 
gave him his favorite Bing Crosby golden oldies tape. And there we were 
in our new finery on the reception line saying thank you thank you- me 
showing off a new wig and Perry in a new suit and all and suddenly- the 
dulcet tones of old Bingo "I am dreaming of a white Xmas"
I am not sure that we have lived this down yet.
He has been married almost 10 years.
Happy Hanuka
[name]
Haifa