Born Yesterday

Last night, I took the family to see a show at the Walnut Street Theater, a grand old place now celebrating its 200th birthday! This is the oldest running theater in the USA, even older than Ford's Theater in which Lincoln was shot.

The show Born Yesterday was first performed about sixty years ago, and it features an extraordinarily greedy, philistine of a man who comes to stay in Washington D.C. for few months on business, and he brings his girlfriend, the quintessential blond bimbo type with a squeaky little voice. Harry Brock made untold millions growing his scrap metal empire during the war, and now that WWII is over, he wants to go international, and needs the help of a senator to do it. His girlfriend Billie is used as a front for him to evade taxes, and as the play progresses, he and the audience learn that she is not so dumb.

I was afraid that my kids would get bored. Among the audience of several hundred, they were the ONLY children. I explained the show went along and it was cool. I told them to imagine they were watching a show on Turner Classic Movies.

Born Yesterday relates so well to today's times. Insanely greedy people like Harry Brock will manipulate anything and anyone to make more money. This is the stuff that caused the market to rapidly melt down.

If I were a rich man, I'd go to three shows per week!