Strange Interlude Did Bach really write music for someone Jewish? ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR CONGRATULATIONS ALL YOU BRIL- LIANT READERS OUT THERE WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED TELL ME WHY'S MOST RECENT "WHO AM I?" QUESTION. THE WISE PSYCHOLOGIST WHO ADVISED PARENTS TO "TREAT YOUR CHILDREN LIKE YOUR GUESTS," WAS INDEED HAIM GINOTT, AND HIS FAMOUS BOOK WAS BE- TWEEN PARENT AND CHILD. Those with the correct answer: Brenda Gelman Berkowitz, Ross John Fazio, Betty Hirschfield, Dr. Sheldon Kapen, Hannah Klein, Miriam Rieger, Mary Ru- bin, Rhoda Wallace and Harold Weiss. Now! Another question. Let's see if you can get it. Bold and Beautiful Hand Made Diamond 14K Gold Bracelets. i n Est. Fine Jewelers N 1919 yp • Brilliance Since 1919 30400 Telegraph Rd. 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Name the actor and his most famous role. Send to: Tell Me Why, c/o The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034. Entries will be accepted through June 20. No phone calls, please. Q: I have been a music lover all my life, but only recently have I be- gun listening to classical music. I used to think it was boring and could only be appreciated by ivory- tower intellectuals. But some clas- sical music really swings and has a lot of catchy tunes! Anyway, the other day I was in my car and had the radio on the lo- cal classical station, which was playing some really nice piano mu- sic. Afterward, the announcer said it was the "Goldberg Variations" by Johann Sebastian Bach. Was this some kind of joke? Did J.S. Bach, the supreme German composer, really name a piece of music for some guy called Gold- berg? And if he did, who was he? A: There is indeed a compo- sition for keyboard called the "Goldberg Variations" by J.S. Bach. It was first published around 1741 as "Clavier-Ubung iv" (keyboard exercise). It was not until some 60 years later that the piece took on the name of the "Goldberg Variations," and mainly because of one man's book. In 1802, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, a German musician and ward the average Joe. He did so well that he soon established another facility, the Diamond Horseshoe, which quickly be- came New York's hottest night spot. In 1930 Billy Rose took on yet another career — this time as Broadway producer. His shows included Jumbo, Seven Lively Arts and Carmen Jones. After World War II, Rose be- gan collecting art. He came to own works by such prominent artists as Rodin and Daumier, much of which can now be seen on display in the Billy Rose Garden at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Rose also took up investing, favoring real estate and stocks. Among his favorite companies: the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., where he was, for many years, the largest sin- gle stockholder. Though Rose had great tal- ent and business skills, his per- sonal life wasn't so successful. He married five times, includ- ing once to Fanny Brice (James Caan portrayed Rose in Funny Lady, the second film in which Barbra (---"'- roi sand chronicled the :1:1 Price). Q: I seem to remember, many life years ago, a rumor to the effect that a Jewish businessman owned more stock in AT&T than any other indi- vidual. Who was he? A: He was born William Samuel Rosenberg (1899-1966), though everyone knows him best as Billy Rose. Raised in a poor family in New York, he The killer of Bugsy Siegel, who died at was a man of many talents, not this home in 1947, has never been the least of which was making found. wise investments. Rose's first remarkable skill, Q: I say mobster Benjamin though, was shorthand. He was "Bugsy" Siegel is buried in a Jew- so good and so quick that he ish cemetery. My best friend says, found a job working for Bernard Baruch, presidential adviser "No way!" Who is correct? A: You are. and chairman of the War In- "Bugsy" (a nickname he dustries Board during World loathed) was shot and killed in War I. But by the end of the war he'd had enough of short- 1947 at the home of his girl- hand, and decided instead to be- friend, Virginia Hill, 810 Lin- come a songwriter. Rose wrote den Drive in Los Angeles. He is the lyrics for some 400 songs, buried in a crypt at the Beth one of the most popular of Olam Mausoleum in the Hol- which was "Me and My Shad- lywood Memorial Cemetery. ❑ ow." His first hit was in 1920 when, at 21, Rose wrote "Ain't Send questions to Tell Me Why, Nature Grand." By the time he The Jewish News, 27676 was 24, he was earning an in- Franklin Road, Southfield, MI credible $100,000 a year. 48034, or fax to (248) 354-6069. Rose would write lyrics All letters must be signed and in- throughout his life, but he de- clude the writer's address. Ques- cided to take on another pro- tions answered in the column will fession, as well. So in 1924 he feature only the writer's initials opened a nightclub geared to- and city of residence. historian, published the first bi- ography of J.S. Bach. Forkel told in his book how Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, Russian ambassador to the court of Sax- ony, discovered in Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) a brilliant young keyboard player named Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Key- serlingk, Forkel said, commis- sioned Bach to write a set of variations to be played by Gold- berg. Because the story contains several errors of fact, modern scholars doubt the veracity of Forkel's tale. They agree, how- ever, that young Goldberg was an extraordinarily talented key- boardist who could have taken on with relative ease Bach's technically difficult composi- tion. There is no evidence that Goldberg was Jewish. He was baptized in the year of his birth, 1727. In sources, he is referred to as Gollberg, Goltberg and other variants. Although "Goldberg" is found predominantly among Jews, keep in mind that it is, after a German name. "