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You’re right about Caruso. My mother was born in 1992 but I know she saw Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill, among many other greats.

Rosa Ponselle was one of her acquaintances (my mother was a key member of the citizens support group for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Theater (our second home away from home - Heard Andre Watts, Arthur Rubenstein and Van Clyburn there).

My mother was also a semi-professional opera singer (studied under Frank Bibb) and sang in choirs in Baltimore for over 40 years (church and synagogues - under Hugo Weiskall). She was also on the Mayor’s Advisory Council for the Arts and Culture.

Her borther, my uncle, was an internationally known art collector and critic (Picasso, Klee, Kandinsky, Arp, Still, etc, and State Department host for international cultural figures who came to DC and Baltimore). Jackson Pollack was one of his friends.

We hosted the fist public reception for BSO newly appointed conductor Commissioni in our house. I got to walk him in.

Those were the good old days when you got one education in school and another in your home.

Being Jewish we had books, hundreds, if not thousands of them, plus records. We were truly the “people of the books”.

Education is a terrible thing to waste!

“Enjoy! Enjoy!” - Leo Rosten or Harry Golden

I think you have a typo; it's doubtful that your mother was born in 1992, from what you have previously posted. :-)

Absolutely LOVE Tucker and Merril! :-)

My maternal grandfather was a super, in his spare time, for fun, when he was a young man and knew ALL of the greats of that time.

I grew up with LIVE FROM THE MET on the radio, on the weekends, so I still know most of the words to the GREATS and what the story lines are.

Like you, I grew up in a family of readers and was surrounded by lots of books. My grandmother would Bodlerize the great books as she read them to me, when I was bitty; Shakespeare too.

My parents both also painted and my father was an expert re ART; especially the pointillists and Dali. He would deliver lectures to me, when we were at a museum. When the Huntington Hartford had a Dali exhibit, in the mid '60s, daddy was at it and he drew a crowd that followed us around to hear him. LOL

Oh yes...one got an education at school, but a better one at home! It sounds as though we had somewhat similar childhoods. :-)

My grandmother was a child prodigy concert pianist, so classical music was like mother's milk to me too.

It's truly wonderful to meet someone, here, who "gets it". We might be a bit "strange" ( to others and the way they were raised ), but I'm glad that I had what I did and I can tell that you are on the same page. :-)

I LOVE your family story; it's MARVELOUS!