Most Americans know the song, "Mack the Knife." It came from a musical that opened 31 August 1928, nearly a century ago, in Berlin. One song of many, cynical, amusing, part of Weimar German culture. Thus, the Army Song has veterans singing about chopping up the enemy, or the happy couple song where Jenny is in bed with a John, while Mack, the pimp, lies under the bed, and a famous line, "What is the robbing of a bank to the founding of a bank," meaning the robbers are small timers compared to the lords of commerce. Bertold Brecht, Germany's leading playwright of the era, and Kurt Weill, who wrote the music, both had to leave Germany when Hitler came to power - Weill a Jew; Brecht a left-winger. Both made it to the US, and Brecht was in Hollywood. While Weill and Lotta Lenya remained in the US, Brecht returned to Germany soon after the war, and led the old Schiffbauerdamm Theater, where 3 Penny had opened his musical. It was located about 2 blocks from the Wall, inside East Berlin. In America one learns that millions pf East Germans wanted to go west, and many succeeded. But about half a million left West Germany for the East. One family that did so was the Merkel family, and later, Angela Merkel became Kanzlerin of a united Germany. But she grew up and was educated in the East.
When I saw a production of the musical, it was performed at Dillard U. in 1966 or so, with a student cast. Dillard is a HBCU. Then, the hardest thing for me to believe was the scene when the Chief of Police was a black (student). Things have changed. Today in many of America's largest cities, the Police Chiefs are blacks.
What a century! Hugh Murray
Below is a poster and info from the Microsoft Browser
| Die Dreigroschenoper The Threepenny Opera | |
|---|---|
 Original German poster from Berlin, 1928 | |
| Music | Kurt Weill |
| Lyrics | Bertolt Brecht Uncredited: François Villon (four songs translated by K. L. Ammer) |
| Book | Bertolt Brecht |
| Basis | The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, translated by Elisabeth Hauptmann |
| Premiere | 31 August 1928: Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin |
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