Irving Berlin: The Ultimate Jewish Immigrant
A Multimedia Presentation
by Charles Troy

On Sunday, December 8, at 1:30 pm, the “Let’s Have Fun Together” Committee is please to welcome back Charles Troy, acclaimed dramatic musical historian. He will present a ninety-minute multimedia show, “Irving Berlin: The Ultimate Jewish Immigrant.”

MCJC tickets are $15 each — but we don’t want anyone to miss this wonderful event because of the ticket price. For a complimentary ticket, please contact Bruce Weiss at funtogether@mcjconline.org.

Sign up and get your payment instructions at https://mcjconline.org/event/charles-troy. You may also contact Bruce Weiss at 815-338-2721.

Mr. Troy is a graphic designer and former theatre lyricist who has developed more than fifty multimedia presentations on musical theatre subjects. More than twenty of these presentations are 90-minute programs on the stories behind many of the great musicals. These visually seamless presentations combine his own original graphics with historic photos, edited audio tracks with the lyrics displayed onscreen, and illustrative video clips — all coordinated with a scripted narrative, evolved from his extensive research, that weaves the pertinent events into a dramatic tale.

Charles is based in the Chicago area, and has appeared twelve times at the Woodstock Opera House over the last two seasons. He appears regularly at the Skokie Theatre on the first Wednesday afternoon of every month. He has also appeared at the York Theatre Company in NYC, at the Cole Porter Festival in Porter’s hometown of Peru, Indiana, at the Elkhart Jazz Festival, in Scottsdale, in San Francisco, and makes a tour of Florida every January.

“Irving Berlin: The Ultimate Jewish Immigrant” is one of Mr. Troy’s most popular presentations, and we are excited to be able to bring him back to MCJC. If you were at the last Charles Troy presentation on West Side Story, we know you’ll want to return for more. If you missed that one, be sure to save the date, Sunday, December 8, for an unforgettable afternoon.

SONGS IN THIS PROGRAM
(Featured in chronological order)

1907 “Marie” from Sunny Italy Irving Berlin
1909 “Sadie Salome” (Go Home) Dorothy Loudon
1909 “My Wife’s Gone to the Country” Collins & Harlan
1909 “That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune”
Lynnette Perry and Jason Graae
1910 “Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon” Joan Morris
1911 “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” Max Morath
1912 “When I Lost You” Maude Maggart
1912 “When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam’” Michael Feinstein
1912 “At the Devil’s Ball” Joan Morris
1914 “Simple Melody” Jo Stafford, then Ethel Levey and Blanche Tomlin
1915 “I Love a Piano” Barbara Cook
1915 “Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars” William Cantor
1915 “When I Leave the World Behind” Maude Maggart
1918 “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” Jack Haley
1919 “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” John Steel
1919 “Mandy” Eddie Cantor
1919 “You’d Be Surprised” Joan Morris
1921 “All By Myself” Bing Crosby
1924 “Lazy” Joan Morris
1924 “What’ll I Do?” Linda Ronstadt
1924 “All Alone” Connee Boswell
1925 “Remember” Maude Maggart
1925 “Always” Gordon MacRae

By Ellen Morton

What a warm, delicious, fun, and sentimental evening our MCJC 40th Anniversary event was! We even made a little money for the congregation. And it all happened fairly easily because everyone pulled together so well.  Many thanks to all of you who helped make this evening such a success in every way.

We had a great crowd, great fun and enjoyed great food (thanks to Ilene Kaye, Kathleen Mayber and Marian Michaels for taking the lead in putting it all together and to guests who supplied additional dishes).

The Woo-Woo drink was a hit! The decorations were great, including Italian themed flower vases from Renee’s Florist — and swap auctioneers, Gene Lindow, Dale Morton and Steve Boress, were perfectly silly and persuasive. Thank you, Sandy Lindow and Dara Turnball, for impromptu suggestions that made the evening even better.

Our kids in residence were awesome as runners and gift dispensers. And little Eli with his mustache handing out cookies . . . adorable! Thank you, and we hope you all actually had as much fun as it looked like you did.

Paula Eskoz, your poem was perfect, and we all enjoyed the trivia! It got everyone engaged. Bruce Weiss, your MCJC history will be entered into the annals of our congregation. The slide show on the television screen was perfect, inviting people to visit the old albums and such on display. Bravo to all for these creative efforts!

Havdalah set the right mood, and the light up toys are always a crowd favorite. Thank you Kathleen Mayber, Stew Bailenson, and Herb Franks for your comments and suggestions.

With all disposable items, clean up went smoothly and quickly. Thanks to Rabbi Tom, Jonah Markowitz, Brandon Pacyna, Seth Turnball, Isabel Schiffer and others, the kitchen is even in good shape!

Check out was smooth with our ‘keep your own tally forms,’ keeping it easy for our check-out ladies and Renee to keep track of everything.

All told, it was a great evening. Hope you can attend our 45th coming right up in five years . . . . Oh, and if you didn’t know there was an MCJC 40th Anniversary event on Saturday . . . we’re not sure that’s possible, but if you missed your print newsletter, weekly e-nouncements, special emails, Facebook and Twitter posts, and flyers here and there, there’s just one thing to do. Get in touch with the Communications Committee via communications@mcjconline.org and let them know how to reach you!