ERNIE KOVACS

Recently, a Facebook friend of mine, noticing that I post a number of classical music selections on Facebook, along with my folk/rock/jazz selections, asked how I became a fan of classical music. She was surprised when I answered "Ernie Kovacs". When I was a teenager, I watched the Ernie Kovacs Show and I can remember one of my teachers said the show was "too sophisticated" for my age. At that time I only knew one connotation of "sophisticated"--that it meant worldly--when, in reality, the teacher probably meant that it was too intellectual! Of course, thinking it was considered "worldly" only whetted my appetite to watch it!

Ernie Kovacs used many classical selections in his shows and his favorite composer was Bela Bartok. Because of Kovacs, I became a devotee of Bartok. In those days, credits for the music were not shown, so I was unaware of the composers. Fortunately, our music teacher, Mr. Sabin, also watched the show; every week I would ask, "What was that music last night?" Mr. Sabin allowed me to borrow several of his classical music records which were the 3 B's--Beethoven, Bach and Brahms--I told him the 4th B was Bartok! Once, Mr. Sabin said, "You're the only one I know who loves Elvis and Bartok simultaneously!"