Professor Hamilton's Diary: Nov. 13, 1935

He hears Lawrence Tibbett in person; distinguished economist murdered by secretary

Having enjoyed baritone opera singer Lawrence Tibbett on radio and on screen (just last week), Professor Hamilton must have been delirious with joy when he got to hear him in person tonight at Reading’s Orpheum Theater. (This was a vaudeville house that regularly presented burlesque shows. Tibbett’s star turn was followed on Friday by the exotic dancer Chang Lee and her “Dance of the Lamps of China.”)

Tibbett’s wide-ranging program included everything from “I Got Plenty of Nothin’” from the new Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess — it had premiered in September in New York — to an aria from The Barber of Seville.

“Heard Lawrence Tibbett give a concert of songs — in which he was very fine, gracious and generous with ten encores,” the professor wrote in his diary. (He actually underlined Tibbett’s name, but Substack won’t let me do that.) The account in the next day’s Reading Times said Tibbett played to a standing-room-only audience and took 27 bows.

Some of my readers know I am both the daughter and the mother of academic economists, a situation that is so odd I can’t even find a support group. So I was immediately drawn to a story on the front page of today’s Reading Times headlined, “Economist Slain by Secretary in Romance Climax.”

Apparently even economists can get themselves involved in love triangles. Free subscribers can click below to upgrade to paid and get the full enjoyment of Professor Hamilton’s Diary.

The courtroom drawing of Vera Stretz is being offered by the Old Print Shop. It is the work of the artist William Sharp.