April 9, 1928 –
… It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a year.
Tom Lehrer, singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician,was born on this date. (Lehrer entered Harvard at age 15, having skipped several grades. Everyone applying for admission to Harvard was required to include an example of their written work. Lehrer submitted a long verse, in the style of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The poem ended with the lines:
I will leave movie thrillers And watch caterpillars Get born and pupated and larva’ed, And I’ll work like a slave And always behave And maybe I’ll get into Harvard…
The poem in its entirety appeared in Scholastic Magazine in 1943. (It was Lehrer’s first published work.)
Let’s all throw open the windows of our homes and shout “Happy 94th birthday” then wash our hands and maintain our social distance.
The Haus of Dcaligari 