In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, Robert Philipson traces the intertwined threads of family, faith, and identity, beginning with his great-uncle, Reform Judaism leader Rabbi David Philipson, and winding through his own complex upbringing in mid-century America. From the unlikely honor of portraying Shylock in a high school English class to confronting assimilation, antisemitism, and inherited legacies, Philipson reflects on what it means to be Jewish in a world that often demands forgetting. At once humorous, poignant, and historically rich, this episode explores the weight of ancestry, the power of literature, and the unfinished work of defining oneself.

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.

RESOURCES

Literature:

The Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol. X, 1905) 

Philipson, David. My Life as an American Jew 

Philipson, David. The Reform Movement in Judaism 

Philipson, David. The Jew in English Fiction 

Philipson, David. Max Lilienthal, American Rabbi

Encyclopedia Judaica

The Pittsburgh Platform (1885) 

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice

Dr. Seuss. Horton Hears a Who! 

Music: 

A Gesang Fun’m Berditchever Rebbe - Mordechay Hersman

Oboe Concerto In D Minor: 1. Andante e Spiccato - Marcel Ponseele & Il Gardellino

La Rosa Enflorece - The Jewish Starlight Orchestra

Misirlou & The Flatbush Waltz - Budapest Cafe Orchestra

Due Tramonti - Ludovico Einaudi

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Host Dr. Robert Philipson reflects on the life of his maternal grandmother, Jeanette, tracing a family legacy shaped by mismatched love, unspoken expectations, and the emotional weight of generational silence. From her immigrant roots and ill-fated marriage to her slow decline into senility, Jeanette’s story becomes a lens through which Dr. Philipson explores maternal power, cultural identity, social aspiration, and the personal cost of dreams deferred. With wit, sorrow, and deep insight, he unpacks how the stories we inherit shape who we become.

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.
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Music:

"21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1: No. 11 in D Minor" – Johannes Brahms / Budapest Symphony Orchestra

"Symphony No. 7" – Ludwig van Beethoven / Bernard Haitink, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

"Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66" – Frédéric Chopin / Nikita Magaloff

"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (Instrumental Version)" –Ivy Ravenwood

"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Karrin Allyson

"Old Folks" – John Denver

"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" – Judy Garland

"Les Vieux" – Karaoké Playback Français

"When You Are In Love" – Mario Lanza

"Stouthearted Men" - Mila Magno

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Our choice of pets says a lot about who we are … and we are all very different. There are cat people; there are dog people; there are bird people; there are reptile people and on and on. The famlly pet can mark a child’s development for better or worse, but if a dog or cat lives out the full term of its life, it is a part of that family for 12 or 14 or 19 years. These days most marriages don’t last that long. 

Growing up in the relative innocence of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the Philipson family dog — a female basset named Hamlet — progressed through the same stages of life as we did — puppyhood, socialization, taking place in the family constellation, motherhood … death. She even accompanied us on our two-year Paris sojourn.

And since we find ourselves in France, let us heed the wisdom of Anatole France. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” 

Music
"Gnossienne No. 1" - Satie
"(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window" - Patti Page
"(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window" - Patti Broussard
"I Ride an Old Paint" - Van Dyke Parks
"It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That)" - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
"Little Boys Grow Up And Dogs Get Old" - Luke Bryan
"Mon Chien" - Claude Chichon
"Old Paint" - Linda Ronstadt
"Promenade (Walking the Dog)" - George Gerswhin

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Dr. Philipson looks back at the life of his cousin Marion, a fiercely independent anti-colonialist and socialist documentary filmmaker, known for her work with Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens. Philipson explores how, from an unpromising bourgeois Jewish background in Cleveland, she lived in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond, surrounding herself with artists and progressive intellectuals, how her relationship with Ivens led her across the globe to Asia and Europe. As he weaves the story of her career and love life, Philipson also reflects not only on his relationship with her, but on his beloved time in Paris, a time they shared as family, and, by that token, a time of closeness and keeping secrets.

Music

“Bali Bali” – Doug Maxwell and Jimmy Fontanez
“Die lustige Witwe, Act 2: Vilja-Lied. "Es lebt' eine Vilja, ein Waldmägdelein" (Hanna)” – Karita Mattila
“I Had The Craziest Dream” – Harry James & His Orchestra
“I Had The Craziest Dream” – Les Elgart
“I Love Paris” – Ella Fitzgerald
“I Love Paris” – Instrumental 101 Orchestra
“Internationale” – A Magyar Rádió és Televízió Szimfonikus Zenekara
“Poliushko Polie” – André Rieu
"Song of the Plains” – Paul Robeson
“The Internationale” – Utah Phillips & AniDiFranco
“The Last Time I Saw Paris” – Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
“The Last Time I Saw Paris” – Dénes Dosztán
“Vilja” – Franz Lehár

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Part Two continues the story of Marion's unbroken involvement with the Philipson family, maintained over the next four decades in spite of the distance that separated Paris from Pasadena. Dr. Philipson, whose development through French culture and language was the deepest and most sustained, reunited with Marion at age 27 and formed a relationship that lasted the rest of her life, one the witnessed the traumatic scene of his coming out, the heartbroken condolence note he wrote upon the occasion of his mother's early death, the sad and joyful bonds of family, and the French side of his personality that luxuriated in the food, bonhomie and intellectual stimulation that Marion's city never failed to provide. 

"I had always looked upon Marion with the eyes of a child, even after I had supposedly become a man.  She had no age, no sex life, no inner turmoil that I was privy to.  She was my mother's cousin, my surrogate parent, my French family when I was in Paris, an essential fixture in my life but with no affective existence outside my needs and perceptions.  I was forty, and Marion was my only Adult left." 

This was to change by the end of the story.

Music

"An American in Paris (2017 Remastered Version)" - Leonard Bernstein

"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" - Patty Loveless

"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye (Instrumental Version)" - Hit Co. Masters

"Kaokokokorobo" - Papa Wemba

"A Theme From 'A Summer Place'" - Percy Faith & His Orchestra

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