Life as Performance Art

The most popular male vocal duet in 1930s England was Flanagan and Allen. Their songs were light, filled with a bit of syncopation, close harmony and left audiences smiling with a renewed sense of hope.
Among their big hits was “Underneath the Arches,” the story of two homeless and unemployed men who “slept rough” underneath the railroad arches. Another was “Run, Rabbit, Run” based on the food rationing during World War II.
In 1939, at the end of the Great Depression and just as Bavarian corporal Adolph Hitler was about to start the war, Flanagan and Allen brought out a new song “Are You Having Any Fun?” This one is timeless and applies today.
Many of us of a certain age grew up learning the fun had to be earned. Get your homework done first, then if there is time left you can go out and play. Get your chores done. then you can join your friends playing ball.
We also learned valuable lessons about thrift, saving our money and the need to make wise choices. Delayed gratification was a virtue. These were drilled into us in hopes that we would grow up to be thrifty, hardworking, patriotic Americans who would shove it to the Commies.
Sometimes, however, we learned those lessons too well. Like most self-destructive practices, it started out small and harmless.
Decades ago my classmate Blake saw a Charles Atlas ad in the back of an outdoors magazine. A person could sign up with him, get some special formulas and an exercise. In a matter of months anyone could become a muscle-bound hunk who would have a great social life.
Blake’s parents told him if he wanted to do this, he had to earn the money.
He got some after school and weekend jobs, mainly lawn and garden work, then splitting firewood. He saved all his money until he had enough to become a young Charles Atlas. All that hard work and fresh air not only put money in his sock drawer, but created the body he wanted without having to spend his money.
So far, so good. By then, something had begun to take over his mind and body. He liked the money, but he truly hated parting with it because he had worked hard to earn it. Blake became a miser.
His mother thought it might be a good idea if he had a social life. His answer was, “It would cost me money.” When his mother offered to pay for a few dates, Blake suggested she give him the money so he could put it in his bank account. When she said he needed to have some fun, he told her that reading his savings deposit book was what he enjoyed most.
In short, Scrooge had nothing on Blake. I don’t know if there was or ever will be a happy ending to his story, because he apparently has narrowed his life down to making and holding onto all of his money.
There are other stories like his. One of the most notorious misers was Hetty Green, the infamous “Witch of Wall Street.” She was born into a rich Massachusetts family in 1834 and after her brother’s death, her father was determined she would take over the family fortune and expand it. She did, becoming their accountant at age 13. She made a fortune, and was either held in high esteem or hated.
She married well and, to make sure she kept her own wealth, forced her fiancé to sign one of the first pre-nuptial agreements. When he died quite young, she became even more wealthy — and bizarre.
Hetty wore nothing but black mourning clothes until they were little more than rags. Soap and water were used sparsely and her meals were very plain. By the time she died in 1916, she had converted an original fortune of $6 million into more than $100 million in liquid assets, and even more in real estate. All told, she was worth more than $2 billion in today’s money.
The entire estate was split between her two daughters, with nothing left for charity. or anything else. She also left instructions about never invading the principle and to use their money to make even more.
According to the newspapers, her daughters knew how to have fun and went through a sizeable chunk of the estate before they died. Good for them.
That takes us back to Flanagan and Allen. “You silly old so and so, with all your dough, are you having any fun? What are you getting out of living?” their song asked. “What good is what you’ve got if you’re not having any fun?
“Are you having any laughs? Are you getting any loving? If other people do it, so can you, have a little fun,” the duo sang.
Sometimes we too closely associate having fun with spending money. To be sure, that can be the case. But let’s say your dream has always been to go to a professional ballgame.
If you want the major leagues, you have three easy choices: Detroit or the two teams in Chicago. By the time the game is over you may have gone through a lot of money. And much of the time if you look closely at the players, they don’t seem to be having a lot of fun playing the grand old game.
But go to a minor league game, or some of the local baseball and softball league games, and the players are having fun. So is the crowd.
If art is your hobby, going to big museums can be costly, but every community with a gallery or two has openings and showings of new artists.
One evening a month Ox-Bow School of the Arts in Saugatuck opens up for the public, where guests can wander in and out of studios or buy new art for a reasonable price. Add a stroll through all of the local galleries and summer art shows.
The list goes on. Being intentional about making time to have fun is the real ticket to a balanced life.
Here’s an idea: Have some fun by annoying people with the question, “Are you having any fun?” or “Are we having fun yet?”