How cultured is Susie Myerson? In episode 2 of season 2 we see Susie explore the strange new world (to her) that is the Weissman apartment, getting into the bathroom cabinet and using Rose’s fancy soap; getting into Midge’s drawers and secret stash (she finds the tape measure and uses it on herself, plus she finds the joint Lenny Bruce gave Midge and smokes it); reading the kids’ books (she cries over Charlotte’s Web)…and when she encounters Abe’s baby grand, what does she do? Not only does she play it, she tunes it! Susie plays the very familiar rondo from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C minor, the movement of a piece that once upon a time was the mark of a cultured person (back when cultured people were encouraged to be able to play, at least, a little piano).
Does this mean Susie can read music? Or did she pick up this passage by ear? Are these 8 bars possibly the only piece of piano work she knows?
The other piece of similar fame, by the way, is Mozart’s Sonata K545, which toddler Esther plays in episode 7 of season 5. I mention it in another posting.
But back to Susie and a couple more musical observations. She obviously has a good ear. She chided Jackie at the Gaslight in another episode for his lousy musical taste (ocarinas!?). She is enchanted by the flute.
So what was Susie’s major at Pembroke? And on what basis did she get her scholarship? She doesn’t strike me as a music student. In season 3 she avers that she never heard of Strindberg, and I believe her—yet as a sophomore she knew enough of theater to dress for a costume party as Lady Macbeth. Now that was an interesting choice. Did Hedy her lover teach her about The Scottish Play, as she “taught” Gordon her husband about Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”?
(Remember, they got into a fight after this party. Was Susie’s costume actually directed at Hedy?)
Pembroke had and has a strong showing in Liberal Arts (a former president of Lincoln Center is an alumna) and it’s possible she went in with an undeclared major, leaving her with enough free time to hang out in the post-war beatnik clubs of Providence.
To sum up, however “cultured” or “uncultured”, Susie is and was a thoroughly real-to-life fascinating and attractive woman. I see in her what Hedy saw.
And as a reward for those of you who read this to the end, here’s Valentina Lisitsa playing that Beethoven sonata.
"I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart" 