August 31, 1928: "The Threepenny Opera" Premieres

Lotte Lenya (left) and Harald Paulsen

August 31, 1928: The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), adapted by Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and composer Kurt Weill (with set designer Caspar Neher) from The Beggar's Opera, receives its première in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with Harald Paulsen and Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) in the principal rôles.

A draft narration by Brecht for a concert performance begins: "You are about to hear an opera for beggars. Since this opera was intended to be as splendid as only beggars can imagine, and yet cheap enough for beggars to be able to watch, it is called the Threepenny Opera."

Set in Victorian London, the play focuses on Macheath, an amoral antihero who leads a criminal gang, committing robbery, arson, rape and murder. Macheath -- known in the German version as "Mackie Messer," meaning "Mack the Knife" -- marries Polly Peachum. This displeases her father, another crime boss, who controls the beggars of London, and he endeavours to have Macheath hanged.

His attempts are hindered by the fact that the Chief of Police, Tiger Brown, is Macheath's old army comrade. Still, Peachum exerts his influence, and eventually gets Macheath arrested and sentenced to hang. Macheath escapes this fate moments before the execution when, in an unrestrained parody of a happy ending, a messenger from Queen Victoria arrives to pardon Macheath, and grant him the title of baron.

It was Marc Blitzstein's 1954 translation into English that produced the familiar translation of the show's best-known number, including putting Lenya herself in the lyrics: Die Moritat von Mackie Messer became "The Ballad of Mack the Knife." It would be recorded by many singers, with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald having hit versions in 1956, before Bobby Darin hit Number 1 with it in 1959.

The Threepenny Opera was first staged in English, anywhere in the world, in 1933, on Broadway. Despite a 1935 BBC radio broadcast, which Weill himself called "the worst performance imaginable," it was not staged in London until 1956.

It has been filmed in German and French, with the same actors, in 1931. Another German version was made in 1963, with 2 James Bond villains -- and Lenya, who played Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love that year, was not one of them. Curd Jürgens played Macheath, and Gert Fröbe played Peachum -- with Sammy Davis Jr. as the Moritat singer, in German. And in 1989, under the title Mack the Knife, Raúl Juliá played Macheath, Richard Harris played Peachum, and Roger Daltry sang the song.

Weill died in 1950, Paulsen in 1954, Brecht in 1956, and Lenya in 1981.

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August 31, 1928 was a Friday. Actor James Coburn was born on this day. And these baseball games were played:

* The Brooklyn Robins -- as the Dodgers were known under the management of Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931 -- beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 4-2 at the Polo Grounds. Dazzy Vance outpitched a rookie Carl Hubbell. Jake Flowers hit a home run for the Robins. For the Giants, Bill Terry went 1-for-4. Mel Ott went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 4-3. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 4-1.

* A doubleheader was split at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1st game, 6-5. Ray Kremer outpitched Grover Cleveland Alexander. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 6-2. Over the 2 games, Frankie Frisch went 4-for-8 with a walk and an RBI, Jim Bottomley went 3-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs, Chick Hafey went 3-for-8 with a home run and an RBI, Paul Waner went 2-for-7 with a home run and 3 RBIs, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-8.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Redland Field (later renamed Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, both about to retire, were on the A's roster, but neither played in the game.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The New York Yankees and the Washington Senators were rained out at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The game was never made up.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. This game was never made up, either.