We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.

What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine.

I created the role of Captain Von Trapp.

I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.

But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist.

I always sang, I always acted, I always played.

Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?