Miscellaneous Lanza-related questions/comments (Sep--Dec 2011)

[Derek McGovern]

I'm starting a new "Miscellaneous Lanza" thread here, as our previous one was getting rather long at 83 posts :) As always, please use this thread for all those miscellaneous Lanza-related questions or comments that don't warrant an individual thread of their own.

[Derek McGovern]

Just to let you all know that Lee Ann has modified our Lanza Scrapbook feature, streamlining it in her usual stylistically winning way. Do check it out: it's full of fascinating Lanza memorabilia.

[Steff]

Hello everybody,

Some days ago I contacted Jill Shary Robinson. She's the daughter of Dore Shary, former president of MGM and successor of Louis B. Mayer.
I got a wonderful reply from Jill yesterday which she allowed me to share with all of you:

Dear Stephanie,
Forgive me for not getting back to you sooner.

Mr. Lanza was one of MGM's biggest stars and had a remarkable singing voice. My father admired and respected his voice tremendously. His talent was a great asset and gift. However, Mr. Lanza, as many of the great performers are, not an easy person to work with and the more famous he became, it became more difficult. One could say, as his stardom expanded, so did his girth. And there was consternation about costumes having to be remade and so forth. But this was not unusual....he was not in all of this dissimilar to Judy Garland, or several other stars. Particularly when the gift is such a deeply personal one and is so rich that it inspires and captivates a whole world. It would be almost impossible, it seems to me, for a human being to behave in the way the rest of us do.
A powerful presence, who has a great art as Mr. Lanza did, takes an extraordinary amount of energy to maintain. Fame is an exhausting task. A gift, yes. But it drains the spirit which needs constant refueling. I'd watch the consternation Mr. Lanza sometimes caused and wonder why nobody could see that this was a deeply challenged young man who had suddenly become a major giant. To ask him to turn around and obey commands and orders and behave like an employee, seemed almost too much.
I've given this a lot of thought as you can see. I've watched a friend of mine, Barbra Streisand, being virtually torn to ribbons trying to shop at Harrods like a regular person and as she sunk back into her car, "You know, I've been famous since I was a kid. And I'm not so sure that fame is the gift or the treasure that we assume it must be."

I wish I could help y ou more with this but I'm giving you, in all honesty, as much as I can find right now.

All my very best wishes for your project, Jill


I answered Jill today thanking her for her moving response. In my e-mail I wrote: "Dear Jill, What a wonderful reply and thank you so very much for taking the time to answer me. I agree in what you said about Mario Lanza. He was made a Hollywoodstar, so it is not surprising that he behaved like a Hollywood star (which he was expected to do). It must be very difficult to be a star without losing one's own personality ...."


Just a few minutes ago, Jill sent me another e-mail:

Dear Stefanie, what a fine,perceptive response-- I thought carefully about what to say---we were all trained, growing up in L.A., to say only nice things-to NOT see or Not hear what we DID see and DID hear....But,in many ways, my parents ,by letting us listen,letting us see (my mother, a painter,let me sit,drawing in her studio as she painted many stars,other friends, and no one said ("there's a child in the room..."therefore whisper." In this way I was fortunate) Of course, anything I write to you is yours. I love sharing my words.A lot. THIS,I suppose, is what I DO. You sound terrific. If you ever come to L.A. let me know...and,if I ever come to Germany,I will let you know (travelling is not my easiest thing right now...but I DID live in London for 25 years,have many students there.Miss them. And Europe. VERY much.
With love,Jill


What an amazing lady! Jill, should you read this, many,many thanks again for what you wrote, I am sure all here will be delighted to read it.

INcidentally, you can read a short biography of Jill on her website: http://jillscharyrobinson.com/about/biography/

Steff

[Steff]

I must apologize that I mis-spelled Jill's surname. It is "Schary," not "Shary." Sorry for that.

Steff

[Steff]

Here's a terrific photo which I just spotted on e-bay (a really good place to find photos of Mario Lanza).
It shows Mario Lanza and Bobby Van at the set of "Because You're Mine." The backside of the photo says: "Rehearsal for Laughs .... Mario Lanza and dancer Bobby Van take plenty of time in rehearsal to perfect a comedy scene in M-G-M's "BecauseYou're Mine."

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: I'm impressed by Jill Schary's sense of fairness, as well as her understanding of the pressures of fame. What a contrast between her comments and her father's (in his autobiography)! I was particularly struck by her observation that (at the time of The Student Prince debacle),

 I'd watch the consternation Mr. Lanza sometimes caused and wonder why nobody could see that this was a deeply challenged young man who had suddenly become a major giant. To ask him to turn around and obey commands and orders and behave like an employee, seemed almost too much. 

This is uncannily close to Barry Nelson's and John Green's assessments of the situation, as recorded by Armando in his book. It's too bad that Jill, who was just seventeen in 1952, couldn't have persuaded her supposedly liberal father to adopt a different approach to dealing with someone as special and vulnerable as Lanza. Again, I'm reminded of Joan Plowright's comments (in relation to her late husband, Laurence Olivier) that, 

"If a man is touched by genius, he is not an ordinary person. He doesn't lead an ordinary life. He has extremes of behaviour which you understand and you just find a way not to be swept overboard by his demons."  

Good on you for writing to Jill, Steff!

Cheers

Derek

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: Thanks for sharing that photo. I don't think I've seen it before---and it's quite an unusual portrait of old Mario! He's obviously enjoying himself here. According to Terry Robinson, Bobby Van made Lanza laugh a lot, and often diffused tensions on the set.

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Hello everybody,

We know that Mario Lanza's mother Maria wanted to become a singer and that she had a lovely voice (would she have made a big singing career on the opera stage?). Consequently, the singing was in Lanza's blood. Then there was Pompillo Cocozza, Mario's grandfather, who had an artistic bent (though was not a professional actor) and performed in sacral plays in his hometown Filigano. Were there any other members in the Lanza or Cocozza family with artistic ambitions, whom Lanza might have inherited his talents from?
In some old Philly newspapers I spotted the name Achille Cocozza, a young man from Philly, who I understand had a promising career as a violinist in the early 1900s. Is Achille a relative of Antonio Cocozza, Mario's father, does anybody know? But then again, I am aware that the name "Cocozza" is a very common Italian name.
However, I attached three articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer which mention Achille.

Steff

[Steff]

This afternoon I spotted an interview with Bill Baldwin which was recorded on August 9, 1976.
Baldwin (1913-1982) as you know, was the announcer for "The Mario Lanza Show."
The interview takes 35 minutes and gives a good summery of Baldwin's career.
You can also listen to the Edgar Bergen show from 10/5/1952 with Baldwin as the announcer.

Incidentally, I was not aware that Baldwin was the fight announcer in all "Rocky" movies.

http://www.speakingofradio.com/interviews/baldwin-bill-announcer/?display=comments

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: I've never heard of Achille Cocozza! He certainly wasn't part of Antonio's immediate family, who, in any event, didn't arrive in the US until 1905---a year after then-16-year-old Achille was first mentioned in the Philadelphia Inquirer. But I guess it's possible that members of the extended Cocozza family could have emigrated from Italy before Mario's paternal grandparents, Pompilio and Carmela, set out for the US.

Your post prompted me to dig out the four recordings of Maria that are featured on the Damon Lanza Productions 15-CD Coke set. I don't know when they were recorded, but it's fun hearing Lanza's mother singing the likes of "Core 'ngrato." She was musical, with a pretty lyric voice, and, like her son, had a tendency to sing sharp :) Quite a fast vibrato too---at times she reminded me of Jeanette MacDonald! Whether she would have made it as a professional singer is a moot point, though.

By the way, I'm skeptical about talent being inherited. There are plenty of examples of great singers and composers who came from non-musical families---and, of course, we only have to look at Mario and Betty's children to see that only one of their offspring was musically talented. One out of four is a pretty poor strike rate! 

Nurture may help---and in Mario's case, it obviously made a huge difference---but whatever triggers a passionate interest---obsession?---in something like opera must be innate, I feel. I think of my own family: my two brothers and I all grew up together listening to my father's recordings of Lanza and other operatic singers, yet only I was smitten by them!

Cheers
Derek

P.S. There was another "artistic" Lanza: one of Maria's two brothers (Robert or Anold; I forget which) who went on to be a fashion designer, I understand.

[Steff]

 
Hi Derek,  I was told that the recordings of Maria Lanza were only made after Mario's death, in the early 1960s.

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: I would believe that, as there's no surface scratch on the recordings. They sound very clean---like the product of the tape era. 

I'd have to say, then, that Maria sounds very good for a non-professional and someone in her early 60s.

Cheers

Derek

[norma]

Dear Derek,

                     I have been listening to the recordings of Pavorotti in the Park and have noticed how the orchestra helps him so much.What a pity Mario was not aided as much in his recordings.

 

                                                                                                                                      All the best Norma

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Norma: Yes, Pavarotti certainly fared a lot better than Lanza with his conductors! Mario was basically left to his own devices on his RCA operatic recordings. Yet we all know how well he could rise to the occasion when working with a top conductor----e.g., Ferrara----or a competent one (Baron, Heindorf). 

I once played his 1950 E Lucevan le Stelle to a professional musician, and this fellow simply couldn't believe that the appalling clarinet playing at the beginning was allowed to pass. (Well, that and the fact that the orchestra is half-asleep!)

Cheers

Derek    

 

[Derek McGovern]

Here's a question from JOE:

Have you all ever seen this filming of O Sole Mio....I never have and I kinda like it.....Joe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NOLwmYPrmQ&feature=related

________________________________________________________________________

 

And my response: 

Hi Joe: That scene was filmed by someone on the set, mostly from behind the cameras (which you can see in some shots). It's been put together from several different takes; in fact, at one point, Christa/Johanna von Koczian seems to have disappeared! 

There's also "behind the scenes" footage of the "Pineapple Pickers" scene, but without sound. (By the way, "O Sole Mio" is running about a semitone slow here. Here it is at the right speed, and in excellent colour, as it appears in the film.)

Cheers

Derek

[Steff]

Hello everybody,

Due to all my exciting Mario Lanza online ressearches, which carried me away completely, I am a little behind the reading of posts here, so I am not sure if anybody has already mentioned this interview with Rita Moreno, co-star of Lanza in "The Toast of New Orelans." Rita turns 80 this coming December and is still active on stage. She looks stunning!

http://www.theatrebayarea.org/editorial/Explicating-Rita.cfm

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: I hadn't seen that interview with Rita Moreno. You're right: she is looking terrific, and it's good to know that she has "great" memories of working on Toast of New Orleans. I just wish the interviewer had asked her about Mario! 

To be honest, she irritates me a little in Toast, but I love her as the fiery Anita in West Side Story. More recently, she popped up in a few episodes of TV's Law and Order, and showed that she remains a powerhouse presence.    

Cheers

Derek

 

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

Maybe I am wrong,  but whenever I watch "The Toast of New Orleans"  Rita remembers me of Caterina Valente - in regard to her looks, her nature and of course her Spanish accent, so I could very well picture Mario co-starring with Caterina in the late 1950s or early 1960.

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

It's not just opera singers whose careers have been inspired by Lanza; here's the outgoing head of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, William Mason, on the artist who ignited his love of opera:

You know, I grew up and got interested in opera because of the movie, The Great Caruso. I wanted to sing like Mario Lanza! Mario Lanza had hit records. When I was a kid, Be My Love was on the top ten.

Mason mentions Lanza twice in the article, which in itself is an interesting read:

http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2011/09/william-mason-looks-back-on-five-decades-at-the-lyric-opera/

[Derek McGovern]

One of our most-visited pages during September has been "A Lanza Scrapbook," and I'm not surprised. This was Lee Ann's brainchild, and I just love what she's done here---from the stylish layout to the incisive commentary. Do check it out if you're not familiar with it.

[JOE]

Was Mario conscientious about practicing, even during his “down” periods?

 

Mario had long stretches where he did not record and did not do any concerts. Some of this may have been caused by depression, drinking, lack of confidence, not having any suitable “gigs” etc. I have often wondered if he , nevertheless, practiced to keep his instrument in shape during such periods. Could such lapses in preparation partly explain the inferior LOB and Christmas albums? It is interesting to monitor’s Lee Ann’s very useful time-line for such clues.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: That's a very good question.

Certainly, we can hear on the Mario! album of December 1958 that Lanza's terrific breath control hadn't deserted him---proof, I'd say, that he must have been keeping up with his breathing exercises. The singing on that album also suggests that he was still vocalizing regularly in spite of having spent the previous couple of months working long hours on a film. Also, throughout his career, Lanza worked regularly with vocal coaches---Giacomo Spadoni on and off from 1948 to 1957 and Annibale Bizzelli and (mainly) Franco Zauli from 1958 to 1959. Peter Herman Adler noted that Mario was working two hours a day with his coach when he visited him in the summer of 1959.

But during his "down periods"? Armando writes in a footnote (p. 240) in his book that Mario did his best to keep up with his daily breathing and vocal exercises when he wasn't drinking. Now, you may well be right that the Lanza on Broadway album was preceded by a period of either depression or heavy drinking (or, more likely, both); in fact, I seriously wonder if Mario even rehearsed some of the numbers on that disc. While we know he wasn't drunk during the sessions, a drinking binge in the days or weeks leading up to those sessions would certainly explain the uncharacteristic coarseness in his voice on the album. Tom Wikman, a voice teacher and regular on the Opera-L forum, makes the interesting point that,

"The larynx is involved in the interchange of carbon dioxide in the blood. If you drink too much close to singing, it swells and depresses the vocal folds, producing a husky sound; i.e. the 'whiskey tenor or whiskey baritone.' From my observations, perhaps basses and contraltos can get away with it more, but that's about it."

To me, this makes a lot of sense. Paul Baron complained to me that Mario was drinking during their sessions together, and certainly we can hear a huskiness at times on all three of their albums (and also on The Vagabond King). But, of course, by far the biggest problem by 1959 was Lanza's general state of health. He was in pretty bad shape, and naturally his singing was affected by that.

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

I just found this.  I certainly would have overlooked the article had I not spotted Mario's name.
George Tallone sang the role of Goro in the New Orleans Butterfly performance in 1948.
I hope you enjoy the article despite the poor quality of the newspaper scan.

Steff

[JOE]

Unfulfilled Projects of Mario Lanza......

 

Two possible movies mentioned for Mario before his untimely death were Laugh Clown, Laugh.......and Marco Polo. One can easily imagine a number of plots for the first ( against the theme music of "Vesti.."of course)...but a story line for Mario in a film based on Polo, the explorer, intrigues me. Does anyone have an idea of the approx. story lines and the type music they had in mind for these vehicles?

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: The Marco Polo film would have been a musical adaptation of the picaresque novel Messer Marco Polo (1921) by the Irish writer Donn Byrne (aka Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne, who---like Lanza---only lived to 38). You can read the novel online here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2058/2058-h/2058-h.htm

Famed director Leo McCarey was the driving force behind the project, which was tentatively going to co-star Orson Welles (now that would have been something!!) and Ann Blyth, and at one point Lanza enthused to Hedda Hopper that McCarey's screenplay was "the greatest." It was McCarey who had commissioned the score (published, from what I can tell, in 1954) from lyricist Harold Adamson (who was later guilty of writing the words to the title song from Seven Hills of Rome) and composer Harry Warren of 42nd Street fame. I have no idea about the quality of the music, and the only Adamson-Warren collaboration I've heard is the theme song to the 1957 Deborah Kerr-Cary Grant movie An Affair to Remember (also directed by Leo McCarey). 

According to the film writer John Wakeman, the project was eventually shelved because of Mario's "recurring weight problem and studio apathy." But I'd say the lack-lustre performance at the box office of Serenade would also have been a major reason.  

Cheers

Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above, Joe: I should clarify that although the studios got cold feet in 1956---when the project was first mentioned in the US press---talks between Lanza, McCarey and the studios about the Marco Polo film actually resumed late in 1957 (after Seven Hills of Rome had been completed). This is mentioned in Armando's book. The second time around, there was talk of doing most of the filming in Venice. 

Now here's a thought: what if, instead of making For the First Time, Lanza's cinematic swansong had been Marco Polo? My hunch about this potentially wacky project is that a movie featuring Lanza as a lusty, singing Marco Polo would have either been a triumph or an unmitigated disaster :)    

[JOE]

What are the chances that  there is anything by Mario lying around, undiscovered, in a vault. . I know we have discussed this before, but from time to time we hear hints of this. Is there anything in the recording logs that has not surfaced? Personally, I have trouble believing this since it would make no sense ( fans would pay almost anything for such clips!). So I have to rate the chances as zero but I was curious as to the consensus here is.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: There are still Coke versions of familiar material that haven't been released yet, but all of these can be heard in perfectly good sound on the Damon Lanza Productions 15-CD Coke set. The great majority are inferior (sometimes vastly inferior!) to versions that are already on commercial CD.

What I'd love to hear, though, are the various outtakes of material that Lanza recorded for his films, e.g., the partial take of the "Improvviso" for The Great Caruso, other Great Caruso takes of "Celeste Aida," the outtakes of "Amor Ti Vieta" and "O Paradiso" (among others) that were recorded for Serenade, "What's to Be?" from The Student Prince sessions, etc. I'd also love to hear the 1952 "I'll Walk with God" in its original form (i.e., with organ only). Then there are the attempted Student Prince remakes of December 1953 with Gale Sherwood that Callinicos claims were a disaster: let's hear if he was right!

There must also be numerous outtakes from the Cavalcade of Show Tunes sessions of August-September 1956, as we know from the logs that the versions released were not the first or even second takes recorded in many instances. (In fact, from memory one of the released versions is the *sixth* take made that day.) And for all we know there may even be outtakes of some of the Mario! album numbers and FTFT sessions---though given how haphazard RCA Italiana's filing system was, I seriously doubt those would ever see the light of day :-)) 

While I'm extremely curious to hear the above, I should add that if the singing on these recordings is inferior to what we already have, then I'd rather they weren't released! Let's face it: Lanza CDs come along so rarely these days that the last thing his legacy needs is another spotty compilation that includes inferior material chosen simply because it's new (rather than good)! Besides, what we really need now on CD is an outstanding operatic compilation in the best-possible sound. It's insane that some of Lanza's best operatic work (e.g. the Serenade versions of "Amor Ti Vieta," "O Paradiso," "Lamento di Federico," and "Di Rigori Armato") has never been released on CD in the US, while mediocre material like "Valencia" and the heavy-handed alternate Coke version of "My Romance" has been repeatedly foisted on the American public. In fact, many of Lanza's best operatic recordings are hard to come by now or are no longer in the catalogue. Lanza "lite" rules instead!

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

On the occassion of her visit to Dublin to attend one of the two "The Loveliest Night of the Year" concerts at the National Concert Hall, Ellisa was interviewed for "Marty in the Morning," R.T.E. Lyric F.M. The interview was broadcast live on October 4.

You can listen to the interview on


http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/marty/

[Steff]

Meant of course Ellisa Lanza Bregman .... Sorry!

[Joseph Fagan]

You know, you are right ,Derek. I never thought about that. We certainly do not want some poor quality stuff released...I was thinking about the possibility of songs we never heard before ( but I guess that is wish full thinking ) I do have that 15 CD Coke collection, btw, and some of it I enjoy......Joe

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: Well, "What's to Be" is at least a song we've never heard before! But I wouldn't get too excited: at only one minute and eighteen seconds (according to the RCA logs), it'll be over before you know it. That's if it's still in the MGM vaults.

It was recorded at the same session as "Golden Days" (31 July 1952).

Here's an even shorter unreleased Lanza recording that may be unfamiliar to some of our members: it's the "Qual Occhio al Mondo" from the Act I duet from Tosca. Mario recorded and filmed it for Serenade, but it was cut from the release print.

It's a passionate piece of singing---not the smoothest rendering, to be sure, but certainly exciting. I'd be happy for it to be commercially released as a bonus track!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbbAsFqn4g

[mayli...@gmail.com]

Hi Derek, The play  :"Who Killed Mario Lanza " is on at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta, NSW Australia from Oct 12-15.  This means that someone around here wishes  to offer it to the public and they must believe there are  enough interested people in ML in the Sydney area for it to be staged for 3 nights. Even though it is not something I want to see it is encouraging to know that the interest is there.

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

Did you add the photo of Mario and Renata Tebaldi sitting on a couch (in the photo gallery under "with friends & colleagues") only recently? It's beautiful.

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: Yes, I added that photo of Lanza and Tebaldi over the weekend (along with quite a few other pics). There are more photos to come, including (hopefully) a rare one that I'm quite excited about :)

Speaking of rare pics, it's still a great mystery to me that not a single confirmed photo of Lanza after his family's visit to St. Moritz in January 1959 has emerged. How is this possible? He was, after all, one of the most famous people in Italy at the time, and it seems inconceivable that he wouldn't have been photographed by someone. Roland Bessette claims in his book that photos of Lanza taken at his final recording session in August 1959 reveal "a tragically impaired man," but when asked (politely) if he could produce said pics he ignored my request. 

I'd certainly like to make up my own mind as to whether Mario looking "impaired" at the end of his life! Interestingly, Giancarlo Stopponi, who saw Lanza while he was at the Valle Giulia clinic in the last days of his life, thought he looked fine (apart from the obvious heaviness).

A plea then: if anyone has any 1959 photos of Lanza, could they please step forward! :) Full credit will be given! (But please don't send me the one from page 200 of the 1999 Damon Lanza/Bob Dolfi/Mark Muller book. Far from being the last photo ever taken of Mario and Betty---as the caption states---it was actually from 1957.) 

Cheers

Derek 

[Derek McGovern]

Hi: Thanks for posting. You're not a member, so I don't know how to address you, but your message is certainly appreciated. Feel free to join us! 

The title Who Killed Mario Lanza? reeks of sensationalism, but I see from the producer's description that the musical play doesn't necessarily claim that the Mafia did poor old Mario in. Of course, if the producers did indeed do their homework, they'd know how laughably implausible the Mafia "hit" claims were---and that they were nothing more than a cynical ploy to drum up sales for an appalling piece of pseudo-biography. Let's hope they read Armando Cesari's and Dr. Philip Mackowiak's fascinating article!  

It'd be nice to hear from anyone who attends this production, and, yes, I agree that, if nothing else, the fact that it's happening suggests that there's still plenty of interest in Lanza on the part of Sydneysiders!

Cheers

Derek

[Derek McGovern]

I mentioned a few months back that I'd been surprised to learn that actress Argentina Brunetti (1907-2005), who played the wife of flour merchant Egisto Barretto in The Great Caruso (and adored Lanza's voice) was the daughter of Mimi Agulia (1884-1970), the actress who had played Mario's mother in That Midnight Kiss. 

Well, today, I realized that there was another mother-daughter connection regarding the same two films: Tamara Hovey, who co-wrote the screenplay of That Midnight Kiss, was the daughter of Sonya Levien (1888-1960), co-author of The Great Caruso screenplay (and The Student Prince). 

Don't you love these family connections?!

Both Ms. Hovey, who may still be alive, incidentally---she certainly was just a few years ago--- and Sonya Levien lived interesting, unconventional lives. While Levien was a suffragette in her younger days, her daughter, Tamara, who was just 25 when she worked on the screenplay for That Midnight Kiss, had her screen career nipped in the bud when she was blacklisted shortly afterwards for having been a member of the communist party. The musical Tamara, who at one point studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg, took things in her stride, though, going on to become a successful biographer, among other things.

I wonder if Ms. Hovey ever met Mario? Her mother certainly did. 

[leeann]

So many fascinating stories here--and several of them even bring our villain of the Student Prince--Dore Schary--into the loop--including the epic of Hollywood blacklisting.

But it's interesting to note some of Sonya Levien's comments about co-authoring The Great Caruso with William Ludwig.

It must have been a big change from the backstage controversies of the film she'd been working on--Quo Vadis. According to one biographer, as she began to write the Caruso script, she couldn't find the theme, the hook, even after several months of trying. "I can't get the rhythm, " she told Ludwig. Ludwig suggested they look at the tenor's voice as a "double-edged sword, opening the path to fame and closing it to everything else he wanted."

And Dore Schary, then MGM's new head of production, liked it, according to Levien. (Although as Armando writes in An American Tragedy, he'd  he'd been opposed to the film from the beginning.)  She wrote to him, "I have seldom had such deep convictions about the quality and popularity of a story as I do about this. It has both glamour and human appeal--to the accompaniment of the most beautiful and stirring music in the world."

And we hear it from the most beautiful and stirring tenor in the world! 

Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: That's very interesting about Sonya Levien's struggle to write The Great Caruso screenplay. I wonder how substantial William Ludwig's contribution was (other than helping his colleague to find the right approach)? This was their first collaboration, after all, and the much younger Ludwig had a far slimmer resume than Levien. But they must have clicked, as they went on to a further four films together---and won an Oscar for their screenplay for another musical biography, Interrupted Melody. 

Actually, Levien's satisfaction with the screenplay in her letter to Schary makes me wonder what kind of changes it went through during the actual production. Was the screenplay significantly dumbed down along the way? I'd love to know. According to at least one article that I've read, Levien---unlike some scenarists!---had a relaxed attitude towards studio interference with her screenplays. 

Cheers

Derek   

[JOE]

WE all seem to blame Mario's sidetrack to Hollywood as THE event that began his downward spiral and path away from opera, his first love. But, wasn't it really getting drafted into the U.S. Army where he really got sidetracked? I have often thought that he WAS on a path towards opera till this event occurred.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: It's certainly true that the Army delayed Mario's vocal studies for a full two years just at the point when he was poised for greater things. Imagine if he'd spent 1943-1944 working on his vocal technique instead of being in On the Beam and wasting his talent in the chorus of Winged Victory: he might well have made his professional operatic debut a good four years earlier than he did. (Remember that he didn't really start working on his vocal technique until 1945---and even then it wasn't until he met Rosati in early 1946 that he made significant progress.)

Then again, Hollywood may still have beckoned. Let's not forget that Jack Warner was considering him as early as 1944, and that if it hadn't been for Lanza's excess weight at the time, he might have gone into movies then and there. And had that happened, there probably wouldn't have been any Bel Canto Trio tour or Madama Butterfly; in fact, if movie stardom had come earlier, he might never have found the time for those crucial vocal studies. 

So I guess we can thank the Army for making Mario miserable enough to have eaten himself out of contention for a movie career---at least for a while, anyway :) And those months with On the Beam certainly gave him some valuable performing experience.

Cheers

Derek

  

[Derek McGovern]

Joe was asking earlier on this thread what potential Lanza projects were in the works after Serenade. Well, here's one that I'd never heard of until now.

According to an article on Anthony Mann in Films and Filming (Volume 8, 1961), "Although Lanza had a reputation for temperament, he and Mann got on so well together they purchased a Philip Yordan screenplay, The Golden Voice, which they intended to produce independently in Spain late in 1957."

Now that would have been very interesting! Yordan (1914-2003) was a respected playwright and Academy Award-winning screenwriter responsible for some excellent films in the 1950s and 1960s (e.g., Broken Lance and Humphrey Bogart's swansong, The Harder They Fall), and often collaborated with Mann (The Fall of the Roman Empire, etc). 

(As an aside, Yordan has been described as one of Hollywood's "most enigmatic of Hollywood's professionals." According to Martin M. Winkler, Yordan "served as front for several blacklisted screenwriters, whom he seems to have supported by giving them work and exploited by keeping a large share of credit and profit." Yordan apparently held Mann "in very high esteem," but, to the annoyance of Mann's daughter---who has since challenged the claim---also maintained that the director was a man of "little education.")   

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

It appears that "Golden Voice" was to be a biographical story about Mario Lanza's life.

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Many thanks for those newspaper articles, Steff. I would love to get my hands on that screenplay! But Lanza playing Lanza? Funnily enough, that's what Time magazine had sarcastically suggested back in 1951 as a future Lanza film project.  

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: I was most intrigued as to what role the famous actor Edward G. Robinson would have played in The Golden Voice. Joe Pasternak, perhaps? Or given his penchant for playing screen villains, Dore Schary? :) Joking aside, if Robinson approved of the script, then it must have had some value.

[Derek McGovern]

A few posts back, there was talk of the musical Who Killed Mario Lanza?, which has finished playing in Australia. Here's a review of the opening-night performance:

http://www.penrithstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/tenor-lives-again-at-riverside/2322875.aspx

Nice to see Mario being praised so extravagantly, and good also to read that the production hedged its bets over "who" or "what" killed Mario Lanza, rather than going the ridiculous Terry Robinson/James Bacon Mafia "hit" route.      

[norma]

Dear Derek,

                 Could you answer a puzzle for me ?I have a recording of Mario singing E Il Sol Del Anima where Jarmila Novotna tells him to stop shouting and also says something else as a reprimand.Mario takes no notice.I have often wondered if this was scripted in the film TGC or was a real life out take.-any clues?

 

                                                                                                                                   All the best Norma

[JOE]

We never hear much about any of Mario's personal belongings. I am particularly interested in whose records he collected. I know he had his own and frequently would listen to them ( particularly when he was in one of his famous "moods").

 

But, I wonder if he collected any of his contemporary tenors, or any other tenors for that matter. I assume he had some Caruso recordings for sure. I have also wondered if he had recordings of popular performers as well. 

 

Was any such info ever published by Bob Dolfi and his group?. Its not real important but it just would add another facet to this very complex man.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Norma

I'm quite sure those rather theatrical "reprimands" from Jarmila Novotna in the two outtakes of "E' il Sol dell'Anima" were scripted. They're pure Maria Selka---the fictional haughty diva in the movie. Besides, apart from the fact that Lanza wouldn't have put up with any colleague telling him to "stop screaming" or calling him "a pig," he and Novotna seem to have got on well together.

I'm very interested to find out what happened in those deleted scenes, though, and there's a reasonable chance I may be able to tell you soon! Fingers crossed!

Cheers
Derek

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: I can't think of any specific info published by Bob Dolfi, but I can tell you that Mario had highly eclectic tastes and collected records by everyone from Caruso to Sarah Vaughan. Of course, he grew up worshipping the likes of Caruso, Pertile, Ruffo, Ponselle et al, as he mentions on this very interesting 1956 interview in our Multimedia section.

Among the contemporary tenors he listened to avidly (and admired) were Bjoerling and Di Stefano. However, he actively disliked Mario Del Monaco, and wasn't high on Corelli (though he at least preferred him to Del Monaco). He also listened to records of his old friend George London.

Non-operatic singers? Armando mentions in his book that, among others, Lanza greatly admired Al Jolson, Tony Martin, Lena Horne, and Toni Arden. He also liked jazz; in fact, if you go to our Press: Feature Articles section and read the second-to-last piece there (from August 1959), you'll find him talking about a Duke Ellington concert he attended in Berlin in November 1958.

And here's Mario himself on the subject of his musical interests and his record collection:

"I get disgusted with fanatics on both [the classical and popular] sides who can't appreciate anything but their own narrow field. Whichever side they're on, they're missing a lot of good music.

"People who drop in [to my home] are sometimes surprised to find me listening to Duke Ellington or Frankie Laine, or Lena Horne or Bing Crosby. I don't see anything illogical in this. The next night they'd likely find me listening to Beethoven, Sibelius or Caruso." ---Lanza, 1952 (from an article located by Steff)

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Here's an interesting interview with tenor Ben Hepner: "Ben Heppner: From Lanza to Louis"

http://jazztimes.com/articles/28715-ben-heppner-from-lanza-to-louis

"Our house was filled with music, as we were sort of amateur musicians, all. Never thought about going into music at all but my mother, in particular, had a real musical bent. She sang; she played piano by ear. So we listened a lot to parlor songs and anything with Mario Lanza.

My CD, My Secret Heart was really based, not so much on the music we listened to but, more on the lifespan of my mother, from her birth to my birth. There’s “Roses of Picardy.” It was probably the earliest pieces, you know, parlor songs. And then the latest is “Be My Love”—1956, close to New Orleans, Mario Lanza—so I had to put it on.

There’s a little funny story that goes with that. In ’91, I was working in Geneva in September, and I got the call from the Metropolitan Opera asking if I would come and sing a Mozart Opera there. It was very exciting, and I was going to be doing that in December. I phoned Mom—she was in Edmonton, I was in Geneva, Switzerland—and she’s relatively deaf. The routine she uses to cover herself, is to take the topic and basically talk from that moment on. So I said to her “Mom, I have some exciting news. I’m going to be making my debut at the Metropolitan Opera.” She hears “opera”, and she says, “Oh, and I just heard the Enrico Caruso story with Mario Lanza.” I said, “HELLO MOM, I’m making MY debut at the Metropolitan Opera.” And she said, “Oh, and that Mario Lanza, you know, he really can sing. A favorite of mine.” So I had to put it on for mom."

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

What a cute story, Steff! Heppner's mother obviously had good taste!

[Shawn]

That is a great story =p thanks

[Steff]

This sounds VERY interesting:

George London: Between Gods and Demons: New Doc in U.S. Premier Screening

"As a special event in its 2011-2012 season, The George London Foundation for Singers will present the U.S. premiere screening of George London: Between Gods and Demons, a 2011 documentary film about the career of the legendary singer - the pre-eminent American bass-baritone of the postwar era who was a leader in the cultivation of young talent - on the exact 60th anniversary of his Metropolitan Opera debut: Sunday, November 13, 2011, at 3:00 PM. The screening, at The Morgan Library & Museum, will be hosted by Sherrill Milnes, perhaps the leading American baritone of the generation succeeding London's.

George: Between Gods and Demons, produced by Arthaus Musik, the world's leading classical music DVD label, features previously unreleased performance footage and interviews with his widow, Nora London, as well as singers Neil Shicoff, Catherine Malfitano, and Deborah Polaski, among others. Arthaus Musik says of the hour-long documentary (which is in German with English subtitles): "George London...sang with Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas and Nicolai Gedda, to name only a few, and captured the audience's hearts with his distinctive voice and his charismatic stage presence. The film portrays this exceptional artist in all his diversity, and shows [not only] rare archive footage of his great performances as an opera singer, but also as an interpreter of traditional spirituals and operetta." The documentary was directed by Marita Stocker. The DVD, which also features 90 minutes of previously unreleased performance footage, will be available November 15 from ArkivMusic. (View the trailer on YouTube.)"

http://movies.broadwayworld.com/article/George-London-Between-Gods-Demons-New-Doc-in-US-Premiere-Screening-20111021


And here's the link to the you-tube trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLslYn97MDk

Goodness, I was not aware of London's perfect German! And what a wonderful speaking voice he had!

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff: What an exciting trailer! It's great to see George London being treated with such respect. What I wouldn't give to have a documentary on Lanza that focuses on his actual singing (as this one appears to do).

That snippet in the trailer from Act II of Tosca with Callas was riveting, and I hope the documentary includes the whole of Scarpia's aria. London made a feast of that role, and I've always much preferred him to Tito Gobbi, vocally and dramatically.

Here's a wonderfully malevolent London as Scarpia in a beautifully recorded performance in Stuttgart with Tebaldi from 1961:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsvSZHRn8Cg&feature=related

Cheers
Derek

P.S. I proofread the revised version of George London's widow Nora's biography of her husband for Baskerville Publishers, and I can happily recommend the book:

http://www.baskervillepublishers.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BASK&Product_Code=1-880909-74-X&Category_Code=GV

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

I have to admit that I am very fond of the opera "Tosca" anyway, and will surely follow your you-tube link from the Stuttgart (again: Stuttgart! Smile) performance. I watched a video from the final scene of Tosca's first act ("Tre sbirri, una carrozza"), I think, this was from Stuttgart as well. 
I only know excerpts from the biography of London (I see it is part of the Baskerville series "Great Voices," like Armando's Mario Lanza biography) which I noticed is also available in German language.

I particularly hope that the George London documentary will mention the Bel Canto Trio.  

Incidentally, it is sad to read how much London suffered - healthwisely- the last years of his life. Like Mario Lanza, three heart attacks, but for sure a much longer life of suffering. Very sad.

Steff

[Steff]

Since I mentioned the soon to come documentary about George London, I would like to share some newspapers notes about London and the Bel Canto Trio:

"George London wanted to get to Broadway and the only way he could get here was to take a role singing in a touring company of "The Desert Song." He thought that would end his travels, but he's been traveling ever since. "Just after I landed on Broadway and thought I would get into a new musical show, at least something more recent than "The Desert Song," he said the other day between rehearsals for a concer tour, "I got tangled up with a trio. I sang the premiere of Hindemith's Requiem on the poem of Walt Whitman, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed." And that apparantly finsihed my Broadway career. I was on the strength of that premiere, booked with Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza as the Bel Canto Trip and we started touring to appear with symphony orchestras in Boston, Buffalo, Chicago and many other places. That was good training for my subsequent tours in Europe." (1949)

"[...] However, London's artistic target was something higher than Romberg [The Desert Song], and he attracted the attention of Arthur Judson, who honored his ambitions by making him part of a touring group called the Bel Canto Trio. To name the other members as Mario Lanza and Frances Yeend is to give an idea of what such talent was selling for ten years ago.
Conceivably, London might have had a Lanza-like success in Hollywood, but he gave up immediate work in search of a long range future in Opera abroad in 1949." (1958)

"After winning some success touring with the Bel Canto Trio (with Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza), London felt his career had reached a standstill, amd invested his savings in a move to Europe in 1949." (1963)

Incidentally, I am attaching a concert announcement for a Bel Canto Trio concert in January 1949. The photo shows the original Bel Canto Trio with Yeend, Lanza and London. Actually ,the concert took place without Lanza. Because of his Hollywood obligations (the filming of "The Great Caruso") his substitute was the young Metropolitan tenor Mario Berini (see attached photos).

Steff

[Steff]

Can anybody enlighten me and tell me more about this album, which I had never heard about before: "Apassionata - The operatic David Garrick - A Tribute to Lanza." It was released in 1999.


Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Steff: Don't go near that CD! Here's a sampling from it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHN_4-Qi6H8

Painful. I'd rather listen to Lanza on Broadway!

Cheers

Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A query from a non-member:

HI
I AM TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER THE RADIO SERIES COCA COLA ON WHICH MARIO SANG DURING 1951-1952. HAS ANYONE GOT ANY PROGRAMS THAT I AM MISSING FROM THIS SERIES? IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEE A LIST OF MY PROGRAMS, PLEASE CONTACT ME ON THE FOLLOWING....

danny.sharples899@btinternet.com

ps.
I AM WILLING TO SWAP OTHER LANZA SHOWS WITH ANYONE WHO HAS MY MISSING SHOWS, I LIVE IN THE UK MYSELF.

[Armando]

It was Jealousy. They (the critics) couldn’t bear the bounties that God had bestowed upon him. He was handsome-which is more than you can say for all the others-he made a fortune when he was very young.

 Mario Lanza ? No, Franz Liszt, but based on these comments it could well be Lanza.

And: Germany set the fashion for abusing Liszt “ He had too much success for one man, and as a composer he must be made an example of… 

The above are extracts from a recent article on Liszt in The Gramophone.

 

[JOE]

I have just finished re-reading Mario’s biography by Callinicos. It had been over a decade since I last read it and I had forgotten how troubled Mario had been for so many years. I wonder whether he may have substantially benefited from the continual care of a psychiatrist. I understand that the author may have embellished some of the events but there is no doubt that Mario was a very troubled soul. I am sure that Mario would not have agreed to professional help. (Where were his true friends?). Could his sad history been avoided, or at least, minimized? Sadly, we will never know.

[Armando]

Hi Joe: What Mario needed, far more than a psychiatrist, was to be surrounded by people who were exclusively interested in nurturing his talent.

Unfortunately, Mario was not a good judge of character and surrounded himself with a succession of individuals who were solely interested in exploiting him monetarily. Leeches, who otherwise would have lived in relative obscurity jumped on the bandwagon and seized the opportunity to capitalize on Mario’s combination of trust and naivete’.

Because of his tremendous sensitivity, (which is reflected in his singing) Mario, more than most, reacted negatively to a succession of events that began with the trashy Time magazine story in 1951. This was followed by constant negative comparisons with Caruso by the musical hierarchy and the press, the dismissal by MGM and the discovery that all his earning had vanished. 

Any wonder that he became suspicious, lost confidence in himself, and for three years lived the life of a recluse. It was enough to make strong men cry!

Callinicos was simply another opportunist who hardly waited for Mario to be buried before coming out with what he thought would be a big money spinning biography. Although there’s a lot of truth in what he wrote, the book is ultimately just another attempt to cash in on the man who had been the equivalent of a gold mine for him.

[Derek McGovern]

Ciao Armando: Yes, the envy-driven criticism of Liszt could equally apply to many of Lanza's critics!

I've said it before, but I've always felt that Puccini's experience with the critics was very similar to the treatment meted out to Lanza. Both men were praised early in their careers as highly promising artists, but once they'd committed the unforgivable crime of becoming popular successes, the critical knives were drawn. For Puccini, this began as soon as La Bohème had secured its position (after a slightly bumpy start) as one of the most beloved of all operas; for Lanza, it started with the astonishing success of The Great Caruso. Read Arthur Groos and Roger Parker's discussion of the critical response to La Bohème (in their 1986 book on the opera), and note the similarities to the attacks on Lanza from 1951 onwards:

".....[La Bohème] is one of the three or four most popular works in the repertory. One looks in vain for a body of informed criticism to respond to this success. In fact, most critics who bother to discuss Puccini at any length take a negative view, often deliberately placing themselves against the public, and adopting a de haute en bas [i.e., condescending] tone." 

The writers go on to note how, increasingly, critics responded as much "the idea of Puccini" as to his musical accomplishments. In other words, when all else fails, attack the person. Sound familiar?

But Mario was lucky in one respect that Puccini wasn't: he could (almost) always rely on the respect of his operatic peers. Puccini, on the other hand, had to put up with disparaging references from most of the leading composers of the day: Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Debussy....and to the point where his name "to some younger Italian contemporaries . . . assumed honorary status as a four-letter word"! However Groos and Parker note that Mahler, at least, "was prepared to get into trouble" by stating publicly that he preferred Puccini's La Bohème to Leoncavallo's. (Presumably, the critics favoured Leoncavallo's version because of its limited success with the public :))    

Cheers

Derek    

[JOE]

Hi Armando,   your points are well taken. It was a shame that a friend, or Betty, did not get him to Alcoholic Anonymous as soon as he began to show signs of need. Of course, Mario was very stubborn, as we all know. Maybe this was an impossible task.

 

 I am not sure of this, but weren't his food binges concurrent to his drinking?

 

 And you sure are right about Collinicous. Even in his somewhat "trashy" book he talks about the many times he was worried about collecting his fee! It kinda took me back that Mario's  conductor for a dozen years ( due only to Mario), and his supposed friend wallowed so much in the troubled periods of Mario,s life. One of the key reasons your biography stands above the rest is that it emphasizes Mario's singing, not his "warts"

 

Joe

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: While I agree that Armando's book towers above the other Lanza bios musically, I don't think it whitewashes any aspects of Mario's life either. Armando's frank about the drinking and other problems. He doesn't try to gloss over the madness of the eating binges and crash diets. But unlike Callinicos, whose book was clearly motivated at least in part by a combination of anger and the desire to make a quick buck, Armando offers a variety of perspectives on the man. And he strives for balance. It's all too easy to come up with a list of any person's lapses, indiscretions, misdeeds---call them what you will---and pound the reader with them one after the other (as Bessette, in particular, does) in order to support a negative portrayal. Armando, on the other hand, establishes that, OK, while Lanza did indeed behave badly (to himself and others) at times, doing this and this and this, there was an indisputable, fundamental decency to the man that more than compensated for the flaws. And how did he come to this conclusion? Not by relying almost exclusively on the jaundiced view of those who had an axe to grind when it came to Lanza, but by talking to as many Lanza friends and associates as possible---and from every part of his adult life.

To me, Callinicos' portrayal is fatally undermined from the start because of his self-interest. Here we have the blinkered perspective of a person whose own fortunes have suffered as a result of Mario's death---hence, the unmistakable sense of bitterness that pervades the book. He doesn't try to understand why Mario essentially self-destructed; he just bombards us with one disapproving anecdote after another.

I think that if Callinicos had waited some years for his bitterness to subside before collaborating on the book, we might have had a fairer assessment of Lanza. After all, Callinicos went to great lengths in his latter years to contradict stories asserted in his book---particularly about the drinking, e.g., "There were only a few periods in his life when Mario drank a bit more than perhaps he should have." (Now that's about as credible as the tale in his book about the audience not forgiving Lanza for his supposedly poor vocal form at a non-existent concert at the Albert Hall in February 1958! Or the nonsense about a final recording of "The Lord's Prayer.")

Cheers
Derek

[Armando]

Ah, yes, Derek, the much maligned Puccini! And, as with Lanza, it continues to this day. I still come across the odd musical snob who considers Puccini a second rate composer and who claims that his music is too sugary, too sentimental. 

Here is an extract from a 1993 study on Puccini by Helen M. Greenwald, which further reinforces the parallel with Lanza. 

“Puccini’s works have become almost ubiquitous for their commercial use in the movies and television. Yet the taint of success can be a very powerful impediment, and for this reason, Puccini criticism at the academic level has had a rather tenuous existence, one colored by the suspicion that Puccini’s popularity has been too easily attained, that his works must somehow lack the integrity and profundity of both content and intent of other less appreciated works.” 

Very well put, I think. It illustrates perfectly how prejudice can colour one’s opinion.

 

[Armando]

Hi Joe:I have no doubts that AA would have helped, but Mario would no more entertain seeking help from that institution than he would from a psychiatrist. 

 

In that regard he was quite stubborn and it would have taken someone with tremendous influence to make him change his mind. Betty was not strong enough to impose her will on him and, on top of it, she had her own cross to bear.  Mario was certainly aware that he had a problem as is clear by his cry of despair, “Why can’t I stop drinking-what am I doing to myself?” Like Bjorling, he was what is termed an episodic alcoholic, one that would go on a drinking binge lasting for days but would then be able to stop. This made it easier for him to be in denial, as many episodic alcoholics tend to do. 

The sad thing is that there is still too much ignorance and stigma surrounding alcoholism.  The phrase, ‘The love that dare not speak it’s name,’ from the poem “Two Loves” by Lord Alfred Douglas, could easily be applied to alcoholism.

The more ignorant segment of our society doesn’t want to hear the word, least discuss the problem. These particular individuals just want to sweep it under the carpet as if it were something shameful. What these narrow minded, bigoted people fail to understand is that there is nothing to be ashamed of, that no one becomes an alcoholic simply because they like the taste of whisky, wine, or whatever. An alcoholic drinks in order to overcome whatever is troubling him /her, to escape temporarily from reality. So,rather than condemn the drinker one should look for and try to understand the underlying reasons for such behaviour.

[JOE]

All very true, Armando. Sadly, I lost my older brother to alcoholism. He was , before the disease took control  of him, a highly ranked officer in the U.S. military. People have to realize that it is a disease. I did not live close enough to help my brother and his own wife actually became an “enabler”. How different things may have been if Betty had been  a support, not a burden to Mario. Well, we can’t change history but we can rejoice in all the treasures Mario did leave for us to enjoy.

[JOE]

Re: The Coke sessions. Were any of these recordings borrowed from other places or were they ALL from the actual Coke sessions?... I think I know the answer of  Part B) of my question but allow me to ask anyway: Was the insanely fast tempi of some of these recordings done soley to fit more numbers in the radio show, or was it just crazy conducting?. As a young child when I first heard these programs, I didnt know any better but, NOW, it is very distracting.

[Armando]

Hi Joe, As far as I know they were all recorded specifically for the Coke broadcasts.

The insanely fast tempi, over the top orchestrations, as well as over the top singing (mostly) and generally poor conducting, were all part of haphazardly put together sessions in which little thought, if any, was given to the finished product.

It had nothing to do with time restrictions since we are talking of mere seconds in most cases. I consider it almost a miracle that Mario was able to deliver the occasional gem given the conditions in which he was performing.  

[Steff]

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Here's the 7th Annual Thanksgiving Show (a two hour program) from 1948:

http://revealing-revelations.net/Christian-Old-Tyme-Radio/Comedy-Music-Radio/Elgin-1948-7thAnnual-Thanksgiving-Show.mp3

[Steff]

Just in case that the link to Elgin's Thanksgiving Show does not work, try this one:

http://www.otrcat.com/elgin-holiday-shows-christmas-and-thanksgiving-p-49292.html

Steff

[Michael McAdam]

Hey Steff:

Way to dig girl! Where do you find this stuff? ;-)

As one can see in that group photo, Lanza was being promoted as an "operatic star" (an automatic "star" already here in 1948 even as the new boy on the M-G-M lot?). This "operatic" promotion of Lanza was evident on his first couple of RCA LP's; but not for long!

Notice how our boy is introduced, and appears, first in the star lineup on the radio show (as he does in the photo). I would think that Louis B. Mayer had a lot of influence even outside the M-G-M lot?

 

I hadn't heard that particular version of Cosi Cosa before; maybe Derek and Armando have? I'll have to listen for our boy's encore when I get time to listen to the whole show. I imagine it will be an opera(tic) piece?

 

Cheers, Mike

(P.S: we Canadians have our Thanksgiving turkey in October; we try to stay a step ahead of our Yank friends! ;-)

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: I've had a tape of that show since the 1980s---I think Armando made it for me---and it's listed on page 335 of Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy. (The recordings are also in our Discography.) Actually, there's a good quality photo of the event in Mannering's Picture book; in it Mario's standing behind Jerry Lewis waiting for his turkey :)

The ending to that 1948 "Cosi Cosa" is exciting stuff all right---especially the penultimate note! ("COOOOOOsa"!) Unfortunately, however, it was yet another casualty of electronic manipulation (as if that note needed to be made even longer!!) on one of Mr. Rense's CDs. The recording that Steff's linked to is the real thing, though.

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Hi Mike and Derek,

Mike, one newspaper wrote "For more serious music, there's the artistry of Mario Lanza, operatic singing star, and André Previn, rising young pianist."

Lanza sang "Cosi, cosa" (the first song of the show), "E lucevan le stelle" (after participating in a sketch) and "Come, Ye Thankful people" which concluded the show.

I understand, originally, Lanza was to sing "Celeste Aida," at least this was announced in a newspaper a few days before the actual broadcast.

Derek, don't forget, there's also the photo of all the stars on stage, which is in Derek Mannering's "Singing to the Gods:"

http://books.google.com/books?id=EEidc3nWdTgC&pg=PA126-IA3&lpg=PA126-IA3&dq=elgin+watch+holiday+star+time&source=bl&ots=LKTqh-9SB7&sig=1m1mkSgTM_NABl2OgLXpwKHI9yI&hl=en&ei=nvXPTqWQFcmM4gTVpPB0&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=elgin%20watch%20holiday%20star%20time&f=false

I see, Mario's 3 renditions are on the CD "For You Alone" from Damon Lanza Productions.

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

I've just heard that Mario Lanza will be one of the tenors discussed and played on the weekly radio programme "Through the Opera Glass" on New York City's WBAI 99.5fm today (Sunday, 27 November) from 6am to 9am. Arias and songs will apparently be included. The program can be heard live online here: 

http://wbai.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I'll be out when it's on, annoyingly, so if you do happen to hear the program, please post your thoughts on it here.

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: that's 6am to 9am in New York (EST).

To work out what time that is in your part of the world, click here.

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

Thank you for the link.
I see the radio station has an archive and there you can re-listen to missed shows.
Today's show "Through Opera Glasses" is available for another 13 days.

Steff

http://archive.wbai.org/

[Anita]

Hi Derek,  I think you will enjoy listening to this radio program, which you can hear on the mp3 archive. The presenter, Ivan Heimtz, has a guest presenter, Nick Addio, who has Mario Lanza as one of his favourite tenors.  Just about every second aria is sung by Mario, some of the selections are : testa adorata, un tal gioco, o tu che in seno agli angelo, the flower song, nessun dorma, con un bel di di maggio,and m'appari.  Other singers have been,Corelli, Jussi Bjorling. Robert Merrill and Mario del Monaco singing with Reese Stephens.
Nick Addio feels that:" Lanza deserves more than what has been attributed to him."  Most of the comments have been positive but Heimtz questionned whether engineering was responsible for some if his sound!!!!  However, before the end of the program Heimtz sounded more appreciative and said that these recordings showed that :"Lanza approached opera intelligently, he had excellent diction" and that maybe he will play more of him in the future.

[leeann]

Hi, Anita, I'm glad to know there was a happy ending! I got to listen to the first two hours only, and it did seem that the host thawed a bit even during that time.

Nicolo Addio had no other introduction other than that he'd contributed to Pacifica radio during a recent fundraising stint and taken the host up on an offer to come on as a guest co-producer of Through the Opera Glass. Clearly knowledgeable, he made no pretensions to expertise--and he probably could have. While Addio's musical selections were carefully chosen from among his favorites, the conversation appeared essentially unscripted, like a casual conversation between two guys sitting around listening to music and talking about what they liked and didn't.

The nice thing about the unscriptedness was just that--pretty honest, informal responses; the not-so-good thing in terms of Lanza meant that some issues slipped by. In response to the complaint that Lanza's voice was artificially enhanced, Addio answered indirectly, explaining that while voices could be amplified in the studio, the basic integrity and strength of the tone couldn't. He pretty much passed up responding to the host's contention that Lanza had no musical training! Of course, Addio was a guest host sharing music that he loved--not there as professional commentator.

As a teenager, "Un Di All'Azzurro Spazio" was the aria that pulled Nicolo Addio into Lanza, and after several selections, he made it a point to stress the beauty of the dramatic and emotional nuances of Lanza's interpretation of various arias. Nice. So all-in all, I'm looking forward to hearing the third hour, too, and especially to reading what others thought about the Lanza selections and the conversation.  Best, Lee Ann

[Anita]

Hi Leann,
I thought that a producer, who has a regular program, would do more research about the artists whose songs he was playing.  Which is why I was surprised that he wasn't aware that Lanza had had voice training.  I know he was not the one who selected the songs but surely Nick Addio would have informed him about which singers he had chosen beforehand and therefore he could have done some quick checking.  Unless of course he works voluntarily but even so someone who has an interest in presenting an intelligent, informative program about opera would have put more effort into being informed himself.  His comments were most probably rehashed from what he had heard himself in the past without going to the effort of finding out for himself.  It was good to hear his comments become more positive as the program progressed.
The last hour had less of Lanza  but nevertheless it was interesting. 

[Tony Partington]

Here's an interesting post on Wikipedia

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Lanza_discography

 

How accurate and complete this "discography" is to be determined.  Interesting none the less.

 

Ciao ~ Tony

[Derek McGovern]

Many thanks for your comments, Anita and Lee Ann! I've just listened to the program (thanks for pointing out that it was archived, Steff), and I was very happy with it overall.

I felt that Nick Addeo did a fine job in (gently) correcting the "artificially enhanced" nonsense, and I'm glad in a way that the host made that comment in the first place. I also liked Addeo's selections, though I do wish he hadn't played the Coke version of the Improvviso! For some reason, I was more than ever aware of the sloppy moments on that recording, and any of the other three versions (commercial, Hollywood Bowl, 1952 home recording) would have been so much better---especially since Addeo had attached so importance to Mario's singing of that aria throughout the program. But it was wonderful to hear the "M'Appari" (which, oddly, the host didn't comment on!), "Di Rigori," "O Tu che in Seno agli Angeli," etc. Great stuff!

Incidentally, did anyone else get the feeling that Addeo may have been reading "Myths about Mario Lanza" at our website recently? :)

This is now the second program we've had on American radio this year highlighting Lanza the operatic singer, and, listening to it today, I was struck yet again by how poorly Sony/BMG has served Mario's legacy by focusing almost exclusively on the lighter (and often least impressive) part of his legacy. If ever there was a need for a truly top-notch Lanza operatic compilation, that time is now----but no doubt Sony's trusted compiler has other plans.

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: although it would have been nice if comments about Lanza's supposed lack of training hadn't been allowed to pass, I felt the singing we heard on the program basically answered that criticism. And even the pro-Bjoerling host had to concede that what we were hearing was very intelligent singing.

I'm sure the program would have interested people in Lanza; I just wish there was more than one operatic CD (and a better compiled CD to boot!) available to capitalize on that interest. It's a crazy situation.

[Armando]

A few thought on ‘Through the Opera Glass.”

 The program started off well with Di Stefano’s beautiful voice in Firenze Sogna. This was followed by Corelli murdering Tortorella’s Ave Maria which made me appreciate what followed, including Bjorling’s Ingemisco, more than ever.

The presenter, Ivan Hametz, who at times sounded as if he was broadcasting from a retirement home, came up with the usual misinformation such as Lanza supposed lack of training which should have been challenged by co-host Nick Addio. Thankfully, Addio set him right on the other fallacy: the nonsense about the voice being enhanced by the sound engineers.

Lanza was heard in Testa Adorata from Leoncavallo’s Boheme and Un tal Gioco from Pagliacci. Hametz had nothing to say about either.  

Not a word from Hametz after Lanza impressive singing of the Forza del Destino aria, and the following concession after Lanza’s Flower Song from Carmen “I like it, it’s an interesting recording.”

Absolute raves about Bjorling, certainly deserved from a purely technical point of view as well as the timbre of the voice, less so interpretably.  

Equal raves about Merrill and, again, while I agree the voice was a very beautiful one, as an interpreter Merrill had little to say.

Mild approval of Lanza’s 1948 live Nessun Dorma.

Lanza’s Come un Bel Di di Maggio from Andrea Chenier sounded a little forced to Hametz.

More of Corelli including Bianca al Par from Gli Ugonotti.

Hametz called Corelli’s voice beautiful , Addio disagreed and called it, not beautiful but a force of nature. My opinion of Corelli is well known, so I won’t repeat it here.

M’appari by Lanza went by without a comment from either presenter.

The Love Duet from Samson and Delilah with Rise Stevens and Mario del Monaco is one of the rare times I’ve heard Del Monaco attempt some soft singing. 

Fine actor according to Hametz! Where was Hametz sitting?!

Then came Carreras doing his Di Stefano impersonation in Bella Adorata Incognita from Il Giuramento.

Lanza ‘s Di Rigori Armato.  Hametz comments : Lanza approached opera intelligently, good diction. With a little more training…. Again, no rebuttal from  Addio.

 There followed Caballe with Il Bel Sogno di Doretta from La Rondine, and Corelli’s vocal gymnastics in L’Anima Ho Stanca from Adriana Lecouvreur.

 Then came Lanza’s 1952 recording of the Improvviso-any of his other recordings of the aria would have been preferable.  

Wonderful according to Addio. Beautiful for Hametz.

 

The Siciliana from Cavalleria Rusticana sung by Bjorling was hardly commented.

Caballe beautiful singing of Signore Ascolta from Turandot was exquisite according to Hametz. Marvellous according to both Hametz and Addio.

O Mimi Tu Piu’ Non Torni from La Boheme sung by Di Stefano and Warren.

According to Hametz the voices don’t blend as well as on the recording with Bjorling and Merrill. Other than that he had nothing to say.

A touch of Wagner with The Prize Song from Mastersingers, sung by Jess Thomas.

Then came Addio Alla Madre from Cavalleria Rusticana sung by Lanza.

Silence from Hametz.

The program ended with the chorus singing O Pastorelle Addio from Andrea Chenier.

Three hours consisting primarily of selected recordings, which would have benefited greatly from more extensive comments and analysis, particularly from Hametz.

Still, worthwhile if the program reached an audience not familiar with some of Lanza’s best singing. 

 

 

 

[Armando]

The opening line on my previous post  should read:  A few thoughts

[Derek McGovern]

Ciao Armando: I didn't listen to the entire show, as I was able to fast-forward through to the Lanza segments, so I hadn't realized how inconsistent Hametz was about commenting on the artists featured. Still, he lost me really when he allowed that awful Corelli virtual parody of the "Ave Maria" to pass, even praising his "beautiful" voice (though, interestingly calling him a bad actor while praising Del Monaco in that department!), and yet picking on Lanza's "Come un Bel Di' di Maggio." The only comments from Hametz on Lanza that I thought were worth a dime were his observations that the voice was a "magnificent instrument," that his singing was intelligent, and that the 1948 Nessun Dorma was unusually slow. Elsewhere, when he did comment, there was too much damning with faint praise (which even included making light of the difficulty of "Un Tal Gioco"). That's why I was happy that he didn't comment most of the time, and simply let the recordings speak for themselves. Discerning listeners certainly wouldn't have needed his help in determining the quality of the singing! And I'm sure they would have noticed the host's biases and often non-existent commentary.

Besides, I doubt that Hametz was actually listening properly to the recordings as they were playing. I had the impression that he was one of those who had already made up his mind about Lanza, and didn't want to be contradicted. We've all met them.

Yes, Addeo (that is the right spelling, by the way) should have corrected the lack of training comment, but anyone with half a musical brain could have told from hearing, say, the "M'Appari'" that this was no untrained singer! I was glad, though, that Addeo more or less corrected Hametz' ridiculous claim that it was "impossible" to sing a Tosti song badly---ha! Hametz should listen to Lanza's Albert Hall "Marechiare"!---by pointing out that songs like "L'Alba Separa dalla Luce l'Ombra" were actually quite difficult to sing ("almost operatic").

The bottom line for me? It's rare for so many fine Lanza operatic recordings to be played on any radio programme, so that was good enough for me!

Cheers
Derek

[Armando]

Apologies to Addeo for calling him Addio, ( I should have checked) I didn’t really mean to say goodbye to him!  

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Tony: That Wikipedia discography is hopelessly incomplete and inaccurate! For example, it has the "Mario!" album listed as a 1958 release (it came out in 1959), there's no mention of the 1959 "For the First Time" release or 1961 Albert Hall LP, and the albums stop at 1963.

I do get irritated by Wikipedia's contributors, who are forever meddling with facts on the Lanza biography page or adding dubious quotes from the likes of Hedda Hopper and her hilariously misnamed "The Whole Truth and Nothing But...." Then there's the peculiar creature who likes to remove the link at the bottom of the page to our main site. But that's the nature of Wikipedia, I guess!

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

Hi,

I have no idea if the following three lists of top selling Mario Lanza songs (top mp3 downloads, according to amazon) can be regarded as representative in any way.
However, it is pretty interesting to see the musical preferences in different countries - shortly before Christmas (note that there's no Christmas song among the top three in the American list!).

Amazon Germany:
Santa Lucia (from "Golden Voices" remastered)
Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod (from "The 50th Anniversary Collection")
Silent Night (from "The Mario Lanza Christmas Collection")

Amazon USA:
Danny Boy (from "Golden Voices" remastered)
O sole mio (from "O sole mio")
Drink, Drink, Drink (from "Mario Lanza Sings Songs from The Student Prince and The Desert Song")

Amazon United Kingdom:
Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod (from "100 Hits- Legends-Mario Lanza")
Ave Maria by Schubert (from "The Definitive Collection")
Speak Low (from the same named mp3 album, no CD compilation)

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Steff

Thanks for those lists! However, I don't think we can draw too much from them. My hunch is that the number of people downloading MP3s of Lanza recordings is very small. At least, I hope I'm right in the case of Amazon UK visitors, as one of the three most-downloaded tracks is the ghastly "Speak Low" from the Lanza on Broadway album!

Cheers
Derek

[Steff]

I just noticed that wikipedia has a description of the term "cross-over" and highlights Mario Lanza's "pioneering work" as an cross-over artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_%28music%29

Steff

[JOE]

Interesting article, thanks Steff. There may be some debate on where Lanza fits in with Caruso, Di Stephano, Wunderlich etc but there is one, philosophically  absolute fact: Mario was the greatest cross-over artist of all time! This would be difficult for anyone to refute. We of the forum believe he was much more than that, indeed, maybe the greatest tenor voice ever ( maybe not consistently the best singer, but certainly the greatest instrument)……………….Joe

[JOE]

Would a petition directly to the music companies help an adoption of a carefully considered compilation of Mario’s operatic work?

 

There are 3 active Lanza forums, many clubs etc and all these members have music friends. There IS power in numbers and what if………a petition for a collection of arias (such as you and Armando have put together) was promoted by several hundred signees?. Has such an idea been floated before, and does it have any merit? Could we make a music company see that this could be profitable to them??