Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Jan. 14, 1941

Jan. 14, 1941: Open letter to Al Jolson. My Dear Al: If this letter angers you, forgive me. I realize that the $500 you sent me before Christmas to spread good cheer among the poor was accompanied by a request that I make no mention of your kind deed. But I've been weighing that request for three weeks and even though I am violating a confidence, I've decided to tell the story. Also on the jump: British bombers hit Bayreuth.

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, Nov. 8, 1940

Nov. 8, 1940: Hear tell the Basil Rathbones will give up their Brentwood mansion for a more modest home. Big charity donations make it necessary, Jimmie Fidler says. Also on the jump, a review of a touring production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” by the San Francisco Opera at Shrine Auditorium (at 6,000+ seats, it has about twice the capacity of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion—not exactly an intimate space for a Mozart opera). The opera was conducted from the piano by Erich Leinsdorf, with Ezio Pinza, Alexander Kipnis, Tito Schipa, Elizabeth Rethberg, Margit Bokor and Elsa Zebranska. The production was evidently given on a large, rotating stage.  Anyone familiar with the opera will realize the shortcomings of Times music critic Isabel Morse Jones (d. 1951) rather quickly.

Voices – Joan Sutherland, 1926 – 2010

Nov. 22, 1966: Times music critic Martin Bernheimer interviews Joan Sutherland … in his Volkswagen? Yes, it’s true. She and Ricky (her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge) are getting ready to do “Lucia” at the new Met, which will be his debut.

Pavarotti in ‘La Boheme’

June 6, 1980: With the skill of a surgeon, Martin Bernheimer dissects a performance by operatic sensation Luciano Pavarotti (d. 2007). “He conquered. He came. He sang. In that order,” Bernheimer says. Notice that in return for agreeing to use a dress rehearsal as a preview, Pavarotti demanded that protege Madelyn Renee replace Diana Soviero as Mimi for one performance. Soviero was understandably upset and told Bernheimer: "I hope I never see San Diego again.” You knew “La Boheme” had its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles, right?  (Oct. 14, 1897).

‘I Laugh, Ho, Ho, at Black Hand,’ Caruso Says

March 6, 1920: Enrico Caruso laughs at threatening letters from the Black Hand. “I will sing in Brooklyn on Monday!” he vows.

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, March 5, 1960

Leonard Warren, 1911-1960

Telephone Girls Belie Propaganda       I'm a client, reasonably well paid up, of Pacific Telephone Co.  And I'd like to assure you that my complaint is nothing personal.       In fact, over the years, I've built up kind of an impersonal affection for the girls who get numbers for me.  Admittedly, they're just voices.  Nothing serious -- like the initiation of a pen-pal correspondence -- has ever come out of my brief conversations with them when I dial 0 or 110 or 113.       But my empathy has never flagged.       My complaint is on a policy-level matter.  About the yellow pages.        You have, no doubt, seen and read the propaganda which PT&T's Madison Ave. types have been putting out about their fat classified directory.       They've been claiming that it's possible to find anything from an elephant to a  sunken Spanish galleon to an attractive help-mate who doesn't smoke or drink but loves outdoor sports, children and mah-jongg merely by flipping through the yellow pages.

‘Madame Butterfly’

Feb. 4, 1908: Sharpless (Ottley Cranston) and Pinkerton (Vernon Stiles) find the body of Cio-Cio San (Phoebe Strakosch) in the Los Angeles premiere of “Madame Butterfly.”   One of the joys of research is following a thread wherever it leads. In this case, it’s the Los Angeles premiere of “Madame Butterfly.” It's difficult to imagine a time when "Butterfly" -- a staple of the operatic repertoire if not a warhorse -- was a new and largely unheard work accessible only through the score. Several Times stories from the period discussed whether “Butterfly” would surpass “La Boheme” and one writer dared to speculate that Richard Wagner would have approved.  I was particularly struck by The Times’ coverage of the 1908 premiere; enough to revisit the performance even though I wrote about it two years ago.  There’s Harry Carr’s color story, which has as much about the stagehands and scenery as it does about the opera, then there’s Julian Johnson’s review. “Butterfly,” which was performed at the Mason Operahouse, was clearly one of the  leading events of the musical (and social) season. Feb. 3, 1908: Savage’s English Grand Opera Company presents “Madam Butterfly” at the Mason Operahouse.

Nixon, the ‘Indispensible Man’

“You Remember Her?”     NBC used to have an opera company. Amazing, no? Although I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Virginia Copeland (Gordoni), David Poleri or Chester Ludgin. “Goliath and the Barbarians” in Colorscope!  Paul Zimmerman takes a look at “Hot Rod” Hundley of the Lakers and Guy Rodgers of the Philadelphia Warriors.

Feb. 1, 1960: Republican National Chairman Sen. Thruston B. Morton (R-Ky.) comments on the results of a Gallup poll showing that the party was losing strength. He talks about the effect of Vice President Richard Nixon being unchallenged as GOP nominee and praises President Eisenhower, while saying Eisenhower has "concentrated more on running the country than on building the party. Morton also notes: "Complacency has been our serious weakness."

Three Tristans Update

Three Tristans update: I sent this item to bass-baritone  Alan Held, who’s appearing in the current Metropolitan Opera production of “Tales of Hoffmann.” Held says, “ I have been in several performances where a singer had to be replaced midway through the night--most memorably was a Tannhauser at The Met where we went through 2-3 tenors in one night (can't remember). It seemed we went through the entire list of Met tenors during that show. I also did a lot of Tristans in Barcelona that seemed to have a revolving door of tenors. My own professional debut was made while jumping in as Colline in Boheme.  These things happen all the time in opera--sometimes a singer really isn't sure if he can make it through the night but wants to give it a try and then once confronted with the dryness of the stage, things change. And I've been in countless performances where the singer isn't sure they can even start the night but ends up singing the best performance of the run. These are special nights and can bring a lot of excitement to the show.” Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera

Three Tristans!

Ramon Vinay, the tenor cast with Birgit Nilsson in "Tristan," said he was too ill to do the entire opera, so Rudolph Bing had Vinay sing Act I, Karl Liebel (likewise under the weather) sing Act II and Albert da Costa (also ill) sing Act III. Hedda Hopper interviews Ernie Kovacs. Jeane Hoffman profiles Stanford’s Dick Norman.

Dec. 29, 1959: A fascinating bit of insight from Ernie Kovacs: “The part of the public I lose completely is the 8-to-5 clerk who bowls every Thursday night and has Sunday dinner with his mother one week and his wife's mother the next.” I wonder what Kovacs would say about TV audiences today.

Grand Jury Hears Testimony in Whalen Killing

Mickey Cohen says: "I'm a lover, not a fighter." Sandy Hashagen says going steady with Mickey Cohen for 14 days gave her a police record and cost her a job as a dancer in Las Vegas..

Adjusted for inflation, these trees start at $13.81, USD 2008. Igor Stravinsky gives his manuscript for “The Rake’s Progress” to USC.

For Christmas, Melmac and Corning Ware! I haven’t seen one of those Corning coffee pots in years, but nearly everyone used to have one.

“Solomon and Sheba” is coming! Jeane Hoffman on open tennis.

Hula Dance Craze Sweeps New York

Clare Briggs, “When a Feller Needs a Friend.”

Oct. 23, 1919: Harry Carr, one of The Times' best-known writers, files a series of vignettes from New York. He says that prohibition is lightly enforced and that it’s still easy to get a drink … and learning the hula is the latest dance craze. Carr writes about the riot over "Die Meistersinger" and says: "Life is never monotonous in a town filled with Irish."