THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 19S3 - . MEDPORD MAIL TRIBUNE. HEDFORD, OREGON . ,
Bing's 1963 Opera Singers Described as lovely To Look At'
BEAUTY AND VOICE Representing oper
atic femininity at its eye-pleasing best, Met
ropolitan Opera prima donnas (L-R) Lisa Del-
la Casa, Anna Moffo, and Mary Costa are
lovely to look at as well as to listen to, New
Yorkers maintain. (UPI)
By DELOS SMITH
United Press International
NEW YORK (UPI) - Rules
bang on after the reasons for
them disappear, in operatic
circles it still is considered poor
taste to so much as mention the
collective pulchritude of any col
lection of prima donnas.
Wake up, opera fansl The
reason for that muzzle on free
speech is gone it is no longer
true that any given 20 tons of
prima donnas yield scarcely a
pound of pulchritude. Have an
uninhibited look at the 196344
prima donna corps at the Met
ropolitan Opera.
0 boy! What a bunch of look
ers! There's hardly a fully de
veloped barrel chest in the lot.
Four-fifths have to he rated at
least as "pretty." A dozen or
so are "Lovely" by any objec
tive standard. A few are not
one bit short of "georgeous."
Prima Donnas Charm
This eye-pleasing state of op
eratic femininity is the culmina
tion of a discreetly concealed
evolution rather than a sudden
happening. The Met's general
manager, Rudolf Bin?, couldn't
be expected to comment on the
fully upholstered old-time prima
donna. No gentleman could.
When he took over in 1950 a
number of them were around.
In those days all emphasis was
upon singing, the theory having
been that true opera lovers
close their eyes under the spell
of a soprano voice and so have
no awareness of the shape ol
the singer.
Blng began by putting empha
sis upon acting, too. It also be
came evident he thought singers
should look the operatic roles
they take. This must have been
a shock to certain female bar
rel-chests who with no thought
of incongruity and been casting
themselves as wispy girls.
That was stopped by degrees,
from season to season. Blng
was recruiting slender sopranos
and bringing them along to pri
ma donna stature. On the stage
they were fully believable repli
cas of wispy girls. Soon they
were getting the matronly roles
as well. Shapely matrons are
also believable.
The direction of the wind was
obvioUs. Several old-line prima
donnas resorted to starvation
diets. Bing never uttered a word
in public on the subject but sea
son by season only slender so
pranos were added to the pri
ma donna corps with a few
notable exceptions justified by
the superlative qualities of the
voice.
Singers Dazzle
Now we're in this new 1963-64
season and the opera-goer is
being dazzled by as much fe
male loveliness as the patrons
of the Broadway girlie shows
even though it is on a level
of high dignity. These operatic
ladies sing like angels (most of
them) and they have the exqui
site artistry to act out their
roles with the dedication of
Greta Garbos.
The second night of the sea
son Bing displayed one of his
major pulchritudtc finds, the
gorgeous Lisa Delia Casa, in
the role of Eva in "The Master-
singers" who according to her
creator, Richard Wagner, is a
teen-ager. She never permitted
you to doubt Wagner's word.
Then came Anna Moffo, first
as Manon, then as Marguerite,
and Giganna D'Angelo as Gilda,
these being more operatic girls
whose girlishmenss was in no
way believed. Either prima don
na could have been a candidate
for Miss America, Miss Moffo
from Pennsylvania, Miss DAn
gelo from Connecticut. ' ,
Lovely to Look At
Pretty little Raina Kabaivan-
ska, (who is Bulgarian, by the
way) has been both Mimi and
Elizabeth (in Verdi's "Don Car
lo,' ) without causing the slight
est strain either on eyes or
credulity. So far this season
Bing's prima donnas have been
uniformly pleasing to look at
as well as to listen to.
Those so far named have been
with the company for one sea
son or more. A newcomer is
youthful Nicoletta Panni, a
niece of the operatic immortal,
Giuseppe de Luca, whom nature
endowed with much more than
a voice, as was apparent in her
debut as poor Little Mimi.
Another new prima donna.
who will make her debut later,
is Mary Costa. She is described
by a knowing Met executive as
"nothing short of gorgeous."
The established Met prima don
nas, such as Roberta Peters,
Gabriella Tucci, Anneliese Roth
enberger and Jeanette Scovotti,
are preparing their first roles of
the reason. Not one is any
need of dieting or face-lifltng.
Blizzard Traps
Hunters in Snow
NATAL, B.C. (UPI)-A lash
ing blizzard has trapped about
20 hunters in a , valley : near
here.
Royal Canadian Mounted Po
lice at Nelson, 125 miles away.
said they hoped the men had
been able to make their way to
rangers caoins in tne area.
The blizzard which s truck
without warning Wednesday left
drills of snow six feet deep.
The roads are impassable and
no rescue party will be able to
get to the stranded men for
some time.
A bulldozer rescued a num
ber of hunters who were hud
dled in the snow.
Royal Canadian Mounted Po
lice said a man would be able
to walk in the snow for only a
short time before he became
exhausted.
Autopsy Ordered i
In Woman's Death
HONOLULU (UPI) -An au
topsy was ordered for a 63-year-old
Oregon woman who died
early Wednesday in a hotel in
Hilo, Hawaii.
The dead woman was identi
fied as Mrs. Florence Thrane
of Hood River.
She checked in Tuesday at
the Naniloa hotel with her hus-
band.Carcus, their son, Mar
cus, Jr., and a companion, Mrs.
Edna W. Sutford of Portland.
Mrs. Sutford, who shared a
room with Mrs; Thrane, said
the woman fell out of bed short
ly before midnight and died
shortly thereafter.
Thrane said ms wile had been
ill for some time.
Former Governor
Undergo Operation
CORVALLIS (UPI) - Former
Gov. John Hall entered Good
Samaritan hospital here Wed
nesday afternoon to undergo sur
gery Friday.
Hall, 64, said last week he had
low grade cancer and would
have his vocal cords and voice
box removed.
He was governor of Oregon in
1947-48. '
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WEDDING ANNIVERSARY - Wednesday was the 16th anni
versary of the day in 1957 that a verv shv but radiantlv hanov
Princess Elizabeth was married in Westminster Abbey to the
naval lieutenant she loved. He was Philip Mountbatten, born
a Greek prince, now a naturalized British citizen and just on
tne wedding eve created Duke of Edinburgh. There was no
public fuss over the anniversary for the now ruling British
monarch, Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip. They
are shown in a formal portrait on their wedding day. (UPI)
Police Search for
Missing Anaconda
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich.
(UPI) Police renewed their
search today for a missing
eight-foot anaconda.
The snake, capable of crush
ing to death small rodents or
slashing someone with its razor
sharp teeth, escaped from a
downtown pet shop owned by
Richard Kulik, 35.
Kulik said be first discovered
the South American reptile
missing Wednesday morning. He
said he searched his shop and
called police when he could not
find it.
According to Kulik, the ana
conda pushed back a wooden
door at the top of its cage,
found the mail chute at the
front of the shop and slithered
to freedom.
However, Kulik said the snake
could not be considered danger
ous. But police did not agree with
him and organized a search immediately.
The anaconda, a warm wea
ther snake,, grows to a length
of 25 feet when mature. They
crush their prey with constric
tor muscles and swallow their
kill whole.
Kulik already was under fire
from the Macomb County Hu
mane Society for keeping a
rodent-eating boa constructor in
his store's front window. 1
The society complained that
Kulik was feeding live guinea
pigs to the snake in full view
of an aroused public.
LEAFS THROUGH BOOK Sir Winston Churchill, dressed in
velvet jacket and trousers, looks as if he's about to step out for
a brisk walk as he leafs through book in his London home re
cently. Photo was made as U.S. movie producer Jack Le Vien
visited Britain's Elder Statesman to confer on "Walking with
Destiny," a film based on Churchill's war memoirs. Film il
for distribution in the spring. (UPU .
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