Edited by author 09-05-2008 07:26 PM
You are very kind Thelma and I am relieved and happy to be able to assure you as to my present health.

The search for information about music and related matters has been made so much more exciting and easy in recent times by the availability of this wonderful Internet. The helpful and obliging Google is a most welcome help in Internet wanderings. Due to a chronic problem with the decyphering of information received, I also have the puzzling delight of never quite knowing what Mr Google is offering when I so often seek information. The Internet, like life, is an exciiting and sometimes frightening Lucky Dip.

Rob, I know you are a very private person, but the way you expressed being home again and thankful makes me wonder if you were ill. You have so much knowledge about music along with Martino, David and others and you add so much to this forum and always you are so pleasant. You did not miss very much here though.

http://www.ebu.ch/NWsearch/search.php?rest...t%20Salieri\;page=2

If you have the interest, will and energy (and, if necessary, Broadband access), please try this link while I turn for help to a cup of calming chamomile tea.

http://www.francemusique.com

This is a link which might help Vitart fans.

A recording of a performance of Rimsky Korsakov's Mozart et Salieri, in which Stanislav Vitart made his recent operatic debut at Montpellier, is supposed to be broadcast in real time (Central European?), at 20.00 hours on 10th September, and then made available via the Internet. This link, however, did not seem to show the broadcast for the date and time I had been given. Maybe anyone else interested could find a better search result.

Thank you Thelma. I am well and thankful to be at home again.

Sam, Mr Braswell seems to have a pleasant voice. Is it safe to have a microphone so close to the user's mouth and nose? It would be impracticable to disinfect a microphone after someone else has used it, and the device must be a potential means to transfer pathogens from one person to another when it is accidentally brushed against the face.

Edited by author 09-05-2008 04:16 PM
Does anyone have opinions about tenor Donald Braswell, who is now appearing on the "America's Got Talent" TV show? He was a professional opera singer until an accident silenced his voice for eleven years. They told him he would never sing again, but here he is singing with a very nice voice! PS. You can find him on youtube.

To David, Rob, and Martino: Hello and greetings to all of you. Glad to see you here again. David, it has been a long time. How are you anyway and how are you , Rob? I learned something from the posts about Doretta; I did not know much about her.

Doretta Morrow seems to have been unfortunate. When she was cast for the role of the young lover in the original stage version of The King and I, she allegedly was the unwitting and quite innocent cause of Gertrude Lawrence's resentment. Richard Rodgers apparently had asked Miss Morrow, a very capable singer, to sing some of the lead character Anna's songs at the initial music run through, and Miss Lawrence (who was aware that her own voice tended to stray away from the composer's intended notes) was visibly peeved at what she took to be a reflection upon her own standard of singing.

Yes indeed, I always thought Marrow was a beautiful woman but her part in BYM was the stereotype woman of the time: not very elegant (or caring to be) or particularly smart, needing male protection, vulnerable and somewhat of an old maid type, despite her young age. Not a flattering role for her in any area, especially with the looks they gave her to enhance the overall image the studio had in mind. I don't think MGM would have gotten away with that with Lanza's first choice for the role, Deanna Durbin.

A final note re Doretta Morrow, who was indeed Vic Damone's cousin, is that she was probably much more popular on the London stage than she was on Broadway, where she became a star as Tuptim in the original production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I, with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner, in 1950. Morrow eventually married an Englishman in 1960 and retired from show business, giving birth to a daughter. Unfortunately, Morrow was a chain smoker - something that contributed to the friction with Lanza - and died of lung cancer in February 1968, just one month after her 41st birthday. She had a truly lovely voice, and it's nice that this British label, Flare, has released this fine compilation.

Re Doretta Morrow, a label in the UK has released a first-ever CD compilation of songs by Morrow, both solos and duets, including the finale of "Because You're Mine" with Mario Lanza. I ordered a copy via Ebay, and have been enjoying it very much. Many have criticized Morrow as being not a worthy co-star for Mario, saying she wasn't attractive enough or had the right chemistry with him. But I think in large part the fault lay in how MGM made her up and cut and styled her hair - neither of which were very flattering. And several books have recounted that she and Mario did not get along - that couldn't have helped. Here is the cover of the new, entitled I HAVE DREAMED. The photo is of Morrow from the 1956 TV production of THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO, in which she co-starred opposite Alfred Drake, with whom she also appeared in the 1953 musical, KISMET. As the photo shows, Morrow was indeed quite beautiful, much more so than she was made to appear in BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE.

Doretta Morrow - I HAVE DREAMED

Thank you Bill. I made a nice notation and put it with my program.

Yes, I lived in East Texas for 30 years, in a small town you had to be going to because it wasn't on the way to anywhere.

Thanks for the Tosca clip - one I hadn't seen. And a superb note.

I realize the Hopper writing is not that complimentary, but nothing anyone says can change my opinion of Mario or how I feel about his voice and music. I have all the other books, except the Japanese one, and the latest photo book.

Diane: I happen to have that program in my Lanza collection and the date was February 21, 1951. The concert took place at the Stanley Theatre in Utica, NY as part of their great artist series. The program was the set program that Mario did during this concert tour however the last two selections were changed acording to the newspaper reviews from "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" and "I'm Falling in Love With Someone" to audience requests including "Boom Biddy Boom Boom," "O sole mio," and "Be My Love." Best, Bill

I just learned that Doretta Morrow and Vic Damone were cousins. That was news to me. Ciao.