httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phMl5jQTDuA

On this day in 1950 All About Eve premiered.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQHjwaFlANo

On this day in 1965 soprano Renata Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San.

Louis Snyder in the New York Herald Tribune:

Miss Scotto, as a prima donna, harks back to the days when it was assumed that, to be imported by the Met, you had substantial voice and experience, and the New York test was one of communication of personality. Wednesday night, Miss Scotto arrived with all three, and if she went her own way in portraying Cio-Cio-San-that is, outside the proscribed bounds of the effective Aoyama production-hardly anyone cared.

For she sings musically and affectingly, with pathos and color and humor in the voice, in a manner to enfold the listener in the first row of the orchestra or the last row of the family circle, Miss Scotto is a singer for all price ranges. And they let her know it Wednesday night after “Un bel di” with as loud an ovation as has been heard in the House this or maybe even last season. It would seem to be a case of instant love between Miss Scotto and the New York public.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHwFfQPECbs

Happy 71st birthday soprano Leona Mitchell.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLbbOGVqog

Photo: Friedman-Abeles