"What am I trying to do?"

“Whether you’re a cameraman or a director, you should ask yourself every now and then, ‘What am I trying to do?’ Be honest and keep things very simple.” — James Wong Howe

Happy 81st birthday bass Paul Plishka.

Born on this day in 1913 tenor Richard Tucker.

On this day in 1850 Wagner’s Lohengrin premiered at the Staatskapelle Weimar.

Birthday anniversaries of composer Umberto Giordano (1867); conductors Karl Böhm (1894), Berislav Klobucar (1924) and István Kertész (1929); soprano Irene Jessner (1901); baritone Nicolae Herlea (1927); bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk, soprano Cristina Deutekom and opera director Tito Capobianco (all in 1931); and mezzo-soprano Lucia Valentini-Terrani (1948).