Show OCR
By OLIN DOWNESJohn McCormack sauntered into tbe room, tossed a soft hat into a corner, stuck his hands in his pockets, and smiling a Celtic smile, asked me what he could do for me. It was the same man and the same smile that I remembered when Mr. Billiguard, as the artists| of the Metropolitan Opera Company call him, introduced us when Mr. McCormack first visited Boston in April, 1910. I recalled the occasion to Mr. McCormack, and we reminisced about the good old days of Oscar Hammerstein and his incomparable Boston season, when Mr. McCormack was one of his stars, and Mr. Billiguard his press agent, and myself, then and forever after, Hammerstein s fer-j vent admirer. But where were the operas of Oscar now.'' We mournfully admitted that they were not on the map.Where had Mr. Hammerstein discovered Mr. McCormack?He discovered him in Condon. McCormack was singing at Covent Garden under the direction of Percy Pitt, in 1907. ilis salary there in his first season was 15 pounds, or $75.00 a week. McCormack had made his operatic debut in Savona, Italy, in a performance of Mascagni’s already forgotten opera, “L’Amico Fritz,’’ in January, 1906. Later, Percy Pitt asked him if he would sing at Covent Garden for the sum above mentioned. Said the hopeful young man, ‘‘I 11 sing for anything to get in. But you 11 have the devil s own time getting me out.” Then Hammerstein grabbed him, and “he was the best boss I ever had,” said Mr. McCormack, with a grin.
Your clip comment has been saved and pending for approval before it displayed.