The Great Caruso
This film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to Musetta's because he sings; to Dorothy's because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel-chested, loud, emotional, and unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that 'the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man': he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
16 August 1910, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
16 June 1893, San Bernardino, California, USA
2 November 1921, New York City, New York, USA
March 22, 1893 in Gragnano, Campania, Italy
February 8, 1900 in Birtley, Durham, England, UK
6 July 1885, New York City, New York, USA
May 14, 1905 in Texas, USA
March 27, 1904 in New York City, New York, USA
26 February 1905, Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA
December 13, 1895 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
16 August 1928, Mount Kisco, New York, USA
3 June 1901, Calabria, Italy
July 27, 1894 in Valencia, Spain
16 January 1903, Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
May 31, 1894 in Redondo Beach, California, USA
6 March 1900, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Vienna, Austria]
31 August 1907, Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina
October 4, 1914 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA
July 20, 1885 in Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA
June 3, 1923 in Dysart, Pennsylvania, USA
4 December 1888, Dublin, Ireland
September 1, 1895 in Berlin, Germany
22 September 1894, Eureka, California, USA
December 11, 1883 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
December 11, 1888 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
7 January 1903, Birmingham, England, UK
16 September 1934, Norwood, Ohio, USA
September 19, 1899 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA
