- I am pleased to report that a special
new paperback edition of MARIO LANZA: SINGING TO THE GODS will be published
by Robert Hale in the U.K. on August 31st. In addition to a new Introduction,
a revamped cover and some text revisions throughout, the book will contain
a fabulous new collection of forty photographs, many in print for the first
time, drawn from the private collections of Mario's closest friend Terry
Robinson, and the tenor's niece, the former actress Dolores Hart.
-
- Among the many treasures I discovered
this time in Terry Robinson's stunning collection of Lanza memorabilia
was an early photo of Mario with his language teacher Mario Pellizon, plus
a real charmer from 1946: a terrific photo of Mario, Betty, Robert Weede
and friends taken in my current hometown, with a famous Chicago landmark
prominent in the background.
-
- Mother Dolores Hart also loaned me a
number of original family negatives of Mario and Betty's first wedding,
a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills on 13 April 1945. One of the photos is,
quite simply, the most genuinely romantic picture I have ever seen of the
happy couple together. Mario's parents were unaware that their only son
had married when these photographs were taken and if the bridegroom looks
a little anxious in some of the prints it's not hard to guess why. (The
more familiar Lanza wedding day photographs we have seen to date now appear
to have been taken three months later, in July 1945, at the time of the
church ceremony in New York.)
-
- I am most grateful to Terry Robinson
and to Mother Dolores Hart for their generosity and their trust in allowing
me to share these pictorial treasures, photos that will grace every Lanza
collection.
-
- The paperback edition of MARIO LANZA:
SINGING TO THE GODS will retail at £14.99 sterling and will be available
on August 31, 2006 from Amazon.co.uk and other online booksellers, no doubt
with an appropriate discount.
-
- DEREK MANNERING
- Chicago 2006
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