Opera soprano Emma Trentini (1878-1959) was brought to the United States from her native Italy in 1906 by Oscar Hamnerstein to appear at his Manhattan Opera House. She soon began appearing at the competing Metropolitan Opera as well, making her mark in The Barber of Seville, La Boheme, Carmen, etc al. She was said to have great comic ability. On the strength of this she was cast in the original production of Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta alongside Orville Harrold in 1910. And like Orville Harrold she was not above playing vaudeville, as when she played the Palace Theatre in 1925, with accompanist Eric Zardo.
For more on vaudeville history, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.
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