The Day I Met Caruso

The Day I Met Caruso. Sandy Descher (Elizabeth), Lofti Mansieri (Enrico Caruso.

US © 1956 Hal Roach Studios. P: Willis Goldbeck. D: Frank Borzage. SC: Zoe Akins – based on a short story by Elizabeth Bacon Rodewald.
    Starring Lofti Mansieri (Enrico Caruso), Sandy Descher (Elizabeth). 25 min.
    Viewed at SEA, Orion, 30 Jan 2005.

A little Quaker girl sees Caruso on train and reproaches the star for his fancy ways: "Be worthy of thy gift!". Caruso spends the trip playing cards with the girl and singing. "O soave fanciulla" (Puccini: La Bohème), "Recitar!... vesti la giubba" (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci), "La donna è mobile" (Verdi: Rigoletto), "La Fleur que tu m'avais jetée" (Bizet: Carmen), "O sole mio", "Over There" (to WWI soldiers going to the front). The girl realizes that by cultivating the voice of his Caruso might be worthy of his gift. ****