Forum Flashbacks: Aug. 27-Sept. 2
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, SEPT. 1, 2001
25 YEARS AGO: MPS called to rescue Burmese python – Pictured with “Katie,” an 8 foot, 9 inch Burmese python, are Maryville Public Safety Officers Sgt. Randy Strong and Lt. Ron Christian. The python was found Friday morning after being reported being lost since July 20. The snake as found on North Buchanan Street.
50 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, Sept. 1, 1976
Boston’s Opera Wunderkind To Conduct Home Concert
Sarah Caldwell is coming home, and although it’s been some years since she called it that, “home” is Maryville, the place of birth of “the first lady of American opera.”
Caldwell will be the guest conductress of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which will appear in concert at Northwest Missouri State University as a highlight of the 1976-77 University Performing Arts and Lecture Series. …
Caldwell is the founder (1957) and director of the Opera Company of Boston, a company which the Christian Science Monitor evaluated as being “in a state of excellence second to few, if any” opera companies.
She is the first woman ever engaged to conduct the Metropolitan Opera Company, where beginning on Jan. 13 of this year, she conducted 11 performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata” — eight with Beverly Sills and three with Anna Moffo. …
Caldwell, whose fame has reached dizzying heights in recent years, lived in Maryville for the first 12 years of her life. …
She graduated from high school at age 14, but long before that she was adjudged a prodigy in both mathematics and music and she was giving violin recitals before she was 10. …
Her opera company, her guest conducting, and her own dynamic personality have led music critics to crown her with a range of superlatives infrequently given to those who live by public acclaim.
A sampling: from New Yorker Magazine, “Miss Caldwell is surely the single Best Thing in American opera; a marvel, with energy and gusto . . . Felsenstein’s flair for theatre, and Beecham’s baton in her hand . . .” From the Boston Globe, “Miss Caldwell makes no compromise with quality. She searched out the most talented performers, the most authentic scores, the most imaginative sets and costumes, and she does not care if she has to go halfway around the world to find them;” from Newsweek, she “has proven herself capable of moving operative mountains;” and from the New York Times’ music critic Donald Henahan, “A legitimate, unaffected eccentric, this . . . woman has become of the most admired artists in America;” and from Time Magazine, “Sarah Caldwell is gaining a professional reputation as the best opera director in the United States . . . everything she does is memorable.”
75 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, Sept. 1, 1951
Methodist Laymen Save Church Money by Installing New Ceiling
Laymen of the Methodist church here came out with a plan which gave the sanctuary a new ceiling and saved the church about $5000. They are doing the job themselves.
The sanctuary is undergoing a complete painting and redecoration job in addition to having a new ceiling. From 18 to 23 laymen have assembled at the church nightly since Aug. 13 to work on the ceiling. …
About 75 men of the church so far have helped in the construction of the new ceiling, the Rev. (Monk) Bryan said. The crews consist of 14 to 26 men. Work is done from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. At 9 p.m. each night, church women serve a snack to the working men. …
With the completion of work in the sanctuary, the church will be in readiness for the annual Missouri conference of the Methodist church, which will be held at the Maryville church from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50- and 75-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
