Ezio Pinza, famous international opera star, was still basking in the glow of his popular breakout with his Broadway success in South Pacific. Here, he offers a fine performance as an opera baritone who is also a murderer. A witness to that murder, committed on stage in what he thought was an empty theater, is blackmailing him. Pinza’s character is a philanderer, and his misdeeds are finally catching up to him. The Richard-George Pedicini story has a near-Whistler ending that makes it a worthwhile listen.
Pinza’s character, Nicolo Mezzini, is being blackmailed by the manager of the opera company because of the affair he is having and the debts he has incurred. Gifts for his ladies do get expensive, and he has overdrawn all of his credit accounts. The manager sees this as an opportunity to have Nicolo under his thumb by threatening to expose him to scandal and disgrace. For that reason, Nicolo decides to do away with him.
The publicity folks at CBS had some fun with Pinza’s appearance. The press release said:
The “wonderful guy” from South Pacific says his role as murderer will not be entirely new to him. “You see, I have killed so any times before in the opera,” says Pinza. “The difference is that this time I do not sing while I commit murder. I didn't know it was legal to kill somebody without singing.” Pinza is pleased, nevertheless, with the idea of doing a straight dramatic role. “I don't sing a complete song in the entire play,” he says proudly. “Just warm up my voice a bit, on one occasion, and then, at the end, there's just a bit of an aria in the background. The rest is all acting.”
There is a broad generalization is that opera singers are not usually considered to be good stage actors. The challenges of opera are so different than stage acting or singing that the talents are probably better considered to be distinct. It is clear is that Pinza, however, is more than competent as an actor, and does surprisingly so considering the unusual subtleties of acting on radio.
It is not clear if this script was submitted to Suspense prior to the casting of Pinza or if it was written with Pinza in mind. In general CBS publicity about the series, there was an “interview” with Lewis where he says “...the quality of the actor’s voice has a lot to do with the kind of roles can play. Ezio Pinza, for example, was cast as an opera singer because his rich basso tones make it pretty obvious that's what he is.”
The story title fits the pattern of classical music titles that are parts of larger works or state the kind of work and then its title. It states that it is an “aria,” for example, and then the larger work from where it is taken. A later Elliott Lewis creation also has this pattern found in classical music titles: Concerto for Killer and Eyewitness. That story will be heard later and has a fascinating backstory.
The drama of this broadcast was recorded on 1950-12-30.
IMPORTANT: This recording suffers from wow and flutter at the very end of the broadcast. Many of the disc transfers of 1951 shows have this issue. One of the collectors involved in transferring the transcription discs to tape had a tape recorder with a problem. It did not stay on speed as the tape was coming to its end. The little speed-ups and speed-downs are annoying and caused by faulty tension and tape transport. Collectors of the time realized there was a problem and intended to go back and re-record the discs, but unfortunately never did. The problems are usually at the end of the recordings during the closing credits and do not affect the core drama content of the broadcasts. Some of the 1951 recordings also vary in quality because multiple people with different equipment configurations, procedures, and skills transferred the discs.
This was Pinza’s only appearance on the series. He was a famous opera singer who performed worldwide. He best known for his 22 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He retired from there in 1948 and took on the challenge of Broadway in the Rogers and Hammerstein classic musical South Pacific. That led to many other more popular projects. His long career and personal life are summarized at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezio_Pinza
You can hear Pinza singing one of the most famous selections from South Pacific, the solo Some Enchanted Evening at https://archive.org/details/lp_south-pacific_mary-martin-ezio-pinza-richard-rodgers/disc1/01.05.+Some+Enchanted+Evening.mp3
Later in 1951, Pinza starred in the film Mr. Imperium, which did not do well at the box office. But, it was a big studio production. The film can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/Mr.Imperium
He seemed not be be afraid to experiment and take some risks with his reputation and popularity. This recording is a particular example. Pinza and the Sons of the Pioneers recorded a novelty record that did well in the stores https://archive.org/details/78_the-little-ol-state-of-texas_ezio-pinza-and-the-sons-of-the-pioneers-cahn-brent-sa_gbia0035948b Some opera fans may have gasped at the mere thought of it. Pinza even had a short-lived NBC TV comedy series in the Fall of 1953. It was Bonino, where he played a recently widowed father faced with taking care of a large family of kids.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510125
THE CAST
EZIO PINZA (Nicolo), Junius Matthews (Charlie the doorman / Sergeant), Cathy Lewis (Leola), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Felix Levine), Wally Maher (Lt. Morgan Redd), Howard McNear (Stage Manager), Tony Barrett (Hemp)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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