Lady with a Future II

Anne got her mother on the phone in Aurora, Ill., and announced importantly: "Mother, I have something to tell you. If you will tune in on February 3, you will hear Anne McKnight singing in opera under Toscanini."

Then she told how it all happened. Toscanini, who had conducted the world premiere of Puccini's La Boheme in Turin in 1896, was to perform it again, on its 50th anniversary, over NBC. He had picked the Met's Licia Albanese for Mimi, Jan Peerce for Rodolfo. For the second feminine lead (Musetta) he had tried out 30 women, was satisfied with none. Then Met Conductor Wilfred Pelletier, who teaches at Manhattan's Juilliard School of Music, suggested a 20-year-old, plump, black-haired pupil of his, who so far had sung only in church choirs. At the tryout, Anne sang the one bit of Boheme she knew: the famous second-act waltz song.

Toscanini played the piano, and sang along with her. His only comment was: "Your Italian is very funny"--but next day he signed her up. An NBC official asked Anne what fee she would charge. Said she incredulously, "Am I going to be paid?"

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