Beat Me, Daddy!

As an actor, Polish Tenor Jan Kiepura does not know his own strength. Last summer in an outdoor performance of Carmen at Chicago's Soldier Field, vigorous Kiepura acted so hard in the third act quarrel scene that he knocked handsome Contralto Gladys Swarthout cold. That gave somebody's pressagent an idea.

At the Chicago Opera last week, Kiepura was scheduled to sing opposite another Carmen: sloe-eyed Contralto Coe Glade. In rehearsal, Kiepura carefully pulled his punches. Annoyed, Contralto Glade avowed that she was no sissy and could take anything Contralto Swarthout could, and maybe a little more. "Put that in writing," demanded Kiepura. Contralto Glade promptly wrote: "You may consider this your release of any criticism on my part for any physical damage I may receive tonight as the result of your usually vigorous and dynamic portrayal of Don Jose. The public does not want nor does it expect a polite, powder-puff version of Carmen. I have confidence in you as an artist and a gentleman. You may feel free to act as realistically as the role demands."

Kiepura that night was a Don Jose without restraint. But the score, as the curtain fell: no knockouts. The judge's decision (by Critic Claudia Cassidy): "Miss Glade was supple, audacious, and sure of herself, singing in the wild mezzo that can range from voluminously lovely to something as fuzzy as an old rug."

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