The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-25
TIE nIAA DOM BELT !.
ALI OUR COMIC oPERA SOPRANOS
AND CoNTRALTos. BORN IN
MISSISSIPPI. VALLEY
GEORGE BoWLEs GIVES PROOF
The Successful Manager Mentions n
Score or More of Those Best
KNOWN, and Tells Their Re-
sDectiXe Birthpiaces.


ever know there was a 'prima donna
belt?" asks the Kansas City Journal.
Not one OF. the belts that might go
about prima donna's waist, but a great
belt of country where all prima donnas
are born. These reflections were. aroused
by the coming Of Alice Nielsen to the
Coates a few days since, and the facts
here given are from q painstaking col
lection made by George Bowles Miss
Nielsens business manager, who has
been observing the ''crop reports" of the
operate stage for some years. Alice
Nielsen haHed from the ''prima donna
belt" which is the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, and it's tributaries, and in that
territory was born nearly every living
American pri1na donna of note This is
rather remarkable assertion, but it is,
nevertheless, an incontestable fact. And
it is a fact, also, that has hitherto
strangely passed unnoticed, although
worthy of the. most earnest scientific
thought and research by students OF hui
man phenomena.
/ What is there about the great Father
OF Waters that makes him assume the
paternity OF all our greatest singers?
Is their musical inspiration in the song
that he sings as he rolls in mighty ma
jesty toward the gulf Is there some
thing in the climate of the fertile val
ley that is tribute to him that breeds
melody in its inhabitants? Does the
1ecund soil of this wonderful region pos
sess virtues that generate vocal superb
GRITTY in the human being who is born
upon it, as well as richness and nutri-
tiVeness in the vegetati ton that it yields?
We all accept without question the
! fact that Italy and Germany furnish a
great majority CT the worlds grand op-
| era singers, but were we to inquire the
reason the reply would probably be that
credit is due, not to the climate, but to
| the ncouragementsgiv to music and
| opportunities for musical study offered
| by the schools Of the two countries. In
| the American Middle West, however,
are very few Conservatives of music,
! and it is doubtful whether any Of our
| native prima dOnnaS received much of
| their early musical training anywhere
| except in the practical school of the
stage. After they were able to earn their
| living as singers then, of course, they
could afford proper vocal tuition. But
| it seems to be a fact that something in
| the sell or some regularity of the geo.
| graphical location of their birthplace be-
| queathed to them at nativity the price
! less gift of voice. Inlother words, voices
| seem to have been inherited from and
| not developed by their environment.
Some of the products of 1.-The belt
| Della
/ Fox, Pauline Hail, HiIda Clark, Jesse
Bartlett Davis, Dorothy Morton, Grace
/ Golden, Emma Abbott, Helen Bertram
and Virginia Earl.
! Alice Nelson, the young prima donna,
! who is now singing at the head of her
| own compary,lzl is a fair pro
! duct Of the Mississippi val
| ley, for she was born at Nash
vile, Tenn, and spent the most of her
nf ifo ions. r
operate stage in that city and in Kansas
City, where the Kaw ana Missouri meet
Lillian Russell was born on the banks
of the Mississippi at Clinton, Ia Nellie
Leonard was her name while she was
growing to womanhood in Chicago,
wither she was taken by her parents
while still yet young.
st. Louis, as the largest city on the
Mississippi, promising that something
about the great river is productive Of
vocal talent, quite properly takes first
place at the home of American opera
singers and offers as its quota Della Fox,
who first sought fame by going out from
hSr native city as the child soubrette of
the old Dixon Sketch club; and Dorothy
Morton, the fine soprano who is now
singing in England.
Pauline Hall, who has recently achieved
distinction in vaudeville, was born in
Cincinnati, on the banks of the Ohio.
OI46 VI IIlG 1AISSlSSlppI Digest tflDu-
taries. At that time she bore the I'M
pocticaI name of SchmittgaII.
Hilda Clark, the prima donna Of the
Bostonians, is native of Leavenworth,
on the Mississippi's big Western tributa-
ry, the Missouri.
Helen Bertram, the primo donna of
KIaw & changers new opera, ''Foxey
CUTLER" comes from near the banks of
the Wabash, at Paris, Ill
And Jessie Bartlett Davis tha great
cOntralto, until a short time ago a mem
Der of the Bostonians, and who made
her vaudeville debut here last week,
while haiIing from Chicago for a num-
Der of years past, is not a native Of that
city, as many people suppose, but was
born on farm on the Illinois river. N
Grundy county, Illinois.
Grace Golden, the Castle Square Opera
companys favorite, only adds proof to
the original statement. She was born
at New Harmony, Ind, a place which
isn't on every map, but is on the Ohio
river, near it's junction with the Wa
bash.
Inc late Emma Abbott too, confirmed
the assertion. She was born in Illinois
near Peoria, was it not?
and last but not least in the heart
Of theatergoers, comes dainty Virginia
Earl, who proudly proclaims Chicago as
her birthplace. st@
The captOus one may say: But these
are not all our American singers" Quite
true, but they are pretty nearly all the
distinguished comic opera singers. How
ever, for argument, name a few more:
Marguerite Reid, another prima donna
of the Bostonians, and now reigning
vocal favorite in London. Where was
she born? In Indiana, near the old Ohio.
And Louise Kissing, Cecil Kissing. Mel
lie Braggins and Fatmah Diard-where
did they first see the sun rise? Right Oh
the Mississippi, at st. Louis.
Catherine Linyard, Ada Somers and
Mabella Baker are all natives of Illinois,
while Jennie Dutton comes from Daven-
port To-, and Mae st. John, the splendid
contralto, from Richmond, Ind.
Even Lulu CHASER, Francis Wilson's
prima donna, claims as her birthplace a
little town on the Allegheny river, a di-
rect tributary of the Mississippi
AS final test, there was a new prirna
donna last season launched in an opera
called 1.-The Princess Chic Perhaps
she was the exception that proved the
rule. Not bit Of it. Her name is
Minnie Methot, and the Mississippi bred
her, too. She was born at Davenport,
10.
That the stellar honors of the American
light opera stage should be monopolized
by women who are products of the couu
try drained by the Mississippi or its
+J,or7