The Washington times., 1919-12-11
d many great Americans.

/ have seen great audiences courte-
program of noted artists, but when
Anna Case entered, every person in
the audience rose and shouted with
all the fervor of the roofing section
at a championship football game,
Cease. Case! Case!" what caused
that?
My first impression Of Anna Case
has been a lasting one. OF all oper-
attic and concert sopranos 1 have met,
she is most truly the American. If
Anna Case had not been gifted with
one of the most exquisite voices in
America, if she were not one of the
most beautiful women on the concert
platform, she would still be a domi-
nant figure in any gathering, she
would still draw multitudes of adj
mirers by that most wonderful pos
session Of hers-an indomitable will
that breathes the spirit of true
Americanism. That heritage, nurtured
and matured by an early life OF sacri
fice, is the secret Of her success.
The first time / met Miss Case was
at an entertainment she gave for
wounded soldiers at her summer home
at Mamaroneck, Long Island Sound
AS dusk came and the party ended,
one legless boy said: "I've been to a
bunch of these parties given by pro-
fessional singers and actors, and a
lot of them think they've done us a
favor. But she's not like that. Why
she's Just like a pail No American
could receive a greater tribute than
that of that wounded veteran of
French battlefields.
In the little New Jersey home where
she was born, the music world sh'
wanted to know was frowned on. Blu
she was an American, and she earne
her way. By day she Travelled from
home to home in that little commu-
nifty giving lessons to reluctant little
fingers and in the evening she studied
a course Of training that she herself
had planned. She sang in churches,
at festivals, and finally unknown and
practically penniless but rich in grit,
determination and Americanism, came
to New York, determined to be some
body in the music world.
The dress she wore at her first con-
cert recital in New York, she borrow
ed. but she herself earned every cent
that paid her way to fame.
The world now knows Of her sue
cess as an opera singer and concert
recttalist and as a featured artist for
the phonograph. Homes that love
good music possess a Photographic
recreation of her voice; every true
music lover would be ashamed to say
that he had not heard her in concert
recital.
But few think when they see her
on the concert platform, the tall
graceful American woman applauded
b. thousands, that she was once
lonely, often discouraged, penniless
little girl who drove faithful old
horse in sunshine and rain from little
home to little home to earn the pen
nies that meant her success today.
Few know that this world-applauded
star once deprived herself OF every
thing but absolute necessities so that
she might meet the weekly singing
bill and then practice the new lesson
until the midnight hour. Few know
that the weary little head often rest
ed almost till morning on the piano
keys in the plain little New Jersey
village home of her childhood.
Her life is typical Of the life Of her
own birthland. Her courage, her grit,
her never ending determination, her
constant sacrifices overcame every
obstacle and made her what she Is
today-Anna Case.