New-York tribune., 1922-11-09
Golden Voice of
Girl, Is, Amlazes
Opera Critics
Daughter of Kansas CITY
Telegrapher Triunphs a,
Addition Before Catsi.
Casazza at Metropolitan
Parents Present at Test
Home City Has $4,000
to Make Marion TaIley
Famous Diva Some Day

A fifteen-year-old girl, looking younger
with her long curls and her simple
dress, walked out on the stage of the
Metropolitan Opera House yesterday
afternoon to sing for perhaps a dozen
men and women who seemed almost
lost in the dreary emptiness Of the
dusty hall. In one corner, hidden be-
hind the footlights, were her father
and mother. gripping their seats to
hide nervousness which she herself
dared not betray. Two or three friends
who came on from Kansas City sat
near them. AT the piano was her sister,
smiling encouragement. But the rest of
the audience was made up of critics,
who later admitted they had come pre-
pared with words of kindly deprecia-
tion for her voice, and upon the judy-
ment of these critics her career de-
pended.
A Group to Unnerve Amy Singer
One of the listeners wes Otto H
Kahn, chairman of the board Of di-
rectors of the opera house, who had
other in the audience, had told him
/. hesitatingly that there might be q
find" in the young singer. Four of the
eMtropolitan's conductors had dropped
in to find what was behind the fam
boyant praises which had preceded the
girl on her way East-~Arthur Bodan-
sky, Roberto Moranzoni, Louis Hassel.
mans and Giuseppe Bamboschek
Nahan Franko slipped quietly into a
seat, and William J. Guard, the veteran
press representative, took a place in
the rear
That was the audience before which
fifteen-year-old Marion Talley, daugh
ter OF telegraph operator on the
Missouri Pacific, was to sing 1t was
an audience which had heard hundreds
Of additions, an audience before whose
faint praise hundreds Of local reputa-
tions had withered.
Yesterday, however, it was differ
ent story. The girl filled the opera
house with lyric soprano SO remark
able that signs almost of agitation be-
| gan spreading over the faces of the
critics. atti-Casazza betrayed unusual
interest. Bodansky leaned forward.
peering over the horn trimmed glasses
from behind which he had been gazing.
Moranzoni smiled
That's all we want said one Of
the Kansas City friends, lawyer,
when the singer stopped. we wanted
your judgment to make sure we were
right about Marion's voice, and now
we have it, Kansas City doesn't need
any help to give her all the backing
she wants"
Kansas City Backs Her
The. conductors and maestro crowded d
about the girl, showering her father,
mother and friends with congratuls-
tions. She's every bit as good as
Kansas City thinks she is," said Mr..
! Kahn. II can find no fault"
i Mr.. Guard gave the thought that
seemed uppermost in every mind when
he said: After all the false alarms
We get it certainly is pleasure to
have some on strike l2" The critics
began talking of another addition in
the Metropolitan three years from now,
/ when Marion's voice has developed.
Then, of course"-- they shrugged.
! Until then, however, the girl is not
/ to appear in concert or opera Her
1 hackers agreed with the critics that
/ 1T would be best to take no chances
| with her voice until it is fully ma
tured. Kansas City has raised $4,000
4 for her musical education and she will
begin studying here at once
Last night she and her friends cele-
| brated her triumph.