In April of 1913, when my grandmother was 16, she and her mother rode the train from Birmingham to Atlanta for a week of opera. I don't know what hotel they stayed at, but it seems that many of the singers, including Caruso, stayed there also. She was introduced to him, and he took some photographs of her and her mother. Later, she studied voice under him, which led to a career in Italy for her in the 1920's and into the '30's. From her diary: "Sat. 26th - Got up about 10:30 O'clock. It was raining and was right cold. Mama put on the same costume she had on Wed., and I wore a dark blue accordion pleated dress with white lace over each shoulder and a blue and red changeable velvet girdle with gold tassels on the ends. We went down and had breakfast and Mama, Mrs. Sharpe, and Ethel went up to the rooms. I put on my opera cloak and sat in the lobby and read. Mr. Johnson came over and talked to me a little, and then Caruso came in and gave me the pictures he took of us. I took them up to Mama and when she came down Mr. Johnson called me over and Caruso drew a caricature of me. It's a sight!" I have the diary, and I managed to borrow the caricature from my sister long enough to scan it. My brother died, and a few months later, so did my sister. My sister-in-law and the nephews cleaned out the house, and I found out later they threw away a lot of old family photos and such. Guess what happened to the drawing? Anyway, I thought I'd share the story with y'all.
You are lucky to have the scan. What a treat for your grandmother. Sad that many families often overlook special moments like this.
Wow -- it's true that relatives throw out some things belonging to their deceased elders. Hard to believe they didn't care for the story behind this. Or maybe they didn't know about it? Anyway, it's great that you have the scan, and know the story.
Oh, they threw away a lot of things. I wasn't really privy to it all because we weren't/aren't on very good terms (estate issues, of course). I have some things that my avaricious sister-in-law would just about kill to have, if she knew about them, and they have a few items I'd like to have. However, "never the twain shall meet". As my wife said, if they can live with it, we can live without it.
