The Opera League of Los Angeles Inside Opera

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INSIDE OPERA – VOLUME 2 NUMBER 3

Super Sam

The headlines evoke memories:

“A winning operatic combo: Domingo conducts … Sokolow supers.”

“Götz Friedrich directs Sokolow in Fidelio”

“Theodore Bikel and Sam Sokolow exchange Yiddish songs while performing in Ariadne”

With Maestro Domingo in 1993 - La Boheme With Theodore Bikel in 1992 – Ariadne

The headlines (and their corresponding write-ups) are homemade, of course, delightful mementos of Sam Sokolow’s career with LAO as a supernumerary, one that extended from Otello in 1989 (where he doubled as both a sailor and a Cypriot) to that of a “grumpy grandpa” in the wedding party of the 1996 production of Pagliacci. All told, Sam was credited with fifteen roles as a “super” over these seven years.

For many of us, these were the years wherein we first got to know Sam Sokolow, and his career as a super soon affected his day-to-day appearance. Sam had always been clean-shaven until he grew a beard for his role as a Grandee in the Los Angeles Music Center Opera’s production of Don Carlo in 1990. He liked the way he looked with a beard and so kept it as a permanent appendage.

There was a brief interruption in Sam's bearded appearance in 1991, and it also followed from his supernumerary career: The Stage Director for Don Giovanni, Karen Stone, and Sam had an “artistic difference”, the focal point of this difference being the issue of the suitability of Sam’s new beard for his role in the opera: ‘Pulling rank’, Ms. Stone prevailed in her opinion in that Sam should have a smooth face for his role as a Guest Artist in Don Giovanni, or, as the column lead from the scrapbook reads, “With friendly, firm persuasion, Stone turns Sokolow into clean-shaven, minuet-dancing aristocrat.”

Grandee in Don Carlo, 1990 Guest Artist in Don Giovanni, 1991

Although often cast into what one could call cameo roles in operas (his appearance as a prisoner in Elektra lasted all of forty-nine seconds), he occasionally was given the freedom to do some actual acting. One such instance was his role as the Major Domo in Don Pasquale. In the scene where his salary is doubled, Sam fainted ‘dead away’ with the proximate aid of two other servants preventing him from falling to the floor.

Recently we were privileged to visit with Sam Sokolow at his home in Encino. A tour of his home is a trip into the world and history of opera: the doors leading to his work area are covered with collages of photos of singers; the closets contain some clothes, but more significantly, hundreds of operatic videos; his garage is a treasure store of large-format posters and photographs. A discussion with Sam on matters of musical history is a multifaceted “trip”

Just One Wall of Sam's Garage

Each of our respective life’s journey may seem long at times, but Sam’s journey has been especially long and marked with more than the average person’s accumulation of eclectic careers. Born in 1920 in Surazh, in (what is now) the Republic of Belarus, about 120 miles from Chernobyl. Sam’s family emigrated, first to Argentina, where they lived for thirteen years, and then to the United States. Many years later, Sam still retained sufficient fluency in Spanish to facilitate conversation with Maestro Domingo.

His ‘Salad Days’ include driving a truck for an uncle, working in the San Francisco Shipyard and being a draftsman in the aerospace industry. Going from there, serendipity and the willingness to seize the opportunity to cite a UCLA course in Political Economy as a sufficient basis for a job in System Planning and Economics for the Southern California Gas Company, led to (what turned out to be) a career management position.

Given the community's cultural circumstances available to him in the late thirties and early 1940’s, Sam availed himself of the opportunities to usher at Southland venues and to work as a super for local and visiting opera companies.

Names are dropped in conversation, and they are, indeed, most impressive names. A fellow usher, while both were students at UCLA, was George Bernstein --- later known as George London. A regular at the old Biltmore Theatre was Clark Gable, and the vision of actress Hedy Lamarr, statuesque in a simple black dress on the stairway at intermission at the Philharmonic Auditorium, remains fresh in the mind.

Much as Opera League volunteers at the League Boutique get to purchase Rush tickets (given availability) to performances for which they are working, ushers at the old Biltmore could watch the show on nights that they worked --- the goal being, of course, to get oneself scheduled for the most desirable performances.

Sam confesses to once coveting the chance to view Helen Hayes (along with Vincent Price) in Victoria Regina so much that he, after being left off of the work roster for the performance, hit upon what he thought to be a way around his dilemma: He would go to the theater very early, hide out in a corner of the Men’s Room and, when the situation allowed, go out and watch the show. Sam, proceeding to plan, arrived two hours early, opened the door to Men’s Room, …….. and there he found a dozen like-minded, off-duty ushers, already in place and implementing an identical plan!

Sam credits his participation in the Great Books Discussion Program as developing his speaking and reasoning ability. When LAO began its first Speakers Bureau training program in 1994, Sam was a member of this inaugural class and immediately commenced to speak on behalf of LAO to schools, civic groups, and Opera League Regional Gatherings.

With the passing of the years, Sam has, just as we all must, adapted to his physical constraints. [There are tennis trophies are on the wall, but the racquet has been put away.] So, adapting, the playing field now includes PCs, downloading attachments, VCRs, plus and minus R DVDs, Netflix, YouTube, file sharing, and the latest techniques for dubbing and pushing against the envelope of protection designed by the engineers at Deutsche Gramophone.

But the end result remains the same: the enjoyment and sharing of great musical theater. Right now, Sam is a regular speaker at one of the local chapters of the SAGE Society, a learning-in-retirement organization for retired and semiretired seniors interested in intellectual and cultural stimulation, operating under the auspices of the College of Extended Learning at Cal State Northridge. His format for his two-hour presentations is to begin with a one-hour video/talk based upon an opera and then to give a like amount of time to a video collage of selected clips from American musical theater, drawing upon film, video, and archival television material …… a labor of love, if ever there was one.

Sam had just finished putting the finishing touches on the custom video for July’s presentation when we talk. He tempts us with a preview: “Did you know that Christopher Walken was a terrific dancer? Have you see him do Cole Porter’s ‘Let’s Misbehave’ in Pennies From Heaven? Unbelievable!”

Who can resist? And away we went: Soon there were the images and sounds of Alice Faye, George Gershwin, Sophie Tucker, Charles Laughton (doing a song and dance bit!), Paul Robeson, Sinatra and Lena Horne, Dooley Wilson, Ethel Merman ….. and on and on. It is no wonder that the audience size for Sam’s talks is approaching three figures.

Taking the month of August off, Sam is planning two talks for September. Information regarding these future talks may be obtained by contacting Sam via either E-mail: bandsopera@yahoo.com or via phone: (818) 881-3441

Relaxing: As a prisoner in Elektra in 1991 At his work station at home in 2007

The primary resources of our Opera League continue to lie with its members, and this is most especially true with our friend Sam Sokolow …… still Super in so many ways.

Acknowledgments:

1) The two photos from 2007 were taken by Bob Bernard

2) The remaining five photos were made available from the personal archives of Mr. Sokolow

INSIDE OPERA – VOLUME 2 NUMBER 2

Dressing for Success

Emi Wada's experience of Audrey Hepburn presenting her with an Oscar on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is forever implanted in her memory, it being a well-deserved citation for Best Costume Design for the 1985 Kurosawa film RAN.

Reflecting back a bit, Emi Wada’s memories of working with legendary motion picture director Akira Kurosawa still remain so very strong. Ms. Wada, Costume Designer for L’incoronazione di Poppea, will always remember two vignettes from the film Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, Yume.

There is the memory of the segment entitled, “Crows”, in which the viewer is immersed in the chaotic artwork of Vincent Van Gogh, climaxing with an explosive release of crows into a wheat field that, of course, brings to mind Van Gogh’s “Wheat Field with Crows” painting.

Van Gogh Kurosawa:YUME---"Crows"

Without resorting to computer manipulation of images, Kurosawa sought to capture a reasonable replication of the painting, however, crows being crows, multiple “takes” proved to be necessary. What's more, crows also being fast learners, it proved impossible to use any given crow more than once. That meant a fresh batch of 400 crows had to be captured for each succeeding “take”!

There is also the memory from the segment entitled, “The Peach Orchard” in which the dolls from a young girl’s collection ‘come to life’ on the terrace of a peach orchard. [Kurosawa once confided to Ms. Wada that the inspiration for this particular dream was Hinamatsuri, a young girls' festival in Japan that occurs annually on May 5.] A more prosaic film director would have cobbled together a set using wood framing, rollout sod, and potted plants …... Not Kurosawa: Just the “right” hillside was selected and graded, seeds planted, and allowed to grow …… There was six months preparation for a film shot that took but a single day.

Kurosawa:YUME---"The Peach Orchard"

Another facet of Ms. Wada’s style which was manifested in her work with Kurosawa is shown in the photo below from the film RAN , a project she worked on for three years.

FromKurosawa's RAN

In the above photo from RAN, an adaptation of King Lear, we see the three brothers garbed according to their most innate characteristics: red = betrayal; yellow = ambiguity; blue = honesty & gentility. The father is, at this point in the story, costumed in pure white, reinforcing his (then) innocence. As the story develops in the film, his clothing gradually assumes more yellows and reds.

The above examples, along with a necessary criterion when designing costumes for an opera, define the operative art of Emi Wada:

1) Perfection of Detail

2) Adherence to Realism

3) Coordination of Color with Character

4) Coordination of Costume Design with the Music.

The costumes for LAO’s Poppea cast are being newly made, while retaining the original concepts developed for the Netherlands Opera thirteen years ago. The redesign work that has been done has been to accommodate the original concepts to LAO’s cast. In accordance with Ms. Wada’s insistence on Perfection of Detail, the costumes had to be made from scratch, taking into account the fact that, in particular, several members of LAO’s cast are substantially taller than their predecessors, e.g., Susan Graham as Poppea and Christopher Gillette as Arnalta. Moreover, costume design, as defined by Emi Wada, means everything a singer/actor puts on: clothes, wig, makeup ..... If it covers you at all, Ms. Wada considers it to be part of your costume.

Doing the above made it possible to replicate the sculpted costume design, retaining the Coordination of costume design with the (Baroque style of) music

To meet Ms. Wada’s exacting standards, the basic working fabric was created from scratch, “scratch” in this instance being a particularized blend of cotton and paper that is then infused with Ms. Wada's custom coloration. To be sure, sometimes the Adherence to Realism is compromised just a bit when existing, available products and/or substances have just the right attributes: In the following photo from the prologue to Poppea we see the gods of Love and Fortune. Well, the cute, kinky-blue hair of Amore is made from off-the shelf, stretched-out Guangdong cleaning scourers for the kitchen sink, an item found in local Gardena markets (the more well-known, copper-colored scouring pads having the wrong hue for the hair of our God of Love), and the “feather” adorning Fortuna is actually a frond from a local variety of Pampas Grass.

Photo by MarcoBorggrave Guangdong Scourers

In parallel with her bringing LAO’s Poppea costumes ‘up to snuff’, Ms. Wada is readying the costumes for her MET debut: the world premiere in December of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor. Without us hearing a note of Mr. Dun’s score we already know that the music shall be more lustrous than any operatic score we have heard so far because Ms. Wada is having the basic costume fabric being made from a blend of silk and paper.

Because she is so down-to-earth, Ms. Wada is easy to get to know. At a time when it is SOP for Tokyo shop girls to show off their mortgaged Louis Vuitton handbags while commuting to work, Ms. Wada travels with ‘simply serviceable’ gear bought off-the-rack and made in China. “It is what is inside that matters,” is her good sense explanation. Her one functional travel "luxury" is a trio of watches worn on her arm and wrist, thus obviating any possibility of jet-lag confusing her arithmetic conversion from Tokyo to LA to New York City time.

Time on her hands (Photo: May Wong)

A look back at Ms. Wada’s unique origin, one totally different from any other young woman of her era, gives one insights and understanding as to the artist she has become.

A native of Kyoto, a city well-grounded in a tradition of culture, she was blessed with wealthy grandparents who provided her, when she was in her early teens, with a private tutor: Hisao Domoto, who influenced and abetted her interest in art, literature, and the theater. The family had a collection of works of western painting and furniture, and the family Steinway was played by both her father and her aunt, a professional pianist.

Her life-long fascination with color began at age ten. World War II had just ended and her grandfather was able to obtain for her copies of Life Magazine. In that publication she found an abundance of unusual (to her) colors, Revlon Cosmetics being just one example. Soon she was making her own color swatches, based upon these bits of magazine colors.

Now she is renowned for mixing and developing her own unique colors. One particular blend has been christened “Emi Blue”. It lies somewhere between turquoise and marine. At an exhibit of her collected costume works from film last year in Tokyo, thousands were rewarded with a souvenir sample of Emi Blue, while countless others were turned away because there was no room for them in the exhibit.

EmiBlue

She is seventy, and when asked to offer advice to the generation of artists to come she offered, “Read as much as you can from classical literature, including the Greek plays and Shakespeare.. Then use your imagination to express your creativity.”

As willing as she is to look forward on behalf of younger artists, she is even keener in anticipation of her own coming projects: What will she do after The First Emperor? …… To put a twist on the old joke about von Karajan stepping into a taxi and being asked, “Where to, Maestro?” ---- It doesn’t matter: She is wanted everywhere: three film and two opera offers are ‘on the table’ right now.

Which one will she choose?

“The one which I think is the greatest challenge,” was her reply.

This zest for living and for the personal stimulation it still gives to her career, stands out as the most striking quality of this remarkable woman, this remarkable artist.

Photo from Berlinale Talent Campus#3 Enjoying her first time on the Music CenterPlaza

Photo by Bob Bernard

INSIDE OPERA – VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

A Summer Divertissement

I first learned of British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham from Mr. Beasley, my seventh & eighth grade music teacher. One December, Mr. Beasley, clearly aware that the Beecham family fortune had its origin in a very successful patent medicine business and being perhaps just a bit tipsy from a holiday party, included the following little ditty, right along with the traditional Christmas Carols he normally scribbled on the blackboard for us to sing. Mr. Beasley attributed these short, simple lyrics to Sir Thomas:

"Hark the herald angels sing:

Beecham's Pills are just the thing

Peace on earth and mercy mild

Two for man, and one for child"

I have subsequently verified that, indeed, Sir Thomas was the lyricist, although several different versions of the above may be found on the Internet.

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879 - 1961) founded orchestras, trained them brilliantly, and spent his fortune (from the family's patent medicine business) in establishing opera in England and introducing great composers (Delius, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss) and artists (including the Russian Ballet) to British audiences. He was renowned for his brilliant, elegant conducting, and loved for his great wit. He was knighted and succeeded to the family baronecy in 1916.

Some time back, OPERA-L had a successful "thread" going for a while, the subject being, of course, quotes and anecdotes pertaining to Sir Thomas. Following is a partial collection of bits of humor from OPERA-L, as well as from other sources. Where possible, I have made appropriate attribution as to the source(s) of the quotes, etc.

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Sir Thomas Beecham while rehearsing for a performance of Messiah, stopped the proceedings and addressed the choir: "When we sing, 'All we like sheep have gone astray', might we, if you please, have a little more regret and a little less satisfaction?'"

"Try everything once, except incest and folk dancing."

Sir Malcolm Sargent, known in the British musical world as a rather "flashy" conductor at times, had acquired the nickname "Flash Harry."

On hearing that Sargent was due to conduct a series of concerts in Tokyo, Beecham commented: "I suppose we'll now have to call him 'Flash in Japan!"'

---- contributed by Artist Services Committee member John Welch

Belle Schulhof ran an artist's management firm in the 1940s and included Beecham, Ansermet, Stokowski, Ernst Dohnanyi, Barbirolli, Ferencsic, and many others.

Once when rehearsing Carmen at the Met with Alexander Sved as Escamillo, Beecham took Belle's husband, Andrew Schulhof (who like Sved was Hungarian), aside and said, "Mr. Schulhof, will you kindly tell your compatriot that he is not the bull, but the toreador?"

--- contributed by Enzo of OPERA-L

"The harpsichord sounds like two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof."

--- Harold Atkins and Archie Newman's Beecham Stories, 1978

When Beecham left England during WWII and stayed in America for the duration, some people questioned his patriotism. He deflected this criticism by saying: "My country declared a state of emergency .... and I emerged.

--- David Lewellen of OPERA-L

On first encountering Sir Thomas Beecham while preparing for a performance, Jon Vickers explained: I am not an English tenor.

To which the baronet replied: "Thank God!"

Beecham on Karajan: "A kind of musical Malcom Sargent"

Beecham on Bach: "Too much counterpoint. And what is worse, Protestant counterpoint"

"I am sure my dear sir, you will be the object of great interest" -- on being asked by Hitler in 1938 what the British would think if he were to visit London.

During recording sessions, Beecham was constantly regaling his musicians with stories while waiting for the next cue to record. One that plays with his reputation as a tippler:

"I was on a bus tour of the country once. I don't usually DO that sort of thing. The driver suddenly announced, 'We are now passing the oldest pub in Wales.' And I called out, 'WHY?'"

"The critical fraternity's members are quite hopeless. They are nothing but drooling, driveling, doleful, depressing. dropsical droops."

---- contributed by Martin Bernheimer

One day he was sitting in the lounge of the Langham Hotel opposite the BBC building when the famous music critic Neville Cardus entered. Seeing Sir Thomas, he walked over to him and during their conversation he told Cardus that he was leaving the next day for Helsinki to visit the composer Jean Sibelius. Two weeks later, they happened to meet again in the same place, when a surprised Cardus said to Beecham: "I thought you were going to Finland to see Sibelius?"

"My dear boy," replied the conductor, "I've been and come back. I had absolutely no intention of emigrating to those northern climes!"

--- contributed by Committee member John Welch

Beecham was conducting a rehearsal of Vaughn Williams' Third Symphony, The Pastoral. At the end of the last movement, he was still waving his baton after the final bars, whilst the orchestra was silent. One of his players stopped him and pointed out that the music had finished.

Sir Thomas looked at the score intently and replied, "So it has. Thank God for that!"

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"The British like any kind of music, so long as it is loud."

"A musicologist is a man who can read music, but can't hear it."

"The English may not like music, but they absolutely adore the noise it makes."

"Brass bands are all very well in their place ...... outdoors and several miles away."

"Have you heard any Stockhausen?" Beecham was asked.

"No, but I believe I have stepped in some."

A soprano in Massenet's Don Quixote complained that she had missed her entry in an aria, "because Mr. Challiapin always dies too soon."

"Madam, you must be profoundly in error," said Sir Thomas, "No operatic star has yet died half soon enough for me."

And, to bring this compendium to a close, we have this reminder that no one gets the upper hand all the time ..............................

Once in a while, Maestro Beecham received his comeuppance:

Visiting Fortnum and Mason's around 1950, Beecham ran into a middle-aged woman
whom he recognized but whose name he couldn't remember. After some
preliminaries about the weather, and desperately racking his memory, he asked how she was.

"Oh, very well, but my brother has been rather ill lately."

Beecham: "Ah, yes, your brother. I'm sorry to hear that. And, er, what is your brother doing at the moment?"

"Well ...... he's still King."

It was George VI's sister, the Princess Royal !! ........ Collapse of stout conductor.

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