“CARMEN : Bizet
Original Air Date: 03/15/1941
Cast: Pelletier; Swarthout, Kullman, Albanese, Warren
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190530 Tags: Archive; 2018
This performance is on MOoD. Swarthout was certainly a media creation of the 30s and 40s and lasted into the 50s as an occasional panelist on What’s my line? When I was first listening to older generation singers, I kept hearing from friends that she had a glamorous reputation (she’s in 5 Paramount films). Whatever the appeal then, my ears never heard much.
Albanese and Warren are heard in less familiar roles. Warren does not do Escamillo after 1944, and Albanese has no Met Micaelas after 1949. There are many Met performances from the 40s more deserving than this one, but it has its curiosities.”