# Link for Scan of an original Met Opera Program, 12 April 1952 (Parsifal)



## Bill H. (Dec 23, 2010)

I found this original program from the Met in a book I bought from an antique shop some years ago. It was total serendipity that the program was in there. 

Finally decided to make a digital scan of it before the rather embrittled paper completely fell apart!

This is for a Saturday matinee performance of Wagner's "Parsifal", featuring Hans Hotter, Hans Hopf, Jerome Hines, Margaret Harshaw, etc.

Besides the program info for the opera itself, the ads are a fun read. There's even an advert for the first release of the 1951 Knappertsbusch Bayreuth "Parsifal", as well as ones for Columbia, RCA Victor and Urania records, all with what we now consider to be historic casts. Then there's the cigarette and car ads, other Met performance schedules, etc.

I hope it's an enjoyable look back at the Met from times gone by.

The download link from my Google Drive account (about 32MB) is here:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2cyfqst6uqtekRTT2U1UkRVWWc

Bill H.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bill H. said:


> I found this original program from the Met in a book I bought from an antique shop some years ago. It was total serendipity that the program was in there.
> 
> Finally decided to make a digital scan of it before the rather embrittled paper completely fell apart!
> 
> ...


Thank you for sharing, that advert for smoking......


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I remember when advertisement for alcohol was banned and tobacco advertisement was legal. Nowadays it is the other way around. But here there are ads for both.
At least they used that money to stage operas unlike today's TV channels that use the money they get from Alcohol and Internet casino advertisement to make garbage.


----------



## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

How fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

Just Published: _Amahl and the Night Visitors_ Vocal Score for $3.50!

Also, they listed out Box Holders? Huh. I guess perhaps the modern equivalent is the list of donors?


----------



## Bill H. (Dec 23, 2010)

To me, the MOST astonishing aspect of this program is the spread of Met ticket prices, including evening performances....

$1.50 to an extravagent $7.50!


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bill H. said:


> To me, the MOST astonishing aspect of this program is the spread of Met ticket prices, including evening performances....
> 
> $1.50 to an extravagent $7.50!


The average salary was 3250 $ in 1950 so I would say rather affordable prices.
In Soviet Union on the other hand a ticket to the Bolshoi theatre was a smaller part of the average salary than a ticket to the cinema today.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Don't you love the cigarette ads?


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I am not, smoking is bad for your health.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I don't love cigarettes, just the ads. They're so quaint and funny, with all those smart, chic, fresh-faced women having no idea that cigarette smoke will wrinkle you like a prune if it doesn't kill you first.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I don't love cigarettes, just the ads. They're so quaint and funny, with all those smart, chic, fresh-faced women having no idea that cigarette smoke will wrinkle you like a prune if it doesn't kill you first.


In that case we agree, that's why I posted my first remark.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> I don't love cigarettes, just the ads. They're so quaint and funny, with all those smart, chic, fresh-faced women having no idea that cigarette smoke will wrinkle you like a prune if it doesn't kill you first.


Not just the ladies! Ronald Reagan enjoyed a puff now and then (as does Obama for that matter).


----------



## Bill H. (Dec 23, 2010)

I've posted this before, but here's an ad with Lauritz Melchior and a somwhat less-lethal consumer good, a Parker 51 fountain pen (a model that I use daily even now).....


----------



## Bill H. (Dec 23, 2010)

Another little bit of history buried in the list of Officers of the Metropolitan Opera Association at the time (opposite the advert for Urania Records)---look for the name Lewis L. Strauss, who made his mark as a proponent of nuclear power, becoming Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission under President Eisenhower. He was also (in)famous as being an adversary of atomic scientist Robert Oppenheimer, who had directed the Manhattan Project, and was responsible for Oppenheimer's fall from favor in the US Government.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I wonder how the reactions would have been today if The Metropolitan Opera staged only one opera that was over 100 years old.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sloe said:


> I wonder how the reactions would have been today if The Metropolitan Opera staged only one opera that was over 100 years old.


They tear the house down, as a matter op speaking.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Pugg said:


> They tear the house down, as a matter op speaking.


I think it would be fun for a change with a season full of operas from the thirties and forties. About the adds it can be said that while Chesterfield and Lucky Strike are rare in America nowadays they are still common in Europe. Especially Lucky Strike that comes in as many variations as Camel and Marlboro.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sloe said:


> I think it would be fun for a change with a season full of operas from the thirties and forties. About the adds it can be said that while Chesterfield and Lucky Strike are rare in America nowadays they are still common in Europe. Especially Lucky Strike that comes in as many variations as Camel and Marlboro.


Al least we would see decent staging performances.


----------

