ABSTRACT
A restaurant located in the Italian section of Philadelphia (1303 Dickinson St.), opened in 1933 by John Di Stefano, a former Victor record dealer. He played opera records during meals, attracting a distinguished clientele of recording artists from the Victor studios in neighboring Camden, New Jersey: Giovanni Martinelli, Giuseppe De Luca, Titta Ruffo, Beniamino Gigli, Ezio Pinza, and many others. Upon the death of Di Stefano in 1954, the business was continued by his son Henry (who died in 1986). Another son, Armand, also contributed an hour of weekly operatic records-from the family collection of 30,000 discs-to a Philadelphia radio station until his death in 1989. The custom of having waiters and waitresses sing operatic numbers created a delightful atmosphere in the establishment. Mario Lanza was one of those earnest vocalists. [A photo of the Cafe is in TWR #17 (August 1972).]
A female vocal ensemble that recorded briefly for Victor ca. 1915, and was quickly set aside (no records in the 1917 catalog). Members were probably Elizabeth Wheeler, Olive Kline, Elsie Baker, and Marguerite Dunlap. [Walsh 1961/10.]
An ensemble created ca. 1909 to record operettas and Broadway musicals. By the time of the 1917 catalog it was named the Victor Opera Co. A long list of excerpts appeared in that catalog, from nearly 80 stage works, some grand operas among them. Membership varied, but included at one time or another many of the leading Victor artists, e.g., Reinald Werrenrath, S.H. Dudley, Elsie Baker, John Bieling, Steve Porter, Elise Stevenson, Harry Macdonough, Ada Jones, Billy Murray, Olive Kline, and William F. Hooley. Members of the Lyric and Orpheus Quartets, and of the Revelers, were often the basis for the company’s recordings. The group was still in the catalog in 1940 (as the Victor Light Opera Co. again), but with a reduced list of discs.
