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...annual convention last week in Detroit, Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalism fraternity, angrily asked the publisher of Webster's New International Dictionary to change its definition of the word "journalistic." Webster's definition: "characteristic of journalism or journalists; hence, of style, characterized by evidences of haste, superficiality of thought, inaccuracies of detail, colloquialisms and sensationalism." Cried Sigma Delta Chi: "A slander." Replied Dr. Everett Thompson, an editor of the dictionary: "We can't help" what people call journalists...
...Metropolitan Opera's Margaret Webster hoped "that the [opening night] audience will not look for anything especially startling or different in [our new] Aïda, for I don't think they will find it." That, as General Manager Rudolf Bing later remarked, was only because Margaret Webster had never seen Aïda before. To him, "it looks completely different-and I have seen it before...
Wobbling Sphinxes. To build the new production of Verdi's triumphal tragedy of the Nile, Bing had brought in the same crack team that gave Verdi's Don Carlo a new glow last season: Broadway's Maggie Webster and Designer Rolf Gerard. They soon found out what everyone from Bing to Conductor Fausto Cleva definitely did not want: "All those wobbling sphinxes, painted canvas temples, unrehearsed supers in ridiculous costumes, and four-footed beasts." They set out to make the new Aïda "as simple and uncluttered as possible...
Making up for her neglect of A'ida, Maggie Webster spent hours with score and libretto, and decided that there was more to it than mere heart-warming and blood-tingling melodrama-more than "Love, Jealousy and Sacrifice in capital letters." As in Don Carlo, she found in Aïda the "tragedy of individuals caught up in a conflict with the dictates of an autocracy." She also decided to start fresh with her stage direction, and not delve into the "encrustations of tradition...
...Shakespearean Webster hoped "that the shade of Verdi may be heard to murmur 'I have not been betrayed.' " A first-rate cast was listed to do its part: Veteran Soprano Zinka Milanov as Aiïa, Elena Nikolaidi as Amneris, new Italian Tenor Mario del Monaco as Radames and George London as Amonasro. Some first-nighters might even hear Verdi's shade murmur,"In better shape than...