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ushered us in the dining room then began to serve us drinks from a rolling bar.

The game plan was to get us loosened up by plying us of with 50 year old libations which were not served at the Theresa bar. And when they thought we were well oiled in walked a Mr. Chotvinoff, the man who was to present an opera on TV the following January 7.

But before we got to his proposal, our conversation was about Menotti and his not hiring a Black for the role of Casper. We were told that a Black was not hired because Mr. Menotti could not find a competent Black to sing the role that year. My whiskey told me to call the producer a liar and after doing this I asked if I could make a phone call and when they brought me a phone, I made a long distance call to Larry Whisonot in Detroit, a fraternity brother of mine who sang professionally under the name of Larry Winters.

I got Larry at home and asked him one question "Larry, did you ever sing the role of Casper in Amahl and the night visitors" and the answer was sure, I sang it at Kamaru house in Cleveland for a fellow named Gian Carlo Menotti and I was never paid for the performance.

Well when I asked the folks in the room if they wanted to speak to Mr. Winters, they declined. I was asked to hang up the phone because they wanted me to listen to a proposition they were contemplating.

We were then told that on a Sunday in January, NBC planned to broadcast the opera "Tosca" on TV and their plans called for hiring a Negro singer named Leontyne Price to sing the title role. We were asked if they hired Leontyne would we desist with our attacks on them for not having a Negro in "Amahl". I did not remember who Leontyne Price was but we consented to go along when they said that Leontyne was the best Negro singer with great promise that they could hire for the role, and this my friends was how Ms. Price got that performance. (1955)

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[[caption]] OF THESE HARLEMITES? [[/caption]]

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