The Popular Ezio Pinza

There was a time when Ezio Pinza was possibly the most famous opera singer in the world, but it was after he quit singing on the opera stage.

After Pinza retired from the Met in 1947, he almost immediately was cast as Emile de Becque, one of the leads in the new Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific. The play was a huge hit, Pinza won a Tony Award for best actor in a musical, and Columbia's original cast album sold in large numbers, not the least because of Pinza's sonorous bass voice and his passionate rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening."

Hollywood soon came calling. Pinza had already appeared in the 1947 classical farrago Carnegie Hall, but now he was to become a leading man. The first film to be released was Strictly Dishonorable, based on a Preston Sturges play. Pinza plays to type as an amorous opera star, and Janet Leigh as a music student who is smitten with him.

Pinza in Faust

There is no soundtrack album from Strictly Dishonorable, but this RCA Victor 10-inch LP from 1951 includes an aria from Gounod's Faust that Pinza sings in the film, although this is not the same version. Otherwise, the LP is split down the middle between Pinza's operatic repertoire and pop songs. He is in fine voice for all, but is more comfortable with the operatic material. His phrasing in the pop songs is foursquare, and he sounds under rehearsed. Only in "The Way You Look Tonight" does he go below the surface, and in that he captures some of the ardor that made him so magnetic in South Pacific.

Pinza and Bidu Sayão in The Marriage of Figaro

When Hollywood came to call, so did Madison Avenue and American television. Pinza appeared in a variety of ads at this time, including the 1951 cigarette ad below. He also began appearing on TV that year, and did so almost up until his 1957 death.

Following Strictly Dishonorable, Pinza's movie career continued with Mr. Imperium, also in 1951, and Tonight We Sing! in 1953. This blog has previously presented the Tonight We Sing! soundtrack as well as a Pinza recital, both of which can be found here. And we have the Mr. Imperium LP coming up soon.

I should add that the sound on the LP at hand is quite good, and so is the quality of the various accompaniments. The classical items are led by Erich Leinsdorf; the others by Norman Leyden and Johnny Green.

Note (May 2024): this album has now been remastered in ambient stereo and has even better sound.

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Ad in Life magazine, 1951