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SECRET inSPIRHTIDn
ANNIE RYAN was mad. From the top of her snow white head to the tip of her square-toed shoes she was genuinely angry! Annie had a right to be. Someone had told a lie about her relationship with Carmela Ponselle. Annie Ryan, according to the story surreptitiously passed around, was being supported by Carmela!
That story is not true. In order to keep a promise, that sentence must be repeated. It is not true! Since early childhood Annie has been taking care of herself. Herself — and others. If there were more people in the world like Annie Ryan, you would be listening to a great many voices as fine as that of Carmela Ponselle's. Annie Ryan is the fighting little lady who discovered, developed, and as she states — with the help of God — gave you the voice of Carmela Ponselle.
It wasn't an easy job. During those early years there were always a couple of stray black clouds hovering over
Carmela sings on Broadway Varieties, the BIsodof show, turn to page 53.
BY JACK SHER
'6* «J
head — but let's fade into the past, and live it all over again with Annie and Carmela. Let's go back to Carmela's choir days.
We'll skip the dates. They aren't really necessary, and opera stars are sometimes forgetful when it comes to remembering the day or year something happened.
Quite a few years ago, in the little town of Meriden, Connecticut, in the church of the Sacred Heart, Annie Ryan was putting the girls' choir through its weekly paces. It was a hot, sultry day. Twenty noses tilted towards the rafters; twenty voices sang wholeheartedly, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow." Annie pumped away at the church organ, pausing now and then to wipe the perspiration from her brow with a large, silk handkerchief.
Suddenly she stopped and, sliding from the stool of the organ, called out:
"Where is that voice coming from?"
The singing broke off sharply. None of the girls said anything. Annie walked back and forth peering intently at each face.
"Well," she demanded again, but more gently, "whose voice is that carrying above the others?"
Still no answer. Annie resumed her position at the organ.
"When I raise my hand," she instructed, "I want you all to stop singing."
The girls began again from the point where they had been interrupted and Annie started banging away once more. A few minutes later, she held up her hand. The voices halted abruptly. Annie {Continued on page 84)
HOW A FIGHTING IRISH
WOMAN'S BELIEF IN GOD
AND CARMELA'S FUTURE
SWEPT AWAY EVERY OB
STACLE TO HER SUCCESS
In the circle, Annie Ryan, who found Carmela when she sang as a girl in her early teens in a little Connecticut church. It was Annie who brought Carmela to New York, got her lessons, and wrote her the letters which gave the singer courage to continue.