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| The front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 18, 1931 |
It's been a long time since one of Hillsborough's hometown girls appeared on the front page of every daily newspaper in the United States - seventy-eight years, to be precise. On July 18, 1931, the national media reported the marriage of South Branch native and former Metropolitan Opera soprano Anna Case to telegraph tycoon Clarence H. Mackay.
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| Photo from the Muncie Post Democrat July 31, 1931 |
At the time of her marriage to C.H. Mackay, Anna had risen from shooing flies in her father's blacksmith shop, to earning money for clothes by driving passengers to and from the train station in a horse cart for 25 cents per trip, to singing in the South Branch Reformed Church choir, to appearing on stage as a member of the Metropolitan Opera.
Along the way, she found the time to date Enrico Caruso, record for Thomas Edison, become one of the 20th century's foremost concert performers, and even make one of the first sound movies.
There is much more to learn about Anna Case. I am hoping one of my readers - perhaps a longtime Hillsborough or South Branch resident - will be able to give me more info. Please leave a comment on this blog.
I do not know much about Anna except that she was my father's cousin. He often talked about her, and we would go past her house in South Branch. I never realized that she was this famous. Too bad my father never took the time to visit her.
ReplyDeleteRoy Fisher/roy_fisher2000@yahoo.com