Upset!! I should say so!! He came on stage, right at the start of Act II, dressed up as Alfredo, and by rights, ready to launch into a spirited rendition of De' miei bollenti spiriti.

Well, much to the surprise and dismay of Vienna's finest society, he stops mid-stride, has some sort of petit mal, turns to the audience and starts belting out "Hard Times, Come Again No mOre". I tell ya, it was a major scandal!!

They ran him out of town, and he had to take the boat-train to England that night, and from there the packet ship to New York, and finally ended up in a small cottage in the woods outside Manchester, New Hampshire, where it took him several weeks to recuperate.

Then he was struck with inspiration, and started earning his living doing Steven Foster recitals and, as I say, won the heart of American families everywhere.


A