Fortune Thomas Gallo (May 9, 1878 – March 28, 1970) (born Fortunato Gallo) was an Italian-born

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...

. Gallo was owner and General Manager of the traveling San Carlo Opera Company from 1913 until its disbandment in the late 1950s.

Biography

He was born on May 9, 1878 at

Torremaggiore Torremaggiore is a town, '' comune'' (municipality) and former seat of a bishopric, in the province of Foggia in the Apulia (in Italian: ''Puglia''), region of southeast Italy. It lies on a hill, over the sea, and is famous for production of w ...

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, a little town in the province of

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

, to Zelinda Accetturo and Tommaso Gallo. He had two sisters, Antonia and Marianna and two brothers, Giuseppe and Giovanni, who became Italian army officers. His childhood was spent at

, where he became involved with music and musicians, especially the " Banda Rossa," which would prove of importance later in his life. In 1895, aboard the vessel "

Werra The Werra (), a river in central Germany, is the right-bank headwater of the Weser. "Weser" is a synonym in an old dialect of German. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After the Werra joins the river Fulda in the ...

," Gallo immigrated to the United States. He worked as a clerk in an Italian bank on Mulberry Street in

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. From that base it appears Gallo became involved in politics on the local level, amassing contacts and influence within the Italian community. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century the "Banda Rosa" was engaged to play in America. Emanating from this situation was the acquaintance of Gallo with Channing Ellery, a patron of music, that led to Gallo's work as an advance man from Ellery's band. By 1910 Gallo had also become manager of another band, operated by Giuseppe Creatore. That same year he rescued an Italian opera company led by Mario Lombardi that was stranded in St. Louis, Missouri by bringing them to New York City and untangling the company's financial difficulties, ultimately assuming its management in December, 1913, and renaming it the San Carlo Opera Company. The company fared well, and in 1927 Gallo built the Gallo Opera House on West 54th Street in

which would become

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater w ...

He not only toured the

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, and

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with San Carlo, but in addition, managed Anna Pavlova's ballet company, as well as other troupes. In 1929 Gallo produced the first full-length sound movie of an opera, Leoncavallo's "

I Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who ...

". Furthermore, he managed the

Chicago Opera Company The Chicago Opera Company was a grand opera company in Chicago, organized from the remaining assets of the bankrupt Chicago City Opera Company, that produced six seasons of opera at the Civic Opera House from 1940 to 1946 (excluding 1943). Arti ...

in the early 1940s. Fortune Gallo's managerial abilities were lauded because he made opera "pay". Numerous periodical articles described Gallo's skills, with one portraying his as having produced opera for the "masses and not the classes". The impresario, often labeled the "cut rate opera king," financed and toured with the San Carlo for over forty-five years. He died on March 28, 1970 in

Personal

On May 4, 1912 Gallo married

Sofia Charlebois Sofia Charlebois (May 11, 1887 – October 13, 1948), also seen as Sophie Charlebois, Sophie Charlotte Wood, and from 1912 as Sofia Charlebois Gallo, was an American lyric soprano opera singer. Early life Sophie Charlotte Wood was born in San F ...

, an American lyric soprano in the San Carlo company. She died in 1948.

Sources

Fortune, 1878-1970, Papers''
last retrieved September 1, 2007 * Gallo, Fortune, "Lucky Rooster," Exposition Press, New York, 1967.
San Carlo Opera Founder, Fortune Gallo, Dead at 91, The Palm Beach Post - Mar 30, 1970

External links

Fortune Gallo Ballet Russe business letters 1940-1942.
Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallo, Fortune 1878 births 1970 deaths Impresarios Opera managers