Enrico Caruso

When I was 11 years old, I started working at The Bayview Street Cinema in Camden, Maine. At that time the theater mostly did film revivals. Video stores were just beginning their "Golden Age", which put a large dent in the need for such "Revival Film Theaters". People wanted to watch their foriegn and classic films at home instead of in an old former car storage building. One of the first films to play there after I started working was Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" (1982). We usually had a film for one week 2 shows a night. This film was so long, we only had 1 show a night. I watched it 7 times. Of course, I always missed the first few minutes because I was selling tickets and popcorn. It wasn't until years later that I saw the beginning of the film, with Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinal hustling ass to see Enrico Caruso live. Enrico Caruso was prominently featured in the music score, which got me into liking that sort of thing. I have a recording of Enrico that was recorded in 1916 that was NOT in the film. However I took the liberty of providing an audio clip from the English dub of the film. Enrico Caruso sings Giordano (2.9 MB) "To Fitzcarraldo, Conquistador of the Useless..." (3 MB)