December 02
Anna Maria Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou's Birthday
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| Maria's father, a Greek US immigrant
shortened their surname to "Callas" which was a common practice
with many immigrants at that time to Americanize their names. When Maria's mother realized that her
tiny daughter was musically talented, she began to force Maria to practice
singing. Callas would later recall, "I was made to sing when I was only
five, and I hated it." Her mother left her father and moved back to Greece with Maria and her sister causing a further strain between Maria and her mother. Maria later recalled, "My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a cruel thing to make a child feel ugly and unwanted... I'll never forgive her for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was mostly good and everything they did to me was mostly bad." Maria's mother continued to pressure her to study opera in Athens and soon Maria began appearing in secondary roles at the Greek National Opera. But she decided return to the United States in 1945 to be with her with her father . That year she auditioned for Metropolitan Opera. They offered her Madama Butterfly and Fidelio to be performed in Philadelphia and sung in English, both of which she declined, feeling she was too fat for Butterfly and did not want to sing either opera in English. Maria's superstar career was launched in Venice in 1949 in an operatic version of the musical 42 Street when another soprano engaged to play Elvira in I Puritani became ill, and Maria took over the role and created a sensation Although some critics called her voice imperfect, she had an extraordinary range and stage presence. These talents and her flamboyant and demanding personality soon made her an international celebrity. Maria lost an enormous amount of weight midway in her career, transforming herself from a fat soprano into a svelte and glamorous woman. Her dramatic weight loss was apparently the result of tapeworms. There were rumors that she swallowed them intentionally (tapeworms were marketed as diet aids in the United States early in the early part of the century). Whether they resulted from her passion for raw meat (tartars) or she swallowed them intentionally, she lost an estimated 80 pounds. Her personal life soon began to overshadow her professional life. During the late 1950s, she had an affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Onassis eventually divorced his wife, but married Jacqueline Kennedy although he also remained involved with Maria. Her voice became strained and a series of high-profile cancellations followed. Although she returned briefly to perform at the Met between 1964 and 1965, she had lost her status as one of the reigning great divas. However, her recordings when she was in her prime continue to make her a top-selling opera star more than thirty years after her death in 1967. So let's celebrate Maria's birthday with a kid's treat (and Maria's diet secret) and watch Fanny Ardant's brilliant recreation of her in Callas Forever (2002). This is a dessert that most kids, usually boys, really enjoy and often brag about to their friends. |
Worms in Dirt
| 1 16-ounce
package Oreo type cookies 2 cups cold milk 1 package small chocolate instant Pudding |
1 tub (8 oz) whipped
topping, thawed slightly individual serving cups Gummy worms |
Instructions
1. Crush cookies in zipper-style plastic bag with rolling pin or in food
processor.
2. Pour cold milk into large bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2
minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.
Stir in whipped topping and 1/2 of the crushed cookies.
3. Place about 1 tablespoon crushed cookies into each cup. Fill cups about
3/4 full with pudding mixture.
Top with remaining crushed cookies.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with gummy worms just before
serving.
Yields about 8 servings