Opening Night at La Scala

December 13, 2012 4:06 PM

GlamourFilter: Opening Night at La Scala. Pictures from La Scala's opening nights, dating through the fifties and sixties. (Main story here, slideshow here, those links in Italian, but easy enough to figure out for non-speakers.) Pictures of Callas, Toscanini, Princess Grace, Dick and Liz, and many more, all looking impossibly fab and glamourous. (Via the always informative and entertaining Opera Chic.)
posted by Capt. Renault (10 comments total)

How impossibly, gloriously lovely. Thank you, Capt. Renault!
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:15 PM on December 13, 2012

Lovely. Don't trust the dates, though. Guido Cantelli was not alive in 1957.
posted by in278s at 4:21 PM on December 13, 2012

How did the ladies sit in a theater chair wearing those large skirts?
posted by Cranberry at 4:33 PM on December 13, 2012

I mostly came for the Grace Kelly and it looks like everyone else did, too.

(A beautiful set, overall.)
posted by weeyin at 5:08 PM on December 13, 2012

Well it's not always fab and glamorous. As I previously noted on Mefi, Rachele Gilmore went from her stunning Met debut to La Scala in the same role, with a very different wardrobe. I suppose some might consider this glamorous.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:19 PM on December 13, 2012

Bonus - we get to view them on an Etch-A-Sketch.
posted by davebush at 7:03 PM on December 13, 2012

Lovely to see such glamorous people. I was also pleased to see that many of the ladies had folded back the hand of their glove, presumably for eating, drinking or smoking. It's a pet peeve of mine to see women in movies drinking or eating with their gloved hands, as that was considered poor glove etiquette.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 8:26 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Mama mia! Where are the Google translation links? Momma, how come you talk like that, you no Italian!
posted by Twang at 11:26 PM on December 13, 2012

How did the ladies sit in a theater chair wearing those large skirts?

Those ladies would probably all be sitting in the boxes, which have separate chairs that can be moved around. Probably the lesser beings accompanying them had to squash their chairs towards the back of the box.
posted by Azara at 7:13 AM on December 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

You're not fooling me, you're just doing this to impress Pallas Athena.
posted by speedlime at 11:10 AM on December 14, 2012 [4 favorites]