An American Classic

'If I had to choose the four greatest voices I've heard, I would list Thomas along with Caruso, Ponselle and Pinza,' said Frank Chapman in Opera News in 1961.

For decades, John Charles Thomas was the most popular singer in America. A rare singer who could sing 'Boots and Saddles' and Beethoven's In Questa Tomba Oscura with equal aplomb, Thomas had a voice as rich as a cello, the physique of an athlete, and natural charm. He achieved enormous popularity as a matinee idol before achieving success as a concert artist and operatic star. But the stage and radio were only parts of a romantically active life. John Charles Thomas loved automobiles, raced hydroplanes, played a mean game of golf, raised chickens and champion hogs, and was famous for his spaghetti sauce.

This sometimes wild, always entertaining, larger-than-life figure was born in Pennsylvania in 1891. His preacher father was a Welsh coal-miner's son and his mother the daughter of German immigrants. Both parents had extraordinary voices and 'Mother Thomas' (as she was known) became John Charles' first singing teacher. He entered medical school in Baltimore, supporting himself as a soloist and church musician. A fellow church musician suggested that he audition for the prestigious Eaton Scholarship at the 'Peabody Conservatory of Music.' Thomas won the competition but was immediately faced with having to make the choice between medicine and music. Pulling out a coin, he called 'heads for music, tails for medicine' - and music it was! He began his studies at the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Blanche Sylvana Blackman and Dutch baritone Adelin Fermin, who became Thomas' mentor and life-long friend.

In 1912 Thomas auditioned successfully for the part of Passion in George W. Chadwick's Everywoman for a 70 week tour. This period set off the meteoric rise in Thomas' career. His engaging personality, robust good looks, and splendid voice quickly won him an adoring public. Thomas made his Broadway debut in The Passing Show of 1913. He played the part of Franz Schubert in Fritz Kreisler's Apple Blossoms in 1919, a role he would come back to late in his career, and sang in Jacobi's The Love Letter at the Globe Theatre in 1921. He became good friends with the brother and sister dancing team who appeared with him in these last two shows, Fred and Adele Astaire, who were just beginning to make their way to the top. By the start of the Roaring Twenties, Thomas had become Broadway's leading matinee idol, commanding astronomical salaries with his name emblazoned on Broadway marquees in letters two feet high.

Thomas, growing weary of performing the same music day after day, turned his back on Broadway to pursue a career on the concert stage. He made his concert debut in New York winning high praise from critics. In 1922, he went to Europe and made his London debut with Tetrazzini. 1924 was a banner year for John Charles Thomas: on the eve of President Coolidge's inauguration, he made his operatic debut in Washington as Amonasro in Aida, made his Carnegie Hall debut and then sailed to Europe to work on his operatic repertoire. After auditioning at the Royal Opera in Brussels at the urging of Adelin Fermin, Thomas was engaged to sing all the principal baritone roles. He proved such a success that his contract was extended for fifteen roles over three seasons, including the world premiere performance of Milhaud's Les Malheurs d'Orphée and the Brussels' premieres of Salome and Returning to America, John Charles Thomas devoted his time to concerts and sang leading roles for opera companies in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. His debut with the Chicago Opera as Tonio in their 1930 production of Pagliacci was a resounding success, causing the biggest demonstration at the house since the debut of Galli-Curci. Thomas made his Metropolitan debut in 1934 as Germont in La Traviata with Rosa Ponselle. That same year he was made a Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy. For the next decade, Thomas' career was at its peak. In addition to his opera performances and frequent radio broadcasts, he sang over seventy recitals a year in towns and cities all across the country, touring nine months out of each year.

A milestone in Thomas' career was the series of 'Five Song Recitals' at New York's Town Hall opening in 1939 with a programme of French vocal literature. A second recital was devoted to songs of the British Isles and early in 1940, Thomas sang a recital of Italian art songs. His fourth programme, just two weeks later, consisted entirely of German Lieder. The series concluded in March with works by American composers. A Texas cowboy song, arranged by David Guion, receiving its New York premiere, brought a surprisingly enthusiastic response from the audience. Sung in broad prairie dialect, Home on the Range became a John Charles Thomas standard. Robert Lawrence, critic for the New York Herald Tribune, wrote that 'John Charles Thomas scored one of his greatest triumphs.'

At the start of John Charles Thomas' career, the recording industry was in its infancy and commercial radio broadcasting was still on the horizon. The growth of his career coincided with the coming of age of these powerful industries. Thomas began recording for the Edison Company and Rex Records in 1914. In 1931, he began his long and successful association with RCA Victor's prestigious Red Seal Records. Victor had succeeded in becoming as pre-eminent among phonographs as the Steinway was among pianos. The Red Seal records were reserved for the aristocracy of the musical world (no 'popular' artists were recorded on the label). They were expensive - selling for a staggering $3.00 in 1910 when you could get a first class meal for a dollar. A collection of Red Seal recordings established one as a person of both taste and property.

As an already established radio singer, Thomas began broadcasting for the fledgling National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in 1927. Songs recorded by Thomas or sung live on the airwaves immediately made their way into the mainstream of American popular cultural (a fact not lost on the composers who sent him their compositions). John Charles Thomas' long recording and broadcasting career made him a favourite in homes across the country. He saw radio and the recording industry to maturity, and, in the process, won the hearts of ordinary Americans who had never entered an opera house or a concert hall.

Thomas' involvement in radio and his career at the Metropolitan involved a delicate balancing act. During the first two months of 1943, Thomas sang seven performances with the Metropolitan starting with Faust in January, then Giving up Grand Opera did not mean giving up music. During the 1947-48 season, Thomas took on a 40,000 mile concert tour to sing in 110 concerts throughout the United States in addition to a triumphant twelve week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Theatres sold out weeks in advance and additional concerts were scheduled in town after town. In the days before commercial flying made transversing the country an everyday occurrence, touring was a gruelling business that meant hours aboard transcontinental trains and weeks aboard ships. One of Thomas' managers complained of sleeping in a Pullman berth for 54 consecutive nights. For Thomas, the rigours of touring were balanced by the excitement of capacity audiences and standing ovations in city after city. His last big concert tour, the 1952-53 season, was accomplished in high style, travelling to 50 cities across the continent in a private railroad car.

When John Charles Thomas died, he left no insurance and only about $1.000 in cash. Thomas had lived a millionaire's life, with a lavish wine cellar, fine clothes and expensive cars. He quite literally 'lived it up.' Sadly, John Charles Thomas, a name once a household word, is largely unknown to people born after World War II. As appealing as Thomas' voice is to so many listeners, both his voice and his reputation have always been controversial. For purists, his repertoire lapsed too readily into sentimental and popular songs for it to be ranked among authentic operatic voices. For such critics, the unforgivable incident may have been when Thomas stepped forward for a curtain call at a Chicago Opera performance and sang Home on the Range for the audience. Thomas' broad repertoire reflected both his convictions about music and the commercial realities of classical music in the 1930s. After 1930, the market for records was almost swallowed up by the infant radio. The operatic stars of the 20s (Ponselle, Martinelli, Gigli and de Luca), almost vanished from the RCA catalogue. In ten years, RCA released only a dozen classical arias by Thomas. Today, or even in the 50s Thomas would be represented in full length recordings from the French and Italian operatic repertoire, perhaps in oratorios, lieder, art songs, and certainly in popular songs. It simply wasn't possible in the 30s and 40s.

Critics of Thomas' repertoire overlook his importance as a patron of American composers. The 1930s and 40s were the golden age of song writing with Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and many others pouring out popular and enduring songs. Some of the finest 20th century American poetry, including lyrics by Langston Hughes, Carl Sandberg, Walt Whitman and Joyce Kilmer, was set to music for him. Their poems were generally life-affirming and buoyant, ideally suited to Thomas' style and his extraordinary sense of fun. Many songs introduced by Thomas, including Home on the Range and The Lord's Prayer, remain familiar to audiences today.

While other singers of his generation made their reputation on the operatic and concert stage, and a few found fame in Hollywood, none achieved the broad popularity in grand opera, concert, light opera, radio and recordings as did Thomas. This much-loved virtuoso was possessed of a special gift: men and women, rich and poor, the cultured urban dweller or the farmer in the fields, could see in John Charles Thomas something of themselves. The things he liked to do were the things that most people liked doing - playing golf, going to baseball games, boating, fishing and telling a good story. Thomas not only dreamed about these things, he actually lived them, and lived them superbly.