Page 12 - TC Nov 2025

12 November 2025 NHTownCrier.com

PARKWAY DRUGS

One Call... One Company FREE Delivery to Your Door 7 Days a Week
FIRE • WATER • SMOKE • MOLD
NYS Licensed Mold Contractor PAY CABLE, PHONE, WATER, GAS/ELECTRIC BILLS, ATM MACHINE
38 Years In The Lead - All Work Guaranteed BUY STAMPS, PLAY LOTTO, MAKE COPIES
Water Extraction • Smoke, Soot & Odor Removal ALSO: BUY MONEY ORDERS & MAIL PACKAGES (at French Rd & Albany St Locations)
Emergency Board Ups • Structural Drying, Cleaning & Deodorizing
Moisture Detection • Biohazard Cleaning Locally Owned & Operated by the Femia & Chiffy Families
Since 1965
The Disaster Cleaning Specialist! All Calls Personally Answered
485 French Rd • “Big Lots Plaza” N. Utica • 1256 Albany St.
315-792-4669 315-624-9988 315-735-3525

Stanley Theatre Series

Mario Lanza (1921-1959)
Singer, Actor

Mario Lanza, Italian-American tenor and somewhat of a household name in the mid 20th century,
especially in Italian homes, was born January 31, 1921 in Philadelphia as Alfred Arnold Cocozza.
Known as Freddie, he was youthfully attracted to music, above all to operatic music having grown
up listening to his father’s recorded collection of great singers, mostly operatic. His voice qualities
were recognized in his mid-teens when he appeared in several YMCA opera company productions in
Philadelphia. When Freddie was age 21, conductor Serge Koussevitzky, considered his a voice heard
only once in 100 years. Freddie became Mario Lanza when he attended the Berkshire Music Festival at
Tanglewood, still in his early 20s, on a full scholarship. His subsequent successes in radio, television,
Malio Cardarelli and movies are impressive and extensive. Perhaps his most memorable movie was The Great Caruso
Over the next several which exceptionally displayed his operatic qualities. Widely known for his greatest hit song, Be My
months, we would like Love, along with extensive radio, and TV appearances, Lanza appeared in February 1951 at the Stanley
to share some of Malio Theater, singing 12 songs from a variety of composers and to a most appreciative audience. As was
Cardarelli’s descriptions of told to this writer, Lanza stayed for his Stanley appearance at a downtown hotel, likely Hotel Utica,
artists who have appeared where it had been prearranged that he meet for an interview with then widely known local radio host
at the Stanley Theater. Danny Fusco. Because of Lanza’s exhausting schedule of appearances, he regretfully cancelled the
interview while Fusco waited in the hotel lobby. Nevertheless, the singer’s appearance at the Stanley
was momentous. Mournfully, Mario Lanza, only age 38, died, likely of a heart attack, in Italy on
October 7, 1959.

Celebrate the

Holidays at

MUNSON

Join the holiday magic at Munson with Victorian
Yuletide: Fancy Goods—a joyful two-month
celebration where history meets the holidays!

Victorian Yuletide: Fancy Goods

On view Nov. 11 through Jan. 4
Free admission

Explore the beautifully decorated
rooms of Fountain Elms and discover
how the Erie Canal shaped shopping
and gift-giving in the Mohawk Valley.

Munson Holiday Open House Victorian Yuletide
Now open
Thursday, Dec. 11 | 5 to 7 p.m. before

• Horse-drawn Wagon Rides Free and open Thanksgiving!
NOV. 11
• Holiday Cookies and Hot Chocolate to the public
• Munson Art Market (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

310 Genesee St. 315-797-0000
Visit munson.art/holidays to learn more! Victorian Yuletide sponsor: Gail Kulaga Utica, N.Y. 13502 munson.art