Fortune Gallo papers

Fortune T. Gallo was born on May 9, 1878 at Torremaggiore, Italy, province of Foggia, to Tommas and Zelinda Gallo. His childhood was spent at Torremaggiore, where he became involved with music and musicians, especially the “Banda Rosa,” which would prove of importance later in his life. In 1895, aboard the vessel “Werra,” Gallo immigrated to the United States. He worked as a clerk in an Italian bank on Mulberry Street in New York. From that base it appears Gallo became involved in politics on the local level, amassing contacts and influence within the Italian community. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century the “Banda Rosa” was engaged to play in America. Emanating from this situation was the acquaintance of Gallo with Channing Ellery, a patron of music, that led to Gallo’s work as an advance man from Ellery’s band. By 1910 Gallo had also become manager of another band, operated by Giuseppe Creatore; and in 1911 helped an Italian opera company, stranded in Latin America, untangle its financial difficulties, ultimately assuming its management. Gallo reorganized the company, making an innovation by utilizing local singers (which explains the organization of Gallo’s record books as they appear in the collection). On May 4, 1912 Gallo married Sofia Charlebois. In December, 1913, Fortune Gallo’s San Carlo Opera Company opened with a premier performance featuring “Carmen”. The company fared well, and in 1927 Gallo built a theater, which bore his name, in New York. He not only toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America with San Carlo, but in addition, managed Anna Pavlowa’s Ballet Russe, as well as other troupes. In 1929 Gallo produced the first full-length sound movie of an opera, Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci”. Furthermore, he managed the Chicago Opera Company in the early 1940’s. Fortune Gallo’s managerial abilities were lauded because he made opera “pay”. Numerous periodical articles described Gallo’s skills, with one portraying his as having produced opera for the “masses and not the classes”. The impresario, often labeled the “cut rate opera king,” financed and toured with the San Carlo for over forty-five years. He died March 28, 1970. A more detailed description of Gallo’s life is found in this autobiography, Lucky Rooster, published in 1967 by Exposition Press, New York— a copy of which is in the Center’s imprint collection.