Melton, James - Fountain Pen Signature - Popular & Opera Singer - d.1961
Vintage black fountain pen signature on a 2 ¼ x 5 irregular cut green sheet. Older moisture stain bottom right-side edge. Lite vertical fold to center of the sheet.
Bio: James Melton (January 2, 1904 – April 21, 1961), a popular singer in the 1920s and early 1930s, later began a career as an operatic singer when tenor voices went out of style in popular music around 1932–35. His singing talent was like that of his contemporary Richard Crooks and baritones John Charles Thomas and Nelson Eddy, who sang popular music but also had operatic careers.
Although he was not known as a dramatic actor, he appeared in movie musicals, including Stars Over Broadway (1935), Sing Me a Love Song (1936), Melody for Two (1937) and the MGM revue, Ziegfeld Follies (1946).
Melton's operatic singing career took off in 1938 when he appeared with the Cincinnati Zoo Opera Company as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and with the St. Louis Opera Company as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata. In 1939, he sang Pinkerton for his debut with the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company with Annunciata Garrotto as Cio-cio-san.
He worked with the Chicago Civic Opera from 1940 to 1942, appearing with Helen Jepson in Madama Butterfly, with Lily Pons in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, with Risë Stevens in Mignon and in Flotow's Martha. On 7 December 1942, Melton debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute. He continued to perform at the Met through 1950.
In 1961, At the age of 57, Melton died of pneumonia in New York City.