DESCRIPTION:
ORVILLE HARROLD sings Rudolph's Narrative beautifully from Puccini's La Boheme, played on Dr. Walter Grace's Victor V talking machine at Limekiln (Oley Line, PA). The April 1920 Victor disc # 74624 was lent by Jim Shulman of the Philadelphia area.

(From Wikipedia): Orville Harrold (1878 -- 1933) was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabaret, musical theatre, and vaudeville performances. With the aid of Oscar Hammerstein I, he branched out into opera in 1910 as a leading tenor with Hammerstein's opera houses in New York City and Philadelphia. While his career from this point on primarily consisted of opera performances, he periodically returned to operetta and musical theatre throughout his career. He notably created the role of Captain Dick Warrington in the world premiere of Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta in November 1910.

As an opera singer, Harrold specialized in the lyric tenor repertoire of the Italian and French languages. In 1911-1912 he performed with Hammerstein's opera house in London. From 1912-1922 he was one of the leading opera tenors in Chicago; performing with a variety of companies in that city. He spent the last 6 years of his opera career performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City; giving his last opera performance there in 1924. He continued to perform in vaudeville entertainments up into the late 1920s.

He died in 1933 in Norwalk, Connecticut. His son Jack Harrold was a buffo tenor with the New York City Opera.

Harrold made recordings for Edison Records, Columbia Records (1913--1916) and the Victor Talking Machine Company (1920-1924).