Russell County AlArchives Photo Person.....Hawkins, Osie ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 April 28, 2007, 8:25 pm Source: Sesquicentennial Supplement II, Ledger-Enquirer Name: Osie Hawkins Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/russell/photos/hawkins6354gph.jpg Image file size: 100.5 Kb Phenix Native Backbone of Metropolitan Opera By Margaret Byrne Ledger Editorial Page Editor Who is so well known in operatic circles that he's called “ Mr. Met?" Mr. Met is Osie Hawkins, a Phenix City native whose actual title with the New York's Metropolitan Opera is executive stage manager. But he is so closely identified with the Metropolitan that he virtually personifies it. Writing in "Opera News" in 1971, John Ferris said of Osie, “He has never quite gotten over being stagestruck. A man of extraordinary devotion to his work, he spends six day a week in the theater during the long seasons, arriving at 9:30 or 10 a.m. and remaining on duty till midnight or later. There is a second executive stage manager and a stage manager, but it is Osie who appears to dominate the scene -- a kind of Mr. Met himself, large, cool, impressive, confident, reserved, even a little pompous on occasion, when a cold eye and sharp word are necessary to dampen a prankster’s mood. The executive stage manager began his extraordinary career as a singer. He studied first with the late Mrs. T.O. Methvin in Columbus and later with Margaret Hecth in Atlanta. It was Mme. Hecht who brought the young bass-baritone to the attention of the Metropolitan Opera management during the Met's spring visit to Atlanta in 1941. Hawkins made his debut at the Met as Donner in "Das Rheingold" Jan. 22, 1942. He was one of the youngest male artists ever to sing at the Metropolitan. and it was his first operatic appearance anywhere. For the next 20 years, Hawkins enjoyed a solid career at the Metropolitan, and built up a vast repertory of bass-baritone roles. Some of the more important were Amfortyas,Wotan, Telramund, Kurneval, Don Fernando and abimelech, to name a few. He appeared successfully in Europe and the U.S. with other opera companies, but the Met remained his home. During his brief vacations Osie always headed for Phenix City to visit his parents, Mr. and Mrs. O.P. Hawkins both of whom are now dead, and his sister, Alice Hawkins. He could occasionally be lured out to sing at local churches - First Baptist and First Presbyterian in Columbus among them - but he shunned social acitivity in favor of fishing trips with his Father. In the early 1960s Hawkins began to move into management. He was made assistant stage manager for the 1960-61 season and moved up to stage manager the following season. As executive stage manager, one of his duties is to break the news of cancelations to the audience. The scene is unforgettable: the lights die, the house is silent, and a single spotlight shines on the great curtain. Hawkins, always in dinner clothes - he's one of those men who appears born to wear a dinner jacket – emerges from the heavy folds. "Ladies and gentlemen," he begins sonorously and pauses. He looks up at the highest tier and back across the auditorium to the standees, and his voice rolls through the expectant hush. “ I regret, ladies and gentlemen, to inform you . . . that So-and-So is unable to sing tonight. . . because he is indisposed. The roll will be sung by Such-and-Such." The diction is impeccable - "with a touch of the 'Old South," one observer noted. After 37 years, Osie Hawkins is looking toward retirement at the end of the current season - but he's going out full of honors. In ceremonies April 8 in New York, he was awarded the prestigious Verdi Memorial Award for Achievement. He is the second recipient of the Verdi Memorial, which is given by the Metropolitan Opera National Council. It was presented by the council president, Alexander Saunderson. What will Hawkins do in retirement? He's weighing several things. He has been offered a public relation post with the Metropolitan, a proposal he’s mulling over. Whether he take's the position or not, he plans to stay on in New York "for a while - there are some things I want to do," he said in a telephone conversation. But eventually he'll come home to Phenix City, where his roots have always been. "I'd like to do something for young people. There are so many of them in our area with talent. I don't mean open a studio - I don't plan to do that. But I like to feel I could help." Special Sesquicentennial Supplement IV Ledger-Enquirer, Sunday May 7, 1978, S-18 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/russell/photos/hawkins6354gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb