Memorable night at the Fox Theater

This week marks the 62nd anniversary of what was, at the time, the single most keenly anticipated event in Spokane’s musical history.

On June 15, 1943, singer Patrice Munsel returned home to the Fox Theater for a benefit concert.

This gala show wasn’t merely well-received. It was insanely well-received. Its significance to war-weary Spokane can hardly be overstated.

“It was a night to forget burdens,” wrote S-R critic Mabel S. Watrous the next morning. “A night to rejoice that even in this wartime world there is still music that can lift the spirits and heart to exultation.”

Hometown girl Munsel, only 18, was a newly signed Metropolitan Opera star, having won the Met’s national “opera auditions of the air” earlier that year.

The lines at the Fox stretched round the block an hour before the show started.

And after it started? Critic Watrous said that Spokane “paid her homage as no other star or artist appearing here has ever received.”

Munsel received a lengthy standing ovation simply by walking out on stage. Her performance was punctuated by “shouts of ‘Oh’s,’ ‘Ah’s,’ and ‘Bravos.’ “

Watrous called Munsel’s singing “dazzling,” “crystal clear” and “electrically exciting.” She also noted that Munsel wore on her right hand a diamond ring, and on her left her Artemiad Club ring – the club she belonged to at Lewis and Clark High School.

The next day, Munsel was quoted as saying, “I wasn’t nervous, just terribly eager to do my best.”

Apparently, her best was terrific. After the concert, she and her then-boyfriend were waiting in a car outside the Fox.

“A woman opened the car door and told me she had come 350 miles to hear me sing, and that it was worth it,” Munsel said the next day. “Aren’t people sweet?”

Munsel went on to have a spectacular international career. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut just six months later, becoming the youngest leading singer ever to become a member of America’s top opera company. She remained with the Met until 1958.

She also starred in several Hollywood films and had her own ABC series in 1957 and 1958, “The Patrice Munsel Show.”

Yet Watrous was prophetic when she wrote that Munsel had achieved “a triumph long to be remembered” that night.

In fact, the 1943 concert still carries significance into the present. Munsel, now living in New York, is the honorary co-chair of the Fox’s $22 million renovation campaign.

Why? Because, as she has said before, she will “never forget the thrill” of that night at the Fox.

Fox spring cleaning

If those kinds of memories stir you, you might want to consider volunteering for a “spring cleaning” day at the Fox Theater on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Volunteers are needed to measure, count and prepare old draperies for storage, and also to wash windows and clean out backstage areas. They also will get a tour of the facility.

Call 326-3136, ext. 24, to volunteer or to get more details.

Hitting a talk-show nerve

Obviously, former KXLY-AM talk show host Jim Bickel hit a nerve last week when he was quoted in Spotlight lamenting the dearth of local radio talk shows.

We received a stack of e-mails and voice mails, unanimously in agreement with Bickel.

“We have never recovered from the loss of Rick Miller, Mike Fitzsimmons, Alex Wood and others who … gave voice to the broad range of opinions in our community,” wrote one reader.

“A few years ago, I never changed my radio from KXLY,” wrote another. “Now talk radio is dominated by right-wing nuts. … NPR (National Public Radio) is the only station I listen to.”

“If there were a venue for more moderate citizens to call in to voice their opinions without feeling that they were going to be attacked, it would provide a much better dialogue for Spokane’s current issues,” wrote another.

An undercurrent of distaste for Mark Fuhrman (KGA-AM, 1510), the only local talk option, ran through many of the comments.

“I quit listening to Fuhrman when his ego got so big that it got to the point where he knew more than the Spokane Police Department knew,” said one caller.

However, KGA program director Dan Mitchinson said the Fuhrman show demonstrates his station’s commitment to local programming. He said Furhrman’s ratings have been on the rise, and that the show demonstrates a “hunger for local talk here.”

Fair enough. Now it’s up to some other station to prove it can lure part of that local talk audience away.

Without local programming, as Mitchinson said, there’s little to separate local radio from XM (satellite radio) or iPods.

Fuhrman on the circuit

While we’re on the subject of Mark Fuhrman, you can expect to see a lot of him on national TV at the end of June.

His new book, “Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo’s Death,” hits bookstores on June 28.

Between then and June 30, expect to see him on Fox’s “Hannity and Colmes,” NBC’s “Today Show,” CNN’s “Larry King Live” and MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” among others.