Today's #tbt go back to November of 1952, Joan was just a newcomer at the opera house team. She was lucky enough to be in the cast (as Clothilde) of Norma with the legends - the mezzo Ebe Stignani and soprano Maria Callas at the height of her powers. Joan always said Callas, despite her temperament, was very nice to her. And these excerpts show us this side:
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[...] Callas was easy to work with and appreciatively considerate of others. As she and Joan stood together in the wings on the opening night, whilst Ebe Stignani sang the part of Adalgisa, Callas, enormous arms folded, said: "Please be my eyes, Joan. Make sure I'm in the right position for the steps." Almost blind, without her glasses, Callas had paced everything out in rehearsal, but it was useless her counting paces, as she moved across the stage, if she started off slightly in the wrong direction and so strode briskly into the orchestra pit. Stignani was singing superbly and Callas and Joan listened contentedly together. Suddenly Callas hissed: "God, I should've done a pee before I came up. This great long scene... Ah well!" Her duet Mira o Norma with Stignani was expected to be the highlight of the performance. "I must sing it down for Stignani, "Callas murmured regretfully, well aware of how brilliantly she would have been able to sing it 'up'; but knowing also that this was a duet and that both tradition and Stignani's voice were to be respected utterly. Callas listened again; and then said: "God, how she can sing! [...]" Taken from Joan's biography by Russell Braddon.
