George Stinson - The San Francisco Opera's "Singing Cop" (pt. 1)

The sensationalist October 1, 1937 frontpage headline in William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner read: "Span Traffic Officer Held Operatic Fine: Tenor May Write Own Ticket to Fame." In 1935, Gaetano Merola discovered a local barber's daughter, Josephine Tumminia, who he helped to train and cast in leading roles. A few years later his new discovery was George Stinson, an officer with the California Highway Patrol. 

George Stinson and Gaetano Merola (source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection)

The Examiner article claimed that "Merola heard Stinson singing through the midst [sic] one foggy night, stopped, marveled, then asked what was his training, whether he would like to sing in opera." Even though George Stinson was presented as a Merola discovery, he, like Josephine Tumminia, had a considerable amount of professional experience behind him when he arrived in San Francisco, 

George Washington Stinson must have had a difficult childhood. All sources give his birthdate as March 15, but different articles and genealogical sources disagree about his birth year, giving it alternately as 1898, 1900, or 1903. Born in rural Vienna, Missouri, he and his siblings lost both of their parents at a young age and ended up in a Saint Louis orphanage. He was adopted by a family in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood at 12 and at age 17 he entered the armed services in the aviation corps in Lake Charles, LA. He then worked for a short time as a deputy marshal in Longville, LA before re-enlisting the artillery corps where he was stationed in Vladivostok, Russia and the Philippines. Other accounts noted that he played football and was a wrestler and a boxer.

He came to California in 1922, working as a fireman in Huntington Beach, CA and then joining the California Highway Patrol in 1926. Alongside news reports of him stopping derelict drivers there were articles remarking on his natural vocal ability. An article in the Santa Ana Register quotes Los Angeles Examiner music critic, Otheman Stevens, who enthused:

It is a rare blessing to meet an artist in the making. There are quite a lot of us who believe we have experienced that by hearing Motor Cop George Stinson sing several arias. Stinson some time ago interested his fellows, and Chief Snook of the State Motor vehicle department in his voice. This gives good promise of being a dramatic tenor of rare sweetness and great power.

It was around this time that Stinson had his fateful encounter with famed operatic contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink. His opportunity for opera success began when he stopped her chauffeured car in San Juan Capistrano for speeding. When he pulled the car over, he recognized her and expressed how much he admired her asked whether he might sing for her. When he finally gathered up his nerve she declared "In this moment I have found a great tenor." She asked him to join her and perform a benefit recital together in Anaheim.

June 4, 1930 concert announcement

source: Santa Ana Daily Register in the Newspaper Archive California Edition database

She also funded his musical education to the tune of $1,500. From that time he studied with Los Angeles-based Italian-American vocal coach Guido Caselotti who presented him in recitals and on the air on station KECA.  The California Highway Patrol realized what a public relations asset they had in a "singing cop" and dispatched him to all 58 counties as a safety ambassador talking about the dangers of speeding and drunk driving and breaking into song.  During this time he also appeared on screen in the 1936 Universal Productions picture Crash Donovan.

OPERATIC FINE--George Stinson, State Highway patrolman, station on the Bay Bridge, is a real operatic find, says Gaetano Merola. He is now studying voice. (San Francisco Examiner October 1, 1937)

In 1936 he was transferred to work at the newly-finished San Francisco Bay Bridge and to bring him into the proximity of the San Francisco Opera company. An impressed Gaetano Merola proclaimed Stinson's voice as "startlingly like that of Caruso." But the director cautioned: "He is not ready this year, but by next year I expect his voice, which is really remarkable, will be ready for a place in the company. It is already beautiful now." 

Merola trained Stinson for seven months while trying to arrange for him to study opera in Italy. Local opera-lovers as well as opera stars like Giovanni Martinelli, Gina Cigna and Kirsten Flagstad took up a subscription to allow Stinson to take a leave of absence to study voice in Europe. Chinese-American Doctor Henry Wong Him, listed in City Directories as a "physician and surgeon, specialist in Chinese system of diagnosis and treatment" was a principal contributor to this fund.

The highway patrol grant him leave to study in Italy. Seen off by Gaetano Merola and Atilla Lamponi of the Metropolitan Opera Company he departed from New York City aboard the Italian ocean liner Saturnia with his wife and teenage son in January 1938. The Examiner reported that he thrilled his fellow passengers with his singing.

Singing Cop On His Way. En Route--to Italy, then--opera? George Stinson, Golden Gate bridge traffic officer, sails on Liner Saturnia for voice study (San Francisco Examiner January 10, 1938)

He studied opera with Vittorio Moratti in Milan. The October 1938 issue of the magazine California Highway Patrol printed excerpts of letters from Stinson and wife wrote home describing their experiencse in Italy. He reported that he had a contract to sing in a production of Il Trovatore, but noted that all performers in Italy had to audition for a commission to obtain permission to sing on stage. In another article he expressed surprise at seeing himself in Crash Donovan with the rest of the cast dubbed into Italian while his singing was in English.

To be continued....

'Singing Cop' Puts Uniform in Mothballs

George Stinson, San Francisco motorcycle policeman, whose voice landed him a free trip to Europe to study with the best German and Italian teachers, puts away his uniform for good, with the aid of his wife. World-known musical stars are paying their expenses.--(Associated Press photo.) [source: International Herald Tribune January 10, 1938]

The Art, Music and Recreation Center's Exhibit "Bringing The Opera to The People and The People to The Opera" closed on January 12, 2023

Previous blog entries written for the San Francisco Opera Centennial:

"'Housewife' Josephine Wiper Returns to the San Francisco Opera Stage" (December 27, 2022)
"Josephine Tumminia and the San Francisco Opera" (December 12, 2022)
"Josephine Tumminia's Fame Goes National, then International" (December 19, 2022)
"Armando Agnini and The San Francisco Opera Stage" (November 16, 2022)
"Merola Organizes San Franciscans To Present Outdoor Opera on The Peninsula" (October 31, 2022)
"The Big Game, North Beach and The San Francisco Opera" (October 13, 2022)
"Bring The Opera to The People and The People to The Opera" (September 12, 2022)

Bibliography

The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Volume F3 Feature Films, 1931-1940 (R.R. Bowker Co., 1993).

"Audience Gives Ovation to Madame Schumann-Heink and George Stinson in Anaheim," Santa Ana Daily Register June 5, 1930.

"County's Erstwhile Singing Cop Back in S.F. from Italy," Santa Ana Register June 6, 1939.

"County's 'Singing Cop' Chosen for Safety Campaign," Santa Ana Daily Evening Register October 2, 1934.

 
"Golden Voiced Policeman Here," Los Angeles Times December 28, 1937

Holly, Hazel, "Pacific Musical Society Will Hold Opera Tea Thursday," San Francisco Examiner October 25, 1937

Jones, Isabel Morse, "Words and Music," Los Angeles Times August 13, 1933.

Maslin, Marsh, "Dr. Him Is Repaid," San Francisco Call October 26, 1939.

“Merola Finds Tenor Policing S.F. Bay Bridge,” San Francisco Chronicle October 1, 1937

“October Tea to Be Brilliant Event,” San Francisco Chronicle October 24, 1937

"Officer Geo. Stinson's Study of Opera is Successful," The California Highway Patrol October 1938.

"Opera Chorus Heard in Radio Broadcast," Los Angeles Times June 2, 1935

Polk's Crocker Langley San Francisco City Directory (R.L. Polk & Co., 1939).

"S.F.'s Singing Cop Ready for His Debut," San Francisco Chronicle May 26, 1939.

"Singing Cop," Time January 10, 1938.

"Singing Cop Back to Start Career," San Francisco Examiner May 26, 1939.

"Singing Cop on Way to Italy," San Francisco Examiner January 10, 1938.

"'Singing Cop's' Voice Praised by L.A. Scribe," Santa Ana Register September 17, 1928

  
"Singing Patrolman to Leave for Italy," San Pedro News Pilot November 25, 1937

"Span Traffic Officer Held Operatic Find: Tenor May Write Own Ticket to Fame," San Francisco Examiner October 1, 1937.

"Stinson Welcomed After Study in Italy," San Francisco Examiner June 5, 1939.

“Today in The Chronicle,” San Francisco Chronicle November 24, 1937.