CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN -- MARIA CALLAS, MEET MAMIE VAN DOREN

(Did You Sleep With the Models?)

Associate editor George De Stefano's interest in politics (see previous chapter) served the magazines well, as did Freeman Gunter's expertise in music of all kinds and his adroitness in writing about it, from opera to show business to jazz. Freeman, the other associate editor, wrote passionately on opera, and my favorite of his many articles was "The Enormous Destiny of Maria Callas" (October 1984).  I knew of her, of course, but I came late to opera. Freeman, with this piece and others, directed me toward the diva of divas. Once arrived at her shrine, I never turned back.