Gallo, Fortune
(09 May 1878–28 March 1970)
- Albert O. Weissberg
Extract
Gallo, Fortune (09 May 1878–28 March 1970), opera impresario, was born Fortunato Gallo in Torre Maggiore, Italy, a town located a hundred miles east of Naples, the son of Tommaso Gallo and Zelinda Accetturo. He was encouraged as a boy by his father to become a musician, although his mother had hoped he would enter the priesthood. He learned to play the harmonica at age eight and at age fourteen became an apprentice drummer in the town band. When Gallo was seventeen the visit to Torre Maggiore of a man who had gone to the United States and prospered in the produce business suggested similar possibilities for the youth. At the visitor’s urging his family agreed to let him seek his own fortune in the New World....
