Enrico Caruso sang over the transcontinental telephone line from Atlanta, GA to San Francisco. At 4:00 a.m. on April 30, 1916, a near-capacity audience at the Tivoli listened to Enrico Caruso sing in Atlanta, Georgia, over Pacific and American Bell Telephone long-distance lines at the San Francisco Press Club’s “Ten Years After” commemoration of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Caruso had been appearing in San Francisco at the time of the quake and vowed never to return. Holding true to his promise, this is apparently the closest he would come. Why the event was scheduled for the morning of April 30th, instead of the fateful day of April 18th is not clear. -From Theaters of San Francisco By Jack Tillmany
