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I was working for a tobacco company and had instructions to make a splash of our new brand around the visitors to the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1968. I was supported by a top model from Sydney who wore a stunning full length gown of maroon and gold and acted as hostess at the various venues I had organized. She had an Italian background and was able to converse freely with one of the international stars of the Opera, Tito Gobbi, at the reception after the performance of “Tosca”. Meanwhile, I had been having a drink and heated discussion with Harry M Miller in the Green Room. But I didn’t miss the Governor of South Australia sitting on the front steps of the theatre having a good laugh – and a glass of bubbly - with his arm around Marie Collier. Oh for a camera! Tito Gobbi [1913-1984] He debuted at La Scala in 1942, and became possibly the best operatic baritone in the world for the next 35 years. After his performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide, he was announced as the King of Moomba in Melbourne in 1969 and stated “it was the biggest audience of my career”. Gobbi retired in 1979 and died in Rome aged 70. Marie Collier [1927-1971] Born in Ballarat she became well known in Australia before she left to study in Milan in 1955. From there she took up a contract with the Covent Garden Opera Company. Her big break came when, in 1965, she stepped in for Maria Callas in the role of Tosca and received international acclaim. Aged 44 she fell from the window of her flat in London with a blood alcohol reading of 0.28 – having previously been diagnosed with severe depression. A sad loss to the world of opera.