Ten O'Clock News; Beverly Sills

Ah, Narrator--Whatever the topic--say censorship: We have to have the right to make our own decisions. Narrator--Or the need for the Arts: Our souls need to be fed as well as our our bellies. Narrator--Or being a woman directing an opera company: The press came right out and said that they didn't understand why a man didn't get the job and it was the on-- the only reason I got it was because I was a famous prima donna. Which was a damned lie. Narrator--Beverly Sills doesn't mince many words. And I felt totally qualified for that job. I know an enormous amount about voices which should be one of th-- one of the qualificaUmtions of someone running an opera company, I would think. I could look at a stage production and tell you if it will work and if it won't. Why can I do that? I've been I probably sang thousands of performances in my life. I can look at an entrance or an exit and tell you if it's going to be a good one or a bad one. That was my whole life. What, what is the obstacle why woman, woman, woman? You know, that's what the obstacle is, how stupid is that? Um, it's gonna cha--

to change and it is changing um, because the world is chang-- changing and we all need each other whether we're female or male or... Doesn't matter anymore. Narrator--So talkative has Sills always been, she was dubbed "Bubbles" early in li-- life, but most people have only heard her sing. Narrator--[music] This is a performance with the Opera Company of Boston, Sills has performed with it and the major companies of almost every city in the world. Her singing career behind her, her decade as director of The New York City Opera en-- ended, she is consummate champion for the arts in general and op-- opera in particular. Sills: In terms of opera being elitist, it-- it's a very expensive art form. Er whe-- When I was writing The New York City Opera. I called it The People's Op--

Opera, that we were going to do quality performances at prices all the pe-- people could afford. And it continues that way. Narrator-- If you're in a com-- community where opera is catering to the elite, Sills--I still say you have the power to change it. You can make a lot of noise about that. I think that it's, I think it's in the power of the con-- consumer to make any change it wants. Narrator--Her patronage extends to the issue of artistic freedom versus censorship. Once a panelist of the National Endowment for the Arts, she is sympathetic toward the controversial Maplethorpe exhibit and the late artist Robert Mape-- Maplethorpe. Sills--So I sort of...the Maplethorpe photography is quite beautiful. The man was an excellent photographer who chose rather strange, and in some cases, kind of unpleasant subjects to photograph. With all of the beauty going

around I can't understand why he...well, he was obviously a very unhappy man. They're not friendly topics and, very honestly, if I had my 8-year-old granddaughter I would have been very ticked off because there wasn't a warning sign. [Music] [Music continues] Narrator--Sills is not into themes or messages at her lectures, she says, so her talk to students at Northeastern University tonight will be a little about her career and a little more about witnessing four decades of music, bu-- But effervescent "Bubbles" is optimistic about life in general and the new generation of American musicians in particular. Sills: They have a a kind of radiance about them that was not not around in my day. They they've gotten hooked onto something that's very

exciting and I suppose what it is, is a real belief that they can make things better. And in my time we either either felt that we didn't need to make things better.... . We didn't know any better ourselves. We didn't know tha-- that great mysterious world out there but the world has gotten much smaller and there are so many exciting things happening and I think young people are kind of tuned into an excitement. I think, I think we've gone through a pit and I think we're coming out of it.