Orville Harrold

Orville Harrold (1878 – 23 October 1933) was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabaret, musical theatre, and vaudeville performances. With the aid of Oscar Hammerstein I, he branched out into opera in 1910 as a leading tenor with Hammerstein's opera houses in New York City and Philadelphia. While his career from this point on primarily consisted of opera performances, he periodically returned to operetta and musical theatre throughout his career. He notably created the role of Captain Dick Warrington in the world premiere of Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta in November 1910.

As an opera singer, Harrold specialized in the lyric tenor repertoire of the Italian and French languages. In 1911–1912 he performed with Hammerstein's opera house in London. From 1912–1922 he was one of the leading opera tenors in Chicago; performing with a variety of companies in that city. He spent the last 6 years of his opera career performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City; giving his last opera performance there in 1924. He continued to perform in vaudeville entertainments up into the late 1920s. He made several gramophone records during his career; including recordings for Edison Records, Columbia Records (1913–1916) and the Victor Talking Machine Company (1920–1924).

Born in Cowan, Indiana, Harrold was the son of John William Harrold and his wife Emily Harrold (née Chalfant). His parents were farmers and at the age of 9 he moved with his family to Lyons, Kansas. They moved again to Newton, Kansas when he was 13. In Newton he began taking singing lessons with his school's music supervisor, Mrs. Gaston Boyd, who was a graduate of the New England Conservatory. In Kansas he sang with various community and church choruses and performed in a vocal quartet. He also won a local music competition. In 1893 he performed at the Chicago World's Fair. In 1894 he and his family returned to Cowan, Indiana. He played in a band in Muncie where he also began taking violin lessons and sang in church choirs. In 1898 he married Euphamia Evelyn “Effie” Kiger with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1913.

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