MOVIE FOLK LUNCHEON GUESTS AT WHITE HOUSE. WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 30. THE MOVIE STARS THAT ARE IN WASHINGTON TO HELP CELEBRATE THE PRESIDENT'S BIRTHDAY PARTY WERE LUNCHEON GUESTS OF MRS. ROOSEVELT AT THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY. THEY MET THE PRESIDENT AND ALL WISHED HIM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY. L TO R: FREDERICK JAGEL, METROPOLITAN OPERA TENOR; MISS MARSHA HUNT; ROBERT TAYLOR; MISS MARIA GAMBERELLI, DANCER; MRS. F.D. ROOSEVELT; MISS JEAN HARLOW; MISS MITZI GREEN; AND COMMISSIONER GEORGE ALLEN ON THE PORTICO OF THE WHITE HOUSE

The Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1883, with its first opera house built on Broadway and 39th Street by a group of wealthy businessmen who wanted their own theater. In the company’s early years, the management changed course several times, first performing everything in Italian (even Carmen and Lohengrin), then everything in German (even Aida and Faust), before finally settling into a policy of performing most works in their original language, with some notable exceptions. The Metropolitan Opera has always engaged many of the world’s most important artists: Christine Nilsson, Marcella Sembrich, Lilli Lehmann, Nellie Melba, Emma Calvé, De Reszke brothers, Jean and Edouard, Emma Eames, Lillian Nordica, Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, Rosa Ponselle, Lawrence Tibbett and more. Some of the great conductors have helped shape the Met: Anton Seidl, Arturo Toscanini, Gustav Mahler, Artur Bodanzky, Bruno Walter, George Szell, Fritz Reiner, and Dimitri Mitropoulos.