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Show CESARE NESI, THE YOUNG CARUSO ; From street neddler to singer in a moving picture theater with an In-creaso In-creaso In weekly salary from 8.00 to $13.00 was the sudden transition 'of Cesaro Xer)i. Nov he is a vaudeville headliuer at a salary of $600.00 a week. How it all came abolit Is still a matter which is causing bewilderment bewilder-ment to Nesl It was just throe years ago that Nosi first set his foot upon the shore of America. He came in tho steerage steer-age from Florence, Italy, with hundreds hun-dreds of other immigrants, all expectant ex-pectant with the prospects of life In the "land of the free." Of the language lan-guage he had absolutely no knowledge knowl-edge the only tongue he knew was his own, and that had lost Its usefulness use-fulness when away from his countrymen country-men He landed ftlth no more monev than Uncle Sam requires of prospective prospec-tive residents here, aud this wag soon exhausted. In his native land he waa a modeler or clav statues, and he had little difficulty in securing a position posi-tion as peddler of theee for a moro successful compatriot who made them In a llttlo store on the Bowery For three ears N'esi hawked about tho streets with statues of George Washington and other distinguished Americans of earlier days, gradually gradual-ly picking up the English Nights when alono In his hall bedroom In the cheap tenement district, Xesi was wont to sing tbe songs of Southern Italy P'ollow boarders heard his marvel- I ous tones and never tired of listening , to his voice. Tlo became a local ce- lobrity and was in groat demand for j wedding feasts and other functions -among the Eaat Side Italians. HU friends urged him to go on the stage, and Nesi tried to got a hearing. Man- agers laughted at the shabbily attired peddler and would not take him seriously. se-riously. Finally he was dtscoverod by a well-known olrtbman, singing as he came homo after a good day's business, busi-ness, Tho clubman went to a friend of his. the manager of a, five-cent . vaudeville theater on Christy street, J who let him go on for amateur night, before one of; those romarkwable East Side audiences, which are hostile and ; friendly, equally demonstrative in ( both their likes and dislikes Nesl sang and the audience proclaimed Its , delight in no unmistakable manner. ; The manager, quick to realize the sit- uation, was waiting In the wings when the spectators released Nesl after ex- . haustlng his repertoire of numbers and hired him on the spot. A few days later by the breaking ': down of his machine, a well-known 1 vaudeville manager chanced to bo In front of the moving picture house, and heard the robueto tenor notea of the ; singer He ontered the auditorium. He was bo Impressed by his voice, 1 that he booked him for hlc entire 5 circuit and so successful was Neal M3 that other managers tendered him contracts until nearly two years' ; V I bookings were assured. m |