“Come on in, baby!” MaVynee Betsch calls from the back of her apartment, where she is searching for a news clipping on one of the dozens of environmental and historical causes she supports. The stairway to Betsch’s apartment -- which occupies the second floor of an otherwise abandoned cinderblock building in American Beach, Fla. -- serves as overflow shelf space for her ever-expanding archive of documents and memorabilia. It offers a telling introduction to her world, though nothing can fully prepare a visitor for Betsch herself, whose persona is every bit as dramatic as the characters she played in Madame Butterfly and Salome, as an opera star in 1950s Europe.

-- From Preservation magazine Read More