100 YEARS AGO Stars had Albany start Ten Eyck Hotel comes down

A couple of men who got their starts in Albany are two of the biggest names in the music industry. Richard Bonelli had a baritone voice which was “considered one of the four most perfect in the world for recording on phonographic records.” He grew up near Syracuse but later appeared nightly in Albany’s Keeler’s Cabaret. Since then he had gone onto a touring and recording career. In 1910, he was part of the first public radio broadcast as a Metropolitan Opera member. (In 1940, he took part in the first opera broadcast on TV.)

James V. “Jimmy” Monaco and his family emigrated to Albany from Italy when he was six. He later worked as a ragtime player in Chicago before returning to New York City and gaining a reputation as a Tin Pan Alley composer. He wrote songs with partners for revues and Broadway shows, and in 1913 wrote what would remain his most famous one, “You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It),” first recorded by Al Jolson. Hollywood called later in his career and throughout the 1940s he would receive four Oscar nominations for best original song.

—Times Union, Oct. 3, 1920

50 YEARS AGO

Gov. Rockefeller and Mayor Corning mounted a large crane to begin the demolition of the old Ten Eyck Hotel in Albany. “We’re going to pull down a sign today but what we’ll really be doing is assisting in the rebirth of downtown,” said the governor at ceremonies unveiling of models and plans for the Ten Eyck area project — a hotel with convention facilities, an office tower 22 stories tall, banking, stores, parking for 1,500 cars and a bus terminal.

—Times Union, Oct. 3, 1970

C.J. Lais Jr., Azra Haqqie