performed in the role of Manuela with Rosa Ponselle. Disappearance During the Great Depression, opera companies were hit financially, and both Biondo and the Met fell on hard times. In December 1931, Santa Biondo lost $19,000 in the stock market, and she disappeared from New York, leaving three suicide notes behind. Biondo went missing for only three days, from December 11 to December 14, but detectives launched a manhunt, and the search for Biondo was reported in newspapers all across the United States. One article, published in The Coshocton Tribune, claimed that the New York Police Department dredged the lake in Central Park, looking for her body. Contrary to her notes, however, she did not in fact attempt suicide but instead went into seclusion outside of the City. With the aid of friends and family, Santa Biondo snapped out of it and went back to work. When newspapers asked her why she left, she offered conflicting explanations, but it was clear that she was depressed about her financial situation. And although she didn't say it, she may have been aware that her career at the Metropolitan Opera Company was drawing to a close. She performed her last engagement at the Met just three months later, in March 1932. At that point in time, Santa Biondo was still married to Salvatore Mazullo, but they had been apart for three years. Biondo lived at the Plaza Hotel Annex, in New York City, while Salvatore Mazullo continued to live in New Haven. Performances with other opera companies By September 1932, Santa Biondo was back on stage, singing in the title role in Aïda at Bryant Park for the Puccini Grand Opera Company. And the very next month, she sang in the role of Musetta in "La Bohème" at the New Amsterdam Theatre for the San Carlo Opera Company. Biondo continued to sing for the San Carlo Opera Company, Hippodrome National Opera Company, and the Franz Philipp Opera Company from 1932 through 1937. Her retinue included La Traviata, Faust, Manon (title role), Pagliacci, and Tosca (title role, 1937). These were no small concerts. The New York Times states that, in 1934, she sang in the role of Mimi in "La Bohème" for a throng of 5,000 at a Hippodrome National Opera Company event. And in 1934, she sang for 5,200 as Tosca, again for the Hippodrome National Opera Company. The June 14, 1936 issue