The late Josephine Bifano was the former business manager of The Harriet McCormack Performance Center at the Strand Theatre, Dorchester. She died in 1997.
Whenever the Strand payroll was short on funds, Josephine would quietly close her office door and go into her purse. As long as Josephine was there no one would miss a paycheck.
When Maurice Starr New Edition manager, was short of cash for the introduction of his unknown new boy band “the New Kids on the Block,” Josephine gave him the Strand stage, and the band became a national sensation.
Busloads of Boston School children were introduced to opera at the Strand during her tenure. It was Josephine who found a grant that would provide the Strand with a new Marquee, a replica of the 1917 marquee.
Josephine’s family had been one of the founding families on the North End’s Prince Street of
Prince Spaghetti. Unmarried, she operated as many as 5 (five) Italian Bakeries at a time. A lifetime Boston resident, in her final years she bought and lived in Walter Baker’s daughter’s home outside of Field’s Corner.
source: Fred McLennan