Florence Foster Jenkins?

[+ g56whiz]

No sure whether this inquiry belongs here or amongst the Fetishist but how many of you will, like me, be first in line to see the new Meryl Streep movie on Jenkins?

[+ Robster]

I won't be first in line, but I definitely want to see it. I love Meryl Streep, and this looks like a fun movie.

 

Rob

[TruHart1]

I look forward to the film. Madame Jenkins in reality was a very wealthy heiress with a shaky sense of pitch and little musicality, who had enough family money to buy her way into a "singing career" in her 60's! I am forever thankful that someone had the insight to make recordings of some of her "concerts!" I'm also curious how close the script will stick to the facts. Certainly the true story is crazy enough and with Meryl attached to the project I anticipate that it will be a very entertaining film!

 

TruHart1

[RyanDean]

This feature on CBS Sunday Morning got me very excited about the film.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meryl-streep-on-playing-the-worlds-worst-singer/

[Moondance]

When I was a kid (1960s) there was a singer (so-called) named Mrs. Miller whose specialty was singing badly. I wonder if Florence Foster Jenkins (who I'd never heard of) was her inspiration?

 

I only remember Mrs. Miller because my mother owned an album of hers (why?!) featuring Petula Clark's song, Downtown.

 

I looked it up just now and--weirdly--Mrs. Miller's version of Downtown made it on to the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1966 ... which is crazy ... judge for yourself (if you dare), but be forewarned: she's no Petula:

 

 

[Mo Mason]

When I was a kid (1960s) there was a singer (so-called) named Mrs. Miller whose specialty was singing badly. I wonder if Florence Foster Jenkins (who I'd never heard of) was her inspiration?

 

I only remember Mrs. Miller because my mother owned an album of hers (why?!) featuring Petula Clark's song, Downtown.

 

I looked it up just now and--weirdly--Mrs. Miller's version of Downtown made it on to the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1966 ... which is crazy ... judge for yourself (if you dare), but be forewarned: she's no Petula:

 

 

 

Ewww. 30 seconds was all I could handle of that.

[Despardo]

Madame Florence was unarguably the worst singer of all time. Quite a distinction. She was to opera what Ed Wood, Jr. was to film making.

[+ Robster]

LOL, I love Mrs. Miller. For me, she's in that "so bad, it's good" category, like those cheesy sci-fi movies (I believe someone mentioned Ed Wood?) that you know are awful, but still enjoy. I have her "Wild, Cool & Swingin'" CD.

 

[Despardo]

For the mercifully uninitiated, here his Madame Florence in all her glory. Keep listening, it only gets worse.

 

 

No aria was too difficult for Madame Florence.

[body2body]

There was a wonderful play about Florence Foster Jenkins called Souvenir that starred Judy Kaye as the amazing singer. She was nominated for a Tony in 2006. It was both very funny and very touching.

[body2body]

For the mercifully uninitiated, here his Madame Florence in all her glory. Keep listening, it only gets worse.

 

 

No aria was too difficult for Madame Florence.

Just in case you may be unfamiliar with this piece, this what it is supposed to sound like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpVV9jShEzU

[Despardo]

Just in case you may be unfamiliar with this piece, this what it is supposed to sound like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpVV9jShEzU

Diana Damrau is the BEST Queen of the Night I have ever heard. Her performance is vocally perfect and dramatically terrifying.

[+ g56whiz]

For a trained singer, intentionally singing badly is difficult. So when director Stephen Frears banned dubbing Mme Streep, she had to work long and hard with a good accompanist preferably one who could also act. And who did they find but Howard Wolowitz from the TV hit Big Bang Theory or rather Simon Helberg who plays that part. She's on record as saying that she doesn't think this movie could have been made without him. Should be interesting.

[Despardo]

For a trained singer, intentionally singing badly is difficult. So when director Stephen Frears banned dubbing Mme Streep, she had to work long and hard with a good accompanist preferably one who could also act. And who did they find but Howard Wolowitz from the TV hit Big Bang Theory or rather Simon Helberg who plays that part. She's on record as saying that she doesn't think this movie could have been made without him. Should be interesting.

My best example of a trained singer deliberately singing badly is the great Jo Stafford's famous alter ego Darlene Edwards. Stafford had not only a gorgeous voice, but an unerring sense of pitch. She and her husband Paul Weston delighted in fooling her public with a series of hilariously awful recording. First with a single that became an instant cult classic of a ridiculous hillbilly arrangement of the Perry Como hit Temptation and later with the Darlene Edwards recordings.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DW4ljo8HSM

 

 

[Lookin]

My best example of a trained singer deliberately singing badly is the great Jo Stafford's famous alter ego Darlene Edwards.

 

Small world department??

 

In the Wikipedia article on Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, Jo Stafford describes Darlene as “maybe a little Helen Hokinson, maybe some flowered voile, but she would never be ridiculous.”

 

Helen E. Hokinson was, of course, the noted New Yorker cartoonist whose specialty was clubwomen of the type Florence Foster Jenkins hobnobbed with in her off hours.

 

http://images.tcj.com/2013/07/Hoky-3.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jGB_lAcTLWo/UB7uI4rs4gI/AAAAAAAAFyY/8DTMm37m84s/s1600/Cake+SaleHokinson.png

 

Sounds like Jo Stafford was going for Madame Florence's clubwoman vibe for Darlene Edwards and, here, in the Comedy & Tragedy Forum, my esteemed fellow posters make the connection! http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png

 

 

And, yes, I’m planning to see the movie!

[TruHart1]

Ah! Such memories of my first encounters with Madame Jenkins, Mrs. Miller and Jonathan & Darlene Edwards. With the Edwards, you were in on the joke if you knew the backstory of it being a practical joke by the great Jo Stafford and Paul Weston, but with Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller the first time exposure was excruciatingly painful musically and, for me, hilarious. If I'd been around back when Madame Jenkins was doing her annual recitals I would have been ejected and banned forever for being unable to keep my laughter under control!!!

 

TruHart1

[jjkrkwood]

Anxiously awaiting to see it. Looks like absurd fun, speaking of which I pee'd my pants at the Absolutely Fabulous, The Movie movie... Those 2 bitches crack me up ! but they are so unapologetically OBSERVANT...

[body2body]

Small world department??

 

In the Wikipedia article on Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, Jo Stafford describes Darlene as “maybe a little Helen Hokinson, maybe some flowered voile, but she would never be ridiculous.”

 

Helen E. Hokinson was, of course, the noted New Yorker cartoonist whose specialty was clubwomen of the type Florence Foster Jenkins hobnobbed with in her off hours.

 

http://images.tcj.com/2013/07/Hoky-3.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jGB_lAcTLWo/UB7uI4rs4gI/AAAAAAAAFyY/8DTMm37m84s/s1600/Cake+SaleHokinson.png

 

Sounds like Jo Stafford was going for Madame Florence's clubwoman vibe for Darlene Edwards and, here, in the Comedy & Tragedy Forum, my esteemed fellow posters make the connection! http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png

 

 

And, yes, I’m planning to see the movie!

The Hokinson cartoons brought to mind another classic purveyor of comedic singing, the great Anna Russell, here not singing, but demonstrating a typical Ladies Club Introduction.

[whipped guy]

Of course my all time favorite Anna Russel is her insightful analysis of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. A classic and so true!!!!

 

[body2body]

My High School Music Appreciation teacher used Ms. Russell's Ring analysis as our introduction to Wagner. Years later I attended my first complete Ring in San Francisco, and thought back to that recording, and how hysterically right she was about everything.

[whipped guy]

My High School Music Appreciation teacher used Ms. Russell's Ring analysis as our introduction to Wagner. Years later I attended my first complete Ring in San Francisco, and thought back to that recording, and how hysterically right she was about everything.

Well... I discovered things backwards!!! But then again, the her last line that, " They could start the whole darn thing over again" certainly became more priceless having experienced first hand the rigors of Wagner! Not to mention that we were back to where it all started 20 hours ago.....zzzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

[TruHart1]

The Hokinson cartoons brought to mind another classic purveyor of comedic singing, the great Anna Russell, here not singing, but demonstrating a typical Ladies Club Introduction.

Of course my all time favorite Anna Russel is her insightful analysis of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. A classic and so true!!!!

 

Well... I discovered things backwards!!! But then again, the her last line that, " They could start the whole darn thing over again" certainly became more priceless having experienced first hand the rigors of Wagner! Not to mention that we were back to where it all started 20 hours ago.....zzzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

Anna Russell was a true genius, starting out as an aspiring musician who was perhaps a mediocre singer at best (though she was an excellent musician on piano and other instruments) who turned that liability into a major comedic career, enjoyed by both classical musicians (except perhaps composer Ned Rorem ) and non-musicians alike. For some of her best lines/anecdotes check out her obituary in The Guardian after she passed at the age of 94 in 2006: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/24/guardianobituaries.obituaries1

 

Ms. Russell brings to mind the great Danish-born classical comedian Victor Borge. I was lucky enough to meet him once at a concert locally when I was attending as a volunteer, helping out the concert venue (and getting to see the concert) as a friend of venue management. Mr. Borge always travelled with a soprano who was a part of his comedy act. I got the duty of going out to get the soprano's young son his dinner, a McDonalds cheeseburger, fries and drink! Here is that part of his act with soprano Marilyn Mulvey:

 

TruHart1

[bostonman]

For those of us growing up the 70's, we might have not known the name Victor Borge, but we knew one of his routines VERY well as featured on The Electric Company on PBS. In those days before "mouth percussion" was a musical fad, Borge had a bit where he would read something out loud and provide noises for the punctuation. Very funny and, in the context of the PBS reading/language-oriented show, a fun way to learn.

 

Also a fun note on the Edwards. Anyone familiar with the musical The Last Five Years (by Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown, often referred to as simply JRB) will probably know a comic song called "A Summer In Ohio," where the singer chronicles her perfectly awful time doing bad summerstock theatre. At one point in the score, during an awkward downward passage on the piano that feels like it's "falling apart" a little, is the indication "very Jonathan Edwards." But for the sheet music copy available commercially, JRB changed the indication to "clumsy, sloppy." I guess he figured most people wouldn't have any idea who Edwards was. (And he's most certainly right.)

[whipped guy]

Anna Russell was a true genius, starting out as an aspiring musician who was perhaps a mediocre singer at best (though she was an excellent musician on piano and other instruments) who turned that liability into a major comedic career, enjoyed by both classical musicians (except perhaps composer Ned Rorem ) and non-musicians alike. For some of her best lines/anecdotes check out her obituary in The Guardian after she passed at the age of 94 in 2006: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/24/guardianobituaries.obituaries1

 

Ms. Russell brings to mind the great Danish-born classical comedian Victor Borge. I was lucky enough to meet him once at a concert locally when I was attending as a volunteer, helping out the concert venue (and getting to see the concert) as a friend of venue management. Mr. Borge always travelled with a soprano who was a part of his comedy act. I got the duty of going out to get the soprano's young son his dinner, a McDonalds cheeseburger, fries and drink! Here is that part of his act with soprano Marilyn Mulvey:

 

TruHart1

 

Yes, Russel and Borge were actually quite accomplished musicians. As a youngster taking piano lessons who grew up on classical music Borge used to crack me up. I recall literally rolling on the floor. I discovered Anna a bit later.

 

Anyone for Jack Benny on violin next... or don't you want to date yourselves!!!

 

(Do I hear P.D. Q. Bach lurking in the distance?)

[bostonman]

Anyone for Jack Benny on violin next... or don't you want to date yourselves!!!

 

(Do I hear P.D. Q. Bach lurking in the distance?)

 

I was a bit young for Benny, or Kay Kyser, etc. But PDQ Bach was a huge obsession of mine.

 

My parents also had a bunch of Allan Sherman and Tom Lehrer albums - such great stuff!