Florence Foster Jenkins

[Flosshilde]

Apparently a film about Florence Foster Jenkins is 'in production' (is that the right term?). Meryl Streep (playing FFJ) & Hugh Grant (playing her manager) were filming in Glasgow last weekend, for it. I wonder if Streep is going to do her own singing - I think she did in 'Mama Mia', in which case she might be too good for FFJ.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/22/meryl-streep-hugh-grant-opera-singer-florence-foster-jenkins-biopic

[pastoralguy]

A work colleague of mine has a son working on this movie. It's his first job after graduating film school.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ubiUIxbWE

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And if you thought that was bad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKIeq1wqfjI

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptTvko32UVg

[Pabmusic]

And if you thought that was bad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKIeq1wqfjI

It's absolutely years since I've heard anything from FFJ. And now you've spoilt my record!

[Pabmusic]

FFJ was clearly a strange person with a lot of money. However, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards really knew what they were doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_VJ6dRCoq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNrf8legrWg

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

Cleo Laine and John Dankworth were good at this sort of thing, but Jonathan & Darlene (Paul Weston & Jo Stafford) got there first.

[cloughie]

FFJ was clearly a strange person with a lot of money. However, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards really knew what they were doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_VJ6dRCoq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNrf8legrWg

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

Cleo Laine and John Dankworth were good at this sort of thing, but Jonathan & Darlene (Paul Weston & Jo Stafford) got there first.

I seem to remember Maureen Lipman doing some show or other on FFJ a few years ago.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I seem to remember Maureen Lipman doing some show or other on FFJ a few years ago.

http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/p/6303/glorious-the-true-story-of-florence-foster-jenkins-the-worst-singer-in-the-world

[umslopogaas]

Well, well. Its been a long time since anyone reminded me of Florence Foster Jenkins, but I have two CDs of her singing (both cover very much the same repertoire) and along with discs by Anna Russell and Gerard Hoffnung and LPs of Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, they are much treasured. Try 'Der Holle Rache' by FFJ, then 'The Ring of the Nibelungs' by Anna Russell, and then, if you've got any breath left from laughing, try Hoffnung and the 'Advice to foreign tourists on visiting London': HAVE YOU HEARD THE FAMOUS ECHO IN THE READING ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM?' If that isnt sufficient to make you fall off the sofa, try his 'Letters from Tyrolean Landlords' sketch. 'Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers STUPENDOUS revelations. There is a French widow in every bedroom ... affording delightful prospects.'

[LeMartinPecheur]

Well, well. Its been a long time since anyone reminded me of Florence Foster Jenkins, but I have two CDs of her singing (both cover very much the same repertoire) and along with discs by Anna Russell and Gerard Hoffnung and LPs of Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, they are much treasured. Try 'Der Holle Rache' by FFJ, then 'The Ring of the Nibelungs' by Anna Russell, and then, if you've got any breath left from laughing, try Hoffnung and the 'Advice to foreign tourists on visiting London': HAVE YOU HEARD THE FAMOUS ECHO IN THE READING ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM?' If that isnt sufficient to make you fall off the sofa, try his 'Letters from Tyrolean Landlords' sketch. 'Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers STUPENDOUS revelations. There is a French widow in every bedroom ... affording delightful prospects.'

umslop: do your CDs include the B-side of the standard RCA FFJ LP, private recordings, in strong American English, of scenes from Gounod's Faust by Jenny Williams (sop) and Thomas Burns (bar)?

I find these even more treasurable than the FFJ side. With her I'm never quite sure she wasn't faking it (eg in some bits of Q of the Night's aria she very nearly gets some quite tricky bits right, and then seems to 'correct' this flaw by going extra-wide of the next few notes). Whereas Williams and Burns recorded for their own pleasure(?) and are kinda transparently honest. Well, Burns is... He seems to possess a rather elderly, completely untrained, big beery Bronx(?) baritone, and does his limited best with it. Williams has clearly had a lot of tuition, but to very little effect - she thinks she can sing, but she really, really can't One suspects that Williams had to drag a very reluctant Burns into the recording booth...