“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Her singing voice carried the charm of the Parisian women but never lost the heart of the girl from Vienna. Greta's singing in what some call "a style reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich" comes from the fact she was the model for how Marlene Dietrich developed her own voice. Greta Keller made recordings throughout the world and from the 1920s into the 1970s. She spent many years in the United States, notably in hotel club rooms at the Waldorf and (later) the Stanhope in New York, where her show always included "My Way", with lyrics composed by Paul Anka, and a number of Noël Coward numbers. A "singer's singer," Keller often drew other performers to the room, including the Nordstrom Sisters, Beverly Sills and Hildegarde.
Other regulars would book the same tables most nights that she was performing, including photographer Edgar de Evia. Favorites of the Stanhope crowd were the songs of Cole Porter and Noël Coward, for their sexual innuendo and double entendres. These included "Miss Otis Regrets" and "I'm the Other Woman in His Life" by her close friend Elisse Boyd. She regularly returned to Vienna. The poet and singer Rod McKuen was introduced by her to an audience in Vienna. McKuen, in turn, hosted a concert presenting her at Lincoln Center in the 1970s, and wrote the English lyric "If You Go Away" to Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas," which she always sang.
Her repertoire included songs from the 1930s through the war years as well as popular songs of the day. A few years before her death, her voice was heard in the Academy Award-winning movie, Cabaret (1972), for which she sang the song, "Heirat" (Married).
Thank you, Joe. My parents met in 1931. They married in 1933. I didn't come along until eight years later, but because of them, I suppose, the years before I was born have always seemed as real to me and a as big a part of my own experience as any that came subsequently. Any my childhood and teen years remain with few exceptions more vivid –– and far more treasured –– than anything I've experienced snce the advent of the nineteen-SICK-sties, when blight swept over the land of my birth.
Those "foolish things" weren't foolish at all. As it turns out, they're all we have left of much sweeter, gentler times. Sweeter and better not because events were less threatening and calamitous than they are today, but because we met horror and disaster with greater courage, stronger faith, and far less cynicism than we do today.
8 comments:
they are fantastic! I'd love to see them live...
Me2. I was always a fan of the Psychedelic Rock (Cream/LZ) of the sixties... and this brings it all back.
Of all the Greta's I've ever known (very few) GARBO and KELLER are the knes I'ved loved.
If you don't know GRETA KELLER, you ought to look her up. She was a great wonder in her day.
WIKI on GRETA KELLER (excerpt):
Her singing voice carried the charm of the Parisian women but never lost the heart of the girl from Vienna. Greta's singing in what some call "a style reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich" comes from the fact she was the model for how Marlene Dietrich developed her own voice. Greta Keller made recordings throughout the world and from the 1920s into the 1970s. She spent many years in the United States, notably in hotel club rooms at the Waldorf and (later) the Stanhope in New York, where her show always included "My Way", with lyrics composed by Paul Anka, and a number of Noël Coward numbers. A "singer's singer," Keller often drew other performers to the room, including the Nordstrom Sisters, Beverly Sills and Hildegarde.
Other regulars would book the same tables most nights that she was performing, including photographer Edgar de Evia. Favorites of the Stanhope crowd were the songs of Cole Porter and Noël Coward, for their sexual innuendo and double entendres. These included "Miss Otis Regrets" and "I'm the Other Woman in His Life" by her close friend Elisse Boyd. She regularly returned to Vienna. The poet and singer Rod McKuen was introduced by her to an audience in Vienna. McKuen, in turn, hosted a concert presenting her at Lincoln Center in the 1970s, and wrote the English lyric "If You Go Away" to Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas," which she always sang.
Her repertoire included songs from the 1930s through the war years as well as popular songs of the day. A few years before her death, her voice was heard in the Academy Award-winning movie, Cabaret (1972), for which she sang the song, "Heirat" (Married).
;)
Thank you, Joe. My parents met in 1931. They married in 1933. I didn't come along until eight years later, but because of them, I suppose, the years before I was born have always seemed as real to me and a as big a part of my own experience as any that came subsequently. Any my childhood and teen years remain with few exceptions more vivid –– and far more treasured –– than anything I've experienced snce the advent of the nineteen-SICK-sties, when blight swept over the land of my birth.
Those "foolish things" weren't foolish at all. As it turns out, they're all we have left of much sweeter, gentler times. Sweeter and better not because events were less threatening and calamitous than they are today, but because we met horror and disaster with greater courage, stronger faith, and far less cynicism than we do today.
No, thank you for the introduction, FT. They were remarkable times.
And while we're "Greataring" I have to say I miss the mild, measured decency of Greta Van Susteren at FOX.
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