She never knew what to do with her hands when she was singing, but she was a great chanteuse and a great beauty. This from the eponymous 1943 movie:
She would have been a great film star, too, if she hadn’t been black. Sadly, she was passed over for the role that would have made her a star: the part of Julie Laverne in the 1951 movie Show Boat, a light-skinned black woman—married to a white man—who passes for white but is eventually found out and kicked off the showboat. Ironically, Horne probably wasn’t considered because movies couldn’t have a real black actor in a romantic relationship with a white, even though that was what the movie was about! The role of Julie was played by Ava Gardner in heavy dark makeup, and her songs were dubbed.
And just for fun, because I like it so much, here’s Paul Robeson’s performance of “Ol’ Man River” from the first (1936) movie of Show Boat. An amazing man with, perhaps, the greatest bass voice ever:
So it goes.
We just keep rollin’ along…
Unrelated to Lena, four Google ads appeared under the post, including these two (which, presumably is the case for everyone else, but noted in case they disappear:
Ads by Google
Biblical Adam, First Man
Adam, first man per Bible records, archaeology dates him to 14,000 BP
http://www.accuracyingenesis.com
The Truth about Evolution
Scientific Facts tell Everything! Evolution vs Creation?
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At least the creationaries are supporting Google by doing this.
Adblock
I’m trying out ads as an experiment for a while.
The chilean women ad also?
“At least the creationaries are supporting Google by doing this.”
Click on their ads! Click on their ads!
I was introduced to Lena Horne the way many others my age were – on Sesame Street. Gorgeous woman and a great voice…
“… perhaps, the greatest bass voice ever:”
Never heard Cesare Siepi?
Yup. He doesn’t move me NEAR as much as Paul Robeson. But of course which is better is a matter of personal taste, and can’t be resolved by science! 🙂
It can, however, be resolved by arm wrestling.
Or be flushed by Feodor Chaliapin?
A couple of wonderful artistes, but in particular Paul Robeson; my father’s favourite singer and it brought back memories of him playing Robeson in the in the mid 50’s.
Good memories, thanks.
One of my Father’s favourites as well. Interestingly, my Dad saw him in the late 40’s / early 50’s during one of his visits to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe – Hungary I’m guessing as that’s where my Father is from.
I remember seeing her on TV in the 50’s. Her eyes were so penetrating. She was fascinating.
I didn’t even realize she was still around. Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald singing “Stormy Weather” are hard to beat. I never saw the Showboat movie – Ava Gardner doing blackface – I imagine she’d look like Al Jolson with boobs.
I was fortunate to hear her in person. She personified the line, “could fill a room.”
I first heard of Lena Horne via the Tom Lehrer song “National Brotherhood Week”:
Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks.
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.
But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek.
It’s fun to eulogize
The people you despise,
As long as you don’t let ’em in your school.
I second heard of Lena Horne through Lenny Bruce’s bit:
“You are a white. The Imperial Wizard. Now, if you don’t think this is logic you can burn me on the fiery cross. This is the logic: You have the choice of spending fifteen years married to a woman, a black woman or a white woman. Fifteen years kissing and hugging and sleeping real close on hot nights. With a black, black woman or a white, white woman. The white woman is Kate Smith. And the black woman is Lena Horne. So you’re not concerned with black or white anymore, are you? You are concerned with how cute or how pretty. Then let’s really get basic and persecute ugly people!”
When I was born, Nelson Mandela was in prison and homosexuality was a crime. We’ve come a long way since then, but we’ve still got a long way to go. I hope the occasion of her death, will allow us to recall how shabbily treated she was in life, and how no one deserves to be treated like that.
“When I was born, Nelson Mandela was in prison and homosexuality was a crime. We’ve come a long way since then, but we’ve still got a long way to go.” In Hammerstein’s 1927 lyrics of Ol’ Man River, he wrote “N*****s all work on de Mississippi” (1936 “Darkies”, 1946 “Colored folk”, later “Here we all”) and “Don’t look up, don’t look down, you don’t dast make de white boss frown”… which gets left out nowadays.
Lena Horne was black, beautiful and brilliantly talented. Showboat, great Kern score notwithstanding, was a bleak and cowardly moment for Hollywood, though you might say that it was cowed by McCarthyism it trod lightly upon every issue.
And just for fun, because I like it so much, here’s Paul Robeson’s performance of “Ol’ Man River” from the first (1936) movie of Show Boat. An amazing man with, perhaps, the greatest bass voice ever:
Basso Jerome Hines was no slouch either. Attached is a link to the late Mr. Hines singing “Old Man river” at the ripe old age of 77.