Florence Foster Jenkins is a new film about the famous singer starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. I expect both to be Academy Award nominees for their performances here. It’s an engaging story with a lot of singing. With singing so bad that it’s good!
Florence was a 1940s era phenomenon, whose singing was God-awful, but whose financial support of the arts and artists was stellar. In a sort of unspoken quid pro quo she developed a cult following of sycophants, winning admiration and wide support of her attempt at singing. She especially enjoyed the support of the arts world that needed her patronage as a wealthy woman. She gave money to all art forms and artists, including Arturo Toscanini!
I found Florence quite a lovely character, and a sympathetic figure whom Streep says, “…sings without a self-editing muscle.” Florence, who had no musical talent, was deluded thinking she was a great singer. Her delusion was reinforced by her manager husband. Today’s singers, though, would do well to emulate her dedication to singing. Her vocal coach cringed through their sessions and happily took her money. Florence sang with passion and joy, and those deep feelings were on display as her voice soared and soured to screeching heights.
Streep is a good singer. And to fully appreciate her performance as Florence, it’s important to know that it’s not easy for a good singer to sing off-key…out of tune…or “pitchy” as it’s called in pop singing these days. A good singer has trained and practiced for many years to achieve good intonation---also referred to as “singing in tune.” Singing with poor technique and poor intonation deliberately then, becomes a challenge.
In interviews, Streep discussed how she prepared for the role of Florence. She worked with her vocal coach who taught her the operatic arias for the film which she had to sing well before she could “mess around with them and sing them outrageously wrong.” (It’s kind of like how jazz musicians and singers train for improvising and scat singing, in that one must know the original melody and chord changes before she can deviate from them in a way that makes musical sense.) With her coach, Streep learned techniques to preserve her voice through all that poor technique and harsh singing as Florence.
At one point, Florence played Carnegie Hall, giving us a new response to the old riddle, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” In her case, she rented its largest space, which today you can rent for an approximate base fee of $18,000 for two hours on a Friday or Saturday. Much more money gets added to that fee when you factor in all the technical services, box office fees, etc.
Florence wasn’t the only off-key singer to record and become famous. In the 1950s there was another who, although highly regarded for her great and versatile voice and impeccable pitch, deliberately recorded albums singing out of tune with a piano accompanist who played terribly.
A great pop singer, Jo Stafford and her husband, bandleader/pianist Paul Weston developed a comedy act---originally to entertain friends at parties. Pretending to be a bad lounge act called “Jonathan & Darlene Edwards,” Jo would sing off-key in a high pitched voice and Paul would play an un-tuned piano badly. It caught on, and they recorded their first album under the assumed names. It sold big, and the pubic clamored for more.
Speculation grew as to the real identity of the performers. Time Magazine reported they might be President Harry S. Truman at the piano and his semi-talented opera singer daughter, Margaret. Stafford and Weston denied they had any personal connection to Jonathan and Darlene, and that they were a Trenton, NJ lounge act whom they had discovered and who happened to be living with them. After their first album, Jonathan & Darlene Edwards in Paris, the duo recorded several others, and the duo’s real names were finally revealed.
As a young singer, I adored the voice of Jo Stafford and think it a cryin’ shame that her 1961 Grammy for Best Comedy Album (Jonathan and Darlene) was her only major award for her great singing and impeccable pitch.
In 1977 the spoofy duo Jonathan & Darlene Edwards came out of retirement to record a single - The Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” from Saturday Night Fever. Hear it for laughs; but do listen to Jo Stafford in her legit pop prime sing “You Belong to Me.”
