[Magdalen] For those of us US'ers (& maybe even Canadians)...

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

She had a desire to make music, and her hearing and pitch were not so good
later in life, partly due to untreated syphilis. By the time antibiotics
were available, the disease had advanced to the tertiary stage, which is
not responsive to antibiotics. She must have had some idea of her limits
since she mostly performed for small vetted audiences. She finally
performed at Carnegie Hall, and this was the first time her singing was
actually reviewed, it would appear. The reviewers destroyed her, or so I
have read. I have heard the story that there were soldiers at this concert
who didn't know anything about her, and when she started singing, they
laughed at her. According to some sources, the terrible reviews broke her
heart, but another source says poppycock; she died a short time later (the
time line is not even agreed upon), it is true, but she died "full of
years," according to one source who might actually know.

I remember once seeing Mr. Rogers appear on a sort of chic TV show. He was
being interviewed, and at some point, something he said evoked laughter
from the audience.  He turned to the host and gently said, "I don't know
why that is funny."  I have the same reaction to this poor lady.

None of us know how we sound. Many of us, when we hear our own voice, are
horrified. She did not know what she sounded like.  It is said that she
once said, "People say that I cannot sing, but they cannot deny that I
sang."

You go, Flo!

I have read several writings, and there seems little agreement on the
facts, so the movie will no doubt be able to do pretty much whatever they
wish.  I'm a little surprised to see Streep getting involved in this, but
maybe she has bills to pay....

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 4:40 PM, M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> Very shortly, Streep's/Grant's "Florence Foster Jenkins" is going to be
> released.  Yay!  (You Brits have had it for some time now.)  I never go to
> the bijou, preferring to simply buy the DVD (which comes out WAY faster
> than its former VHS counterpart used to), so I suppose I should put in my
> order (or pre-order) at Amazon soon.
>