Wikipedia

Adrienne Matzenauer

Adrienne Matzenauer Ferrari-Fontana (January 20, 1914 – June 10, 2010) was an American singer and television host.

Adrienne Matzenauer
Born
Adrienne Ferrari-Fontana

January 20, 1914
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedJune 10, 2010 (age 96)
Santa Monica, California
Other namesAdrienne Fontana, Adrienne Myerberg, Adrienne Henoch
Occupation(s)Singer, television host
Parent(s)Margaret Matzenauer
Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana

Early life and education

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Adrienne Matzenauer as a child, with her mother; from the Library of Congress

Adrienne Matzenauer Ferrari-Fontana was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Margaret Matzenauer and Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana.[1] She was known as "the first grand opera baby",[2] because her mother was prima donna contralto with the Metropolitan Opera, and her father, an Italian physician, was leading dramatic tenor with the Boston Opera Company.[3] Enrico Caruso was her godfather.[4] Her parents divorced in 1917.[5] She was raised in her mother's household,[6] and toured with her mother in 1923.[7]

Career

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As a young woman, Matzenauer appeared in two Broadway productions, Life Begins at 8:40 (1934)[8][9] and Symphony (1935). In 1936, she was cast in the George Cukor film Camille, but she collapsed on the set and was replaced by Jean Acker.[10] She sang on radio broadcasts,[11] and was a nightclub singer at the Place Piquale in New York, the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, and at the Balinese Room in Boston, in the 1930s and 1940s.[12][13][14] She was back on Broadway in 1948, in If the Shoe Fits. In 1948 she hosted a variety television program, Champagne and Orchids, on the DuMont Network.[15][16]

In her later life, as Adrienne Henoch, she lived in Southern California,[17] and cared for her mother in her last years.[18] In the early 1970s, she sang on a cruise ship.[19]

Personal life

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Matzenauer married theatrical producer and director Michael Myerberg; they had two sons, Edward Antonio (known as Tony) and Paul,[20][21] and divorced in 1958. Her second husband was Robert J. Henoch; they married in 1961 and divorced in 1976. She died in 2010, at the age of 96, in her Santa Monica, California home.[15][22]

References

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  1. ^ "Personalities". Musical America. 20 (14): 16. 1914-08-08 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "'I Hope to Pay My Debt to America Through My Art' Says Mme. Matzenauer". Musical America. 27 (23): 4. 1918-04-06 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "Opera Singers in Domestic Life". Musical Courier. 71 (3): 19. 1915-07-21 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Miss Matzenauer to Sing at Shubert Opening Here". The Boston Globe. 1934-07-20. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "How the War Shattered the Romance of Grand Opera's Ideal Couple". The Idaho Statesman. 1917-03-11. p. 24. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Arts: At 57, Mme. Matzenauer Decides to Make a Comeback with Singing Tour". Newsweek. 11: 24. 1938-02-07 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ Butler, Marjorie (1923-10-22). "Opera Star Brings Daughter, Nine, on First Joint Tour". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Dietz, Dan (2018-03-29). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 333–334. ISBN 978-1-5381-0277-0.
  9. ^ Mordden, Ethan (2015-04-07). Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-4668-9347-4.
  10. ^ "Valentino's 'Ex' Gets New Chance in Films". Daily News. 1936-08-09. p. 185. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Wagner Picked by Barbirolli". The South Bend Tribune. 1938-04-17. p. 21. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Eve Symington Quits Night Club for Tropics". Daily News. 1935-01-16. p. 446. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Music: Culinary Contralto". Time. 1942-10-05. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  14. ^ "Adrienne Matzenauer Opens Engagement in Balinese Room Today". The Boston Globe. 1942-02-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b Kreuger, Miles (Fall 2010). "Some Words about Adrienne Matzenauer" (PDF). Words Without Music: The Ira Gershwin Newsletter. 5: 8.
  16. ^ "People in Television". Radio and Television Mirror. 30 (2): 52. July 1948 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ "Malibu Emergency Center Puts Wants of Fire Victims First". The Los Angeles Times. 1970-12-10. p. 268. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Former Star of Met Dies". Oakland Tribune. 1963-05-20. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Lyons, Leonard (1972-02-10). "Soviet Poet Sports a 'Super' T-shirt". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 33. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Karman, James (2015-07-15). The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers, with Selected Letters of Una Jeffers: Volume Three, 1940-1962. Stanford University Press. pp. 430, note 2. ISBN 978-0-8047-9477-0.
  21. ^ "Michael Myerberg Dies at 67; A Stage and Screen Producer". The New York Times. 1974-01-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  22. ^ "Adrienne Fontana Henoch (death notice)". The Los Angeles Times. 2010-06-27. p. 79. Retrieved 2023-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
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