"In a cabaret, it`s almost like being in your living room with friends coming in to visit, and you want to give them the best you have, all that's in you."
"My whole goal in life is to reach the person in some way. It may not happen on every song - it may happen with only one moment in a show. But I want to leave them with something that they'll remember, that they were touched by."
We have a centenary to celebrate today, dear reader - that of the marvellous Miss Julie Wilson, one of the last great cabaret artistes.
In a 1987 interview, Miss Wilson named Billie Holiday as her major influence. “No singer has ever moved me so much,” she said. “No one has ever had such pain and emotion in her singing. She is why I wear a gardenia in my hair every night.”
Writer Deborah Grace Winer in her book The Night and the Music called Wilson "the undisputed Queen of cabaret, the doyenne of the night chanteuses." Hers was a long road to that pinnacle in her career, however.
From her roots in Omaha, Nebraska, she emerged in the New York nightclub scene in the 40s, found stage fame in musicals in London's West End and on Broadway in the 50s and 60s (and appeared in couple of largely forgotten movies), then retired in the early 70s back to the Midwest to raise her family. It was not until the 1980s that Miss Wilson revived her cabaret career, and became the legendary performer of Sondheim, Porter and Weill standards so beloved of audiences at Michael’s, the Kaufman and the Algonquin. She had her comedic moments, too:
On Jack Paar's Tonight Show in the late '50s, guest host Arlene Francis discovered that Wilson was a yoga enthusiast and asked her to do a headstand."I was wearing this exquisite, sequinned gown from Neiman Marcus, but I figured I had the situation under control"
"Well, while I'm on my head - live on national television - my skirt came falling down right over my head. And I was only wearing pantyhose! They immediately cut to a commercial."
What a woman!
By way of a tribute she is with a pair of Sondheim/Stritchy classics:
I'll drink to that!
And here - on this Tacky Music Monday - is the "old broad" still being "bad" in her 80s...
We can only hope to be that fabulous at that age...
Julie May Wilson (21st October 1924 – 5th April 2015)
My favorite kind of singer and she is incredible. You fall in love the minute she steps out.
ReplyDeleteI adore her style, and would have loved the opportunity to see her live! Jx
DeleteI love her. Your section of videos shows off how personal, emotionally charged and comic she could be. her timing, delivery and intimacy was amazing and like you I wish I could have been in the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that she started her cabaret career after her retirement is an example to us all.
She was quite simply a marvel! Shame we never had the slightest opportunity to see her in performance, but at least we have the legacy of videos that capture her talents. Jx
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