[78-L] Dame Vera Lynn.

[fnarf at comcast.net]

I was just reading in a biography of English comedian Tommy Cooper about his unsuccessful gig at the Flamingo in Las Vegas with Vera Lynn in the mid-fifties. Cooper went over fairly well as comedians go, but Lynn bombed -- she was still being billed as the "Forces Sweetheart" a decade after the war ended, and no one wanted to hear "White Cliffs of Dover" much anymore. And her talents weren't really suited to swinging Vegas, baby; you couldn't get much further from Louie and Keely and Sam Butera if you tried.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Spats" <spats47 at ntlworld.com>
To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 4:32:34 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: [78-L] Dame Vera Lynn.

Vera Lynn was really very good indeed, but in a genre in which nobody 
sings today.

She was definitively ENGLISH in style and suited perfectly her time; 
perfect for sentimental songs of her day and perfect as the 
non-threatening, not-too-sexy girl next door for all those far away 
from home fighting in WW2 in the early days of the war especially, 
say, 1939-1942...hence her title of 'forces' sweetheart'. Her voice 
is clear and strong and dead in tune...always!

However, don't try to compare her with Ella Fitzgerald or Peggy Lee.
She never had any pretension to be a Jazz singer or, indeed, a singer 
in any American style.

Earl.
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