Adrienne Matzenauer Explained

Adrienne Matzenauer
Birth Name:Adrienne Ferrari-Fontana
Birth Date:January 20, 1914
Birth Place:Boston, Massachusetts
Death Date:June 10, 2010 (age 96)
Death Place:Santa Monica, California
Other Names:Adrienne Fontana, Adrienne Myerberg, Adrienne Henoch
Occupation:Singer, television host
Parents:Margaret Matzenauer
Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana

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

Early life and education

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

As a young woman, Matzenauer appeared in two Broadway productions, (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

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.[22]

External links

Notes and References

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

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