Florence Foster Jenkins - How the World's Worst Singer Performed at Carnegie Hall
The movie stars Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant opens in the U.S. on August 12.
Florence Foster Jenkins may have appeared at New York's legendary Carnegie Hall only once but it is said that her souvenir concert program is the most sought by the visitors of the venue. Not even the likes of Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland hold that distinction. This is a surprising fact since Jenkins couldn't even hold a note. She is also the subject of a bittersweet biopic bearing her name that will hit U.S. cinemas later this week.
Worst Singer of All Time
Gino Francesconi, the Carnegie's archive director, is one of those intrigued by Jenkins' enigma. He said that in order for a singer to succeed in the famed venue, she must have the combination of talent, charisma and interpretive quality. Florence Foster Jenkins did not have even one of these qualities. The American socialite was even said to be one of the worst singers of all time.
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Rather than gaining fame as a diva, Jenkins instead became infamous for her terrible singing voice. Oscar award winner Meryl Streep, who plays her in the biopic, told the audience at a preview screening that she feels Jenkins' excitement whenever she listens to the latter's recordings. The frustrated singer must even be thinking, "This is going very well," added the actress.
The Start of Her Passion for Singing
Jenkins inherited a fortune from her father in 1909. When she was just a teenager, she contracted syphilis from her first husband that caused her nerve damage. Because of this, she had to give up her piano playing. She instead turned her passion to opera singing.
Everyone in her circle who heard her sing knew that she was terrible at it but not one of them had the inclination to tell her. However, she was somehow persuaded to make her Carnegie Hall debut at the ripe old age of 76. Wearing homemade and yet flamboyant costumes, she walked onstage in front of a sell-out crowd.
Laughter and Scathing Reviews
The concert was like every performance Jenkins previously had but for the first time, she was not among friends. The audience's laughter can only be described as the "cruelest and least civilized behavior" given to a performer at the Carnegie Hall.
The Los Angeles Times described Jenkins' performance as the "most pathetic exhibition of vanity" ever seen. Her common-law-husband, St Clair Bayfield, did not approve of her doing the concert. He wrote after her death that the concert was a fiasco that he expected it to be.
When Bayfield and Florence went home after the concert, she was upset and she was crushed after reading the reviews. Bayfield added that she was unaware of how bad she really was. Previously diagnosed with a heart strain, Jenkins died a month later.
Florence Foster Jenkins the movie is directed by Stephen Frears. Besides Streep, Hugh Grant also stars and plays Bayfield. The semi-retired actor spent a year researching Bayfield's diaries and letters.
Florence Foster Jenkins opens in the U.S. on Friday, August 12.
