Adrienne Matzenauer

Adrienne Matzenauer
Born	Adrienne Ferrari-Fontana January 20, 1914 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	June 10, 2010 (age 96) Santa Monica, California
Other names	Adrienne Fontana, Adrienne Myerberg, Adrienne Henoch
Occupation(s)	Singer, television host
Parent(s)	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 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

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

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

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. 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.

External links

• Michael Myerberg Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Center for Film and Theatre Research
• Adrienne Matzenauer used several names professionally, and appears to have three separate listings on IMDb, and at least two on IBDB:
  • Adrienne Matzenauer at IMDb
  • Adrienne Fontana at IMDb
  • Adrienne at IMDb
  • Adrienne Matzenauer at the Internet Broadway Database
  • Adrienne at the Internet Broadway Database