One has to admire an individual who simply won’t let an obstacle get him or her down in what they set out to do. Although time has darkened her, I am sure that Florence Foster Jenkins was such a person. She was born into a wealthy New York City family, and her father recognized that she had little going for her other than being her daughter. As a young girl or aristocrat, when she asked her father to finance her music studies in Europe, he refused to do so.
So she found someone who would, and she ran off with that man. Within a year, she contracted the disease syphilis from her new husband. She left him, but she retained syphilis for the rest of her life. I know this is a terrible story, but keep reading, because it gets worse. She knew how to play the piano and made a living cohabiting with a British Shakespearean actor. Therefore, classical literature was combined with music to inspire her to create tableau vivants (artistic expression) that was more about the visual display of costumes than acting or musical accompaniment in a play. When she injured her arm and could no longer express herself on the piano, she found a new musical “talent”: singing.
Remember that he suffered from the disease syphilis, incurable, but treatable. That disease destroys the nervous system. His treatment included the use of arsenic and mercury, which usually led to progressive hearing loss. While I can’t find any written information to back it up, my theory is that his disease management led to his “tin ear.” In other words, he couldn’t hear the off-key sound of his singing voice. She could have lived her life in obscurity, except that when her father died, she became wealthy again and was welcomed into New York’s high social circles. She continued, with her partner, creating and performing in tableau vivants, but only for her group of friends. It was all one big social event for her class club. She liked them and provided them with this entertainment. But, she knew what people thought about it. She once commented, “People say I can’t sing. But no one can say I didn’t sing.”
It is said that her friends were very careful to keep the media away from making fun of her for her bad singing. At the same time, there was a report of one of her friends, a noted composer, tapping the foot of her cane on her shoe to stop him from laughing out loud during her performance. There’s a new movie celebrating her life. Go see “Florence Foster Jenkins,” the movie, if you dare. Interestingly, in the movies, her persona is carried by some of today’s most famous actors, who play the part of her friends who carried her through her life.