- Hildegarde
Hildegarde (
February 1 ,1906 -July 29 ,2005 ) was an Americancabaret singer , best known for the song "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup."Life
She was born Hildegarde Loretta Sell in
Adell, Wisconsin , and raised inNew Holstein, Wisconsin , as aRoman Catholic in a family of German extraction. Sell worked invaudeville and traveling shows throughout her career, appearing across the United States and Europe. She was known for 70 years as "The Incomparable Hildegarde," a title bestowed on her by columnistWalter Winchell . [ [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001647.asp Wisconsin Historical Society | Wisconsin Historical Images ] ]She trained at
Marquette University 's College of Music in the 1920s. [ [http://www.marquette.edu/about/allfamous.shtml Famous Faces Answers | Marquette University ] ]During the peak of her popularity in the 1930s and '40s, she was booked in cabarets and
supper club s at least 45 weeks a year. She appeared on the cover ofLife magazine in 1939, and her recordings sold in the hundreds of thousands.Revlon even introduced a Hildegarde shade oflipstick andnail polish .She was once referred to as a "luscious, hazel-eyed Milwaukee blonde who sings the way Garbo looks". [Time, November 27, 1950]
"Hildegarde was perhaps the most famous supper-club entertainer who ever lived," the entertainer
Liberace once said. "I used to absorb all the things she was doing, all the showmanship she created. It was marvelous to watch her, wearing elegant gowns, surrounded with roses and playing with white gloves on. They used to literally roll out the red carpet for her."Hildegarde's admirers ranged from soldiers during World War II to King Gustaf of
Sweden and theDuke of Windsor .She never married. She was the business partner and good friend of
Anna Sosenko . That relationship ended up in litigation over the control of receipts from their joint efforts.From the 1950s through the 1970s, in addition to her cabaret performances and
record album s, she appeared in a number oftelevision specials and toured with the national company of theStephen Sondheim musical "Follies ".Her
autobiography , "Over 50 .... So What!", was published by Doubleday in 1961.She died at the age of 99 in a hospital in
New York onJuly 29 ,2005 , ofnatural causes .Television
Hildegarde appeared as the Celebrity Mystery Guest on
What's My Line? onMay 8 ,1955 .ee also
*
Mononymous persons References
External links
* [http://www.musicbizadvice.com/hildegarde.htm Biography] on MusicBizAdvice.com
*imdb name|id=0383888|name=Hildegarde
*findagrave|11460738|Hildegarde
* [http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/hildegarde.html Biography and Performance Review] at BigBands and BigNames.com
* [http://libus.csd.mu.edu/record=b1833565 Hildegarde Sell Papers (49 scrapbooks)]
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