Up for auction "Operatic Soprano" Lily Pons Hand Signed 4X6 Card.This
item is authenticated by JG Autographs and comes with their Certificate of
Authenticity. ES-3361 Alice
Joséphine Pons (April 12, 1898 – February 13,
1976), known professionally as Lily Pons, was a
French-American operatic soprano and
actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s.
As an opera singer, she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was
particularly associated with the title roles in Lakmé and Lucia di Lammermoor. In addition to
appearing as a guest artist with many opera houses internationally, Pons
enjoyed a long association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where
she performed nearly 300 times between 1931 and 1960. She also had a successful
and lucrative career as a concert singer, which continued until her retirement
from performance in 1973. From 1935 to 1937, she made three musical films
for RKO Pictures. She also made numerous
appearances on radio and on television, performing on variety programs such
as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, and The Dave Garroway Show. In 1955, she
topped the bill for the first broadcast of what became an iconic television
series, Sunday Night at the London Palladium. She made dozens of
records, recording both classical and popular music. She was awarded the Croix
de Lorraine and the Légion d'honneur by the government of
France. Pons was also adept at making herself into a marketable cultural icon.
Her opinions on fashion and home decorating were frequently reported in women's
magazines, and she appeared as the face for Lockheed airplanes, Knox gelatin,
and Libby's tomato
juice advertisements. A town in Maryland named itself after her, and thereafter
the singer contrived to have all her Christmas cards posted from Lilypons,
Maryland. Opera News wrote in 2011, "Pons
promoted herself with a kind of marketing savvy that no singer ever had shown
before, and very few have since; only Luciano
Pavarotti was quite so successful at exploiting the mass media.
|