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meee On PE TO REST ASS AIMO TERE 7 ERIC my QFE. IINE A CRA wane + pangs tomes apres " “ owe serecagemena cen pomeatinn tee see rey rence ® ca mend Be Tee: re) Sees etter, they exagyerated their woe-begone ex- porarcctoanes, and fail the auavering yoice on in extra-thick ‘tavers.” “This technique,” Miss Kay asserts, “must be pretty nearly perfect, because it still brings out roars of laughter” in present-day audiences. According to CRS, she consults such) old-tine singers as Joe Heward and Emma Frances for details, not only about the voices of the bygone stars upon whom she hases her interpretations, but also aboot risms, their gestures, and even their custumes. The New York Post, however, quotes Miss Kay as having said: “We found that we had to sing the old numbers in a rollicking or burlesque fashion. Take That Lovin’ Ray that Elsie Janis used to sing so very slow— why, we weulda’: he tolerated on the air with it...) The ouly squawks we get come from people who remember some song with a great deal of sentiment. They remember an old girl or an old bean by it, and they don’t want it jazzed up.” W hether or not the songs arc really sung in an authentic manner, they cer- tainly have an appeal for “hoth the younger listeners and those who grow a bit nostalgic around dhe edges.’ = Miss Kay’s folio of Columbia recordings has “sold out as no similar set of dises has in years.” Although she has achieved her greatest success as “the little Tass with the Mauve Decade sob in her voice.” Beatrice Kay can sing in the modern manner too, having begin her veeal career as a “rhythm singer.” Jt is, however, with such pieces as The Curse of ant ching Heart and Harmony Joe that. she evokes the greatest response. As the Gay Nineties soubrette, Miss Kay made many vaudeville appearances through- out New England and New York in 1941 and 1942. “Jt is a trific upsetting,” she says, “and at the same time immensely flattering, the way in which the stagchands and mana- gers, particularly the older ones, welcome me. They've heard of the woman ‘who sings as Eva Tanguay used to, and they expect me to be at least sixty vears old. They have pre- pared for the comfort of the dear old lady they jmagine me to be, and they wait def- erentially to help her from the carriage. I've grown accustomed to seeing bewilderment as T step from a cab under my own power.” According to the New York World-Tele- gram, for a doug time Miss Kay refused motion-picture offers of “dramatic roles and modern comedy parts” because she knew her Sorte to he such “lilting Ivries” as Don't Go in the Lions Cage, Tomyglt, Mother, “At Jong Jast,” however, “she has succumbed to the lures of Hollywood. "Jn 1943) she will take a six weeks? vacation from her CRS show foostur ing aostory of New Orleans. lo at she'll play Sa bespangted sonbrette, iri ats frail whe wrintgs aeons hearts aud shakes the gastiglus with her hesty serenades.” Miss Kay in hee personal life is net an “old-fashioned gah’ Onee, wrote Earl Wil- son, “she had to get back to New York. fre Jamestown, where she had bee appearing, to do a radio rehearsal. The air dine wanted to BEATRICE KAY put her on a local plane which would require “that she make transfers. ‘Listen,’ she oan- nounced, ‘Kay's on, and not ge ing, off till she gels to Kew “York. She's getting: in her little seat, and she doecsn't want to be disturbed. If she is put off, shell have to be taken in an ambulance to the nearest hospital, where shel suffer a nervous Dreakdauwn and then file suit.’ Miss Kay rolled up and went te sleep, and the next thing she knew she was in New York. ‘] understand two people had to he feft behind somewhere.” she said, ‘hut frankly FP didn't care about them. They didn’t have a radio broadcast, and 1 was an hour late as it was!” Physically, Miss Kay is a “smallish, jovial,” husky-voiced person with “hig gray” cyes and “reddish-blonde” hair that photographs black. She lives ina ten-room carly American farm- house in Closter, New Jersey. “There's no mail route past the house, and her nearest neighbors are some horses in a stable a mile down the road. But Beatrice loves her... home.” In her library she collect. carly Edison records of bygone singers to help her with her work. She is marricd to Sylvan Green. References NY Herald Trilaine VI pi N 30 ‘41 N Y¥ Post U9 “Al por N Y Warld-Telegram pd Je 14 ‘Al por ‘KELLER, HELEN (ADAMS) June 27, ISSO- Authors: social worker clddress: VW. Westport, Conn, Helen Keller, “one of America’s twelve great women feaders during the past hun- dred years” is hest known for her will power, her courage, her outstanding achieve- | ments in spite of her handicaps, and her self-