Event overview
Burlesquing the Belle: Professional Southernism and Girl Singers in 1930s Hollywood
In the 1930s, the New Orleans trio the Boswell Sisters had a profound influence on popular music and jazz singing, introducing a southern vocality that could sound “black” but be “white.” Such was their impact that by the time they disbanded in 1936, “professional southernism” was music business common sense: girl singers often feigned southernness in order to succeed. Northern-born chanteuses learned the vocal cadences of the belle; Dixie origins and family ties were invented for singing groups who were neither southern nor sisters. Hollywood quickly found ways to satirize the ubiquity of the show-business belle – as in Every Night at Eight (1935), The Awful Truth (1937) and Kiss The Boys Goodbye (1941)- often using camp to blur the boundaries between the “real” belle and the double masquerade of her imitators. In this talk Laurie Stras discusses how these performances were drawn into political anxieties about the rise of fascism, tensions between north and south within the US, and representations of black and white identities.
Laurie Stras studied harpsichord, piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, and gained her doctorate from the University of London in 1995. Before returning to postgraduate studies, she pursued a freelance career as both singer and keyboard player, including four years in the Royal National Theatre Company as Musical Director for both touring and repertory productions.
Laurie acts as consultant to a number of performing groups in both early music and heritage jazz, and is co-director of the early music ensemble Musica Secreta, with whom she has supervised three award-winning recordings. Throughout 2010 and 2011, she also worked closely with Sarah Dunant on her historical novel set in a 1570s convent, Sacred Hearts, for which Musica Secreta recorded a soundtrack CD. She is currently writing a book, Musica Secreta: Women, Polyphony and Performance, which investigates a wider musical, historical and cultural context for the famous concerto di dame at the court of Ferrara.
Open to all, not just for graduates!
Image: Bing Crosby with The Boswell Sisters
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Mar 2014 | 5:00pm - 6:00pm |
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