Mixed

On the 4th of July, 1939, Universal Studios announced that Deanna Durbin had accepted the invitation of Queen Mary of England to give a concert performance at the Royal Abert Hall for the benefit of the London Hospital. Due to the war, Deanna had to postpone that trip to England.



Queen Mary (1867–1953) was widow of George V and mother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI. Queen Mary never used the title Queen Mother, choosing instead to be known as "Queen Mary" and that's the way she was addressed. But she still was a Queen Mother! And when her granddaughter came to the throne as Elizabeth II in 1952, she became Dowager Queen Mother.

MAD ABOUT MUSIC was Deanna Durbin's third movie, but there were other scripts and titles that were considered by Joe Pasternak in 1937 after the success of 100 MEN AND A GIRL including, THE BABY OF THE FAMILY, LITTLE LADY, YESTERDAY'S HEROES, PRIZE GIRL, and QUEEN AT FOURTEEN about Marie Antoinette.



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The thing Deanna Durbin most wanted to do, professionally, was to play the non-singing role of Joan of Arc.



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Deanna Durbin was admired by the following famous people:

Winston Churchill

Akira Kurosawa

Petula Clark

Judy Garland

Mario Lanza

Dick Cheney

Jean Renoir

Elly Ameling

Eddie Cantor

Cleo Laine

Rhonda Flemming

Gloria Jean

Nancy Lamott

Mstislav Rostropovich

Rudolf Nureyev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Rita Moreno

Marlon Brando

Beverly Sills

Franklin Roosevelt

Greta Garbo

Graham Greene

Mel Torme

Gilda Cruz-Romo

Joseph Stalin

Mickey Rooney

Joan Sutherland

Maria Callas

Maureen McGovern

Satyajit Ray

Anne Frank

Angela Lansbury

Frank Sinatra

Joseph Cotten

Robert Donat

Al Jolson

Lily Pons

Grace Moore

Lawrence Tibbett

Monica Mancini

Bing Crosby

George Burns

Gracie Fields

Jane Powell

Universal once planned a movie for Deanna which had her in a circus singing on the back of an elephant to a Sousa march!



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Deanna Durbin was to star in a dramatized biography of Jenny Lind based on a story of the Swedish singer's early life. Universal Studios bought the story from Hans Rameau and the movie was to be made after the production of FIRST LOVE, but Deanna never made the movie.



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After the amazing success of THREE SMART GIRLS, Deanna Durbin was considered to star in a movie version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in colour. The movie was released in 1943, but without Deanna.



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In 1948, a law suit against Deanna Durbin by Universal-International was resolved out-of-court and her contract was also revised.

The $87,083 suit was regarding money that was advanced to her. The contract revision involved reducing the number of movies that Deanna would make from five to three. The old six year agreement contract which expired the following year on the 31st of August, called for fourteen movies, of which only nine had been made. U-I would of been required to pay Deanna for the other five movies which could not of been made within the time remaining under the contract.

In 1949, Deanna Durbin was to be the female lead in a movie called THE WESTERN STORY, but she was replaced by Yvonne de Carlo. Deanna was then scheduled to be in a movie to be produced in Italy. It was to be a joint venture between Universal-International and Scalera Films of Rome. The director would be Gofferdo Alessandrini, but the production never saw the light of day.



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Deanna Durbin was so popular that in 1942 a seven day "Deanna Durbin Festival" was held during which her films were screened exclusively on the Odeon Theatre Circuit throughout Britain, a feat that has never been duplicated for any other star.

When Deanna Durbin was just a baby in Winnipeg, she won a pewter plaque for being the loudest baby at the Province Fair!



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Deanna's Uncle Arthur was in a church choir. He had a nice baritone voice.

In November of 1936, the very busy Deanna Durbin missed the eastbound train three times. After missing it for the 3rd time she boarded a plane hoping to intercept the train in Albuquerque. The production chief of Universal Studios, Charles Rogers was always nervous when Deanna took a plane instead of the train!!