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 Durbin 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!

Deanna Durbin always had a tender heart for those less fortunate than herself:

In 1937, actor William Lundigan presented Deanna Durbin a special badge making her an honorary staff member of the office of the Mayor of Syracuse:



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Believe it or not, Walt Disney Studios rejected young Deanna Durbin to play the part of Snow White because they said her voice sounded "too mature" for the role. Actually, doctors looked at Deanna's vocal cords and were amazed to find that they were mature even at an early age.



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Deanna Durbin tells us about the Long Beach earthquake:

"It was March 10, 1933. Dad had telephoned that he would not be home for dinner, so we
were just about to sit down. There came a strange rumbling sound that couldn't be
identified at first. Edith understood quickly and she was calm, but I could see she was
frightened.

'That's an earthquake,' she said. 'Come on, get outside.'

Mother and Edith and I got out on the run. We went through the kitchen and I remember
that a water cooler in one corner was swaying back and forth. It fascinated me in spite of
my fright because when it leaned forward and seemed about to fall, it would stop and go
back.

As we ran past it, the cooler fell and struck a petcock on the gas range, opening it wide.
We could smell the gas escaping and the pilot light was burning. Of course, at the time, I
didn't think of anything but a method of escape for all three of us. But Edith thought of
that gas.

'Wait here,' she told us when we got outside. 'I'll be right out.'

She started back into the kitchen alone, but Mother went after her and I followed them
because I was more afraid to be alone than I was of the gas.

Edith shut off the gas and we returned to the backyard. By that time all the neighbours
were out and there was great excitement. Fortunately, the quake did no great damage in
the neighbourhood.

But it was not so kind to other districts, and where ever buildings were constructed of brick
the damage was heavy. It was a miracle that it did not happen when the schools were in
session for many of the buildings were wrecked.

I remember that for months afterward the city was rebuilding. Daddy and I would take
long walks together, as we still do when there is time between my pictures. We would see
the workmen straightening up the houses or razing them altogether to make way for new
ones.

The night of the earthquake, he came home through the worst of it, as many men did, not
knowing what had happened to us. That was one of the few evenings at home when I did
not sing a note, nor did I, or any of us, sleep a wink, although the quake subsided very
soon."



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Deanna Durbin's first seven films all earned more than double their cost of production, which helped keep Universal Studios from bankruptcy. Her contract with Universal, said to be the highest for any actress of the time, was $1750 per week, with a $250 per week increase in 1941, another $250 per week increase in 1942, and a final $250 per week increase in 1943. In addition, she was paid $50,000 as a bonus for every film she starred in. So in 1940 Deanna was paid $91,000 plus $150,000 for the films FIRST LOVE, SPRING PARADE, and IT'S A DATE. In 1941 her salary increased to $99,000 plus $100,000 for IT STARTED WITH EVE and NICE GIRL. In 1942 when there were no films released, she was paid $107,000, and in 1943, she received $115,000 plus $150,000 for the films HERS TO HOLD, HIS BUTLER'S SISTER, and THE AMAZING MRS HOLLIDAY.

At the beginning of Deanna Durbin's career, her year of birth was said to be 1922 instead of the real 1921. The reason why 1922 was published and accepted is that Universal Studios had spent thousands of dollars advertising "Deanna Durbin, the 13-year-old wonder girl" and she was 14 even before the campaign got well under way. Consequently, to protect its investment, Universal deducted one year from her age and held to it until Deanna herself confessed her true age with the announcement of her engagement to Vaughn Paul.

Doris Nolan helping Deanna Durbin with her make-up:



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A young Deanna Durbin was thrilled when she was asked to appear before King George the VI of England.



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Deanna Durbin in Miami attending the world premiere of the 1941 movie called BACK STREET:



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This is a 1943 photo of Deanna Durbin with John Fulton who was the Special Effects man at Universal Studios:

Does Deanna Durbin's voice sound younger than you remember all those years ago? That could be your impression while viewing her films on television or video. That has nothing to do with her voice, but is to do with the way in which the pictures are transmitted and reproduced via TV set or video recorder. Many viewers are unaware that the TV standard adopted by Britain, France, and other European countries requires films that were made for the cinema to be reproduced a little faster than originally recorded. That has the effect of speeding up the action which at the same time causes the sound to be pitched a little higher - hence the question about Deanna's voice sounding younger. True, the pitch change is small, it amounts to a semitone; that is the difference when say a piano is played in the key of C sharp compared with C. Normally that is unnoticeable because the film cannot be compared with the original, and possibly only those with a perfect sense of pitch could detect any difference. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about that as the European standard, which has also been adopted by many other countries, is based on the transmission of 25 frames per second. The cinematograph industry standard for films produced for the cinema is 24 frames per second. So 25 frames per second represents about a 4% increase in film speed, and hence the corresponding increase in the pitch of speech and music. Naturally, the film running time is reduced. One can catch that pitch change in the film NICE GIRL, when Robert Benchley (Oliver Dana), asks for an A to be sounded prior to the song Beneath The Lights Of Home; that is reproduced more as A sharp. Similarly in ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL, Alleluia - which Deanna subsequently confirms is played in the key of F major when talking to the cab driver - is more appropriate in the key of F sharp. Films made for television are not affected that way as the cameras have been modified to run at 25 frames per second. Therefore speech and music are reproduced at the correct pitch, and of course the film running time is correct.

When Edna May Durbin faced the camera for the first time, the scene required her to spear a fork into a dish of chopped chicken livers, take a bite and show delight at the taste.

"Only I'd never tasted them before," said Edna, "and I hated the taste, and I couldn't pretend to like them."

Okay, her first acting test didn't go too well, so they substituted chopped meat for the liver!

We all know as time went by that Edna (Deanna) became a successful natural actress!!

One time Deanna innocently mentioned that she liked stamps. For months afterwards, the Durbin house was almost knee-deep in stamps!

Porky's Hollywood Sketch Book mentions the success of Deanna Durbin: