:39:00
She is also said to have been a niece
of opera great Geraldine Farrar.
:39:03
Waggner put her in The Climax in 1944,
following Phantom.
:39:07
She only made two other films
before retiring.
:39:10
She was married to the owner
of the Brock Candy Company.
:39:12
She was not a singer and was dubbed
in Phantom and The Climax
:39:16
by Francia White.
:39:23
Susanna's vocal character
was a dramatic coloratura.
:39:26
Nelson Eddy went on a concert tour
following Phantom
:39:29
and invited Susanna to join him,
but she was too scared.
:39:32
Another offer was sent to her
through singer Lee Sweetman.
:39:35
The Metropolitan Opera wanted her
to play Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier.
:39:39
The offer was circuitous because
the Met wouldn't be caught dead
:39:43
soliciting movie people. Stubborn then
as now, Susanna rejected the hint,
:39:48
which might have been
the springboard to a great career.
:39:59
This set, looking like the grand staircase
mezzanine in Grand Central station,
:40:03
was previously built, believe it or not,
:40:06
as the hallway in the home of
Manhattan millionaire Charles Laughton
:40:09
in Durbin's 1941 musical
It Started With Eve.
:40:13
The ersatz opera we're watching is titled
Amour et Gloire, "Love and Glory",
:40:18
with a French Empire-era setting.
:40:21
It reminded English critic James Agate
of the quartet in Rigoletto
:40:25
in its setting and design.
:40:27
Dancers for this and the Russian opera
were choreographed by Lester Horton.
:40:32
Hedda Hopper reported
in the Los Angeles Times
:40:35
that Lubin had ordered
24 people who could do the polonaise
:40:38
but got 24 Polynesians,
including two expectant mothers.
:40:42
I've looked, but I can't find them here.
:40:44
The music is based on themes of Chopin:
:40:47
his "Polonaise in A-flat",
which is heard here,
:40:50
and Susanna's great aria to come
:40:53
is based on the nocturne,
"Opus 9, Number 2".
:40:59
The picture was in production for
two months and finished in mid-March.