Headshot of La Cieca

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Liquid eyeliner

Not many people know this, but soprano Virginia Zeani was actually born in Brooklyn under the name “Amy Camus.”

9 comments

  • rysanekfreak says:

    …and helped the Nazis mike their favorite Wagnerian singers?

  • CALLASORPHAN says:

    I love the frightful frocks.

  • Winpal says:

    I believe her early bookings were as The Sun Virginia.

  • Kashania says:

    Rysanekfreak: LOL!

  • ljc says:

    Brooklyn?? What about being an Inca princess from the tops of the Andes?

  • LaMalipasta says:

    And Zeani did sing Alzira……

  • il lacerato spirito says:

    you know, guys, being an ex costume maven, I find some of these dresses, including the one B. Sills wore as Zerbinetta, a hoot. These girls got no gay friends they listen to!!!!

  • celticpriestess says:

    To answer the previous question, I can’t speak for La Cieca, but I think she meant it as a joke, since Sumac and Zeani both show an abundance of eyeliner and of overdone drapery. For the younger folks, and for those who don’t know about Yma Sumac (poor culturally deprived souls!), here’s some explanation for those who don’t get La Cieca’s pop-culture reference. Years ago, there were rumors that Yma Sumac was not really an Inca princess from Peru, but was really a Brooklyn girl named Amy Camus. Of course, the name “Yma Sumac” is Amy Camus backward. However, if my reading is correct, Sumac is really from Peru, although the Inca princess stuff was a publicist’s invention. And yes, Virginia Zeani really is from Romania!

  • ljc says:

    OK; Amy Camus is not really Yma Sumac (even though the coincidence is peculiar.) Is Amy Camus any relation to Albert Camus?