Deck, ya know
Real estate news from San Francisco: the Potrero Hill home of the late Blanche Thebom, which “includes a very spacious living room that opens onto a large view deck,” is now for sale. [SocketSite]
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……NICE DIGS…..!!!….
BUT..
Public Transportation serving the Potrero Hill District , is very sparse…..!(and not many affordable supermarkets…..)….
LOL..!!
BP, people buying 2 million dollar homes don’t usually rely on public transportation, at least not in SF. There’s also a new Whole Foods practically down the block.
Peter:
…that was the WHY I added the “LOL”…!
….BUT
My years on 18th Street, in the Potrero are distant (sort of..) memories..What I would have given for a Whole Foods, when I lived there….lol…!
And..
WHAT A GREAT KITCHEN SPACE …….!
Blanche sure had a nice kitchen! The price seems very reasonable for such digs. I wonder why they put that cheap Home Depot quality vanity in the bathroom.
“But cha ARE, Blanche.. ya ARE in the bean bag chair!”
The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.
I used to think Mark Twain was only just joking but since I was there on July 21st, the coldest recorded temp on that date, I am happy to have escaped. Potrero Hill ain’t that great, either. A little isolated from the City Center, the Park, Ocean Beach (frEEEEEzing).
Recommended highly — if you can — is the exhibition from the now-being-renovated D’Orsay Musee — the first edition of which is to end in a couple more days. The second part, featuring painters from Van Gogh’s time forwards, will commence later this month. Well worth the seeing and asking price, $25.
And what the hell is a BEANBAG doing in a celebrated Delilah’s den??
Okay, maybe it’s not a beanbag–I zoomed in and it is probably just a big leather ottoman, but the whole thing looks like the set of ‘Pal Joey’.
Chacun a son goo….
A very desirable residence. But where did Blanche keep her famous hair?
In the hairing cupboard.
You got cupboards for just fish ?
Shelf-fish?
It seems that Blanche had a large closet, too.
Hahaha
Ah, chère manou, quel esprit! If she had been a soprano, Blanche could have made quite a party piece of Juliette’s aria “Cheveux vivre”.
….which she could have sung a capelli.
The Thebom townhouse offers wonderful space and lovely views.
From very early on, I
I do not think this is Blanche’s decoration. It smacks of “staging.”
Her things were removed and the r. e. company came in with
rather neutral furnishings etc. and staged the place for sale.
Done all the time. “Hotel furnishings.” Very impersonal.
Blanche had money. I remember very well when she bought an
expensive lot in Santa Fe and built a nice place, which she did
not much use or keep very long. “People would be surprised if
they knew how much Blanche was able to set aside,” she said
once with a chuckle. Well, let’s see, she had what three husbands?
And all well-to-do? Her final companion was a raving male queen
who would openly chase boys around the house while Blanche
entertained her lady friends at tea. There are some who say B. T.
was nutty as a fruit-cake; I’m not sure I would go that far, but
she was out for the main chance, I know that for sure. But never
mind all this pointless gossip. She was a good singer and a
grand stage performer, and Miss Harshaw as most disdainful of
her — which is always a very good sign!
think Blanche was the best Dorabella I ever saw.
MrM/sfe
“I think Blanche was the best Dorabella I ever saw.” Is that a bit of a back-handed compliment? No matter how good Dorabella is, the nature of the role means she can be outgunned by a merely competent Fiordiligi.
Back then — umpty-ump years ago == I thought Blanche was a terrific Brangrane to Nilsson’s fabulous Isolde. It was a wonderful evening.
Where was this TRISTAN, scargo? Thebom’s last Met Brangaene was in 1958, opposite the (doubtless) impassioned, feline Isolde of Miss Harshaw and before Nilsson joined the company. Her last Sand Fran showing in the part was in 1949 opposite Flagstad. I don’t think Thebom had a Lyric Opera of Chicago career.
She DID sing a late career Brangaene in 1967 with the Philadelphia Grand Opera opposite the immortal Hanne-Lore Kuhse and Ernst Gruber.
Feeling Hostile, Monty? Your complaint seems much ado about little.
I loved Christa Ludwig as Dorabella and likewise Lady Hall — but the role
is harder than you might think and the Act I aria a bitch to sing> B. T.
mastered all aspects most elegantly. Fiordiligi is quite another matter and
requires different talents. They must both be first rate, and B. T. surely
was in those early 1950s runs. Nan Merriman was a wonderful Dorabella!
“Outgunned” has absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand!
It is gratuitously hostile responses like yours above that have me
phasing out involvement with PTB. Some people just like to be bitchy, and
I don’t have time for it. Perhaps I should not have posted on TheBomb, but I thought I had a small contribution to make since she and I were
fairly well acquainted.
I will try to cease and desist in future except in very important matters.
Good luck to all. Now, take your Lithium! Don’t forget. And Monty, don’t
let yourself become too jaded; I just had to see a good man go wasted.
Hello, mrmyster. Not feeling hostile at all! I wasn’t suggesting any criticism of you or your views on Ms Thebom — it’s just that I always feel a bit sorry for the woman singing Dorabella: she has two (or sometimes just one) rather inconsequential little arias (and I don’t dispute they are difficult) while Fiordiligi really does dominate the whole opera, for all that it is known as an ensemble piece. I think top-class mezzos are rather admirable for taking it on.
‘I thought I had a small contribution to make since she and I were fairly well acquainted’
‘she was out for the main chance, that’s for sure’
With friends like these…
Brigitte Fassbaender was the best Dorabella I ever saw!
Cocky: Morabito – Wieler – Metzmacher – they did all three da Ponte operas in Amsterdam.
They all eventually hate singing Dorabella. I remember an interview with Janet Baker – or it maybe have been her book – in which she said she always felt that both of the men really loved Fiordiligi – that would certainly be born out by Guglielmo’s rage when Fiordiligi finally succumbs. And he still hasn’t calmed down by the quartet in second finale. Anne Howells also said in an interview that she couldn’t wait to give Dorabella up and much preferred singing Despina.
Thank you, Rdf, for reassuring me that I am in good company with Dame Janet, the lovely Anne and — no doubt — the formidable Brigitte too.
I have to say that I have trouble imagining Dame Granite as Dorabella. Flighty, impulsive and sexy?
It’s true, they all seem to tire of Dorabella. I heard that Garanca only agreed to do it for her Covent Garden debut because they promised her The Composer in a later season (which she later decided not to add to her repertoire, but that’s a different matter).
Hampson said the same about Guglielmo. Not that he would only do it if they let him sing the Composer, but you know what I mean. I think the thing is that these are such congenial roles for younger lyric voices that they end up being offered them so often, and there is every reason for them to accept, until they do get that little bit better known and can start to demand what repertoire they wish to sing. Frankly I can understand it – most people agree that Cosi leaves a slightly bitter taste in one’s mouth.
… and I’m sorry, but each act of Così is at least 15 minutes too long.
Maite Beaumont is a pretty spectacular Dorabella:
She’s very good, but I don’t know about spectacular, particularly when the names of Ludwig and Fassbaender have been invoked. She sounds like the aria tires her quite a bit.
Where is the production from? They don’t look like the kind of sisters who would have hired help. And why is the hired help more glamorous than they are? Maybe there was some kind of tie-in with Danny’s Van Cleef contract.
Amsterdam, I think, Cocky. Danny is certainly Decorative (and aiming to steal the scene there), even if her voice is bit scratchy. Ms Beaumont has a more impressive sound
well, if I hot the lottery this weekend, i am making an offer. Love the place.
Cruz, I’ll call you if I hot the lottery and the next CA parterre sing along will be a house warming BBQ.
I’m just reading John Gielgud’s memoirs (had no idea he was Lithuanian!), and he very fondly recalls Blanche’s Didon in a Troyens he directed for ENO in the ’50s … or was it CG?
CG, of course, with Vickers and Shuard and the likes of Dermot Troy, and newly out on CD. The ENO did not exist so named until 1974.
Dancin’ Danielle is lucky to be hired for Despina–Ida in FLEDERMAUS would be prime vocal casting here.
I have heard several outstanding Dorabellas:
Judith Forst
Susanne Mentzer
Ruxandra Donose
Magdalena Kozena
Also very commendable:
Diana Montague
Maria Ewing (first time I noticed that she made NO contact with other cast members)
Rinat Shaham
In a Mozartean class of her own (Drag Artiste?):
Huguette Tourangeau