Talk:Deanna Durbin/Archive 1

comment
My mother, as a girl, misheard "Turn the hands of time for me" from the song 'Beneath the Lights of Home (In a Little Sleepy Town)' from 'Nice Girl?' (1941) as Tell the Huns it's time for me Pliny 23:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

NPOV
This article contains several statements that are not NPOV. "The huge success of her films," "With the technical skill and impressive vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano," "her success spawned numerous imitations...none of whom were to match her amazing (if relatively short-lived) popularity," "the slur was completely untrue."

It also lacks sources. Toyalla 07:08, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Ok so let me get this straight. Her films weren't a huge success? They were nominated and won a number of awards and brought in enough income to warranted her being among the top paid performers of the era. Beyond that they were as popular internationally as in the US. She generated the largest world wide fan club of the time.

She was a legitimate Lyric Soprano as her musical repertoire demonstrates and when the average person can match that feat we can call it mundane until that day impressive is a legitimate adjective.

Her success for Universal did result in imitations either by Universal as replacements or by other studios as they became aware of the potential audience for a young and gifted soprano. None of these follow-ups, as talented as many were, created the stir or demanded the salary or attention that Durbin did. She was a "phenomenon" and a relatively short lived one. The reason for this might be disputed but the media, studio and fan attention she received can not be disputed. It was "amazing" (as in surprising or shocking) no child actor up to that point had received comparable attention or managed to transition from child roles to adult roles. I have no issue with using a descriptive term if it is accurate. Removal of "impressive", "amazing" and "huge" though they are an accurate reflections of of her films impact on audiences of the times, won't greatly effect the paragraph.

Unfortunately the bulk of old reference is locked away PPV archives of newspapers of the era.

My apologies, I wasn't logged in when I posted the above. DA Art 19:55, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree that the Hedda Hoppa portion may need a cleanup. We know Joe was upset with Hedda and disputed the accuracy of her claims as he describes in his Biography. DA Art 18:43, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Please explain why "Precocious" was removed from the description of Durbin's voice. It is one of the defining characteristic's of her early career. Her voice sounded very developed for her age (14) and elicited comments to that nature from fans and studio executives alike. DA Art

career correction and comment
Mayer appears to be spelled Mayder at one point. The legend about Durbin being fired instead of Garland is in George Sidney's (director) commentary on the DVD, "The Harvey Girls". He appears to have had first hand knowledge, but I do not have current access to the DVD. He may have also written a book in which he referenced the subject.71.126.255.2 12:16, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Excessive praise
I'm concerned that there is a recent tendency to add flowery praise to Durbin, without providing suitable attribution. Please be familiar with WP:NPOV and WP:RS. I'm removing a section of praise that appears word-for-word here, which is a fan site that does not provide any evidence of sourcing. This site presents the valid opinions of Durbin's fans, but it is incorrect to then bring them here and place them within an encyclopedic context. If a comment was made in a David Shipman interview, it needs to be supported by the inclusion of a source that leads to a publication or transcript. It doesn't necessarily have to be checkable online, but it needs to be included. Deanna Durbin fansites have their place, but I see this article heading into similar territory, and that is not what we should be aiming for. Rossrs (talk) 12:28, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Dubious reference
Re: "The Russian cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich in a late 1980s interview cited Deanna as one of his most important musical influences"[...]

I'm not saying it's impossible but it seems remarkably unlikely. The reference is to a follow-up comment on a wordpress blog which scarcely inspires confidence, it's by "Markus" who begins "Have been a big fan of Deanna’s ever since seeing". Short of a quote from a Rostropovich biography or the supposed article itself I'd prefer to see the paragraph dropped. JohnHarris (talk) 11:18, 20 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Have changed source to the more reliable Washington Post article. Lame Name (talk) 18:32, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Physical defect
You don't have to look carefully in her films or publicity photographs to realize that Durbin had some kind of deformity in her left hand. Either it's hidden, or it's being held up with the good hand, or (in publicity shots), the image is reversed. Does anyone have any further information on this? -- kosboot (talk) 17:48, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Name Your Poison
There is a Christopher Lee song from "The Return of Captain Invincible" where the phrase "Think of young Deanna Durbin and how she sung with Rum and Bourbon" Some of it is obviously due to the rhyme, but I have seen no suggestion that Deanna Durbin had an alcohol problem. This is the only reason I know of Deanna, but if it suggests a lifestyle that was not hers, that is not right. Autkm (talk) 05:59, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Has she really died?
i cant find a proper source yet. --Penbat (talk) 12:37, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * If she has died, a proper source will be available very soon so there is no need for haste. The source cited does not link to any information about Durbin so I am going to revert that last edit.   Rossrs (talk) 14:19, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * No she is not dead just a private life she lives in france — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.137.33.65 (talk) 11:34, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations!
The section "Deanna Durbin songs" is a great ideea. A list of all the songs should be present in every article dedicated to singers.Srelu (talk) 01:10, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Legacy - used in "Capitalism: A Love Story"?
Is it true that the song "The Last Rose of Summer" in Capitalism: A Love Story, by Michael Moore, in the scene of the funeral cortege of President Roosevelt, is a recording of her? --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 00:18, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Detailed obituary
Here is a good obituary that can be used in the article. Sorry, I don't have time to help out here this week. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/01/deanna-durbin All the best! -- Ssilvers (talk) 14:05, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Also, http://www.myfoxal.com/story/22138253/early-hollywood-superstar-deanna-durbin-dies-at-91 gives circa 20 April as the date of her death, apparently indicated by Bob Koster. I've not updated the article as that's not really any firmer than "April", but possibly worth holding onto the reference in case it is never made more specific. Poglad (talk) 18:40, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Date of death
Can people please get over their neurotic need to have a definite date of death shown in the article? And please stop just making stuff up?

The fact is, we simply do not know when she died. We have not yet been given enough information to be precise.

Worse, what information we do have is contradictory.
 * The first report was "in the past few days" (relative to 30 April). That would probably mean sometime between 25 and 29 April inclusive, probably towards the earlier date.  But it's such a vaguely worded statement that it is not open to anyone to pick a date or even a range of dates and say that was when she died.
 * Now we have this second-hand report that she died "about 20 April". That could mean as early as 19 April, and it is just too early to accord with "in the past few days" from 30 April.

So, we have two statements that are not consistent with each other. That is what we have. At best, we could say she died some time between "about 20 April" and prior to the end of the month. Please do not try to make something more specific out of that vagueness. If and when her family/friends/executors choose to reveal more, then it will become clearer. --  Jack of Oz   [Talk]  21:16, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Parent Trap
I suppose it should be mentioned that the movie "Parent Trap" with Hayley Mills was based on Deanna Durbin's movie "Three Smart Girls". 50.202.81.2 (talk) 22:29, 5 August 2013 (UTC)