Kathy Barr | |
---|---|
Birth name | Marilyn Sultana Aboulafia |
Born | The Bronx, New York City, U.S. | June 4, 1929
Died | June 21, 2008 Hollywood, Florida | (aged 79)
Genres | Pop, jazz, opera |
Occupation(s) | Vocalist |
Labels | RCA Victor |
Spouse(s) | Milton L. Schwartz
(
m. 1954;
ann. 1956)Irwin H. Glickman (
m. 1966) |
Kathy Barr (born Marilyn Sultana Aboulafia; June 4, 1929 – June 21, 2008) was an American vocalist who performed and recorded popular, jazz, musical theater, and operettas. Her stage name was drawn from the first and married surname of her maternal grandmother, Katie Barr. [1]
Barr was born on June 4, 1929, in the Bronx, New York, to Ovadia "Ovid" Aboulafia (1900–1978), who, himself, was born in Çeşme, Turkey, and Eabeta "Tessie" Barr (1908–1978), a native New Yorker.
Barr flourished from the 1950s through the mid-1960s in musical theater, nightclubs, television, and radio. [2] She was acclaimed for her coloratura soprano range, [3] three and one-half octaves by at least one account (see Annotations below, "Vocal Range Context"), [a] [4] and her ability to sing pop, jazz, and classical.
Upon marrying for the second time, in 1965, Barr retired from as a recording artist, although she continued to perform club dates (one-nighters) and regional musical theater productions until around 1968. These later roles included Billy Dawn ( Judy Holliday's role) in Born Yesterday (November 25, 1967–January 7, 1968) at the Hamlet Street Theater (now named the Rauh Theater) in Pittsburgh; and a hymn singer seeking to save men's souls in Guys and Dolls, starring Tony Martin, at the Meadowbrook Theater Restaurant in Cedar Grove, New Jersey (May 29, 1968–June 30, 1968). [5]
Her first marriage was to Milton ("Milt" or "Milty") Leon Schwartz (1901–1992), [6] on June 20, 1954, in The Bronx. Schwartz, who was 27 years older, had been a saxophonist with the Al Trace Orchestra; [7] he was co-owner with Ralph Mitchell (né Ralph Michelev; 1916–2004) of the acclaimed Chicago jazz club the Preview Lounge, at 7 West Randolph Street, that ran from about 1945 until the summer of 1960. At the same address, Schwartz and Mitchell also owned the Modern Jazz Room (formerly the Encore Room and formerly Mambo City), upstairs.
Her and Schwartz' marriage was annulled in New York Supreme Court on May 28, 1956, [8] refereed by Ed Koch [9] (who years later become Mayor of New York City).
In 1958, news media reported that Aboulafia was officially changing her name to Kathy Barr. [10]
In 1965, in Manhattan, under her birth name, "Marilyn Aboulafia," she married Irwin M. Glickman (1930–2011). [11] In 1966, she and Glickman had a daughter — Sylvia Beth Glickman. In 1968, reflecting on her disappointment about her first marriage, Barr confided that she was happy in her second marriage and declared, "This time, I wanted to work at it." [5]
Barr died in Hollywood, Florida, on June 21, 2008.
Her daughter Sylvia married Jeffrey Zina Johnston in 2005. Sylvia and Jeff had two sons, both born in Hollywood, Florida: John Michael Thunder Johnston, born in 2005, and Lightning James Marshall Hawk Johnston, born in 2008.[ citation needed]
Label | Cat No. | Released | Album Artist(s) |
Side A | Side B | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LPM–1562
|
November
1957 [12] |
|
|
George T. Simon
( sleeve notes) Sid Kuller ( sleeve notes) Peter Gowland (cover photo) [13] –––––––––– OCLC 12875997 (all editions) | ||
LSO–1000
LOP–1000 SF–5005 EPA–4168 CPS–141 |
1958
|
Selections From The Desert Song [14] –––––––––– Giorgio Tozzi as The Red Shadow Kathy Barr as Margo Peter Palmer (1931–2021) (supporting role) Eugene Morgan (né Eugene Byron Morgan; 1909–1974) (supporting role) Warren Galjour (né Warren Joseph Galjour; 1917–2009) (supporting role) With Male Chorus and Orchestra A. Lehman Engel (1910–1982) [15] (conductor) |
|
Leonard Louis Levinson
(1904–1974) ( sleeve notes) "Beautiful young Kathy Barr is the Margot of our production." Victor Kalin (né Victor Benson Kalin; 1919–1991) (illustration) –––––––––– OCLC 5857234 (all editions) | ||
A–48
|
1964
|
|
|
Peter Whorf Graphics
[b]
(né Peter Lee Whorf; 1931–1995) (design) Wally Heider (1922–1989) (engineer) Leslie Carr (liner notes) (illustration) Linda Bartlett (photography) Recorded at United Recording Corp. Hollywood, California –––––––––– OCLC 796372591 (all editions) |
Label | Cat No. | Released | Artist(s) | Side A | Side B | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCA Victor RCA |
20–7036 45–7036 10373 |
1957 | Kathy Barr With Orchestra Directed by Jerry Fielding |
"Welcome Mat" (
audio)
[16] (©1957) By Jerry Fielding –––––––––– Mx label H2PW–5447 |
"A Slip of the Lip" (©1957) [17] By Walter Kent & Tom Walton (words & music) –––––––––– Mx label H2PW–5446 |
George T. Simon ( sleeve notes) Sid Kuller ( sleeve notes) –––––––––– OCLC 1116161307 (all editions) |
EPA–4168
|
1958
|
Selections From The Desert Song –––––––––– Giorgio Tozzi as The Red Shadow Kathy Barr as Margo Peter Palmer (1931–2021) (supporting role) Eugene Morgan (né Eugene Byron Morgan; 1909–1974) (supporting role) Warren Galjour (né Warren Joseph Galjour; 1917–2009) (supporting role) With Male Chorus and Orchestra A. Lehman Engel (1910–1982) [15] (conductor) |
Leonard Louis Levinson
(1904–1974) ( sleeve notes) "Beautiful young Kathy Barr is the Margot of our production." Victor Kalin (né Victor Benson Kalin; 1919–1991) (illustration) –––––––––– OCLC 5857234 (all editions) |
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LCCN
73-5534;
ISBN
0-1307-6331-4;
OCLC
609781 (all editions).{{
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LCCN
2003-212293 (publication);
ISSN
1544-9173 (print),
ISSN
1545-7885 (online);
OCLC
52767259 (all editions) (publication);
doi:
10.1371/journal.pbio.3001881 (article);
EBSCOhost
160486282 (article).{{
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LCCN
87-644437;
ISSN
2689-6176;
OCLC
5994920 (all editions).{{
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