Guest
Kazimierz Szerszyński & Ork. dyr. przez Henryka Warsa (Orchestra dir. by Henryk Wars) – Już nigdy (Nie usłyszę kochanych twych słów...[Never Again / I Will Hear Your Sweet Words] ) Tango z rewii „Uśmiech Warszawy” (from the Morskie Oko revue The Smile of Warsaw) Muz. , Tekst: A.Włast, Odeon 1930 (Polish) NOTE: This absolutely haunting tango belongs to Polish top ten evergreens of all times. Composed by maestro Jerzy Petersburski (in 1930, the highest paid Polish composer, after the enormous international success of his tango “O, Donna Clara”) it was sung by the beautiful yet rather ephemeral cabaret starlet Vera Bobrowska (- in that time, an “official lover” of the Morskie Oko director, Andrzej Włast, who was running mad about her). Sitting alone at a half dark stage, looking on the framed photograph and accompanying herself with a little mandoline, she emotionally sung or rather melo-recited with her rather small voice, that stirring hymn of the abandoned lovers, which – after such promotion and such moving performance – immediately sailed on the very top of the hits list in Poland. In spite of the audience’s frenzy ovation, Bobrowska’ s whimsical and jealous character, combined with the lack of a good training, made her career quickly wane, finally pushing her out of Poland, where she met on the skiing the elder kronprinz and married him (supposedly, playing with talent a comedy of a “Polish aristocrat”) but the tango, which she made famous, remains forever. Kazimierz SZERSZYŃSKI (b. in Radom in 1888 – d. in 1943 in Warsaw) Polish vaudeville and operetta actor and singer, who started his career shortly before the Great War in Warsaw, performing in several good theatres, including Grand Opera Theatre. Having good stage conditions, he traveled to Russia, to sing on various stages in Moscow and in St. Petersburg with the Polish diva, Wiktoria Kawecka. After outbreak of the Bolshevic Revolution in Russia, Szerszyński traveled to Paris to end up back in Warsaw in the early 1920s. Between 1922-1937 he subsequently joined the cast of several foremost cabarets and light repertoire theatres, including Qui pro Quo, Nowości (The Novelties), Bagatela, Mignon and Warsaw Operetta in Karowa Street. He also performed in episodes in several hit movies e.g. Piętro Wyżej [Upstairs; 1937], Pani minister tańczy [Madame Minister Dances; 1937], Ordynat Michorowski [Esquire Michorowski; 1937] or Wrzos [The Heather; 1938]. He died during the German occupation of Warsaw in unknown circumstances, in Sept, 1943. Very popular during his active years and willingly featured in the roles of bel amis, today he belongs to the silent army of completely forgotten Polish singers.
