Greta Keller

Greta Keller-Bacon (February 8, 1903 – November 11, 1977) was a cabaret singer and actress.

Biography

Born Margaretha Keller in Vienna, Austria, she studied dance from the age of eight, followed by acting. Her début was in Pavillon, in Vienna. She also appeared on stage with Marlene Dietrich in Broadway, in which she sang and danced. A recording contract with Ultraphon in 1929 took her from Vienna to Prague and Berlin, where she enjoyed great success with Peter Igelhoff and Peter Kreuder. For over 45 years her voice was familiar worldwide, in radio shows, films, revues, concerts and musicals, but above all in recordings. First called The Great Lady Of Chanson in her native Vienna, the nickname followed her to London and America.

Marriage

In Hollywood she met and married Gaspar Griswold Bacon, Jr. son of Gaspar G. Bacon from a prominent "Boston Brahmin" family. The elder Bacon was a member of the board of Harvard University, and had been a close associate of J.P. Morgan, and later served as Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt and ambassador to France under William Howard Taft.

Her husband, known in film and theater as David Bacon, was murdered in 1943, two weeks after finishing a major role in the Republic serial The Masked Marvel. Speculation involved affairs with Howard Hughes and another actor, but the murder was never solved. Not long after that, their child was stillborn. It took some time for her to recover from these events, but she restarted her career in Switzerland, then on to Vienna, Berlin and back to New York City.

Career

Her lieder voice carried the charm of the Parisian women but never lost the heart of the girl from Vienna. Greta's singing in what some call "a style reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich" comes from the fact she was the model for how Marlene Dietrich developed her own voice. Greta Keller made recordings throughout the world and from the 1920s into the 1970s. She spent many years in the United States, notably in hotel club rooms at the Waldorf and (later) the Stanhope in New York, where her show always included "My Way", with lyrics composed by Paul Anka, and a number of Noël Coward numbers. A "singer's singer," Keller often drew other performers to the room, including the Nordstrom Sisters, Beverly Sills and Hildegarde. Other regulars would book the same tables most nights that she was performing, including photographer Edgar de Evia. Favorites of the Stanhope crowd were the songs of Cole Porter and Noël Coward, for their sexual innuendo and double entendres. These included "Miss Otis Regrets" and "I'm the Other Woman in His Life" by her close friend Elisse Boyd. She regularly returned to Vienna. The poet and singer Rod McKuen was introduced by her to an audience in Vienna. McKuen, in turn, hosted a concert presenting her at Lincoln Center in the 1970s, and wrote the English lyric "If You Go Away" to Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas," which she always sang.

Greta's greatest strength was in her adaptability. She sang each song in a unique way. Her repertoire included songs from the 1930s through the war years as well as popular songs of the day. A few years before her death, her voice was heard in the Academy Award-winning movie, Cabaret (1972), for which she sang the song, "Heirat" (Married). The last years of her life, from 1973 until her death in November 1977 Greta lived, worked, and traveled with her last partner, Wolfgang Nebmaier, who now lives in Southern Oregon.

Filmography

• The Man in Search of His Murderer (1931)
• Lied vom Leben, Das (1931) .... Singer... aka Song of Life (USA: informal literal English title)
• Melody of Love (1932) .... Singer... aka Right to Happiness (USA)
• Abenteurer von Paris, Der (1936) .... Cabaret Singer... aka The Paris Adventure (USA)
• Reunion in France (1942) (uncredited) .... Baroness von Steinkamp... aka Mademoiselle France (UK)... aka Reunion
• Herz spielt falsch, Ein (1953) .... Chansonniere/Cabaret Singer ... aka A Heart's Foul Play (International: English title)
• Blaue Stunde (1967) .... Singer
• Cabaret (1972) her voice was heard on a record as the singer of: "Heirat"

Filmography as: Actor, Herself, Notable TV Guest Appearances

Herself – filmography

• Underground and Emigrants (1976)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

• "Five Fingers" playing "Micheline" in episode: "Station Break" (episode # 1.1) 3 October 1959
• "'Drehscheibe, Die'" playing "Singer" 6 November 1968
• "V.I.P.-Schaukel" playing "Herself" (episode # 4.3) 15 December 1974

Discography

LP: Greta Keller 1938, Das Schönste von damals (1935–1938) Telefunken HT-P 500, mit Peter Kreuder und Orchester

LP: GRETA KELLER 196?,BLACK FFRR LABEL,SLRW LONDON 5926M

LP: SINGS KURT WEILL 1953,TEN INCH LP,SWOBC,COOL BURT GOLDBLATT COVER ART ATLANTIC ALS 405M

LP: XII O'CLOCK: MUSIC IN A MIDNIGHT MOOD 195?,SOC DOLPHIN 5M

LP: WITH ALL MY LOVE UK, (MONO), SL CW, SM CORNER BEND DECCA ECLIPSE:2049

LP: LOVE IS A DAYDREAM STEREO MON:725

7" SINGLE: WENN DIE SONNE HINTER DEN DÄCHERN VERSINKT B: JONNY,WENN DU GEBURTSTAG HAST DE ELITE SPECIAL:010075

10": GROUP OF INTIMATE SONGS 1953 US HARVEST H-0056

LP: SINGS KURT WEILL ALS405

LP: IN CONCERT 1975 ORIGINAL RECORDED LIVE IN NEW YORK 1972 STANYAN:SR10041

LP: ERINNERUNGEN-HISTORISCHE AUFNAHMEN (1977)

LP: ERINNERUNGEN DE 1977 DE RCA INTERNATIONAL:42053

7" SINGLE: GOODBYE LIEBER JONNY / APOLLO UMBERTO SILVANO ROBERTO ROMANO UK CA45F10649

LP: GRETA KELLER CONCERT UK / 69 TSSCLR1261

LP: WITH ALL MY LOVE MONO UK / 71 PSEECM2049

LP: EINE BLAUE STUNDE (IMPORT) PLPE 30048

LP: GREAT SONGS OF THE 1930s STANYAN SR 10042

LP: REMEMBER ME LONDON, 1305

LP: GRETA KELLER IN CONCERT STANYAN:SR10041

LP: EINE BLAUE STUNDE ELITE SPECIALCHPLPE

LP: LEGENDE EINER STIMME TELEFUNKENG642 322

LP: REMEMBER ME LONDON:1305

LP: XII O'CLOCK DOLPHIN:5

SR 5040 • Evening In Vienna / Rod McKuen & Greta Keller

"Greta Keller Sings Love is a Daydream and other Songs by Yulya" Monitor Records MON00725

"Blue Moon" (January 29, 1935) was included on the album "Pennies from Heaven" Decca DDV 5007/8 music from the BBC TV series "Pennies from heaven" starring Bob Hoskins

"Diverse Songs and Moods of the 1940s: Stella Brooks and Greta Keller" (1981) Folkways Records FW02830

External links

• Greta Keller at the Internet Movie Database
• Keller Discography on Folkways