Thinking of Sylvia Syms Today

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 6:23pm

It's not her birthday or the anniversary of her passing. I was remembering a beautiful Syms quote, which I remember as being something like "no lover's kiss can match the kiss of my audience." So I googled her to find the quote. The NYT has it as

"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."

Sylvia Syms nee Sylvia Blagman in Brooklyn, New York (December 2, 1917 - May 10, 1992), jazz singer.

Received informal training from Billie Holiday. In 1941 she made her debut at a club called Billy's Stable.

In 1948, Mae West heard her performing at the Cinderella Club in Greenwich Village, & she gave Syms a part in the 1951 Broadway revival of DIAMOND LIL. Frank Sinatra considered her the "world's greatest saloon singer."

Here's a link to an article Stephen Holden wrote in The NYT on Miss Syms in 1986 when she played at Park Ten (10 Park Avenue, at 34th Street). He also wrote about Andrea McArdle singing at Freddy's Supper Club (308 East 49th Street).

Miss Syms died with her boots on. She was on the stage of The Oak Room at The Algonquin having just finished her Tribute to Frank Sinatra (who produced 1 of her albums) when she suffered a heart attack.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDD113AF932A25757C0A960948260&sec=&pagewanted=print

Milla
Sylvia Syms

[kooky]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 7:22pm

Thank you, d-r-m that was wonderful I enjoyed reading about Sylvia Syms.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 10:52am

Thanks so much for this!!!

There isn't a day that I don't think of Sylvia. I am one of the many who considered her to be my second mother when I did clubs with her. Nobody like her ---EVER! Oh the stories that could be told. Some were told at her memorial. Others in private. What a hoot! Last had drinks with her at 88's and we closed the place.

Miss her so much.

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 10:57am

What a beautiful post!

I think of her often, as well...I have a very good friend named Sylvia Sims here in NYC, and the two are inextricably linked in my head.