When listening to Deanna Durbin sing, tears sometimes come to my eyes, not from sentiment or fan devotion, but simply from hearing musical tones so clear and pure, from hearing a voice of such piercing beauty! All my life I've despised vocalise (singing "Ah! Ah! Ah!"), but from Deanna I discovered that her voice by itself makes a musical instrument--between a violin and cello in tessitura! I have always preferred orchestral music to singing, but Deanna awakened my realization that musical instruments mere are adumbrations (shadows) and derivatives of the human sound. If people never vocalized, would music have ever arisen? The human soul aches to hear song as much as it aches to listen to story. We are preadapted that way.

Praise must be accorded to Deanna's voice teacher, Andres de Segurola, because he was wise enough not to try to extend her natural vocal placement toward a louder, more operatic sound, or to emphasize vocal tricks like trilling. All such stretching and pushing of nature eventually damages the voice. Rather Andres simply guided what was there to perfect technique. Deanna's breath control, diction, and dynamical expression endure as gold standards of singing excellence.

Baritone Lawrence Tibbett once declared Deanna Durbin to be "the modern Jenny Lind." Was hers the greatest female voice ever recorded? To ask this is like asking where Mozart is better than Beethoven. All such questions are unanswerable because every great talent brings special gifts to its art. The late Mina Foley of New Zealand had the same kind of voice as Deanna's and surely both voices are equal in beauty. But Deanna's 13-year repertory is so varied and broad. She must be given credit for that. I count 243 performances of 132 songs.

Before Deanna was 13, she once signed her name "Edna May" in her own hand with that spelling. So, thank you, Edna May, for these many gifts! Rest in peace for a job well done and a life well lived.

I keep praying for a DVD release of Durbin's fabulous "Nice Girl?" and "His Butler's Sister." Those are my two favorites.

I was beyond thrilled to discover that the l937 musical masterpiece, MGM's "Maytime" is now on DVD! I promptly ordered and am eagerly awaiting to see how it looks on disc and if there are any extras.

Now, if we could only get "One Night of Love" with the phenomenal Grace Moore on DVD.

I just signed up on TCM.com with the intention of spreading the appreciation and awareness of Ms Durbin. I actually wrote her a fan letter a while ago. I'm such a geek! Anyways I really love the movies that have been mentioned so far, but I would like to bring attention to some of her earlier films; the ones she made as a child star. I especially like "One Hundred Men and a Girl", "That Certain Age" and "First Love".

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I just wanted to put out an update about Deanna Durbin's films. I have heard that film buff and philanthropist David Packard is requesting the Library Of Congress restore some more of Deanna Durbin's original negatives and put out state of the art restored film prints to be shown publically at film festivals. And he will pay for it! Even though she only made 22 films the LoC has preprint material on 18 titles but only print on two. This is great news for Deanna Durbin fans, the more the public gets to see her films the more likely they are to be preserved and shown more often. Which as you know will make the world a happier & better place to live. <span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">

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I'd like to see TCM and Universal continue their collaboration in releasing Deanna Durbin movies on DVD. Ten films remain. Following the pattern by TCM's "Music & Romance" collection, you could have the "Song & Hard Times" collection: One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943), Hers to Hold (1943), Christmas Holiday (1944), and Up in Central Park (1948). Then, to finish out, a "Love & Ambition" collection: It's a Date (1940), Spring Parade (1940), Nice Girl? (1941), His Butler's Sister (1943), and I'll Be Yours (1947).

Bing Crosby wanted Deanna to do Top Of The Morning,but she turned it down.She was also asked to do Kiss Me Kate,again,she refused.

Ann Blyth wasnt bad in Top Of The Morning.

My favorite Deanna Durbin film is The Amazing MRS Holiday(1943)Its now out on DVD.

Your list of male stars with whom she didn't co-star got me thinking. Did she ever have male singers as co-stars or was the strategy always to showcase her and her voice only? The one she made with Gene Kelly was a non-singing role as I recall.