Jesienne róże (Autumn Roses) (Artur Gold / Andrzej Włast) Tango z rewii „Przebój Warszawy" w teatrze „Morskie Oko" (Tango from the theatre „Morskie Oko" revue: „The Hit Of Warsaw") -- Orkiestra taneczna „Odeon", refren: Tola Mankiewiczówna, Odeon 1932 ------------------------------------- Tola MANKIEWICZÓWNA (née Teodora Oleksy), born in 1901 near Łomża, Poland, died in 1985, Warsaw. After her studies in Warsaw Conservatory (piano) she moved for 3 years to Milan, Italy to study operatic singing. She continued studies in Poland under the guidance of the famous soprano, Janina Korolewicz-Waydowa. From 1929 to 1931 Mankiewiczówna performed in Warsaw Opera (e.g. Micaela in Bizet's „Carmen", Margarethe in Gounod's „Faust", and at chances she took roles in Warsaw Operetta. After her performance in Oskar Strauss' „The Charm of Waltz" Tola Mankiewiczówna received such enthusiastic rewievs, that she decided to quit her operatic career and devoted herself fully to the lighter Muse. In 1932 she had her debut in the revue theatre „Morskie Oko", immediately becoming the favourite singer of Warsaw. In the same year she started her movie career in a comedy „10 Percent For Me". The huge success encouraged movie producers to continue engaging her in the music comedies e.g. „Co mój mąż robi w nocy?"(What My Husband Does At Nights? 1934), „Manewry miłosne" (The Love Manoeuvres, 1935) or „Pani minister tańczy"(Madame Minister Dances, 1937; see http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWi_TH1JvU During WWII Mankiewiczówna worked and sung in the artists' cafe „U Aktorek", taking part in the Polish actors' boycott of the nazi-controlled stages of Warsaw. After the war, without success she tried to regain her position, acting in the provincial theatres and cabarets. The communist regime did not promote the „burgeois" genre of her kind, and the Polish audience lost interest in the roles of „grande dames". Better reception she had abroad, during her „nostalgia" performances in front of the remains of her prewar fans, in the emmigrant clubs in London, Paris or New York. In last decades of her life she worked in Warsaw as a lower clerk. -------------------------------- To know more about Artur GOLD & Andrzej WŁAST (the composer and the author of text of „Jesienne róże") -- see http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=LtyYBgmIyBk