The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-26
Hempel As Perfect
 Jenny Lind

The following will be of interest to Birmingham people who know, per sonally, Freida Hempel, the great prima dona soprano, who met with such a cordial welcome in Birming- ham several years ago, and was the nonoree at brilliant ball following her concert given by the Southern club.
 "It is difficult for us to believe that Jenny Lind had a more beautiful voice than Frieda IIempel, and certainly she never used it with greater skill"
 So wrote Willard Nj. Clark, music critic of the Springfield (Msss) Union, to friend in Birmingham. "a concert that will go down in the mu- Sical annals of Northampton"-w Miss Hempel sang on November ,. He goes on to say:
 Those who heard Frieda Hempel in her Jenny Lind concert in the John NJ Greene hall heard some of the most beautiful singing imagina ble and saw one of the lovefiest of con cert and opera stars It was dis tinct triumph for Miss Hempel and her associates, Goenraad Y. Bos, pianist. and, Louis P. Fritze, flutist.
 
 applauding each offering to the echo.
 "There seems to be no phase in the art of singing, in which Miss Hempel does not excel. Her coloratura work is impeccable and her legato singing in such numbers as "On Wings of as much at home in the heder a in the aria from The Carnival Of Venice" Only one thing was lacking on the program. and that was Mozart flor no one today sings Mozart as we'll a Frieda Hempel.
 Miss Hempel was a winsome fig ure in her costume, an exact repro duction of a gown worn by the Swe- dish Nightingale. There were some in the audience who probably had heard Jenny Lind and their applause was a tribute to the present imperson- ator''
 Frieda Hempel took a flyer in Flo ZieRfeld's Follies the other night in Detroit, and stopped the show. A little earlier in the evening she had stepped another show" That one was in Orchestra hall where she made her first appearance with the Detroit Symphony orchestra, Ossip Gabrilow- itsch conducting, and not until the lights were turned out would the audience go. Then Hempel was off to the Detroit Athletic club where the ziegfeld Follies were giving a special
  worthy Christmas fund.
 =. They gave the prima donna as royal n reception back stage as did the capacity audience in front, and the whole company insisted on escorting her to the spotlight. Way Down Upon the Swanee River and Garry Me Back to Old Virginia" started things and "Dixie' brought the .tumult. The 16 Tiller girls were all on tiptoe in the wings-that is the way most of their ballet goes; and singers and high steppers were In rapt attention all around. Gilda Gray and Evelyn Law led the avalanche of beauties that crowded around their distinguished guest to settle several momentous questions: Was Hempels hair bobbed the latest Paris bob, or only dressed that way? Did her gown boast any back at all except her own perfect back? Where did she get that rouge? Was her personality the last word in art, or was she just born vamp?
 Kelley. the much beloved Virginia judge, loaned by the Temple theatre adjourned court, as usual, to go tlsh- ing, he asked Miss Hempel to go along.
 Jimmy Hussey and Andrew Tombes of the Follies got nervous about their manners and lost out altogether, An drew threatened to tell Frieda he was delighted to meet her. Jimmy insisted that while 1t was all right to call kings and coIoraturas by their first nahies, you strangled your emotions whAn you meet them and chillily mur- mu4ed: How do you do! While they werA ragging an Etiquette book to find out, the girls tucked Miss Hempel intd her car, bade her an affectionate farawell, and sped her on her way.