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for Gown & Bodice, Costume - Marjorie Lawrence
Gown & Bodice, Costume - Marjorie Lawrence
Object number1981.036a-b
Dateca 1950
MediumSatin, Mesh, Paste, Gemstones
Dimensions61 x 180 in. (154.9 x 457.2 cm)
Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection
Terms
The dress was worn by Marjorie Lawrence, an opera singer during the 1930s and 1940s, when she played Delilah in "Samson and Delilah." Lawrence appeared at the Met in New York, though this is not one of the costumes worn during a Met performance. Lawrence is most famously known as the first soprano to ride her horse through flames in the immolation scene from "Gotterdammerung." In 1941 Lawrence was diagnosed with polio. During World War II, she performed in charity concerts to entertain troops while seated in a chair. It was after the diagnosis that Lawrence and her husband bought a home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, later known as Harmony Hills. From then on, Lawrence would give summer opera coaching sessions at Harmony Hills; Lawrence would give voice lessons until her death. Although polio restricted her opera career, Lawrence began performing again in 1947. In 1949, she wrote an autobiography, "Interrupted Melody." In 1955, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a film based on the book, using the same title, starring Eleanor Parker as Lawrence. Lawrence was unhappy with the way the film portrayed her life.
After leaving music, Lawrence began teaching international studies at Garland County Community College (now known as National Park Community College) in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1974. A year later she joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She died in Little Rock in 1979 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hot Springs. Lawrence died at age 71 of heart failure on January 13, 1979, at St Vincent's Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was buried in Greenwood cemetery in Hot Springs, where she had made her home for many years.
Status
Not on view
