Who Was Who! Remembering International Cabaret Sensation, Hildegarde

At the height of her career, the glamorous pianist-singer, Hildegarde, a pioneer of one-name billing, was so popular that the likes of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dubbed her “First Lady of the Supper Clubs.” For most of her career she was known as The Incomparable Hildegarde, a title given to her by influential newspaper columnist Walter Winchell. Revlon even introduced a Hildegarde shade of lipstick and nail polish. She was at the height of her career in the 1930s and 40s—on the cover of Life magazine in 1939, hosting a Top-10 radio show and traveling with her own orchestra. From the 1950s through the 70s and beyond, she continued to work in clubs, and also recorded albums, appeared in television specials and toured with the national company of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies.

It was a chance meeting with a budding songwriter, Anna Sosenko, that propelled he career. She was born Hildegarde Loretta Sell in Adell, Wisconsin on February 1, 1906 to German immigrants. The family was a musical one. Her father played the drums and violin; her mother played organ and directed the church choir. Hildegarde and her sisters sang in the school choir and played in the orchestra. At 16, she  began studies at Marquette University’s College of Music, while also playing piano for silent movies at the Merrill Theater in Milwaukee. In 1928 she joined a vaudeville troupe, toured for two years and then spent another year as an accompanist to various performers. Hildegarde was living in Camden, NJ when she met Sosenko, her landlady’s daughter.

It was Sosenko who became the architect of her career, developing Hildegarde as a charismatic and somewhat exotic “class act”—a highly stylish presence who always appeared in couture gowns, jeweled glasses, glittering earrings and long white gloves. As she delivered her patter between numbers, Hildegarde would flutter a lace handkerchief. Sosenko became her business manager and the two lived together for 23 years (the relationship ended in litigation over a financial dispute concerning their joint efforts). The pair traveled to Paris and lived there for three years early in their relationship, where Sosenko helped Hildegarde perfect her technique. There, the diva learned to sing in French, Russian, Italian and Swedish. She also worked on her diction. The results were a Hildegarde with international flair and an air of sophistication, yet retaining a wholesome quality born of her Wisconsin roots. She subsequently worked in the best clubs, to admirers that included notable members of high society, royalty and celebrities of stage and screen.

Her recordings of such songs as “The Last Time I Saw Paris” and “Lili Marlene” became worldwide hits. Sosenko wrote “Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup” for her, which became her signature song. In her act, Hildegarde was noted for her flirtatious ways and her wit. She once quipped, for example, that “Miss Piggy stole the gloves idea from me.” In many ways, Hildegarde was a template and inspiration for fledgling cabaret singers, particularly in the days when rooms were plentiful, still often glamorous and cabaret held an exalted place among the arts. Hildegarde never married and has said, “I traveled all my life, met a lot of men, had a lot of romances, but it never worked out. It was always ‘hello and goodbye.” Hildegarde was still performing well into her 80s. She died of natural causes at age 99 in Manhattan on July 29, 2005.

Hildegarde at the beginning of her career 1n 1933.

Here’s Hildegarde’s cabaret act in 1978, when she was 72 years young.