Bob Hope introduces Kirsten Flagstad February 28, 2007

And a ho-yo-to-ho to you, too. Either the best or second-best Wagnerian soprano of the last century performs “Brünnhilde’s battle cry” from Act III of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.

Flagstad appears as if she’s going to break out laughing at any moment.

I don’t know which is funnier, the way she swings that spear around, or the oohs and ahhs as Hope introduces “Kirsten Flagstad of the Metropolitan Opera Company” while mispronouncing “Flagstad”, “Wagner” and “Walküre” in the same sentence. (“Flagstad” is pronounced “Flagstott”. He was standing on the same stage as her, he could’ve just asked. Well, at least he got “Kirsten” and “Wilfrid Pelletier” more or less right.)

Not counting filmed opera performances, this was Flagstad’s only movie appearance. It’s from The Big Broadcast Of 1938, which believe it or not is the movie in which Hope and Shirley Ross premiered “Thanks For The Memory”. The film also features some justly famous W. C. Fields golf routines.

There are no W. C. Fields clips on YouTube. Does anyone even remember him any more? (I do.)

Technorati tags: Bob Hope, Kirsten Flagstad, Richard Wagner, Die Walküre, Wilfrid Pelletier, The Big Broadcast Of 1938