Dorothy Sarnoff
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Sarnoff was an American
opera
tic soprano
, musical theatre
actress, and self-help guru. She had an active performing career from the late 1930s through the 1950s, during which time she sang in several operas with the New York City Opera
and created several roles on Broadway
, most notably Lady Thiang in the original 1951 cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
’s The King and I
. After her performing career ended she launched a second highly successful career as an image consultant to business executives, politicians, and other public figures. Sarnoff’s personal client list included many notable figures, including U.S. president Jimmy Carter
, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin
, best-selling author Danielle Steel
, and designer Paloma Picasso
. She also wrote a number of self help books.
in 1931 and attended Cornell University
, where she studied English and public speaking. As a participant in the school's glee club
, she developed an interest in singing, and traveled to France for vocal training after receiving her bachelor's degree in 1935.
and the St. Louis Municipal Opera
. She sang the role of Miss Pinkerton in the 1939 world premiere at New York City
's Radio City Music Hall
of the one-act radio opera The Old Maid and the Thief
by Gian Carlo Menotti
. She reached the finals of the Auditions of the Air talent competition run by the Metropolitan Opera
, which helped her land a contract with the Philadelphia Opera Company
(POC). She made her debut with the POC on January 13, 1942 as Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
. She sang several more roles with the company over the next three months, including Mimì in La bohème
, Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II
's Die Fledermaus
, and Gracieuse in the world premiere of Deems Taylor
's Ramuntcho. She later sang Marguerite in Charles Gounod
's Faust
with the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
in 1946.
In October 1942 Sarnoff made her Broadway
debut in the title role of Rosalinda, the New Opera Company’s long-running English-language version of Die Fledermaus that had been adapted by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
. Sarnoff appeared in more than 500 performances of the production. In 1945 she made her debut with the New York City Opera
portraying the title role in Puccini's Tosca
. She sang several more roles with the company over the next three seasons, including Marguerite, Mimì, Nedda in Ruggero Leoncavallo
's Pagliacci
, and Micaela in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
.
Sarnoff returned to Broadway in 1948 as Maria the short-lived musical Magdalena
. The production was notably the first work by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos
to be mounted on Broadway. The year 1951 proved to be a banner year for Sarnoff when she portrayed Lady Thiang in the original Broadway cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
’s The King and I
. As the king's head wife she introduced the classic song "Something Wonderful
" and the song "Western People Funny". Apparently actor Yul Brynner
, who played the King of Siam, taught her how to tense her abdominal muscles as a means of dealing with nervousness. Her last role on Broadway was Jessica Farrow, a plantation owner’s daughter, in My Darlin' Aida, a 1952 musical based on the Giuseppe Verdi
's opera Aida
that transplanted the stories setting from ancient Egypt to Memphis, Tennessee
during the American Civil War
. The production starred Elaine Malbin
in the title role and closed after just 89 performances.
department store in which women could learn to become better public speakers.
A first semester was offered in October 1965 and a second semester in January 1966 featured both afternoon and evening sessions. The curriculum focused on helping women learn to improve the defects in their speech while emphasizing and highlighting what's attractive. The key phrase she used throughout the course was "sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye", which contains what she described as the worst elements in the New York dialect, the "ng" sound and the mispronunciation of single vowels as diphthong
s.
The program relocated to Manhattan
's St. Moritz Hotel, with correspondingly higher prices for the course. This evolved into Speech Dynamics, which aimed to develop all aspects of personal presentation. Individual customers were paying $1,000 for her coaching sessions by the mid-1970s and she was receiving $2,000 per lecture. Her firm was purchased by Ogilvy & Mather
in 1974, after the advertising agency sent two of its executives for training. Ogilvy & Mather proceeded to aggressively promote Sarnoff.
Speech Dynamics started with participants making a four-minute speech to Sarnoff focusing on their positive qualities. After listening to a recording of their speech, they would then identify the aspects of their speech that they would want to change and improve. Sarnoff would help address awkward mannerisms and eye movements and help improve posture and makeup. Her copyrighted mantra — "I'm glad I'm here" — was aimed at helping clients project the vibes of joy, concern and authority. as described by The New York Times
in its obituary. Sarnoff "managed to combine the high tone of a traditional finishing school with the brand-building ethos of corporate consultancy".
Her clients included Prime Minister of Israel
Menachem Begin
, who she helped soften his demeanor; President Jimmy Carter
, who she instructed to tone down his smile; United States Secretary of State
Warren Christopher
, who she assisted to cut down on his blinking. She emphasized to her clients promoting books that they should mention the title of their work at least five to seven times in every interview.
She wrote several books, including 1970's Speech Can Change Your Life, Make the Most of Your Best in 1981 and Never be Nervous Again in 1987.
She died at age 94 on December 24, 2008 in her Manhattan
home.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
actress, and self-help guru. She had an active performing career from the late 1930s through the 1950s, during which time she sang in several operas with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
and created several roles on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, most notably Lady Thiang in the original 1951 cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
’s The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. After her performing career ended she launched a second highly successful career as an image consultant to business executives, politicians, and other public figures. Sarnoff’s personal client list included many notable figures, including U.S. president Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
, best-selling author Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel
Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel , better known as Danielle Steel, is an American romantic novelist and author of mainstream dramas....
, and designer Paloma Picasso
Paloma Picasso
Anne Paloma Picasso known professionally as Paloma Picasso, is a French/Spanish fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her jewelry designs and signature perfumes. She is the youngest daughter of famed 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso and painter and writer Françoise Gilot...
. She also wrote a number of self help books.
Birth and education
Sarnoff was born in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Berkeley InstituteBerkeley Carroll School
The Berkeley Carroll School is an independent, nonsectarian, coed day school, enrolling about 800 students from pre-kindergarten through high school...
in 1931 and attended Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where she studied English and public speaking. As a participant in the school's glee club
Glee club
A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets. In the late 19th Century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition...
, she developed an interest in singing, and traveled to France for vocal training after receiving her bachelor's degree in 1935.
Opera and Broadway
Back in the United States, Sarnoff performed with the NBC Symphony OrchestraNBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
and the St. Louis Municipal Opera
The Muny
The Muny, short for The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, is an outdoor musical theatre, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri...
. She sang the role of Miss Pinkerton in the 1939 world premiere at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
of the one-act radio opera The Old Maid and the Thief
The Old Maid and the Thief
The Old Maid and the Thief is an opera in one act by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti. The work uses an English language libretto by the composer which tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power...
by Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
. She reached the finals of the Auditions of the Air talent competition run by the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, which helped her land a contract with the Philadelphia Opera Company
Philadelphia Opera Company
The Philadelphia Opera Company was the name of two different American opera companies active during the twentieth century in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first company was founded by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I in 1908. That company disbanded only two years later as a result of financial...
(POC). She made her debut with the POC on January 13, 1942 as Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
. She sang several more roles with the company over the next three months, including Mimì in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
's Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, and Gracieuse in the world premiere of Deems Taylor
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor was a U.S. composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.-Career:Taylor initially planned to become an architect; however, despite minimal musical training he soon took to music composition. The result was a series of works for orchestra and/or voices...
's Ramuntcho. She later sang Marguerite in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
with the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
The Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was actively performing at the Academy of Music between 1925 and 1954...
in 1946.
In October 1942 Sarnoff made her Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in the title role of Rosalinda, the New Opera Company’s long-running English-language version of Die Fledermaus that had been adapted by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
. Sarnoff appeared in more than 500 performances of the production. In 1945 she made her debut with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
portraying the title role in Puccini's Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. She sang several more roles with the company over the next three seasons, including Marguerite, Mimì, Nedda in Ruggero Leoncavallo
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His two-act work Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.-Biography:...
's Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, and Micaela in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
.
Sarnoff returned to Broadway in 1948 as Maria the short-lived musical Magdalena
Magdalena (musical)
Magdalena: a Musical Adventure is a musical with music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, original book by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Homer Curran, with subsequent lyrics and musical adaptations by Robert Wright and George Forrest...
. The production was notably the first work by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
to be mounted on Broadway. The year 1951 proved to be a banner year for Sarnoff when she portrayed Lady Thiang in the original Broadway cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
’s The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. As the king's head wife she introduced the classic song "Something Wonderful
Something Wonderful (song)
"Something Wonderful" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.The song was first sung in the original Broadway production by Dorothy Sarnoff, who played Lady Thiang. Later, in the 1956 film adaptation starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner it was sung by Terry...
" and the song "Western People Funny". Apparently actor Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
, who played the King of Siam, taught her how to tense her abdominal muscles as a means of dealing with nervousness. Her last role on Broadway was Jessica Farrow, a plantation owner’s daughter, in My Darlin' Aida, a 1952 musical based on the Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's opera Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
that transplanted the stories setting from ancient Egypt to Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The production starred Elaine Malbin
Elaine Malbin
Elaine Malbin is an American soprano who had a prolific international career singing in operas, musicals, and concerts from 1949 through 1967. She appeared in a number of Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s...
in the title role and closed after just 89 performances.
Speech instruction
While having dinner with a publisher in the mid-1960s, she bemoaned the focus in women's magazines on beauty and clothing and was encouraged to pursue the subject of vocal quality. She started a program called "Speech Cosmetics", charging $25 for a sequence of six classes at the Alexander'sAlexander's
Alexander's was a department store chain in the New York metropolitan area. Catering to low- and middle-income consumers, Alexander's offered discounted designer fashions and high-quality private label goods. At its height, the company operated 16 stores. Its advertising slogan was "You'll find...
department store in which women could learn to become better public speakers.
A first semester was offered in October 1965 and a second semester in January 1966 featured both afternoon and evening sessions. The curriculum focused on helping women learn to improve the defects in their speech while emphasizing and highlighting what's attractive. The key phrase she used throughout the course was "sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye", which contains what she described as the worst elements in the New York dialect, the "ng" sound and the mispronunciation of single vowels as diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s.
The program relocated to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's St. Moritz Hotel, with correspondingly higher prices for the course. This evolved into Speech Dynamics, which aimed to develop all aspects of personal presentation. Individual customers were paying $1,000 for her coaching sessions by the mid-1970s and she was receiving $2,000 per lecture. Her firm was purchased by Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
in 1974, after the advertising agency sent two of its executives for training. Ogilvy & Mather proceeded to aggressively promote Sarnoff.
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in its obituary. Sarnoff "managed to combine the high tone of a traditional finishing school with the brand-building ethos of corporate consultancy".
Her clients included Prime Minister of Israel
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
, who she helped soften his demeanor; President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, who she instructed to tone down his smile; United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Warren Christopher
Warren Christopher
Warren Minor Christopher was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State. He also served as Deputy Attorney General in the Lyndon Johnson administration, and as Deputy Secretary of State in the Jimmy...
, who she assisted to cut down on his blinking. She emphasized to her clients promoting books that they should mention the title of their work at least five to seven times in every interview.
She wrote several books, including 1970's Speech Can Change Your Life, Make the Most of Your Best in 1981 and Never be Nervous Again in 1987.
She died at age 94 on December 24, 2008 in her Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
home.