Libby Holman

It's no exaggeration to say that Libby Holman led a wild life. On Broadway at an early age, she became famous as a torch singer, introducing such songs as Moanin' Low, Can't We Be Friends and Something to Remember You By in her throaty contralto.

Early Libby

Later Libby

Pursued by lovers of both sexes, Holman married Smith Reynolds, the tobacco heir. Reynolds ended up dead after a wild party in 1932, shot through the head. Holman was charged with murder, although the charges were dropped. She later married actor Ralph Holmes, who committed suicide.

Holman's notoriety has faded from the days when movies were based on her misadventures (Reckless and Written on the Wind), but you can still find tales about her drinking and drub abuse, exhibitionism, hiring a stripper for her son's bithday party when he was six, and so on.

Despite the alleged excesses, she continued working and occasionally making records well into the 1950s. And although she achieved fame as a sultry pop singer, she re-emerged in 1942 as one of the early cabaret folk singers, in the company of Josh White, who has appeared on this blog before. From that point on, her sporadic records were a combination of blues, folk material and political material.

This particular record, on the small MB label, was issued in 1954 in conjunction with her one-woman Broadway show, Blues, Ballads and Sin Songs (Holman was not above trading on her own reputation, apparently). The cover is by the fairly well-known commercial artist Fred Koester, who also designed the similar theater program (below). I have no idea why he has depicted Holman as an ascending spirit wearing way too much makeup.

Holman was a commanding presence; unfortunately, she did not have the same command of singing. What we hear here is often out of tune and her approach to such material as Strange Fruit and the House of the Rising Sun is bombastic. There was nothing subtle about Holman, in life or in art. She committed suicide in 1971.