Miliza Korjus (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸
The little daughter of a Polish infantry colonel sang for fighting men and her voice carried her into the famed opera houses of Warsaw, Moscow, Berlin, Vienna, Dresden and Hamburg. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, she would go to Hollywood, the new music center of the world. So it was with Miliza Korjus.
Now she is one of the many distinguished singers under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Miliza Korjus, with a home on the Riviera, wife of Kuno Foelsch and mother of a 4-year-old daughter named after her, was herself the daughter of Colonel Arthur Korjus, a hero of Poland. She was born in Warsaw, August 18, educated in Russia and music was always her life.
Sang in Berlin Opera
Max Schilling, conductor of the Berlin State Opera, heard her in concert in an aria from Traviata. He promptly engaged her for opera. That was in 1933. She sang in Rigoletto, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, and Cavalleria Rusticana until a year ago. The late Irving G. Thalberg heard her voice on a record and sought her for a screen career.
She awaited her first role in the new medium with intense interest, flinging herself meanwhile into a study of motion picture technique. Her ambition is to emulate Jenny Lind in the dual artistry of acting and singing.
Is Restlessly Vital
Miliza Korjus is blue-eyed and blonde, charged with a restless current of vitality. She loves life whole-heartedly. She is cosmopolitan, tolerant and gay, with the impulsive warmth of her ancestry.
She is five feet eight inches in height, weighs 130 pounds and for relaxation she plays the piano and sings, or takes long walks in unfrequented places. She is a graceful dancer and a social favorite. Among her closest friends are Anna Sten, Alice Moore, Salka Viertel, and the Baron R. Lortorito.
She is extremely fond of the theatre and attends whenever she has a chance, and also never misses a good concert if she can help it.
Her personal likes include Chanel perfume, gladioli for flowers, Goethe for a classical author, Shakespeare as a classical playwright, Wagnerian music, the paintings of Raphael. Her favorite modern writer is Thomas Mann, and she likes the plays of Samson Raphelson. She does not care for modern paintings. She is fond of the music of the Philadelphia Symphony, and likes the illustrations of McClelland Barclay.
Little Superstitious
She is a little superstitious, particularly about broken mirrors, and snakes give her the creeps. Her favorite play is Romeo and Juliet and her favorite picture is Camille, with Garbo.
Miss Korjus, observing Hollywood with the eyes of a stranger, regards it with the insouciance of her cosmopolitan background. Nothing startles her. She settled herself in a new world as easily as she fitted into the atmosphere of the Continental capitals.
“Human nature,” she remarked, “is not limited by border lines and diplomatic visas. Only laws and customs and conventions differ. It seems to me that Luise Rainer demonstrated this when she played the Chinese slave-wife in The Good Earth. She was the faithful wife of mankind. The fact that she was Chinese made no difference. I think life is like that, too.”
Quite naturally, Miliza Korjus sees Hollywood as another beautiful city and another great opportunity.
Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)