Miriam Ruth "Mimi" Benzell (April , â€" December , ) was an American
soprano who performed with the Metropolitan Opera before establishing
herself as a Broadway musical theatre, television, and nightclub
performer.Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in to William and Esther
(née Cohn) Benzell; her father was in the furniture business and her
paternal grandfather had been a popular singer in Russia before
emigrating to the United States. Mimi Benzell and her family moved to
New York City, where she attended James Madison High School in
Brooklyn, New York. She later attended Hunter College for two years
and the Mannes School of Music. Originally a piano student, she
switched to voice under the tutelage of Madame Olga Eisner.She was
years old when she made her Met debut in a Sunday concert on December
, . She made her stage debut in Mozart's The Magic Flute on January ,
. Additional Met credits that Benzell compiled include performances in
La Bohème, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, and Barber of
Seville.In , she appeared in Jerry Herman's first book musical, Milk
and Honey, which proved to be her only Broadway production. Benzell
performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, then still titled Toast of the
Town, eleven times between and . In she co-starred in The Pet Milk
Show on radio with Jack Pearl, which aired on Tuesday nights on NBC,
and also featured Cliff Hall and Gus Haenschen's Orchestra. She
appeared as a panelist on both the daytime and primetime editions of
the game show To Tell the Truth, and was a guest star on the
short-lived DuMont series Off the Record alongside Zero Mostel and
Joey Faye. Among her recordings were Roberta and The Vagabond King,
both with Alfred Drake.[citation needed]
soprano who performed with the Metropolitan Opera before establishing
herself as a Broadway musical theatre, television, and nightclub
performer.Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in to William and Esther
(née Cohn) Benzell; her father was in the furniture business and her
paternal grandfather had been a popular singer in Russia before
emigrating to the United States. Mimi Benzell and her family moved to
New York City, where she attended James Madison High School in
Brooklyn, New York. She later attended Hunter College for two years
and the Mannes School of Music. Originally a piano student, she
switched to voice under the tutelage of Madame Olga Eisner.She was
years old when she made her Met debut in a Sunday concert on December
, . She made her stage debut in Mozart's The Magic Flute on January ,
. Additional Met credits that Benzell compiled include performances in
La Bohème, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, and Barber of
Seville.In , she appeared in Jerry Herman's first book musical, Milk
and Honey, which proved to be her only Broadway production. Benzell
performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, then still titled Toast of the
Town, eleven times between and . In she co-starred in The Pet Milk
Show on radio with Jack Pearl, which aired on Tuesday nights on NBC,
and also featured Cliff Hall and Gus Haenschen's Orchestra. She
appeared as a panelist on both the daytime and primetime editions of
the game show To Tell the Truth, and was a guest star on the
short-lived DuMont series Off the Record alongside Zero Mostel and
Joey Faye. Among her recordings were Roberta and The Vagabond King,
both with Alfred Drake.[citation needed]
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