Seven years ago, actress/singer Christine Jordan was offered a wonderful opportunity to become an integral part of a new program at Deepwells Farm, an historic home in St. James, Long Island, New York
Conceived by Christine's good friend, Sal St. George, the program became known as "Biographies on Stage" and thus began the saga of the Gaynor family. Mrs. Augusta Gaynor was the wife of the former Mayor of New York, William J. Gaynor and the family split their time between Brooklyn and St. James. Set in the parlor of their Greek-revival country home, other actors and actresses portrayed famous people from the era (1905-1919) and were Mrs. Gaynor's guests for tea.
The interactive experience became very popular and many enthusiastic audience members returned year after year to view the entire series of programs. It became immediately evident that the musical guests were the most popular; most notably shows which featured George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Florenz Ziegfeld and Mae West. It was indeed the persona and voice that Christine brought forth as Mrs. Gaynor that brought people back and many requested the songs that she sang to be recorded.
That dream finally came to fruition this year and we have the first release of the songs of Mrs. Gaynor. We decided to make it a "holiday selection" as these shows were the most popular. "Mother to Child", a song written by Sal evoked the true love of family and was the highlight of Christine's experience as her then 4-month old baby, Jeremy portrayed the youngest son of the Gaynor family, Master Norman Gaynor.
Although some of the songs are of present day and have a "pop" feel, we felt that they captured the spirit of the season and the love of family and friends. We hope you enjoy it and look forward to many more recordings!
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