English-born Anna Russell studied at the Royal Academy of Music--but it was clear from the beginning that audiences were more likely to giggle than swoon over her artistry.
So, as Dale Carnegie famously noted, "When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade."
Turning her talents to the obvious, by the early 1950s she was being billed as the "International Concert Comedienne," playing to sold-out houses, and making a series of laugh-filled live recordings that remain in demand six decades later.
In this hour, Russell's classic commentaries on the bagpipe, coloratura sopranos, and Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs.