Jessie Matthews

Most of Jessie Matthews' recordings seem quaintly antique, artifacts of a by-gone age -- and, to some extent, they are just that, her fluttering, plummy toned voice with its romantic yearning turning back clocks as it fills a room at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. But for most of the '30s, Matthews was the most popular musical star in England, and the only British film music personality who was ranked on a par with such American performers as Fred Astaire, Ruby Keeler, or Ginger Rogers. She was a favorite of Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers & Loren...