Dagmar Nordstrom

Dagmar Nordstrom (December 12, 1903 – April 9, 1976) was an American composer, pianist and singer. She performed together with her sister Siggie as a cabaret singing duo known as The Nordstrom Sisters.^[1][2][3]

Background

Dagmar Nordstrom was born in Chicago, the second daughter of Anna and Alexander Nordstrom. The family were of Swedish and Norwegian extraction. Dagmar was married briefly to a society playboy, but lived most of her life with her older sister after the death of Siggie's husband, Samuel Ferebee Williams, in 1931.^[4]

Career

During the 1920s she cut piano rolls for Steinway and Duo-Art. These included:

• "I Still Love You" (by Milton Ager)
• "If You Don't Love Me" (by Yellen-Ager)
• "Happy Days and Lonely Nights"
• "Sweet Dreams" (Ager)
• "Are You Happy?" (Ager)
• "Blue River"
• "Glad Rag Doll" (by Yellen-Ager-Dougherty)
• "That's the Good Old Sunny South"

Dagmar and Siggie had a flat in London for a year in 1939 when they were the resident performers at The Ritz. With the exception of their October trips to Bad Gastein for the baths, they regularly performed either in clubs in New York City or on board transatlantic ocean liners, most commonly on the Cunard Line and Norwegian America Line. The duo were on the maiden around the world voyage of the combined ocean liner/cruise ship MS Sagafjord.

Dagmar wrote the music for Remembering You, a foxtrot which was published as sheet music and a full orchestration in 1940. During the 1940s she and her sister were often on the radio and through the 1960s when they were not otherwise engaged as a team, Dagmar would at times take an assignment alone playing in a club.^[5]

Death

The sisters maintained an active social life and were the toast of many private parties^[6] in New York City until her death in 1976 when she suffered a massive stroke. Several good friends, including the photographer Edgar de Evia, arrived for dinner and she was reclined in their living room, her mind still clear, saying "Oh, my dear boys, I believe that I've had a stroke." She died that night, aged 72. Following services at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home,^[7] she was cremated and interred with her mother in the mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, Westchester County, New York.

References

1. ^ "Janet St. C. Mullan Hostess at Dinner". New York Times. December 13, 1934. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A14F7385B107A93C1A81789D95F408385F9. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
2. ^ "Night Club Notes; Winter's Heaviest Week at Hand" [1] New York Times February 13, 1937; retrieved February 21, 2009
3. ^ Dagmar Nordstrom (Find A Grave)
4. ^ "Samuel F. Williams, Originator of 'Tootsie Rolls,' Dies In His 48th Year", The New York Times, October 17, 1931, page 12.
5. ^ "News of Night Clubs; Great expectations" [2] New York Times, February 18, 1940; retrieved February 21, 2009
6. ^ "Holiday Dances Planned; Entertainment at Panhellenic Is Among St. Patrick's Fetes" [3] New York Times, March 17, 1934; retrieved February 21, 2009
7. ^ "Beloved sister of S Nordstrom Williams" [4] New York Times, April 10, 1976; retrieved February 21, 2009