Fine Feathers

Are all the song birds growing mad

     Regarding costumes rich?

Can Anna, in a diamond gown,

     Attain a higher pitch?

It is the music people want,

     Not costumes of renown;

Who would pay five to hear the voice

     Of Anna’s diamond gown?

Caruso’s purple suit is loud,

     And doubtless reaches “G”,

But that it doesn’t help his voice

     Admirers must agree.

Artistic and well made perhaps,

     No doubt it is a “beaut”;

But who’d pay ten to hear the voice

     Of Enrich’s purple suit?

Fine feathers make fine birds they say,

     But not the birds of song;

No diamond gowns or purple suits

     Will help if they’re in wrong.

Give us the artist and the voice,

     To him will we bow down,

But fie upon the purple suit,

     And eke the diamond gown.

Sept. 11, ‘09

Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918), known professionally as Anna Held, was a Polish-born French stage performer and singer, most often associated with impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, her common-law husband.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Held

During the tour of Miss Innocence, Held made much of her "diamond gown," which she claimed was covered in more than 3,000 diamonds.  It is hard to believe that such an extraordinary garment could simply disappear, but its fate is not known.

http://www.musicals101.com/ziegheld2.htm