In 1971 , a promising concert pianist made her symphonic entry , her fingerbreadth flying over Beethoven ’s Piano Concerto No . 1 . But the concert include a few surprising notes : The pianist was a woman . She was 53 years former . She just happened to be one of America ’s most renowned comic . And her concert was like nothing the classical music world had ever see .
Even then , the thought of Phyllis Diller enter on a calling as a classic pianist was laughable . Since the 1950s , Diller — born 100 years ago , as Phyllis Driver , on July 17 , 1917 — had been transgress earth for women in clowning , morphing from a airplane propeller comic to a TV and musical dramaturgy image . But even thougha put-on of a classical concertwas one of the acts that propelled her to celebrity , Diller had long since give up on her dream of playing pianissimo professionally .
As a child growing up in Ohio , Diller train as a pianist . Inher comic memoirLike a Lampshade in a Whorehouse : My Life in Comedy , she recalls her mother press her toward piano , and though she was " no Mozart , " she took intensive lessons and imagined herself " sitting before a fabulous concert grand " instead of giving performances for a pianissimo instructor and her sleepyheaded dog . She even studied piano in college . But eventually , Diller told a reporter , " I decided it was too stodgy for me . So I gave it up . "
euphony sink in into her comedy repertoire , though , and when the Pittsburgh Pops came calling in the 1970s in the hopes of having her perform a stand - up routine with the orchestra , she stunned the representativeby telling him she would perform on the pianissimo , as well . It ’s safe to adopt nobody from the Pops had seen her on TV with Liberace two class to begin with , her fingerbreadth flying over a piece she ’d write herself shout out " Phyllis ’s Fugue . " Diller signed on for a show calledThe Symphonic Phyllis Diller , never suspect that her concert career was about to start in earnest .
The show was half - gag , half - serious pianissimo performance . The orchestra would perform without Diller , but eventually she ’d make a grand entrance asDame Illya Dillya , a prima donna who assume forever to begin play . Dame Dillya tire an 8 - infantry - farsighted train and opera house baseball mitt and performed a 12 - minute silent mime ape the pretensions of classical musicians .
" During the melodious prologue , I ’d sprinkle the piano , see the score , and look at the hearing through my opera glasses — it was alongpreamble,“Diller later recalled . Then she launched into Beethoven ’s Piano Concerto No . 1 . " Once I was into the music , I was serious , " she wrote , " and many in the audience were more than a small surprised . "
During her concerts , Diller played selections from Bach , Chopin , and other classical musicians . Over fourth dimension , she earned a repute as a firm performer , with one commentator calling her " a fine concert pianist with a steadfast pinch . " Eventually , though , Diller hackneyed of the savage regimen and go to sleep from the concert electric circuit . " It became drudgery , it was taxing,“Diller toldThe New York Times . " I needed at least three hours a day of practice session and I did n’t have the time . "
Though her concert career was over , her clowning career certainly was n’t . After retiring from symphonic work in 1982 , Diller did tolerate - up for another 20 year . Shedied in 2012at the age of 95 — and while her funniness is rightfully her crowing bequest , her surprising acquirement on the piano is worth a put up ovation as well .
