Janusz Popławski
Popławski was born in the part of Poland that belonged to Czarist Russia, and for several years, he lived in today Ukraine with his parents; he also finished school there. Back to Poland, he was employed in the meanwhile independent country's railway administration, then in a similar position in the army, later in a bank; and besides all that, he studied voice in Warsaw. He made his debut in 1927 at Warsaw's Teatr Wielki, where he stayed through 1939, singing a mix of secondary and main roles, among them: Nadir, Léopold, Massenet's des Grieux, Lenskij or Shujskij. He also sang on the radio and starred in several Polish movies. During WWII, he sang at the only theater that the Nazi administration ran in Warsaw, the Teatr Miasta (it had two troupes, a German and a Polish one, and staged primarily operetta). After the war, he was quite popular in Warsaw, where he appeared on various stages, particularly at the Teatr Nowy from 1948 to 1952. He specialized more and more in operetta. In 1953, he went to Gliwice and joined the Operetka Śląska, the Silesian Operetta Theater. For slightly more than one year, he was even that theater's manager; as a singer, he remained active there until 1968. When singing pop music, he used the pseudonyms Jan Bolesta and Marian Olszewski.
Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the recording and label scans. |
