They say that bad news comes in threes. But who would expect THREE films inspired by Florence Foster Jenkins?

Florence Foster Jenkins, if you don’t know, was the Philadelphia matron and patron of the arts who began mounting vocal recitals in 1912, when in her early 40s. Despite her dubious sense of pitch and rhythm and seeming indifference to the nuances of breath control and the proper pronunciation of foreign languages, Jenkins shot to fame on the unintentional hilarity of her performances.

Her swan song was her “finest” – a recital at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944, that achieved a kind of transcendence through the sheer scope of its awfulness. Jenkins was 76 years-old.

Some find her recordings funny – and to an extent, they undeniably are – but it is difficult to not feel a little embarrassment for her and a touch of pity. If not for the fact that she was so blissfully oblivious, that is. This could have been the role of a lifetime for Margaret Dumont (who actually trained as an opera singer).

The most high-profile of the three films is one starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant and directed by Stephen Frears (“Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Queen” and “Philomena”).

A 2015 French film, “Marguerite,” is now making the rounds in the U.S. on limited release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnr78V0se3s

And in January, Joyce DiDonato announced that she will appear in reenactments as part of a new documentary.

Joyce DiDonato to star in documentary feature film as Florence Foster Jenkins

Jenkins’ legendary recordings can be heard on the cult album, “The Glory(????) of the Human Voice.”