Pogorzelska Zofia, “Zula”, *ca. 1898 Kharkiv (Russia), †10 February 1936 Vilnius, Polish singer and review and cabaret dancer, film actress. She graduated from secondary school in Sevastopol, sang in a choir and performed in an amateur theatre; she took private lessons in singing and acting. In May 1919, she arrived in Warsaw, where she was hired by the Bagatela theatre. Between 1921 and 1925, she performed at Qui Pro Quo, becoming one of the stars of this cabaret. After undergoing throat surgery, her soprano voice changed into a slightly husky alto, characteristic of this artist and her repertoire, used, for example, in parodies of operetta arias. After leaving Qui Pro Quo, Pogorzelska and her husband K. Tom founded the Perskie Oko theatre (later renamed Morskie Oko). In 1926, she introduced the new Charleston dance to Poland, which she was the first to demonstrate in the revue Pod sukienką, staged at Perskie Oko. A year later, in Morskie Oko, as part of the Bubliczki programme, she promoted a Russian romance of the same title and (in a duet with T. Olsza) a new ballroom dance, polonia, choreographed for her by E. Kuryła and recognised by the International Dance Congress in Vienna. The greatest hits of her stage repertoire from the turn of the 1920s and 1930s included the songs: Czy pani mieszka sama, Ja się boję sama spać, Mały Gigolo, Ja chcę do mamy, Ta mała piła dziś, Nie warto, Zula, Panna Mania gra na mandolinie. She performed in popular revues and cabaret programmes, including Halo, ciotka (1925), Bomba do góry (1916), Ja pana też (1928), Kochajmy się (1929), Parada gwiazd (1930), and Sympatia Warszawy (1931). Pogorzelska was also a popular film actress; between 1930 and 1934, she starred in eight films, mainly directed by M. Waszyński (including Niebezpieczny romans, 1930, Romeo i Julcia, 1932, Sto metrów miłości, 1932), as well as one directed by M. Krawicz (Ułani, ułani, chłopcy malowani, 1932). After performing at the Cyganeria theatre (1933–34), she retired from artistic life in 1934 due to an incurable spinal disease. Alongside H. Ordonówna, she is considered one of the leading stars of the Polish revue and cabaret scene of the interwar period.
