This little blog of mine...
...that's sounds a little like that song they taught us in Vacation Bible School...
This little blog of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!
Anyway, this little blog is teetering dangerously close to the brink of becoming a blog that each and every day celebrates the gay divas of stage...
...screen...
...and an occasional circus...
...and I know that in just two short days, the nation will join me in celebrating the birth of Dolly Parton...See? Dolly's already started puttin' on her face for the big birthday extravaganza!
...but I couldn't let the day end without a little Happy Birthday posting for one of only four women who have graced the costume of Catwoman.
For the record: Halle Berry doesn't count because A) her Catwoman's real name was NOT Selina Kyle, B) her nemesis was that stanky-pussed Sharon Stone and C) Halle sucked even more as Catwoman than she does as Storm in the X-MEN movies. So, her Catwoman DOESN'T COUNT!
It's not Julie Newmar. It's not Lee Meriwether. It's not Michelle Pfeiffer.
Today is the 80th birthday of Ms. Eartha Kitt!Puuurrrrrrr-fect!
I frankly can't believe that THIS woman is 80 years old!
Eighty, ya'll. EIGHT-OH!
To help you understand just how INCREDIBLE Ms. Kitt looks at 80, I give you this picture of Linsay Lohan......and Ms. Lohan is 20 - - a quarter of the age of Ms. Kitt!
Lick that, Lohan!
And not only does Eartha Kitt look amazing, she still commands a stage with a wit, a presence and a raw sexuality that you can't find in a score of Pussy Cat Dolls.
See how hypnotic she is in this clip from the 50's with her singing JUST AN OLD FASHIONED GIRL in a tempo just this side of Sondheim's GETTING MARRIED TODAY...
I came to know that Eartha a few years after I first heard her sing this song. WHERE IS MY MAN was the ultimate song for drag queens to lip sync in the late 80's and early 90's at the Carousal II gay bar in Knoxville, TN. It is dripping with 80's drum-machine, Casio keyboard mania and I love it...
But this last clip proves to you just how brilliant Ms. Kitt is to this very day.
It's from the Tony Awards performance of the musical THE WILD PARTY and if you watch Eartha you understand just how perfect my mentor, Lemmie's advice was when he said...
"When everyone on stage is moving around, stand still."
Mandy Patinkin, Toni Collette and the whole damn company are flailing about, trying to convey the WILD part of the PARTY and then Eartha walks in, stands perfectly still and then slowly, distinctly walks upstage of the group to take her place behind Ms. Collette to start her song...
...and as she begins, her stillness feeds a raw power in her that overflows with parties that Ms. Kitt has been to and will continue to attend that are infinitely more wild than most of us dare to even dream of walking into.
That is how it's done, ya'll. Now do you understand why Ms. Lohan is not now, and probably never will be, a diva?
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