Another celebrity dies...

[fajrdrako]

Eartha Kitt died today.

I don't usually go for female singers, but she was a favourite. I just bought another of her CDs when I was in Stratford this summer.

Saw her once in concert - well, in cabaret - and she was wonderful. That was a long time ago.

Here's the song that made me a fan: Just An Old-Fashioned Girl. And my favourite song of all: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

And given what day today is, here is her classic Santa Baby.

Comments

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Um, that's Eartha Kitt.

I still remember her best as the original Catwoman on the campy '60s Batman TV series.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Not alone in that remembrance. Her, Julie Newmar, and...who was the third one?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

No idea. Interesting question.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

There was a third one? I only remember Eartha and Julie.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Checking out Catwoman on IMDb, it says (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000184/) that Eartha Kitt and Julie Newmar played her in the TV series, but Lee Meriwether played her in the 1966 movie. Was that a theatrical release, or a TV movie?

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

A theatrical release, I think.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's quite amazing how many Batman movies they have been - in numerous different styles.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

That was indeed the name I was trying to recall!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Lee Meriwether? I got that looking at IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000184/.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hee - so it was. Was that a Freudian slip?

I hated the Batman TV and didn't watch it if I could help it, but I remember seeing her.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Let's just say that the 1966 Batman movie was just as campy and ridiculous as the TV episodes of that time -- i.e. you would have hated it. IMDB confirms (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060153/) that it was a theatrical release and Lee Meriwether played Catwoman in it. A typical clip from that movie featured Batman running up and down a pier trying to figure out how to dispose of a smoking bomb safely. :-) [That seems to me to be an approximate visual equivalent of a pun ... which may explain why you disliked the TV show so much.]

But the Batmobile and other Bat-items from the movie and TV series were nice gadgets. James Bond was the other hero with access to that kind of gadgetry (at that time, anyway; heros in general have since improved their access to same).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

the 1966 Batman movie was just as campy and ridiculous as the TV episodes of that time -- i.e. you would have hated it.

I'm sure!

That seems to me to be an approximate visual equivalent of a pun ... which may explain why you disliked the TV show so much.

Oooh - good point!

But the Batmobile and other Bat-items from the movie and TV series were nice gadgets.

Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets. Men and their toys! I don't like gadgets. I want heroism instead.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I don't like gadgets. I want heroism instead.

I never said that gadgetry could substitute for heroism. Consider Tintin ... who had no access to gadgetry for most of his career (except via Professor Calculus, a fellow who was a tad absent-minded as well as being hard-of-hearing).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I never said that gadgetry could substitute for heroism.

No, I didn't mean you did. I meant that's what the Batman TV show did.

I don't understand your point about Tintin, though. He's an example of a hero without gadgetry, isn't he? I like that. I also like heroic heroes with gadgetry, like... like... well, there must be someone.

I like Batman much more when he isn't using gadgets. The latest movie went too far into the gadgets for my taste.

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

Got to see her at the Cafe Carlisle in New York City a few years back -- I was in town for 2 days, and had read the review before I knew I was going to be there (I got flown in to testify for a court case, the whole thing was very last minute). Having read the review a few weeks earlier gave me one of my few real pangs about leaving New York. So there I was, and of course it was sold out (The Cafe Carlisle is a very small venue). I called and they said, "come a few hours early and camp out by the door. There are 9 seats at the bar. You may get one." I got the last one. My friend and I took turns standing and sitting there. And then SHE came out... and all the logistics of getting there faded away. The woman was mesmerizing, commanding, seducing every person in that room, by turns witty, romantic, heartbreaking. She put every ounce of a fully lived life into every note, and boy could she *dance*. I had expected to enjoy myself, but what actually happened was one of the most inspiring evenings of my life -- I felt, not, "I want to be her" but "In the way that she is her, I want to be MYSELF." She was an example of someone completely embodying who she was meant to be, and loving every minute of it. All the more inspiring knowing her history of being blacklisted, and other things she endured. Rest in peace, Miss Kitt. I'm sure she's singing somewhere.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Got to see her at the Cafe Carlisle in New York City a few years back

How wonderful!

There are 9 seats at the bar. You may get one." I got the last one.

Woo - close!

And then SHE came out... and all the logistics of getting there faded away. The woman was mesmerizing, commanding, seducing every person in that room, by turns witty, romantic, heartbreaking. She put every ounce of a fully lived life into every note,

Yes - the same when I saw her. She was magnificent. The whole show was breathtaking.

She was an example of someone completely embodying who she was meant to be, and loving every minute of it.

So true. And talented, too.

I'm sure she's singing somewhere.

With that glint in her eye.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Eartha Kitt was fab, in every sense of the world. Yes, Just An Old-Fashioned Girl is one of her best.

"...with an old-fashioned house, and an old-fashioned MILLIONAIRRRRE". Love it.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

"...with an old-fashioned house, and an old-fashioned MILLIONAIRRRRE".

I love that one. When I first heard it, it grabbed me - I played it over and over. Come to think of it... I'm going to listen to it again now.