Another Chance To Disapprove, Another Brilliant Zinger, Another Reason Not To Move, Another Vodka Stinger... I'll Drink To That

She is one of my true favorite show biz figures. I had read about her very well received one-woman show –At Liberty (2002), & although we didn’t have a chance to see it, I purchased the double CD of the show. The Husband lit a fire in the fireplace, I mixed some cocktails & we stretched out on the 2 day beds & listened to this fabulous woman tell stories & sings songs about her 60+ years in the business we call show. We laughed & laughed & cried from laughing, & then just cried.


I saw Elaine Stritch in the original cast of Company (actually Dean Jones had left the show to be replaced by Larry Kert, who was replaced by George Chakaris, but the rest of the cast was intact). In Company, Stritch originated the role of the classy, brassy Joanne, a cocktail swilling 50-something who is basically a personal hero to me. In the early 1990s, I was in a final call back for this role. I actually don’t believe in fiddling around with or “concepting” plays that are not in the public domain, but I lost my head & I was flattered into the possibility of playing Joanne in an all male cast of Company. I didn’t need to agonize. Mr. Sondheim gave the Alice B Theatre of Seattle, a cease & desist legal paper, stating that Mr. Furth (the writer of the book) & Mr. Sondheim never intended or wished for their piece to be performed by an all male cast. I was disappointed & relieved.


When I saw Company in 1971, I had never encountered such a commanding performance, star wattage, or such a steamroller of talent in any of my young theatre going experiences. I became obsessed with Elaine Stritch & my adoration has never wavered through the decades. I regret that I have only seen her live the one time, especially now that she plays one of my favorite rooms- The Carlyle in NYC, doing an evening named Sondheim: Singin' Sondheim...One Song At A Time.



Star, legend, force of nature, Stritch is at her Stritch best in her deeply personal one-woman show- At Liberty.  In my favorite section, she gives a glimpse of backstage theatre life, as she recounts how she served as standby for Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam in New York at the same time she had a featured role in Pal Joey playing in New Haven, Connecticut. She tells of the people she mingled with: Noel Coward, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Gig Young, Ben Gazzara, Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Rock Hudson, her disappointments both professional ("I blew The Golden Girls!") & personal (her bouts with drinking). At Liberty is more of a monologue than a musical performance, though she does perform some of her signature songs like Zip & The Ladies Who Lunch. At Liberty won a Tony Award in 2002 for Special Theatrical Event, but Stritch's triumph was tempered when she was not allowed to complete her acceptance speech.


She closes At Liberty with one of my favorite songs- Something Good from the film version of The Sound Of Music. Elaine sings it, full of genuine, quiet gratitude, to her audience. This CD is absolutely essential in the library of every serious show business aficionado.

I have been able to continue to enjoy the company of Ms. Stritch with her Emmy winning performances on 30 Rock, as the mother dearest to Alec Baldwin. Their scenes are like heaven to me. Happy 85th Birthday, Elaine Stritch!

Who Killed Teddy Bear?

For all his good work in films, when I think of Sal Mineo... I think of this film. Back in the crazy 1990s, the Husband & I caught a rare showing of Who Killed Teddy Bear? at a revival house in the U District if Seattle. This grim little story is crammed with homoerotic references throughout, although the tale is a typical boy-stalks-girl thing. The censors didn’t object & since the outcome satisfied all the code requirements, the filmakers let everything else go. Mineo's wardrobe consists of snug underwear, skimpy swim briefs or form fitting tee shirts & skin tight jeans.



He's a shirtless body builder & porno book browser, too. In contrast, the object of is attentions is almost demure. Juliet Prowse, long past her glory days in Frank Sinatra & Elvis Presley musicals, gets a dance number with Mineo, but most of the time she's bundled up in nightgowns & bathrobes. She has a full length mirror in her bedroom reflecting onto the street & she doesn't hang up when she hears heavy breathing on her telephone. She is my kind of girl.



Who Killed Teddy Bear? teaches us all a lesson about straying to the seamy side of sexual obsession. When things heat up,the film offers lyrical visual interludes, suggesting the child like innocence that is destroyed by our, & by that I mean- my twisted sexual fantasies. Maybe these efforts are to distract the viewer from the cheap nightclub where Mineo & Prowse work, as well as the horrifying soundtrack. You can't beat this film for sordid moments: detective Jan Murray listens to recorded conversations of perverts while his real-life daughter Diane Moore tries to sleep in the next room, nightclub owner Elaine Stritch (Elaine Stritch!) protests too much when Prowse accuses her of a lesbian advance, & there’s the very weird relationship Mineo has with his sister. For a journey into sexual paranoia circa 1965, Who Killed Teddy Bear? has it all. Check it out!