CAMP: "A cornucopia of frivolity, incongruity, theatricality, and humour." "A deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." "The lie that tells the truth." "Ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals."
Speaking of Gay Days - how on earth could I have missed the fact that it was the centenary of one of the greatest "honorary gayers", and our Patron Saint Miss Bea Arthur last Friday?!!
All hail!
Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel, 13th May 1922 – 25th April 2009)
We have another centenary to celebrate today, dear reader - that of Anna Myrtle Swoyer, better known, of course as...
...the incomparable Miss Nancy Walker!
In the interestes of recycling, here's what I said about the great lady way back in 2009:
Although most people remember her for her 70s TV roles as the domineering mother in the Mary Tyler-Moore spin-off series Rhoda and as the housekeeper in MacMillan and Wife, she was in fact a ground-breaking artiste in the history of American musical theatre, working with luminaries such as Lucille Ball, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Phil Silvers, Jule Styne, Bert Lahr, Jackie Gleason, Jerome Robbins and Dick Van Dyke. Leonard Bernstein was an early fan. He created the role of Hildy in On The Town with Nancy in mind, and it is her version of I Can Cook Too! that all subsequent actresses in that role aspire to emulate.Her chutzpah and comic timing led her to appear in numerous TV variety shows, with among others Carol Burnett and Tab Hunter, and eventually to her own (unsuccessful) show.
One of her last screen appearances was as the hilarious deaf mute maid in one of my favourite movies Murder By Death, with its all-star cast including Truman Capote, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, Eileen Brennan and Elsa Lanchester. And a little-known fact is that Miss Walker directed the kitsch cult classic Village People film Can't Stop The Music...
A whirlwind, a firebrand and a truly talented all-rounder, I loved her.
Needless to say, her "Broadway Bombshell" LP I Hate Men holds pride of place in our collection here at Dolores Delargo Towers...
...and you can listen to it, in full, for free, over at the fantabulosa WMFU "Beware of the Blog" site!
All hail!
Nancy Walker (10 May 1922 - 25 May 1992)
Very sad news. The doyenne of the nightclub scene, gay icon, "Queen of the Night", inventor of the term "discothèque", one of our Patron Saints - the legendary Régine has traversed the velvet rope and the glitter curtain and departed for Fabulon.
One of those "famous Belgians", she rose from hat-check girl at Paris' famous Whisky à Gogo club in the 1950s, to club hostess, to "disc jockey" (although that term didn't exist at the time), to running her own nightclub empire. At its height in the 1970s, she had Chez Régine clubs in 23 locations across the globe, from Kuala Lumpur to Rio, including top-drawer venues in New York, Paris and London, and attracted all the best names; from royalty to Hollywood to musical divas.
I have featured her many, many times over the years; here and over at my regular blog Give'em the old Razzle Dazzle, but on this sombre occasion I make no excuses for repeating some of her fantabulosa numbers:
She left us with one of the wisest mottos for life: "If you can't dance, you can't make love."
RIP, Régine Zylberberg (born Regina Zylberberg, 26th December 1929 – 1st May 2022)
