MAYBE SHE KEPT KOSHER?

TJB just posted a lovely homage to Dinah Shore, which made me start investigating. Did you know that they split up her ashes, burying a portion

in Hillside

and another portion 
in Cathedral City?

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE

Morey Amsterdam and his wife Kay Patrick were friends with Phyllis Diller. It seems the Amsterdams adored Phyllis, writing her whenever they were out of town. I'm not sure 

how Phyllis felt about the Amsterdams though, since these cards are for sale, and not by Phyllis and Phyllis is still alive. Wonder how these slipped through her fingers? Maybe after Morey died, she threw them out in a fit of rage? Morey had always claimed that he had written the big Andrew Sisters wartime hit, Rum and Coca-Cola. Morey had kind of lied, or maybe just gotten confused. He'd been on Trinidad during the war and "heard" verses of a seemingly native song and took these verses as his own. Someone else had actually written them, one Lord Invader.

                                    Morey and his wife Kay

Ooops, left this one out by accident. Those Amsterdams just LOVED writing to P.D.

HEIRS JOANNIE!

Here's the last page of a contract Joan Bennett signed in 1962. From whence I stole it claims that her Hancock ensures, "she will perform in a series of etiquette segments to which rights have been acquired from the Emily Post Institute." Okay, whatever that means.

But look closely at section 16, fifth line where it reads, "...our respective hairs, executors.."

I've heard of companies watching out for their interests, but really! And yes, the other signature might very well be that of noted publicist turned producer Jean Dalrymple.

FRANCIS to DILLER

"Everybody loved your call but nobody but nobody loves you as I do for what you did- Thank you darling Phyllis for squandering your fortune on that delicious and funny tribute- What a present! Gratefully   Arlene"

LeSEWER?

Michael Korda, recalling a story he'd heard from one of Crawford's minions:

Once, after one of Joan’s many retirements from the screen, she was 

leaving Chasen’s after dinner, in Beverly Hills, when a little girl ran over to her, holding out her autograph book, and looking up at her, eyes misty with excitement and admiration, said: “Miss Crawford, you’re my favorite star of all! Would you please sign my autograph book?” Joan looked down at her young fan, fixing those extraordinary big eyes of hers on the girl, and smiled. “Go away, little girl,” she said. “I don’t need you anymore.”

BETTY WHITE for RICHARD HUDNUT 1959

OUCH!

New York Times Style Magazine (yesterday) Spring 2011, page 75. I imagine
TJB and Marilyn Maye are just two folks that aren't too pleased with this ad. Of course, Mitzi Gaynor's thrilled.

HERE'S YOUR NEW CAR!

Just found this stunning 1962 Cadillac convertible on eBay. It's very exclusive. Notice it parked in front of the chateau. It certainly will find another chateau to call home, don't you think? It's very rare, an exclusive Louis Vuitton edition. Why, I'm shocked it hasn't already been snatched.

Of course, there had been Madeline Kahn's Seville in High Anxiety.

HONOR THY BLACKMAN

Made famous via The Avengers and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, I fear she's more well known in the UK. 'Tis a pity though, I was always electrified by her. 
A sappy tear-jerker, 

Moment To Moment (1965) with Jean Seberg had this little boy more than wide-eyed when he came upon it 10,000 years ago on television. Having beaten breast cancer a few years ago she's hawking those chairs that dump you on the floor. 

A BIG HAND FOR MISS SCARLET WHO POINTED OUT THIS PERFECTLY KINKY ADDENDUM!

MISS SCARLET'S NOT WELL

SEEMS SHE'S UNDER THE WEATHER. THOUGHT A CAKE MIGHT CHEER HER.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!

REMEMBER SATURDAY NIGHT, 
SPRING AHEAD! IT CAN'T COME 
TOO FUCKING SOON.

I ALWAYS LIKE WHAT A GREEN VOTIVE DOES FOR MY COMPLEXION.

YAY ELIZABETH!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

IT'S SUNDAY, TIME TO GO CAR SHOPPING!

GREY GARDENS UPDATE

Just perused the latest Vanity Fair and easily noticed this old photo of Robert Redford and Ben Bradlee. Sadly, the scan isn't very good, but the photo in the magazine is (page 126). I'm thrilled to know that the current resident of GG, like the previous owners, has no trouble pushing a basket.

BREAKING NEWS

Today's news said Zsa Zsa is back in the hospital because there's no blood moving 

through the last leg. Doctors told her that this last leg must be removed, but Zsa Zsa will have none of it and is scheduled to return home. Back in January, I predicted this. Someone wants there to be more than one pile of Gabor.

Can We Ever Forgive Her?

Something told me to rip this out of a magazine back 
in December 2002. I don't know about you, but just looking 
at him makes me shudder. Imagine what it'd make Liza do.

Can I Ever Forgive Her?

A while back, I discovered Letters of Note, a groovy
site, filled with an wonderful selection of written

correspondence from all sorts of folks. I took it upon
myself to grab this delightful Dorothy Parker note
and then began to wonder.

Do you know who Lee Israel is? She's a terrific
writer, having authored Miss Tallulah Bankhead,
Kilgallen and Beyond The Magic
(An Unauthorized Biography of Estee Lauder). Though the book on Estee wasn't all that great, her first two bios were superb. Of course, Lee chose fascinating subjects, women whose lives had been overstuffed with far too many tasty tidbits. Still, Ms. Israel is a gifted writer. I've returned to her books countless times, not only to reread what she wrote about, but how she wrote it. Ah, to write like her!

Seems life got pretty good for Lee after the Bankhead bio and continued on the upward after Kilgallen. Then came Lauder and that book did nothing, but Miss Israel had become accustomed to a certain level of living. She'd also run out of money. There were temp jobs and welfare, neither of which she liked.

While doing an article for a small magazine, her research brought her to the library at Lincoln Center. It was here that she happened upon some letters of Fanny Brice's and figured out that she could write letters as good as Fanny, if not better. So, she wrote; and sold. Lots. Noel Cowards, Edna Ferbers, Louise Brooks', Lee did quite well. Ultimately, she got nabbed by a savvy dealer and some Noel Coward missives. Seemed Lee had gone too far, putting words into Noel's mouth that he never would have uttered. Words that spoke to his sexual orientation.                        




In her book, Lee writes of how Dorothy Parker's, "epistolary legacy is spare" and that she could only limit herself to four years in the Sixties when Dot resided in Hollywood on Norma Place. (Such a lovely name for a street, dontcha think?)



 

These are two of Lee Israel's Dorothys. 

How are we ever to know what is real and what is not?

As for my opening question, I can forgive her, easily 

if 

she continues to write.