RIP Eartha Kitt

A sad note on Christmas, legendary singer/actress Eartha Kitt died today @ 81 years of age. Like most people in my generation I first encountered her purrrfection as one incarnation of "Catwoman" on syndicated reruns of the campy 60s Batman series. I always meant to attend one of her cabaret shows here in NYC but never did (pricey $) but I was able to see her on Broadway once in The Wild Party where she stopped the show with the 11th hour eventual classic (just wait) "When It Ends." Though she was always more of a celebrity and TV star than a film actress, she did that too: recent credits included Holes and voicing Yzma for Disney's The Emperor's New Groove. You'll also undoubtedly remember her great purring cameo in the Isaac Mizrahi documentary Unzipped.

Here's Eartha doing her classic "Santa Baby". She was still performing in her early 80s. Here's to indisputable longevity and individuality. Eartha had both.



[source news]

Batman, Very Blu

Just this morning I was giggling over a rather blue Batman post @ ModFab and here I am the same evening staring at Batman, very blu(ray). ouch -not punny

The Dark Knight is still a month away from a movie theater near you but there is so much Bat-material in the world that no one should ever have to die from pointy-cowled crusader withdrawal. I have 3 Blu-Ray special editions of Batman: The Movie (1966) to give away. If you've ever wanted to while away 105 minutes listening to Adam West and Burt Ward talk about their days as televisions secretive billionaire and his boy wonder there's a commentary track just for you. Plus, a score-only option so you can watch the movie with only the music of 5 time Oscar nominee Nelson Riddle playing. (To tell you the truth I wish all DVDs came with that option... very interesting to hear what scores do to a movie.)

To enter the contest (winners will be drawn randomly) send me an e-mailby Tuesday June 24th with the following:

1. "BATMAN" in the subject line
2. your full name and mailing address (it will be kept private)
3. the name of an item you'd always keep in your utility belt
   

I haven't seen this movie since the 70s when it was on TV and I was Batman obsessed. My only memory of it is that I loved that all 4 villains were featured (Penguin, Joker, Riddler, and Catwoman) but I was pissed that my Catwoman was ...different.

Lee Meriwether played Catwoman in Batman: The Movie.
Though Meriwether did appear in the corresponding TV series,
it was not as Catwoman. Strange TV trivia for ya.

I imagine my child self stomping around the living room in a pop-culture rage "Nobody but Julie Newmar should ever play Catwoman!!!" (Yes, I had issues when I saw Eartha Kitt too. I wasn't sophisticated enough for rotating actresses) But I spoke too soon. How could I have known that the love of my life was 1,973 miles away bagging groceries @ Vons. When she played Catwoman decades later I wouldn't be complaining. And I wouldn't be thinking of Julie Newmar.
*

Tuesday Top Ten: Witches

Tuesday Top Ten is back ~ A weekly series for the list lover in you and the list maker in me

I have done nothing to get myself in the proper Halloween spirit this year. No costume contemplation, pumpkin purchases, candycorn chomping, demonic deeds --nothing. You got plenty of bloodsuckers last year, so let's stir some spellcasters into the top ten spot

Top Ten Witches

This list is dedicated to Billie Burke's pill popping Glinda (pink bubbles are not a natural method of travel -even for witches. She's supplementing) and Margaret Hamilton's eternally cackling Wicked Witch of the West. They set the good witch/bad witch mold in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and they've never been surpassed. Rest in peace my pretties...

10 "Gil" (Kim Novak) in Bell Book and Candle (1958)
I haven't seen this in so long but I loved it as a wee tyke. Seen it lately? Does it hold up?

09 "Lamia" (La Pfeiffer) in Stardust (2007)
Defying the Oz rule that only bad witches are ugly, this old crone is actually as beautiful as Michelle Pfeiffer once you get the dumb CGI scowls and excessive latex out of the way. Pfeiffer's BIG performance may be a thing of cartoon beauty but Lamia's is only skin deep: unless you're Hannibal Lecter you probably don't see the pretty in eating hearts and entrails. [prev Stardust posts]

08 "Grand High Witch" (Angelica Huston) in The Witches
From my review: "When Huston first arrives in the film, outside of the hotel where the bulk of the film's actions takes place, she's greeted with a sudden swelling of the film's score. It's entirely redundant. It's not like you could ever miss Angelica Huston's unconventional and powerful screen presence. From her very first lines and tunnel visioned haughtiness its clear that she's having a ball with the role, and making very specific imaginative choices. She zeroes in on "the most evil woman in creation" tag and wears it with pride. Not for this fearless actress a glimmer of humanity, then... "

07 "The Scarlet Witch" in The Avengers
I'm glad this comic book heroine hasn't been moviefied yet. I don't think she'd adapt well: they'd screw up either the luscious curls, the silver fox twin brother, her android loving ways, and especially her "hex" powers --I'm more than certain they would visualize her unpredictable chaos magic as bursts of colored CGI energy balls and who needs any more of those? (see also #10 and #3, sigh)

06 "Alexandra, Jane and Sukie" (Cher, Sarandon, & Pfeiffer) in The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
In this case a picture is worth a 1,000 1,000,000 words

photo by Richard Corman -a gift to actressexuals everywhere

05 "Madame Mim" in The Sword and the Stone (1963)
Her magical duel with Merlin --they try various animals on for size-- is the best part of a Disney movie that almost no one discusses.

04 "Witch" (Bernadette Peters) in Into the Woods
"It's the last midnight / It's the last verse / Now, before it's past midnight / I'm leaving you my last curse" Possibly my favorite stage musical of all time. Vanessa Williams was also pretty good in this role in a recent revival...they added a funny booty shaking beat to her reemergence as a beautiful witch and boy did she sell her strut across the stage. As Sondheim's arguably most commercial endeavor, I've always wondered why Into the Woods isn't the one to make it to the movies. Any theories?

03 "Willow Rosenberg" (Alyson Hannigan) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
You may have noticed that it's so hard for me to get through any topic without mentioning Buffy... damn Joss Whedon for usurping so much of my hippocampus.

02 "Samantha" (Elizabeth Montgomery) in Bewitched (1964-1972)
No matter how hard I try I can never make my nose wiggle from side to side but even had I mastered that impressive skill, who would have provided the tinkling sound effect? And what good is nose wiggling without it?

P.S. Elizabeth Montgomery is a babe

01 "Maleficent" in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
You sent her an invitation to your latest party, right? Please tell me you sent her an invitation.

[gulp]

if you haven't had enough witchy women, please see the awesome Eartha Kitt "I Want to Be Evil" video in the sidebar. meow

Season 1 of Tuesday Top Ten (for new readers)
Alexander(s) The Great -from Desplat to Xander
The Three Amigos -Del Toro, Cuaron, Innaritu
Best of 2006 -From Marie Antoinette to The Departed
Oscar Talking Points -from Winslet's record breaking to Dreamgirls snub
Christian Bale -From Newsies to American Psycho
Horseplay -From Equus to National Velvet
Celebrity Couples -From Madonna & Guy to Brangelina
Bald Heads -From Channing Tatum to Professor X
Art in Movies -From "David" to some girl with the pearl earring
Political Women "Pick Flick!" or reelect Laura Roslyn
Holly Hunter -my favorite Georgian ~take that Julia!
Tarantino Performances -From Harvey to Uma
Prosthetic Appendages -beer filled legs, Dirk's Diggler
Loveable Cads -from Rhett to 'Bond, James Bond'
Funny Girls from Jame Lee Curtis to Reese Witherspoon
Lesley Ann Warren -embarrassing things I might have said had I met her...
Box Office Bizarre -the sad reality vs. the paradisical imagined
Men of Summer -From Willis to Damon
Women of Summer -From Hathaway to Pfeiffer
Catwoman -Michelle's greatest role? meow
PTA Performances from Fiona Apple to "Rollergirl"
Pixar -What's your 'toon preference?
Top Ten of 2007 (so far) From Grindhouse to Once
Oscar Nominationless -The Stars Oscar Refuses to Love
Fall Film Preview -anticipation for "prestige" season
Future Biopics -From Monty to Liza
H.S. I Love You -an unexpected love letter

"She's A B****" Reborn

When YouSuck destroyed my rather vast video-edit collection last year and deleted my account it was tear-jerking. But cinematic gods be praised, they were not able to destroy my masterpiece. I had thankfully saved it on the hard drive (too bad I didn't save all the others). So here it is again --I still get searches and requests: 'She's a Bitch... at the Movies' [NSFW original version with more Showgirls]

She's A B**** At The Movies

Friday CatBlogging: CATWOMAN

In the world of super-heroes, women often get the short end of the stick. For every Wonder Woman there are at least a dozen heroic muscle men. So, when a female character achieves major longevity, one has to bow down. While your *ahem* prone please lick the boots of Batman's vampy 'double' Selina Kyle. She demands it. Where Batman is a hero with a heart encased in darkness, his female counterpart and sparring partner in both love and war is a villain with a heart of gold. There aren't that many of them. I don't know enough about comic history to say for sure... but perhaps she was revolutionary at the time (?) A villain that just wasn't evil.

My earliest memory of Catwoman comes, not from comics, but from watching the ultra campy Batman on television in the 70s. To be honest I was as a little boy far more hooked on Batgirl. I suspect, though, that this preference was due to sheer childhood laziness or attention deficit disorder. You see, if I was not in a TV mood I would turn Batman off if the cutout Batgirl figure had not swung across the screen during the opening animated credits; that was our clue that she would be appearing in the flesh in that episode. No Batgirl in the opening credits meant no Batgirl in the next half hour. It also meant that Natty often ran outside to play. Consequently I'm sure that I missed some choice Catwoman moments.

Yet, despite my erratic viewing of Batman's three seasons I cherished any episode which did feature Catwoman, the slinkiest & kinkiest of Bruce Wayne's rogues gallery. I know that Eartha Kitt's growl justly had legions of fans but for wee little me?--I was all about Julie Newmar's purr.

Catwoman slipped from my consciousness until 1989 when Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton duked it out in Tim Burton's blockbuster revival of Batman. I loved the movie which was visually everywhere that summer... but for its entire running time I wondered when I'd get to see a modern take on my favorite female super-villain. To say that I was excited three years later when my favorite female movie star squeezed into black vinyl and learned how to crack. that. whip is an understatement. I was closer to orgasmic.

To twist a classic Pfeiffer-line from Batman Returns for my own wrap-up purposes here: 'I don't know about you kitten but (when I think of Catwoman) I feel so much yummier' .

purrrfectly pleasurable Catwoman-related links:
Catwoman Changes Her Spots ~a history of divine-feline wear.
Julie Newmar ~for your viewing pleasure. It is pleasurable.
Batman Goes Hollywood~from Comics 101's great 'histories of' series
Hell Here ~ a fansite.
Bio from the "Women of Gotham" site
Morticia's Morgue ~Batgirl & Catwoman, two of my earliest loves.