Thank You, Internet Retailer

The DVD of a Cyndi Lauper tour I saw, two out of print Hortense Calishers, an Anthony Burgess I remember liking in high school, and yet another Pearl Bailey book of musings.

Someone is gonna have the best weekend ever!

America's Pearl

This article has EVERYTHING.

• Pearl Bailey
• Richard Nixon
• Senators Javits, McGovern, & Muskie plus VPs Agnew & Humphreys
  
• reference to Washington, D.C. as "Dee Cee"
• Carol Channing
• turnip greens

How I wish I was a subscriber to Jet Magazine in 1970.

Mmm, Look At This Cookie, Honey

God Bless, you to pieces, Pearl Bailey.

Them Heavy Peoples

It's been a while since I found a good tumble. And then, I found this one here, one of the more aptly-named sites on this here world wide web.

Some of the pairings are classic Hollywood, but ones I might not have seen before - Bacall, Bogie, Monroe, for example.


Some I have seen before, but are just too awesome to pass up. James Dean & Eartha Kitt taking dance class together? Thank you.

Sometimes, it's the Colonel and Alice Cooper. What would they have been talking about? I'm thrilled.

Along the same lines, what did Andy Warhol say to make Hitch laugh? Were they talking about James Brown?
Anyway, here's the one I'm submitting, which is certainly timely. I had such a good time with Pearl Bailey & Carol Channing at the Tony's that year.

Internet! Thank you.

A Pearl Within A Pearl

If there's one thing I love, it's celebrity dame memoirs. And if there's one other thing I love, it's crazy editions of them. There's the zany copy of Shelley Winters' memoir I blogged about once, if you might recall. I had assumed this signed copy of Pearl's Kitchen would remain the pride and joy of the B section of my bookshelf.

Casual browsers of said bookshelf might have noticed the gap in said Bailey section:

Well, no more! A trip to the Strand on Sunday solved that, with bonus Miss Peggy Lee, more on that another day I'm sure.

But what fell out of the book you might say? What's this, a letter?


Here it is zoomed in, in 3 pics (I was too lazy to bring the scanner out from under the bed).



Hopefully you can read cursive. If you can, you'll see that as Ronne (Ronni?) wrote Jordon on that fateful August day in 1997 (could I have been bowling for Amber's birthday at the moment she scribbled her tale? It's likely), our letter-writer had an affair with Pearl's husband! He would pretend to go to the "store" and call! And he had a nice Jaguar XKE! What memories. When she was young and tiny, there were a few old (50 and up) Hollywood Types after her.

I feel like Charlie when the golden ticket popped out of the candy bar. If you need me, I'll be at the frame store. God Bless, America.

I Could Write A (Million) Book(s)

Have you played around with Google's Ngram yet? It's heaps of fun. You can search the 22 billion books that they have lovingly scanned, and learn lots of information about the occurrence of words throughout written history. Social Science!

For example, I was curious about who showed up in books more: Pearl Bailey, Shelley Winters, or Della Reese. Click on the images to embiggen them.

Go Shelley!

Also, which of the Golden Girls showed up the most in books? I think Betty White might be picking up a few extra points for her commonly-written last name, which is also a colour.


Here's a nice one I liked:
This one was interesting. I wonder if there's any causal relationship between the increase in occurrence of the first two words and that slight dip in the third? I may have to watch Rope again.

God Bless America and all its science!

Songs of Solomon

Heaven got a bit soul-ier yesterday.

Good ol' Solomon Burke died this weekend, aged 70. He was a big deal in the 60s, and I really liked his work in the late 00s, when he did albums with covers of Tom Waits, Dylan, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, & others.

According to the obit I read, he has 21 children and 70 grandchildren.


Here he is covering that great Carol Channing/Pearl Bailey song I love so much. It could be about slavery, or about doing a televised Broadway show with your best friend, or passing, or I guess be about getting away from your 91 direct dependents. Rest in Peace, King of Soul.

A Special Day In Ambertown

Who has a membership in Awesome Club and a birthday today?


Nope, not Baby Zach From The Past.

I know! It's Amber!

What are some nice things about her? Let's see.

She's always nice to dinosaurs, both in my Tiemann Place apartment and at the outlet malls.

However, sometimes, she drinks too much.


Also, sometime we go to Museums and she gets Awkward.


Oh, and also, she can find out about memes WAY late. Like, last week she learned who Beyonce is.


The worstest? Sometimes, she says WICKED inappropriate things to me.


Scandal! Black Friday indeed!

But? We can still be BFFs. I just need to learn how to manage the needs for the special way in which she learns. She's never forgotten her keys again!


Anyway, this is the story of Amber's Birthday and how she is Special to me, and not in a shorty bus way. Well, not always.

Anyway, my favorite memory though is probably the time she danced with Pearl Bailey.


Happy Bday, Amber Buddy! I'm so glad you were borned so I could have all the Friendship.

I want to Birthday you like an Animal!

Pearly, Whites

Oh, un-credited Life Magazine journo. Your lede is a whole mess of contradictions - as if her first name wasn't a wink in and of itself. - Life Magazine, December 1952

Just Who Are You Going To Call?

Well, this bad thing happened at the NYPL in Greenpernt (phonetic spelling, natch).

But even better, this fun thing happened at the one with the lions out front. Why couldn't this have been when I was stocking up on Murders She Wrote?



Really to me, it looks like the bed bug people are chasing after a Klansman, but I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. Rebecca, I looked for you in the background but you must have been in the rare book archives reading Pearl Bailey.

It Takes A Pearl To Laugh, A Train To Cry

From Jet Magazine, September 16, 1985. Whatever I was doing that day, it wasn't this exciting:
The things you can find on the internet. Thank you, Google Books, thank you.

A Tale Of Two Dollies & One CRD

One of my fondest memories was at the Tony Awards with Pearl Bailey and Carol Channing.

I especially like it because I do sometimes feel like I am the missing link between Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey.

(that Stritchy photo was real though, just for the record)

A Raw Pearl & A Honey of a Carol

I'm a little surprised I haven't blogged about this yet.


A few months ago I stumbled across this at the NYPL. I have to say, it is the most amazing hour of television I have ever seen. I mean, it's Carol Freakin' Channing and Pearl F'ing Bailey, on Broadway, together.

The two buddies had each starred in Hello Dolly - Carol originating the role, then a few years later Pearl headlining an all-black revival. And then of course, Ms. Streisand was in the movie version. Here they are together with some Jerry Herman, one of the writers of Hello Dolly:
And here they are drinking demitasse (that's French for coffee):


In Carol Channing & Pearl Bailey on Broadway they run through a bunch of greatness together and apart - songs from Guys & Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof (What, you never saw Carol play Tevye?), Pearl nails '76 Trombones,' Carol does her Dietrich impersonation, and the banter is a delight.


I dunno. There's no way to really do it justice unless I eventually show all the clips here. Instead, I think I'll just go watch it one more time.


Here's the first eight minutes or so. Is it a long-ish clip? Yes. Have I watched the whole program about a dozen times already? Yes. Enjoy. Oh, and I will forever pronounce the word 'autobiography' in the Carol Channing Way.

2009: And There It Goes

I made this using Technology. And Friendship. (And also Pearl Bailey and Kitty Cats.)

God Bless Us, Everyone

This is my New Year's wish for everyone. I can't imagine anything grander.