I'll have whatever Judy's having...
Monday again - and it's Midsummer's Day, to boot! Not that we've had much of a summer for it to be the "Mid" of, mind you. Typical Britain - a week of blazing sunshine followed by a storm. But I digress...
We have not one, but two centenaries to to celebrate today, dear reader!
Miss Judy Holliday was something of a "contradiction in terms" - she made her name portraying molls and ditzy blondes, yet had an IQ of 172. On screen, she was the "arm candy"; in real life she fought against the system (and fought off Daryl F. Zanuck's advances), to her detriment when she was blacklisted for alleged "communism". Notorious as the actress whose Oscar win in 1951 beat off competition from both Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and Bette Davis in All About Eve, had she not died tragically young (at 42) of cancer, who knows what more success she might have had?
This being a Tacky Music Monday, of course, here's a double-bill of the lady's song-and-dance and comedic talents:
Sharing the occasion is a far more familiar diva, Miss Jane Russell! As famous for captivating Howard Hughes with her impressive décolletage as she was for her numerous, usually humorous and sassy roles in films such as Bob Hope's The Paleface or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she inevitably ended up a gay icon, landing camp roles in Westerns and TV soaps, and even taking over from Elaine Stritch as "Joanne" in Sondheim's Company on Broadway.
Of course, throughout her career she always was admired as a singer and dancer as well, so let's have another double-bill featuring the great lady herself [NB I have, of course, featured her many times before - see here and here for more]...
Class.
Have a good week, folks.
