Friday, April 20, 2007

Kitty Carlisle Hart

She wasn't the greatest singer.
She wasn't the funniest person.
She wasn't the best actor.
But she was a good singer, a funny person, and a decent actor. And when she combined her gifts, she did seem to exude something special. She was poised and charming and confident and she was the widow of Moss Hart (who staged Camelot and My Fair Lady and who wrote The Man Who Came to Dinner). She was a game show personality, an advocate for the arts and the freedom of artistic expression, and even in her 90's she was active as a cabaret performer!

Kitty Carlisle Hart knew and worked with some of the greatest legends of 20th century show business, including Harpo Marx, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and of course her husband, Moss Hart. From opera to film to musical theatre to cabaret to arts activism to televised celebrity studded game-shows, Kitty Carlisle proved to be a living monument to grace and charm and dignity.

At 96, three days ago, she took her final bow in life and made her transition to whatever is beyond this realm of experience. Another icon is laid to rest. I bless the memory of Kitty Carlisle Hart.

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