"You Coaxed The Blues Right Out Of The Horn, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangela!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                            Girls, I am telling you, when a person reaches 95 years old, and beyond, I start believing, positively so, that they are never going to die.  So, when Angela Lansbury passed on October 11, just five days before her 97th birthday, I was shocked, and then disappointed.  I was so hoping she would reach the century mark.  The same thing when Betty White passed, on December 31, 2021, at the age of 99.  Damn!

                             Now, in paying homage to Angela Lansbury, I am appalled that most of the online yokels on here keep mentioning Jessica Fletcher, and "Murder, She Wrote."  Not that I did not watch it, and she surely did a wonderful job, but for me, and most Theater Queens, Angela Lansbury was the Broadway Musical Stage.  And with her passing, an era ends, and another coffin is nailed into the Broadway I grew up with and loved.

                             When "MAME" was getting on its feet, back in 1966, I was hospitalized, having open heart surgery, in New York.  I did not know who Angela Lansbury was, nor what "MAME" was.  Eventually, I got around to hearing the Original Broadway Cast album, and I never forgot.  What a voice and what a presence that came through, even on vinyl.  How badly I wanted to see her in "MAME," but at that age I was forbidden to travel to NYC by myself, and my parents were none too eager to do so--even though my father worked downtown, at the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                The first time I saw Angela Lansbury on stage was September 28, 1974.  It was a highlight of my theatrical life.  She was at the Winter Garden Theatre--where she scored big in "MAME"--and the show was a revival of "GYPSY," which I had never seen on stage, either.  My god, thinking back, I was only....19!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I would not turn 20, till November.

                                I was amazed.  Like a true star, she gave her all, and she dazzled.  Divas following her in her wake owe a debt of gratitude to her, for paving the way.

                                 Five years later, as my mother was dying in St. Peter's Hospital, in New Brunswick, NJ, I had bought a ticket to "Sweeney Todd"--before things went south.  I did not want to go, but I recall my mother insisting I go--and Angela did it again!  Mrs. Lovett was a lot kookier and frightening than Mama Rose, but she made it somehow palatable.  I loved her in the show; I ended up seeing it with she and Len Cariou six times!

                                   But it was in 1983, I got an unexpected wish--"MAME" was revived, at the Gershwin Theatre, former home of "Sweeney Todd," with Lansbury, Jane Connell, and Ann Francine, the first replacement for Beatrice Arthur, as Vera Charles.  The conductor was a friend of a friend, and I thanked him for making it sound the way I always imagined.  Of course, it was thrilling; I managed to see it three times.  I made the most of it, because I knew this would be my last chance for "MAME."

                                    Interestingly, no one has done it on Broadway, since Lansbury.  Who could?

                                    But there were movies--"Gaslight" (1944), "The Picture Of Dorian Gray," (1945), "National Velvet" (1945), and my favorite, the despicable mother in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate."  

                                      Angela Lansbury was a forerunner of Meryl Streep--there was nothing she could not do.  I am glad I got the chance to see of much of her at her best.  It is hard to accept she is gone, but those memories will live on, and as long as, recordings can be played, she will be heard.

                                        Rest In Peace, Angela Lansbury.  You were quite a Dame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Here is Angela Lansbury, as Mrs. Lovett, singing "The Worst Pies In London."  Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!