Girls, A Fond Farewell To Karen Richards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                       Of course, any of MY girls, who read this, know I am talking about the late, great Celeste Holm, who passed away just yesterday.  What is it with Summer, 2012??????  More famous people have dropped in this season than in other summers I can remember!!!!!!!!!!

                         Celeste is best remembered, pictured above, for her Oscar nominated turn as Karen Richards in the 1950 classic, "All About Eve." My favorite line of hers from this film comes early on, when, in the stage alley, she says to Anne Baxter, as Eve Harrington, "A playwright's wife??? (Chuckle!) I'm the lowest form of celebrity!" 

                          I also love this particular shot of Celeste, because in it, she reminds me  of someone from my own family--my aunt, Kathleen, my father's sister and my Godmother, whom we all called Katty!!!!!!!!!!!

                           Speaking of Godmothers, my actual introduction to Celeste Holm did not come at 13, when I first saw "All About Eve," but much earlier, when I saw her play the Fairy Godmother in the Lesley Ann Warren version of Rodgers And Hammerstein's "Cinderella."  Her rendition of "Impossible" became definitive for me, and, with this, then seeing 'Eve,' and, of course, "Gentleman's Agreement," I knew what a fantastic performer range she had. Not to mention another of her Oscar nominated turns as the tennis playing nun, in 1949's "Come To The Stable!!!!!!"

                            Several years ago--hell, at least 10 or 15!!!--my friend, Tom, and I went to Symphony Space around this time.  They had a screening of movie classics one summer, and we went to see "All About Eve."  Celeste Holm was to introduce the film, and though she had appeared many times on the stage, I had never seen her live.

                                I have never forgotten it. She came out, beaming, to tumultuous applause, waited for it to die down, then said, wryly, "Yup!   I'm the LAST one!"  Which garnered applause again, as she was the longest living of the cast of "All About Eve."

                                 She might have been a diva, darlings--you think I'm not???--but she did work for humanitarian causes, so there was no need for her to put her awards where her heart ought to be.

                                    Farewell, Celeste!  You are in our hearts and our memories, and will continue to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Bet lots of DVD players will be running "All About Eve" THIS week!!!!!!!!!