The First Celebrity Death Of 2024--Glynis Johns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Someone always has to be first, darlings.  This year, it is Glynis Johns.

                                            I first saw Glynis Johns sixty years ago in the movie everyone went to see that year, "Mary Poppins."  I never forgot that film, or her.  In the small role of Mrs. Banks she turned what could have been an ordinary part into a delight, blowing everyone away with her activist fueled rendition of the song, "Sister Suffragette."

                                            Had they been the only song she ever sang, she would never have been forgotten.  But Fate had other plans for her.

                                             On February 25, 1973, at the Shubert Theatre, opening in "A Little Night Music," dressed in this stunning red Florence Klotz gown, she introduced what was intended to be a throwaway number for her, and nothing more.  That song was "Send In The Clowns."  Her heartbreaking delivery of the song, and that dress iconized both from that moment on.  I saw her do this onstage, and it just broke my heart.  The music, her delivery, they had me sobbing.  Over the years I have heard many renditions of what is now Sondheim's signature song, but none touches that of Glynis Johns.

                                               She is one of the rare few who made it to the age of 100.  What changes she must have witnessed in her century on earth.  And now she leaves us to perform in the heavenly ever after, where all present can bask in her glow.  She died on January 4.

                                                 Rest in peace, Glynis Johns.  You were a trouper who deservedly became a legend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Here is Glynis in her greatest glory.  Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!