Monday, November 08, 2021

WHO IS THE GREAT EARTHA KITT? (and thank you, Diana Ross!) (Betty)

WHO IS THE GREAT EARTHA KITT? (and thank you, Diana Ross!)

Monday night, I was watching COZI. A number of you e-mailed to say you caught an episode of THE NANNY and Eartha Kitt was on. Yes, she sang on the cruise. I didn't know she was on THE NANNY! I'm sure I did in real time because I did watch that show when it was new and I do catch it now on COZY.

Well that's a lie.

I've never watched all of the final season. We knew the show was coming to an end. I saw when Fran learned she was pregnant and Nora Dunne was her doctor. But I've never watched beyond that -- not even in syndication. Sorry.

I'm sure it's great and all, the end of the show. But I just couldn't say goodbye to it. I didn't watch the end of WILL & GRACE's first run until the revamp started. And Stan will tell you that he's never watched the final episode of FRIENDS despite loving the show and owning all seasons on DVD because he didn't want to see it end. So I guess I'm not alone.

But I did love the show.

Back to Eartha.

I reviewed John "John L. Williams' AMERICA'S MISTRESS: EARTHA KITT, HER LIFE AND TIMES" and I discussed it at THIRD "KINDLE UNLIMITED (Betty, Ava and C.I.)" and for $1.99, I can't complain about the digital book too much, I guess.

John L. Williams' AMERICA'S MISTRESS: EARTHA KITT, HER LIFE AND TIMES."

That said, America Selby's WHO IS THE GREAT EARTHA KITT? is a much better book -- and it's fre to read if you have KINDLE UNLIMITED. This providies the contexxt that is mssing from Williams' book. And it also doesn't reat Eartha like she's an idiot.

Or a liar.

Let me go to liar. I was really offended by the way Williams dismissed Eartha's conversations regarding her parents. I think she's better geared to know who her mother was. I also think that if she has no father of record Williams needs to grasp that he's proven nothing by advancing his claim as to who Eartha's father was. I might have been more charitable about his 'sleuthing' (years, after everyone is dead and all he knows is that the man was White) if he hadn't been so dismissive of Eartha over who her mother was.

Selby takes her at her word -- and why wouldn't you?

Now for the idiot aspect.

I didn't go into that. I had planned to in the discussion with Ava and C.I. because I knew C.I. would know.

In 1968, while playing Catwoman on TV, Eartha was invited to the White House and told Lady Bird some truths about Vietnam. This got Eartha banned for years.

According to Williams, she's an airhead that doesn't know what she's talking about and made no sense. White, British guy, do you think Eartha's skin color makes her stupid? Because that is how it came off. Selby, by contrast, quotes Eartha and notes that she was well spoken and a woman who had traveled the world by this point and spoke multiple languages, plus she was volunteering with a youth center. She's in her forties by this point and Williams doesn't think she's capable of making a coherent statement against the war?

That just really ticked me off.

Now America Selby's book is much briefer but it lets the moments register and it provides context. I highly reccomend WHO IS THE GREAT EARTHA KITT?

I also highly recommend Diana Ross' THANK YOU. A fantastic album. I am loving it. It is wonderful and I cannot praise it enough. If you like Diana, you are going to love this album. One of the songs features a synchopated vocal like on "Now That You're Gone" (diana album) or "Not Over You Yet" (EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY album). I love all the songs and even the ones that I loved as singles work so much better on the album in the context of the other songs.

I scream, SCREAM, THANK YOU back to Diana because she's given her fans like me the greatest gift with this album.

 Trina did a book review this week that you should check out, "A A Novellie's Joan Rivers: The World's Funniest Funny Lady, Her Life & Tragic Death."  Also check out the following media and book coverage at THIRD:


 

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

 

 

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