DAK_ML_044 MINK, SCHMINK, MONEY SHMONEY _ EARTHA KITT 1954 / DON ARMANDO 2025
Lobotomy Room
15 h
·
“A few days later Eartha was back in New York to sign her contract to star in [the play] Mrs. Patterson, with rehearsals to start almost immediately, and appear on the first ever Ed Sullivan show to be filmed in colour. This show was a big deal. CBS were using it to try to sell their latest invention – colour TV sets … Eartha was the headline attraction – a clear indication of just how much of a draw she had become over the past year. She sang two songs: first “Monotonous” and then her new single “Mink Shcmink.” For this number the Sullivan people built Eartha an acrylic stairway and had a whole parade of models come down it, all wearing mink coats and fabulous jewellery. Then Eartha herself descended the stairs, gradually divesting herself of her own furs and jewels as she went, while singing the lyrics “Mink schmink, money shmoney / Think you’re hot now, don’t you honey? / What have you got if you haven’t got love?” It was a bravura performance and made for great TV. Billboard’s review declared that “Miss Kitt was the showstopper,” while Ed Sullivan himself told the press that “When this girl drops her head and walks straight at you, staring straight at you, it’s like getting hit with a blackjack. When most singers walk, they walk. When Kitt walks, it becomes a personal proposition.””
/ From America’s Mistress: The Life and Times of Eartha Kitt (2013) by John L Williams /
On this day in old showbiz history (22 August 1954), sultry sex kitten extraordinaire Eartha Kitt performed on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town at CBS Colour Studio 72 in New York City - and by all accounts she SLAYED. (I've checked and unfortunately the performance isn't preserved on YouTube!).
Kommentaarid
Postita kommentaar