Kitty opens tonight in San Francisco -
New York -- "I don't have Modiglianis, but I do have these," Kitty Carlisle Hart says, gesturing to a series of oil paintings adorning the hallway of her elegant Upper East Side apartment. To her, they are cherished gifts created by friends -- individuals who happen to loom large in music and theater lore: Irving Berlin, Harpo Marx, Noel Coward and George Gershwin. To a visitor, these paintings -- and her collection of photographs, press clippings, Broadway posters, and other memorabilia -- are manifestations of what has been an extraordinary life.
It's no surprise that this grand dame of stage and screen has many tales to tell. Beginning tonight through Sunday, she'll share songs and anecdotes at the Empire Plush Room. Called "In Honor of Her 95th Birthday," the evening is dedicated to those she affectionately dubs her "old friends" and "the giants of the American musical theater": Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Rogers and Hammerstein, and Lerner and Loewe among them -- not to mention onetime beau George Gershwin, who used to take her dancing.
For an hourlong conversation in her home, Hart was impeccably turned out in a vibrant candy-apple colored dress, double strand pearls, a bejeweled broach and smart black heels that displayed what gossip columnist Liz Smith has called the best pair of legs in New York. Sitting in the beautifully appointed apartment where she has lived for more than four decades, she was every inch the gracious figure whose name is a staple in society columns. She frequents cultural events and benefits, including one she hosted last fall to help her hometown of New Orleans.
Here's to life
"Oh Link...your pork is ready..." - Edna Turnblad
