Kaye Ballard thinks she deserved a Tony nod for Carnival, says it was between her, Dolores Grey and Lansbury for the part of Mame - Page 2

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 3:30pm

I've seen similar quotes in other interviews, joey. When Ballard says, "But nothing!" she means "but there's nothing sexual between us", not that her friend/assistant is "nothing".

I agree it's confusing in the interview quoted here. I think that's an example of a verbal utterance that came out wrong in print.

She's not a horrible person; at least she wasn't when I worked with her. And she and her assistant seem very close. (I don't know them socially.) It has been suggested to me by her friends that Ballard has a tendency to see herself as a victim (and one sees some of that in her autobiography), but I can't confirm that from my personal experience.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 3:41pm

Which means that she's the one who's bringing up "what they do in bed," while she accuses people who simply say they're gay of doing that.

These people who mistake coming out as discussing sex acts will never understand that it's affectional orientation were "declaring"--not what we do in bed.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 3:48pm

I absolutely agree with you there: a husband and wife don't stop being "heterosexual" just because they don't have sex for awhile. Obviously, a gay relationship is about so much more than sex.

But Ballard comes from a generation when heterosexuals largely controlled the rhetoric and did indeed refer to homosexuals almost exclusively in terms of sex acts. Perhaps that's why she resists seeing herself and her companion described in those terms.

I didn't ask her (although she was "outed" once again by our local press while we were working together). It was the policy of our theater to avoid the subject.

I suspect she's just of an age (almost a decade older than my parents and you know I am no spring chicken) when "that subject" wasn't discussed in public. One would hope a life in show business would provide an education, but apparently not.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 3:55pm

Since this thread started a few days ago, I've been conflicted as to whether or not to post. I make it habit of posting 98+% positive comments about performers as I see little point in saying something negative about a star/performer someone else loves.

Kaye Ballard certainly had her measure of success -- and I, like so many others, love her performance on the CARNIVAL cast album.

In 1984, Ms. Ballard wrote and starred in LOOK MA, IT'S KAYE BALLARD at the Promenade. The show was run was unsuccessfully brief and so a friend of mine and I were able to get a ticket for the closing performance. Good grief! There was a VERY BITTER woman on stage. Rather than doing the show as written, she slid into a relentless bitch and moan session about how nothing had gone right during the run of the show, blah blah blah. I didn't doubt what she said was true, but it offended me that she thought so little of the audience who had paid for and attended the final performance. It was petty and not to mention highly un-entertaining. Unfortunately, it's also how I remember Kaye Ballard. This current interview sounds exactly like the person I saw at the Promenade in 1984.





Updated On: 5/4/12 at 03:55 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 4:47pm

Ballard may come from that generation, but so did countless lesbian and gay couples who have celebrated 25, 30, 40 and even 50 years together. It took courage for them to come out. It doesn't take courage to be bitter.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:11pm

What can I say, joey? You know I don't really disagree with you. I only allow that someone 30 years my senior grew up in a different era and that "coming out" might be different for people who are already in the public eye.

As much as I admire how he handled it and how he and his husband have handled themselves since, Neal Patrick Harris didn't come out officially until the press outed him (or was about to out him) first. But you'll say he faced reality and showed grace under pressure--and you'll be right.

***

egghumor, I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. Yes, Ballard is a strong personality. In my experience, she's also gracious and a lot of fun backstage.

[Broadwayhunk]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 1:11am

She comes across as a complete bore, offering nothing but empty and self-serving remembrances.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 3:56pm

^^^^ Broadwayhunk, one of my jobs was to go with Kaye to press interviews. She was invariably charming, witty and gracious. The audience loved her on stage, where she sang and told jokes.

So I don't know whether you found her a bore in the interview linked above or in some other context.

But a lot of her schtick is of the "I don't get no respect" variety. (IIRC, she speaks admiringly of Rodney Dangerfield in her autobiography.) Many of her jokes are at her own expense.

I suspect it's very easy to step over the line between mocking herself and bemoaning her fate, especially now that she's older, less healthy and has a lower profile in show business. But on the whole, she seems very well liked here where she lives.