Kitty Carlisle

Kitty Carlisle and Carl Brisson in Mitchell Leisen’s Pre-Code musical comedy for Paramount Pictures, ‘Murder at the Vanities’ (1934), an adaptation of Earl Carroll’s long running Broadway revue ‘Earl Carroll’s Vanities’, and also starring British-Boxer-turned-Hollywood-Actor Victor McLagen, Jack Oakie, Jessie Ralph, Lucille Ball, Ann Sheridan, Gertrude Michael, and Toby Wing. And there’s no doubt that it’s Pre-Code when Gertrude Michael sings “Sweet Marijuana”, but the true highlight of the movie is when Gertrude Michael sings “Ebony Rhapsody”, which is brilliantly performed by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The following year Kitty Carlisle would appear as the leading lady in The Marx Brothers’ movie ‘A Night at the Opera’ (1935). Today most Baby Boomers remember Kitty Carlisle as a panelist on the panel television game show ‘To Tell The Truth’ (1955-1978), and New Yorkers remember Kitty Carlisle for her 20 years of service on ‘The New York State Council of the Arts’. I remember seeing her in her latter years at intermission at a concert at Lincoln Centre. She was so distinctive and elegant up until the very end.