A few years ago when I still had Cupcake there was a day when I
couldn’t take him out. Dolors was a big fan of Cupcake so I called her and
asked if she could take him for a walk. She came a few minutes later and I
buzzed her in. She huffed and puffed her way up the stairs (there is no
elevator in my building). I didn’t know she had a bad heart. That’s the kind of
person she is.
Today I met her a few houses down. She now goes with a
walker. I had just read in the NY Times that Mitzi Gaynor had died, and reading
through some of her credits really got to me: There was No Business Like Show
Business (which I never saw but I’ve heard Ethel Merman belt out that song
countless times), Les Girls, with Gene Kelly, and my favorite, South Pacific,
among others.
I asked Dolors if she knew who Mitzi Gaynor was, but she
didn’t. So I told her she had been an actress/dancer/singer in the 50s and she
died yesterday. I told her that all these years later, I still sing some of her
songs, in fact I sing one from time to time to my dog, and I started to sing A
Hundred and One Pounds of Fun... which she knew! She knew the song and now knew
the actress I was talking about. Those were the days, she said, her, Gene
Kelly, Fred Astaire, those were the days when people did beautiful, graceful, elegant
dancing instead of looking like they were having sex on stage. We agreed that elegance
isn’t a word you hear often any more. Sexy is what counts. We didn’t sing it,
but we both also know another favorite, I’m gonna wash that man right outa my hair.
R.I.P. Cockeyed Optimist
Photo from the NY Times (Getty Images)
