Kitt To Miss Ann Arbor Friend
At This Stage
Kitt to miss Ann Arbor friend
By Norman Gibson
NEWS DRAMA REVIEWER
Judy Dow was taking care of her 10-month-old grandson when I got her on the phone.
She said she had sent her son and daughter-in-law to Mexico for the holidays and she ended up as babysitter.
I called Judy, who is a Broadway producer, singer, and former multi-term president of the Ann Arbor Civic Theater, because her friend Eartha Kitt is in Detroit, opening New Year’s Eve at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
Judy and Eartha know each other so well that Eartha mentioned in an interview on the Dick Cavett Show that she was staying at the apartment of her good friend Judy while in New York.
WHEN EARTHA came to Michigan to be in the Broadway musical “Timbucktu!,” an African version of “Kismet,” for six weeks at the Fisher Theater, she stayed at Judy’s house.
It was while she was in Ann Arbor that Eartha saw her first football game - her very first!
She saw the Wolverines drub Illinois 31-0. That was 1978, as football fans will remember.
Judy said that she would try to get Eartha by phone but she is spending New Year’s baby sitting, so she will not be able to take in the Music Hall Center performance.
EARTHA HAS been so busy that Judy hasn’t seen her since her opening in New York. Ertha at the Copacabana but Judy Dow, left, will miss out on seeing Eartha Kitt Judy was on her way to Mexico and didn’t get back to New York until the show had concluded its run.
Ms. Kitt, however, is something to see in performance. She is well over 50 but she still seems able to generate all the energy of the universe and has that sensual, sexual way of putting across many of her songs. She has a great range of emotions in both singing and acting, which was witnessed in “Timbuktu,” of which she was the best feature.
The tantalizing international star of theater, film, nightclub, television and radio will appear at 10:30 p.m., with the actual festivities, which include champagne, noisemakers, party hats and favors, beginning at 9 p.m.
SHE BEGAN HER career as a dancer with the Katherine Dunham Troupe, then co-starred with Orson Welles in “Dr. Faust” and was featured in “New Faces of 1952.”
She has been nominated for a Grammy, a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar for her many accomplishments. She is known across America as “Cat Woman” on the “Batman” television series. Her unique voice and style are recognized throughout the world.
In addition to her fame in the United States, she has performed for royalty and heads of state throughout the world and entertained in 103 countries.
Most recently, she starred in “Cowboy and the Legend,” a showcase production at the Burt
Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Fla.
Judy saw the show but featuring another performer. She would rather see her friend Eartha in something else.
“IT WAS WRITTEN for her by her lawyer,” Judy says, “but she really should have something else, she is so talented. She shouldn’t have to appear in something that is nothing but a series of cliches. At least, I don’t think it is the right sort of thing.”
Judy would know, if anybody does.
Speaking of performing, Judy will head back to New York to finish her record she has been working on for several months.
It will be a series of patriotic songs. She is known for her singing of the “Star Spangled Banner” and does “God Bless America” in her act. She says she also now performs “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She has performed, the patriotic music at USO clubs in New York and has been well-received by the service men and women.
AFTER THE RECORD is finished, she go to California, where the record first will be promoted.
“It is planned that promotion of the recording will work itself eastward,” she says.
We await the introduction with great anticipation.
It would seem the time has come for an album of patriotic music.