Let's just keep the drag-theme running and spend some time with the immortal Miss Zarah Leander. Oh, yes, I know, Z-Lo was an actual girl, more or less, but, come on - has there ever been a more mannish vibe (at least from any entertainer this side of Rose Marie)?
Here she regales a 1972 television audience with a staple of her concert repertoire, Mr. Porter's "Wunderbar" (which she interprets, as always, as "Wunderbarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"). It's about the only thing I can think of that makes me think kindly of Kathryn Grayson, although even my cold heart can't resist the chorus boys.
Zarah Leander's later career answers the unasked question: What would Marlene Dietrich have been like if (a) she never left Germany and (b) she had had not one iota of taste? Now's your chance to find out.
It makes one wonder whether Nina Hagen covered this one too
ReplyDeleteShe was known at "Reichswasserleiche"
ReplyDeleteor National drowned corpse because that's how she usually met her death at the end of her pictures.