Birthday Girl: Miss Showbiz

Many, many happy returns to the late, great Miss Ann Miller, who in kinder circumstances would be turning 89 today.

Ann Miller is just plain fun.  Has anyone ever gotten such joy out of fame as the little girl from Texas who came into this world with the unprepossessing moniker Johnnie Lucille Collier?  From start to finish, she was perhaps Hollywood's purest product, a whirlwind of energy that she channelled, of course, into her legendary tap dancing, but that also fueled her tireless tending of her own stardom.  Not for Our Annie the "woe is me" approach to celebrity of Garbo; unlike Crawford, she never showed how much effort it takes to be MGMalicious 24/7.  And certainly, she must have been puzzled by the decades of stars after her, with their slapdash scandals and sweatpants in airports.

Here we see her doing the full Blackglama; unlike some other editions in that cherishable series of adverts, you get the impression that it didn't take all that much to get her camera ready.

Sharing the day?  Not a bad haul, actually, taking in opera divas svelte and not-so Lily Pons and Montserrat Caballe, creator-of-Ramona Beverly Cleary, big band thrush Helen Forrest, TV curiosity Tiny Tim, and teen heartthrob/botox victim David Cassidy.  Of them all, though, I'll take Ann...