Ella Fitzgerald once described Marilyn Maye as “the greatest white female singer in the world.” The chanteuse, whose legendary career includes 76 appearances on The Tonight Show, Grammy nominations and singing with Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, has a special place in her heart and a tear in her eye when it comes to Dallas.
Back in the 70’s when the Fairmont’s Venetian Room was the place to be seen and see the country’s top entertainers (Sonny and Cher, Richard Harris, Marlene Dietrich, Pearl Bailey, the Smothers Brothers, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Lou Rawls, Patti Page, Carol King, Mitzi Gaynor, etc.), Betty Holloway was handling the pr for the newly opened hotel. Remember this was a time before the Hyatt Reunion, Hilton Anatole, Crescent, etc. Betty flawlessly handled the media and the celebrities. If there were hiccups, no one ever knew of them.
Marilyn was one of those entertainers who became one of Betty’s fans and best friends. All this explains why when MM appeared on the Venetian Room’s stage Saturday night for Cabaret Gala 2011 benefiting the Dallas Children’s Theater, she seemed to tear up and hesitate in recalling her friend who died in 1985. “She was my soul sister and I loved and admired her.”
On a brighter note, Marilyn also made many other friends whom she called out from the stage like Carolyn Lupton and Dr. Honor Franklin with husband Dr. Bob Mitchell.
The 83-year-old’s Dallas appearance Saturday was the first in many years, but her voice hadn’t changed one iota, her eyes twinkled and she proved to the sold-out crowd that she could still do kicks and perform non-stop for 90 minutes.
Among the tales she shared with guests was the fact that she was the first to record “Cabaret” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.”
Proving to be a ironclad professional, she spotted a problem with the feedback and called to her sound man, “Chad,” to correct it. No way Marilyn was going to pretend there wasn’t a problem. After sharing her frustrations with the sound situation with Chad and her trio, everything was back on track in perfect harmony.
Because of the stage lights, Marilyn couldn’t see Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins just inches away swaying to the Broadway tunes and laughing at Marilyn’s anecdotes. Immediately after leaving the stage, MM spotted the twosome and nearly hugged the air out of Ruthie.
Right next to Ruth and Kent were Gala Co-chair John Clutts and Raffle Chair Yvonne Crum. In announcing the sponsors on stage, John admitted, “If I massacred your name, it’s OK — my name is Clutts!” Yvonne, who joined him on stage for the raffle held her own nicely telling John, “If I’d known you were going to introduce me, I would have dressed up.” The two of them should have their own talk show.
At another front row table were Honorary Chairs Julie and Ken Hersh. Back a row were Dallas Children’s Theater’s Executive Artistic Director/Founder Robyn Flatt and Arts District Leading Lady Veletta Lil. On the upper tier of tables was spotted The Dallas Opera’s Keith Cerny.
Making sure that everything went smoothly was DCT Associate Artistic Director Artie Olaisen, who reported that the DCT would be launching its 28th season at the Winspear.
It’s been way too long since Marilyn’s voice has been heard in Dallas. Hopefully, she’ll be jazzing it up locally again very soon.
Charlene says
Wow Marilyn Maye what an amazing woman and to be described and admired by so many how wonderful life is really, I tell someday I will have the opportunity to meet such wonderful people.
Charlene