Eartha Kitt-Purr-fectt

By VeTalle Fusilier

Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world.” So would you if you were hittin that, for real for real.  MILF before MILF, woman that purred instead of roared, Eartha Kitt has transitioned. Eartha, her name only grounded her further in the lower chakra’s desires.   She traveled the world in the 1950’s, dancing and singing in nearly a dozen languages. She mashed “daring,” flirtatious” and  “ hot” with so much sophistication, like Little Kim with a degree from the Sorbonne.   Eartha embraced sexuality, sensuality, and carnality with a recognition that her chemistry was considered un-mentionable at best.  She found exhilaration in being the doyenne of guilty pleasure, being a black temptress, in every sense of the word. 

I Want To Be Evil

Born Emma Keith on a cotton plantation, reputedly the offspring of a white man raping a black woman, the fire and courage to be a woman was hers from her initial sighting by the public eye. Cast by Welles as Helen of Troy, making her debut as a dancer with Katherine Dunham Company in the1948 film “Casbah,” acting debut opposite Sidney Poitier, Eartha was never shy or subverted.    Her first album, “RCA presents Eartha Kitt” saw her realized woman persona not afraid, perhaps manipulative, but so worth it that you might find the coat, that car for her.  Strong, Black, Sexy. Back then, Black  Revolution occurred on many battlefields,  including the attraction/image one.  Think Pam Grier naked in a champagne glass, can’t remember if it was Judy or her sister, Jean Pace in the bikini look on the Jet cover that Bo Derek stole, and Eartha.  Santa wanted to find Eartha under the mistletoe.  And other guys too, black and white.

Santa Baby

Twenty odd movies,  anthems like “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”, C'est Si Bon"
"Let's Do It," and  "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”  Nominated for an Emmy for an appearance on  "I Spy” in 1966.  A mystery guest on “What’s My Line?, singing with Nat Cole on his show.  Eartha had chops and estrogen swag.  She moved, spoke and sung so in a way that  “sex kitten” was hers to own, if not before then most certainly after she became Catwoman on “Batman.” 

Catwoman

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed, They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot."  Sound like you heard that on CNN last week? Nope that was Eartha at a White House luncheon.  Eartha took her act to Europe while being investigated for almost half a decade by the FBI and CIA who found her “ foul mouthed and promiscuous.”  Tax money spent for that conclusion?  Well that’s another story, that perhaps evolved into something involving weapons of mass destruction.  Eartha returned to Broadway carried on the outstretched hand of Mr. World, Tony Carroll.   After gyrating and stretching her mature body in so many still sultry ways, she garnered a Tony nominated for her work in Timbuktu (she was nominated again in 2000) and was invited back to the White House by President Carter.  The kitten became the cougar archetype, if you didn’t want her, you wanted her to teach some young gorgeous thing that look in her eyes.  Ageless in her bravado, magnetically drawing you to her, all eyes, lips, and attitude.

Boomerang

Her voice became as evocative as her image; you can hear her now as Fossa in the #1 American movie in Europe this week, the animated  "Madagascar 2".  In 1984, the disco song, “Where Is My Man” became the first certified gold record of her career.  She charmed Broadway audiences in many roles including the Wicked Witch of the West in “Oz.” She published Rejuvenate, a guide to staying physically fit in 2001, on the cover in a black dress looking hotter than a lot of younger women. In 2007, Eartha served as the oldest cosmetic spokesperson in memory for Mac cosmetics’ Smoke.  And she lent her voice to many animated characters including Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book, and  Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove  and the spin-off TV series “The Emperor's New School,” winning an Emmy Award and two Annie Awards for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production.

Yzma

If a kitten has nine lives, Eartha chronicled several of hers, having written three autobiographies.  She was also a mom to her daughter Kit, and a grandmom to two.  After living history, in recent years Eartha expressed satisfaction that black performers "have more of a chance now than we did…”.  As a fixture on the cabaret scene in the 21st Century she sincerely and satirically purred sexily for audiences who adored her and the way she represented.   Eartha was quoted as saying, "I don't carry myself as a black person but as a woman that belongs to everybody.  Sounds eerily familiar.  Our greatest give themselves to everybody, huh man?    Revel In Purr-fection,  Mami eternal.

Perrfecct Woman

VeTalle Fusilier is a producer in Washington, D.C. It’s pronounced VEE-tal FEW-suh-leer