The Kay Thompson Enigma: Why Isn't She A Bigger Show Biz Name and Legend?

Horseface.

She walked off with the movie in FUNNY FACE. Astaire allegedly wasn’t happy about that. Their musical number together (Dem Bells) was killer. And not necessarily because of Fred. He complained to Stanley Donen about it.

Maybe she was happier behind the scenes.

She did Andy Williams? Wasn’t she bisexual as well?

Too much for screen.

Very old school reference. I read her biography and loved it.

She’s ugly.

Her biography describes her legendary cabaret act with the Williams Brothers, a highly influential act, but there is no recording of it. It is described as impossibly fast paced with singing, dancing and lots of big laughs.

She did have a deformed face.

The Queen who wrote her bio was so horribly fawning . Made her out to be the creator and Svengali for Judy - who was an established major star by the time they met . Few people ever heard of Kay then or now .

Her biography describes her as impossible to get along with. A loyal friend. But difficult.

BDF

Judy already had a second sister, OP. Anyway, I adore Kay.

with the Williams Brothers...

Illustrator Hilary Knight came right out and called her a cunt. He said he was made to do a lot of extra work on projects Thompson sometimes canceled that cost him serious money and time. Thompson was over protective of her Eloise franchise, didn't want to share the success of the series with Knight although the artwork is as important (memorable) as the creation of the characters.

Thompson lives on through Eloise.

Lull...

I prefer Ruth Etting’s version r14…

And Ella’s cover…

You can't beat Elaine's...

OP take a good look at her face

I've long heard the same stuff about Hilary Knight's longtime issues with Thompson. She also apparently prevented some of the Eloise books from being reprinted for ages out of her jealousy and resentment towards Knight. Very self-destructive behavior.

All over...

When if ever I think of Eloise it is knight's illustrations. He is what made Eloise so popular. She probably couldn't stand it. Understandably so.

Kay Thompson lived with Liza in Liza's NY apartment in the last few years of her life.

Also, Kay let Judy take her persona, which Garland used especially as a concert performer and in her TV show...

She was a great vocal arranger at MGM and she was sensational in Funny Face. Perhaps if she had done more movies and TV shows she would have been one of the great gay icons. Isn't it in her biography that she got along well with Astaire when they were young but by the time of Funny Face he disliked her.

But then Astaire along with his sister made Funny Face a sensation on stage in New York and London but by the time of the movie he was playing second fiddle to both Thompson and Hepburn. Without Hepburn it wouldn't even have been made. I know it was a different story and many songs were different but I guess he felt it was a famous title because of him and his sister. I was at an evening with Donen. And he said they filmed Astaire getting out of the cab in front of the Arc de Triomphe singing Bonjour Paris early in the morning with the camera hidden in something. He said he still cried when he would see that scene and he staged and filmed it!

Kay Thompshon loved going to Shtudio 54 with me!

She teamed up with Kay Kaiser and released the hit K.K. Katie. In was the title song from the movie I made with the four-eyed nerd

That Louisianna Purchase clip would definitely qualify her for Queer heaven. And no matter how you slice, Andy and his brothers prance around her like a bunch of fags

slice it

It's all a bit precious and recherche. What straight man would be her fan? And yes, her looks. Also that biography of her (which is recommended for the information it contains) says she was a speed freak. "Drugaroonies" to use Kay's own term.

It was Roger Edens who "invented" the MGM Judy Garland, if anyone did, though you can see Kay's influence in the Ziegfeld Follies interview number. Thompson wasn't at MGM that long, from 1943-47. Garland was already an established star by then.

There are more Thompson-esque flourishes to be found in Judy's post-MGM concert persona, but though Thompson was an influence, it wasn't all her, not by a longshot. Concert Judy was shaped by Edens, Chuck Walters, Richard Barstow too, and some of the other gays around Garland at the time.

Was "Just in Time" the last arrangement Thompson worked out for Garland? Thompson and Mort Lindsey put it together, and when the ending was changed later on by Garland and Lindsey, allegedly Thompson was furious.

I love this number where she comes on with such fanfare, but she gets so out of breath she can't even keep up with the lip-synch.

3 A.M. in the Persian Room

Here real name was Fink. Her marriages were brief--sounds very haggish, esp. hanging with Liza.

Fred Astaire was way too old for the role of the photographer. Even Gene Kelly would have been pushing it. But there weren’t many leading actors closer to Audrey Hepburn’s age who could sing and dance. But Kay was superb. I think this was also Suzy Parker’s film debut.

She was no Connie Boswell.

I would have thought Kay was responsible for the look, sound and feel of SUMMER STOCK's "Get Happy!" and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER's "Thanks A Lot But No Thanks" and "Baby, You Knock Me Out!" but they were all shot after she left MGM if r29 is correct. They all seem very much in her style.

One of the several simultaneously-legendary-but-obscure horse-faced hags of mid-century American theater, alone with Sylvia Fine, Dolores Gray, and of course Arlene Francis.

"Yes, they were apparently famous in their day... but why?"

Arlene Francis may have been mostly famous for being famous but she was never horse-faced.

R6 Liza did an entire 2nd act of her show dedicated to Kay and did her entire night club act with her own Williams backup boys. It was fabulous! It was filmed for a DVD which I still have but have no way to play it.

Well...

R35. Gray had a great belty voice and could be funny, soigne, and bitchy—all at the same time. She had a good figure, but her face was a bit too sharp for film. Today she’d have work done and maybe have had a bigger film career. But, like Martin and Rivera, she was built for the stage. And she was the inspiration for Lypsinka. Putting her in the same company as Sylvia Fine or Arlene Francis is a categorical error.Sylvia Fine succeeded most as a writer and beard for Danny Kaye. Francis turned herself into a TV hostess who dabbled in very unstrenuous acting. A less pretentious version of Kitty Carlisle (who did good works for the arts in NYS).

Kay

I thought I recalled reading in the ‘70s “Rainbow” very good Garland bio, that K was credited with helping Judy transition her existing talent at MGM into its middle 1940s more mature era with Judy’s vocal style, persona and sophistication becoming lifted to a whole next entire level. And then that with Judy’s longtime fave makeup assistant Dottie Ponedel transforming Judy further with her post-“Girl Crazy” film more regal look including the newly arched eyebrows, Irebe Sharaff films costuming, etc.

^Irene

How come Andy Williams kept her off his show, which was a massive hit with audiences?

[quote]Here real name was Fink.

Fink Thompson?

I have in my office a copy of the “Kay with a K” lithographic print.

Here is the scene from Funny Face when Kay upstages Fred Astaire.

Kay’s got Bazazz.

How deep...?

I don't think Kay could be blamed for upstaging Fred in that number at r46. He seems to be cast there as her back up singer. And with her costumed in that bright red vest with her long bare legs, he doesn't really stand a chance to grab the focus she maintains. But maybe Fred was unhappy with the entire conception of the number. He also looks awful in that silly beard and too-short, badly tailored jacket.

She was gorgeous!

I agree that Astaire shouldn’t have been upset over it. The routine demanded that she upstage him, and she delivered.

Fred needed to work on his bazazz.

Fred was a great dancer. He had to keep moving onscreen so that audiences couldn’t see how homely he was.