Lainie Kazan performing 'Copacabana'

lol lol

She had all the traits required to be a camp diva - great actress, deliriously overdramatic, flashy dresses and performed like her life depended on it. Sadly, the voice was sorely missing. At least she was in tune for most of the song, but her high notes were paper thin and every time her voice was drowned out by the orchestra, the backing singers (all of whom had better voices) had to rush in to rescue her.

Sorry, but this is not great. Still, I like the tackiness of it, as well as her chutzpah.

LOL

Google Gomez, all is forgiven!

Nice rack.

Lainie puts the second 'm' in dramma...

How did Barry grade it?

Lainie’s melons.

Lainie Kazan is talented, and ridiculous, and I've always liked her. But R2 is right.

Quite big tits

Can’t you flick your bean to Anne Murray?

Was this her trial run for a 6 month engagement on Carnival Cruise Lines? She makes Michele Lee look demure.

Yes I saw Lainie in Cabaret on a Carnival Cruise, with Richard Thomas as the Emcee.

Good Lord, R12. That's enough to make me wish for a tidal wave!

There's got to be a morning after...

Good lord. I’m surprised people didn’t start calling and withdrawing their pledges.

I hate her interpretation of it. It’s lousy and meandering.

I think it's interesting. It's better than just the standard interpretation which is a forgettable song.

Was this a 2:00 AM appearance?

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

You fagolas wanna piece of me.

It’s a spectacular entertainment

Lainie would say feygele, hun.

Nice find, R20.

Meh. I scroll fast, R23.

Fuck do I miss the Jerry Lewis Telethon!

She was better mic'd on Ed Sullivan years earlier.

R25, I miss the telethon and I miss the whole fuckin' 80s.

I used to hate-watch the telethon halfway through the night when I was a teen. And I hated smarmy, angry Jerry Lewis. And I hated Labor Day, because it meant school started the following week. Who knew someday I would look back fondly at all of it?

Personally, I'd rather have the unhinged, permed-up, coked-up, and glitzed-up Lanie than any of the mopey, cynical autotuned shit of today.

And get off my lawn.

[quote]recreates her audition for "Funny Girl" on the Bell Telephone Hour, November 24, 1964.

I felt threatened by this?

At least she had a good run playing wacky Jewish mothers after Shelley Winters aged out of them.

There's no shit Lainie won't eat to stay D list.

Didn’t she get arrested for shoplifting at Gelsons?

Why is she famous again?

She is dressed well here as far as elongating the figure. And the colors are perfect on her. Probably the best I've ever seen her look.

8 years later she was playing Bette Midler’s mother in Beaches.

What are you? A camel?

Her bush was the size of slice of New York pizza!

I thought this was Linda Granger!

Lainie by Norman Rockwell

She killed it in My Favorite Year

Lainie always has a place in my heart for starring in LUST IN THE DUST, if for nothing else.

South...

I assume she just sang this for one night.

[quote]She killed it in My Favorite Year

"Welcome to our humble chapeau!"

"Jou Bish! Jou estole my act!"

Aunt Frieda!

Wow she looks like Mercedes Ruehl’s character Connie Russo in Married to the Mob.

She’s no Mary Testa.

she reminds me of Big Rosy Greenbaum.

She wishes she were Cha Cha in Grease.

[quote] She wishes she were Cha Cha in Grease.

She's still young enough to play Rizzo.

Drag Queen performance.

"Hello? Jerry Lewis Telethon?. Yes, I just saw that Laine Kazan number. I'd like my money back, please. Yes, I'm asking fur a refund. A REEE. FUUUUND. What? Do you need me to dramatically roll my R's like she did on the name R-R-R-R-R-Rico? I SAID , 'R-R-R-R-R-Refund! "

[Quote] Fuck do I miss the Jerry Lewis Telethon

I do too. Is Night Under 100 Stars still going??

It’s difficult to match the JLT in terms of celebrities and tacky performances I recall squealing with joy when a TV actress would sing (and dance) to a contemporary hit of the day. It was always tacky, over-the-top crapola. But I loved it.

Fuck you r20. A Playboy link should have at least partial nudity.

It’s upthread…nipples included!

She comes across as a second-rate Bette Midler. I'm surprised she didn't star in the movie 'The Rose'.

Thank you R28 for that link to the Bell Telephone Hour - i came to see Laine sing “People,” but i stayed to see that goyishe close-harmony quartet ruin “Sunrise, Sunset”!

I love her old, sad voice part...."that was 30 years ago when they used to have a show...." I hope this was the 3AM slot when no one was watching . This is almost as bad as that lady who did Take a Look At Me Now at the Oscars. Almost.

[quote] Is Night Under 100 Stars still going??

Wasn't it more like Night of Stars (barely) Under 100? My goodness, who can forget Myrna Loy and Jean Arthur singing a disco version of "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree"!

I love the beginning, when she comes out after doing two lines of coke, and there are all these Latin hoochie calls in the background as Lainie shakes her afro from side to side. It's just perfection!

Her sequined cape/wrap/whatever is divoon.

How does everyone know she's on cocaine here? What are the telltale signs?

Her tits look mad at her.

^ It's from too much shaking and jiggling. They're suffering from motion sickness.

r62 - It's certainly is... strategic. Low cut for parading her puppies, yet conceals her middle-aged spread in the waist and hips. Add a turtle neck or oversized scarf and it's something Maude would wear.

Her mouth always seemed to have been hung on a fish-hook, and it made me nervous.

Liza did it better.

[quote]I hate her interpretation of it. It’s lousy and meandering.

Shame on you, Swannee.

[quote]Fuck do I miss the Jerry Lewis Telethon!

Fuck no, it was the official end of summer. One more day and school started.

I thought the telethon was as boring as could be.

I remember me and my friends holding one of those backyard carnivals to raise money for the telethon. I think we made two bucks. I believe we kept it.

Exactly, r70.

they sent us this kit to help us hold the carnival. Our parents made us do all kinds of stupid shit. Like standing at the end of the driveway with a candle on christmas eve to remember the hostages in Iran

It had a louche charm. It seemed to be the last gasp of pure Borscht Belt show biz reaching a mass audience. Any vibe of Borscht Belt since has been ironic, historical, satirical.

Something LuPone-ish about her.

At one of our many MD Carnivals a young me did Salomé's Dance of the Seven Veils with my mother's silk scarves. I kid you not.

^ And the late, poor Fluffy the Cat stood in for Peter.

Ugh, I meant John.

Surprised she didn't get a nose job along the way...

When did this hole venture shit the bed?

Was it because of Jerry? I think I remember he was canned from his own telethon.

[quote]Her dramatic reading in the middle of the song has to be seen to be believed

No, it does not.

Rico and Lola self-immolated after seeing this.

^ You mean RRRRRRRRRico?

That was one of the worst things I have ever seen.

Did she alert the media to tell them when she’d be on like she did when she went on for Barbra in Funny Girl?

[quote]That was one of the worst things I have ever seen.

You need to get out more.

Why is Joan shouting during her dramatic reading? PONDEROUS! PONDEROUS! And then Jerry brings out Christina, which seems to agitate Joan.

She’s no Line Renaud

Ryan Murphy? Time for a Babs vs. Lainie duel.

A little tipsy there

Glee!

Man I'm glad Line made that spin. I was worried about her hip.

What consisted of your backyard carnival??? Did you have games and rides?

Geez, 1970s everyone was pushing that backyard carnival idea. McDonalds pushed it for the Ronald McDonald House.

Here’s one from the 1980s for MDA.

Like a water slide, bobbing for apples, darts, a whole lot of stupid stuff only kids in the 70s would fall for.

Let this freak explain it.

Good Lord, those areolas are dinner-plate sized. I don't think I've ever seen such huge ones.

Nightmare-inducing.

I bet Lainie would have performed at your backyard carnival if you had just asked.

We tried but she wouldn't share the stage with Jayne Meadows.

Elizabeth Taylor would show up for a bucket of chicken and a bottle of gin.

We had to close the bobbing for apples attraction early. Liz ate all the apples.

Tetas grandissimas

[quote]We had to close the bobbing for apples attraction early. Liz ate all the apples.

With ours, Lainie Kazan stuffed them down her shirt. Amazingly her big bazooms held them in place.

.......

The song takes on allure in French.

Why did she get so fat? She could have made tons of money in Vegas going the Ann-Margret/Lola Falana route.

Too classy for that. She WAS Broadway.

[quote]She WAS Broadway.

You're half right.

Nice pair of jingle-bobs

She likes the girls. Wonder if she rolls her Rs during cunnilingus

Daammmmn, OP and R26, that was... something.

And thank you, Lainie; you literally have just made my cat yowl at you like he does when I sing ANYTHING.

[quote]She could have made tons of money in Vegas going the Ann-Margret/Lola Falana route.

She wasn't a dancer, r107.

[quote]She wasn't a dancer,

And by the sound of it, not much of a singer.

Oh Jimmy Mac. Be still my foolish heart...

John Barrowman gave it a whirl.

He whirls for anything.

I think Lainie would have been fine if she had just won one of the awards she was nominated for. She was nominated for an Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe throughout the career.

She coulda been somebody, a contender…she coulda been an EGOT loser.

By the way, how come there is no list of EGOT losers-who’s been nominated one or more times for all four awards and never won ANYTHING?

Weren't Lainie and Lena Horne lesbian lovers at one time?

Scissor(ing) Sisters!!!

Does she have a version of I Write the Songs?

her brother Elia coached her on the dramatic monologue

I love how wet her lipstick looked. That was all the rage in 1980--make-up that looked moist and wet.

She made everyone wet back in the day… L, G, B.

but they were young and dey had eech utha

she sounds like Colleen Dewhurst at times during the monologue.

"Something LuPone-ish about her."

She lost her Tony, but not for Norma.

r61 - And my favorite part was the end. Well, I guess 30 seconds after it ended.

Her nudes made a big impression on the great comic book artist Jack Kirby, of all people. He became obsessed with her, and based the DC character Big Barda on her.

[quote]Weren't Lainie and Lena Horne lesbian lovers at one time?

Uh-oh, R121, now you've done it!

Wasn't OG DL supastar David E. the one who got all in his feelings anytime someone mentioned Lena Horne and [italic]sotto voce *lesbian*[/italic] in the same sentence?

I can smell the lady drug-sweat through the screen!

Did Frank hit that?

Oh you know Uncle Frank motorboated Lainie's Ladies to kingdom come and back!

Lainie's parents didn't believe in braces I see...

she's from the planet Bazunga