When Black Performers Were Exquisitely Conscious & Eloquent: EARTHA KITT

By Dennis Leroy Kangalee

Sexy and Smart: There is no greater threat than a talented Black person who is both physically and mentally attractive.  Especially if it's a woman. It may not be a popular sentiment, but fact does not take the temperature of the room.  It is the room.  A great deal of men recoil at how intelligence drips and festers off certain women.  Eartha Kitt was one of those women.

As peculiar as this may sound, the hothead consumerist and energetically racist 1950’s - despite their savagery and viciousness in America -  was a time when popular artists could be taken seriously.  As serious as any philosopher, activist or scientist.

The cultural representatives are always relevant but rarely are they as mysterious, honest and insightful as Eartha Kitt.

In a haunting interview with Studs Terkel on July 10, 1962, Kitt arrives at the hypothesis that the value of a human being is far more important and pertinent than economic status, ambition to be rich, and obsession with fame or power.  She very astutely and miraculously weaves an anecdote worthy of one of Christ's parables about hardship, the American mind, the hollowness of riches and status. 

Only a performer in tune with herself and the society around her could make such a simple and honest observation and have it sparkle with a kind of biblical resonance.  Her recollections of her mother alone are deeply chilling and moving. When Terkel compassionately asks how she burst out of her appalling childhood circumstances, the nuance in Kitt’s voice will give you chills as he soberly declares what became of the creature who abused her…

 

A still from Studs Terkel Radio Archive webpage for “Eartha Kitt discusses her music career”

(As an actor/performer – her “sense memory”  keeps her tender like a raw nerve, or an exposed wound.  James Dean bit off the tips of his fingers to keep his feelings sensitive.  Kitt simply had to rely on her life experiences.  Her emotional recall was in full effect before she had ever heard or read Stanislavski!)

Listening to old recordings of Studs Terkel’s marvelous (and sorely missed) Chicago talk show is like re-entering the room of a long lost relative… (check out the Studs Terkel WFMT Radio archive - it is fantastic!)

And you realize how hollow, juvenile, corporate, and sterile nearly every interview with a celebrity is nowadays. Either they’re puffed up to be provocative, dancing around a serious issue, or trying to ignore the fact that what they do is not all that interesting.  They seldom mention what they observe about life, the poverty and injustice around them, art, human nature, confidence, the complexity of family, or have a five minute discourse on culture or folk art, etc - in a casual, yet engaged way. 

Kitt is remarkably cognizant and yet isn’t afraid of a meander; she is vulnerable, has no problem discussing her life, even psycho-analyzing facets of it – but it never comes off as a display or narcissistic reflection.  She is giving more than she is getting (from us, not Studs) and that is all beautifully apparent. Funky, feminist, and funny – she was grounded (like her namesake suggests) but full of a wonder that could levitate a room.  The interview abounds with examples of Kitt's introspection, lust for life, obstacles with women who fear her, acting with Orson Welles, and the soul-sapping culture Capitalism breeds…

Without any further ado, courtesy of the Studs Terkel radio archive (link is at the bottom of the article) -  I present you Ms. Earth Kitt, as some of you have never seen her before. 

Enjoy these excerpts from her July 10, 1962 interview with the great Studs Terkel —

Discussing “Uskudara", a Turkish folk song she helped popularize; not singing it like a gypsy but in her own inimitable way:

 …Yes… it was the little town of Uskudara that this song is about…many people when I first made this record, they did not know that there was such a thing as a Turkish language, and I got a lot of fan mail, and when it was played on the air, the stations received a lot of questions as to what kind of language was this? Was it a language that I made up, or was it real? And as a result of this particular record, for the first time in the history of America, they put a Turkish folk song in the American school books. So as a result, I have been made an honorary ambassador-ess to Turkey.

On the perverseness of consumerism & capitalism:

I don't think that another Cadillac car or another  Frigidaire in the house is going to make anyone any more happy. As a matter fact, these are the things that complicate your life. But this is the way we're educated, particularly in America, you see, because of our economic situation. If we did not live on borrowed time, we -- I don't think the country would survive, because of our economy, the way it's set up. Therefore, you have to have Madison Avenue to constantly tell the people that they should buy, buy, buy, buy, never pay. But just keep buying, because this is the only way to maintain happiness. Because the way to maintain happiness –  is not for the individual, but for the country itself.

… It's very strange to me to find that people think of status in the “How much money you have in your pocket?” sense, because…this is probably one of the only countries that…people can leave school at the age of 14 and turn out to be multibillionaires at the age of 32?

Kitt in 1955, then an article that surfaced in the Montreal Gazette in 1978 about the meeting

In 1955 Kitt and Albert Einstein met and had a two hour conversation.  It was quite a big deal, they admired each other immensely and discussed science, art, and the vitalities of life. Kitt later said Einstein helped her get over her depression as she was suffering from serious suicidal ideation in the mid 1950s. 

On Albert Einstein & Devotion and Money:

Yes. I wanted to meet him (Einstein) because I thought that he was one of the most fascinating people of our time. And I want to have a contact with someone like this, that maybe in the hope that some of his knowledge and some of his sensitivity that he had about him would rub off on me, and to have a greater understanding of, of why a man would be a mathematician to such a great extent and devote himself to science the way he did. Because you don't find that many devoted people today. You go back to show business. I keep telling myself that, "Why, why am I such a -- why am I so insane? Why do I work as hard as I do?" And so, so many other people come along and [snaps fingers] like this, you know, they are the ones that are making the fortunes. But then I stop and realize that I'm not in this business to make money. I'm in it because I like it, and this is my way of expressing myself. And, uh, it just happens that I make money at it, too. But my first concern is not the money.

And this jewel, this poetic insight, reads like a wondrous aphorism:

And what is so different about a man (Albert Einstein in this case) who devotes himself to something that he can never gain a tremendous amount of wealth out of monetarily? There must be something else behind that man that motivates his devotion, and I found it:  it was the values of himself as a human being. And this is what I felt when I was sitting and talking to him. This is what I came away with, that kind of wonderful, beautiful spiritual feeling that you get from so very, very few people. And this is the thing that I constantly look for in people. And I find myself looking for it more and more every day.

Eartha Kitt and Orson Welles in “Time Runs.”  She later played Helen of Troy in his “Faust”.  Although they did not dissuade the rumors, they were not lovers but kindred spirits.  Kitt credits Welles for teaching her a lot about theater and acting and developing a criterion.  She was always moved that he went to bat for her when she was young, inexperienced, and unknown.

On Orson Welles and playing Helen in “Faust”:

Eartha Kitt: I remember once, I guess, I was trying to find out who I was myself and…Because the part of Helen of Troy takes on--

Studs Terkel: This was in Orson Welles' "Faust"?

Eartha Kitt: Yes.

Studs Terkel: This was where, in Paris?

Eartha Kitt: Yes. And when I was given the part, I asked him, "How old is Helen of Troy? And what kind of woman is she? What kind of experiences has she had?" According to his interpretation of her, he said, "Why do you think I chose you, Eartha?" He says, "Because you are all the women." And I said, "Well, how old a woman is she?"

And he said, "She is two thousand years old."

Her summation of Welles, her distillation of his problematic genius is expressed succinctly in her analysis of the crude mediocrity that show business often enables…(even more palpable and applicable to today’s era!)

He (Orson) was very interesting to work with. As a matter of fact, he is probably one of the, at that time to me, he was one of the strongest, most wonderful personalities of our time, and I think that he would have gone on to be even more strong and more wonderful and more of a genius than he was at the time, but people did not understand it, because I think here again we are afraid of individuals, and if you are an individual, you know you're sort of an outcast. It's like having talent today. Talent is no longer an asset to a person. It is now a hindrance because of the vast amount of monies that are being made by people with no talent. And it may be harsh of me to be saying this, but it happens to be, in my opinion, terribly true. And there's so many people who realize this, so we don't do anything about it. You know, like we don't do a thing about a lot of things that we feel something should be done about. As a result, the business has been sort of turned over to teenagers who haven't matured and haven't gotten any sense of values as yet except the monetary things in life, and here we are.

On India and Poverty vs Wealth:

Eartha Kitt: When you come in to see the Taj Mahal – that’s beautiful gates! Outside of it, there is a lake, sort of a, well, I don't know if it's a lake or not, but it's…like a little tiny river that runs through:  This is where they throw all the dead bodies. This is where all the poor people are running around in rags and they're dirty and they're begging, and oh, life is absolutely miserable. They have nothing. And you walk through these gates and you find one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture and construction in the world.

Studs Terkel: So here you have the incongruity, or the two extremes.

Eartha Kitt: That's right.

Studs Terkel: The poverty of today and the architecture of centuries ago.

Eartha Kitt: Yes, and the thing about it is all of that money was spent on a monument to the dead…Sad, isn't it?

Studs Terkel: So you think monuments to the living would be kind of in order, don't you?

Eartha Kitt:  Well, I do think that people should be more concerned about those who are running around the Taj Mahal starving to death. And I often wonder what they do with the money that you pay in order to get in to see the Taj Mahal, if that goes to the poor or not. I don't know. I have to think about that.

Direct Link to Studs Terkel interview:

https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/eartha-kitt-discusses-her-music-career-part-1