A bunch of people are up early in PA to see if a large rodent sees its shadow to predict the weather. So that must mean one thing: it’s Elaine Stritch’s birthday!

When people talk about their favorite diva, you get a lot of Judy Garlands, you get some Madonnas, a smattering of Celine Dions. While Celine is truly a living legend and Madonna’s done a lot for the fake British accent, and Judy is indisputably amazing, Elaine Stritch truly is my diva.

When I ask myself the follow-up question, “Why?” I really have to think about it. She made a lot of mistakes. She was notoriously bad with money, she constantly forgot lyrics, she was aggressive, she was vain. But for me she was one of the most interesting people.

I think being boring is just the worst sin of all time.

Elaine Stritch

To give biographical information seems glib. If you have not watched “At Liberty” I highly suggest you take your quarantine time to visit it. She was born wealthy in the suburbs of Detroit to a devout Catholic family. She came to New York for school and besides a time period living in London and a weird stint in upstate New York, remained a NYC gal all her life. She had many apartments but preferred to spend a bulk of her life living in hotels. I somewhat recently finished the new biography, “Still Here” by Alexandra Jacobs and it has some really amazing stories. I mean, did we all know that Elaine almost seduced a young JFK? Did you realize that Elaine started jokingly bartending at the Upper East Side Bar Elaine’s because people thought she owned it and she was so good at it and between gigs so she just bartended for awhile? I also love that Elaine was very close to Dorothy Kilgallen, who I’ve written about and love. In Lee Israel’s biography of Kilgallen she wrote, “Dorothy and Stritch shared some o the same insecurities, and they apparently had a lady discussion about whether it was better for a woman to be beautiful or funny. Once at three in the morning, Stritch had called Kilgallen. ‘Dorothy Mae?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Funny is better.’”

For me I think it’s the gritty perseverance. The fact that she never fully succeeded to the extend she wanted but used her anger and resentment to soldier on and used that to give performances a ragged pathos that is thrilling to watch.

So “A toast to that invincible bunch, the dinosaurs surviving the crunch.”

Everybody Rise. Happy Birthday Elaine.