Monday, May 10, 2010

In Memoriam: Lena Horne 1917-2010

Singer. "Stormy Weather." "Can't Help Lovin' That Man." Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway show)

"I no longer have to be a 'credit,' I don't have to be a 'symbol' to anybody. I don't have to be a 'first' to anybody. I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else."

(Lena made the above comment in 1997, when she was 80--KJ)

8 comments:

  1. Imagine a world in which that fine woman EVER had to be a "credit", a "symbol", a "first". A world in which she had to imitate white women in order to be valued. There is so much wrong with all of that! I hope the angels who welcome her recognize that she's like nobody else. May she rest in peace.

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  2. @Limes--According to her obituary, whenever Lena Horne appeared in a movie in the 1940s, the scene would be written in a way so it would have no bearing on the plot whatsoever, and thus could be cut out when shown in the South.

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  4. That sound you hear right now is not the shaking of my coyote gourd maracas. I am shaking my head from side-to-side. In disgust. In disbelief.

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  5. I'm glad you wrote this post in honor of Lena Horne -- I always admired her tremendously. She had such class and poise and principles. She called it exactly right.

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  6. @Dreamfarm--I think you called it exactly right. Plus, the lady could SING. Thanks for commenting.

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  7. ms. horne was one of a kind. there was no way she could have been an imitation of anyone. and thank heaven she knew that, right from the beginning.

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  8. @standing--Too bad Hollywood didn't
    know that.

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