Ms. Kitty Carlisle Hart to bring elegance and charm to the Cabaret Room at the newly renovated and improved Sheldon Theater  

By Daniel HinesPublisher
America’s Seniors at www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

 

Theater goers from throughout the Midwest will have a rare opportunity to  experience an elegance and sense of style when Kitty Carlisle Hart brings her one-person revue of great songs and first-hand stories about a time that we only see in older movies when the music was great, the women beautiful and the leading men dashing and handsome.

And, Ms. Carlisle can pull it off because she was a part of all of it.

Now 96-years-old, Ms. Carlisle is including the Sheldon as one of the stops of her eight-times a year performance (I didn’t feel comfortable calling her Kitty during our interview—she is just too fine of a lady and deserves the respect that is often lost when  people act as though being on a first-name basis is a matter-of-right…although, I’m sure that had I asked her, she wouldn’t  have objected).

And, her message is simple and direct: “Tell everyone that I’m going to wear my best jewelry, my prettiest dresses and sing my favorite songs of my favorite composers—and I know how they should be sung because I was there when they were written.”

That’s not idle boasting.  While many people think of Ms. Carlisle as the always stylish and elegant—and eloquent (more on that later) panel member of such  TV game shows as ‘I’ve Got a Secret’ and ‘What’s My Line’, she has actually had several careers—all successful and carried forth with a high degree of sophistication.

Included in those successes was that of a movie star, often playing roles of stylish, attractive young girls, many times attracted to or the object of attraction from tuxedoed men of money and stature—a role that was likely made more natural for her by the fact that  it closely resembled her real life.

According to her biography, she was born Catherine Conn in New Orleans, LA, on September 3, 1910. It  also notes that while many biographical references incorrectly list 1914, Ms. Carlisle was an aspiring actress at a time when even a few years of age could make a woman ‘too old’ for a role (one wonders what the directors and producers would think of Ms. Carlisle today, or for that matter, the number of aging or older stars that continue to perform.)

She seemed destined for a storybook life.  Her father was a success doctor, her Mother the daughter of the first Jewish mayor of The Big Easy.  But fate is a cruel taskmaster.  Her father died when Ms. Carlisle was only 10 years old  and shortly after, her mother took the  life insurance payment, sold the family house, and moved the two of them to Europe.

It was to set a pattern of support that would continue throughout the years, first when Mr. Carlisle was a young girl and years later when she was widowed by the death of her husband, the renown Moss Hart.

First, Ms. Carlisle’s mother decided that the young girl was to have an upbringing that would prepare her to marry into wealth (we told you it sounded like some of the movies in which Ms. Carlisle was later to star)
Her mother financed the necessary lifestyle with a succession of suitors and speculation in the booming stock market of the 1920s, enrolling her daughter at an elite Swiss school, where Ms. Carlisle picked up the name ‘Kitty’ because there were just too many ‘Catherines’ at the school.

 

In 1924, Ms. Carlisle moved with her mother to Paris and continued her formal education another year, then took piano and singing lessons, and later went to a finishing school. She had not yet fulfilled her mother's desire that she find a rich husband when the stock market crash of 1929 wiped out the family's finances. With that, the two decided that Carlisle should turn to the stage for a career, and she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

But, as a foreigner, she was unable to get acting jobs in England, and her mother's latest suitor (who would remain with her the rest of her life) was a New York lawyer, so mother and daughter moved to New York in 1932 after a decade abroad.

It was to set the stage for a career that again is almost like a movie script, with a succession of roles, always with Ms. Carlisle exhibiting the charm that was to become her trademark.

But, there were setbacks along the way. Even with all her successes, there were closed plays, cancelled movie contracts and all the other uncertainties that characterize show business.

Always, Ms. Carlisle was able to take her tremendous talent to a new medium, even  to  eventually becoming a game show icon.

Now, she says she’s a bigger star than ever, thanks to the enthusiastic reception when she launched her review a year ago.

What’s the secret of her successful aging?

“If I knew that, I’d be the richest woman in the world,” she laughs.  “All I know is that my career has blossomed again, and I am very happy.”

Therein might lie her real secret, a sense of humor, and an ability to deal with life issues.

She points out that she smiles ‘a great deal’, quickly adding that when she  used to walk down the street, people would stop and exclaim “You’re Kitty Carlisle…now they say I look like someone’s grandmother.”

I quickly reminded her that she is a pretty good looking Grandmother.

But, it’s the show that has attracted so many fans. 
”I have several composers that I knew well—Gershwin, Berlin, Rodgers, and Cole Porter, for example.  I played the piano for them at parties and when we would entertain.  I know how the songs are supposed to sound, and I have included them in my show. 
”And I share stories about the composers and the people with whom I have worked.”
Who was her favorite composer?
”Gershwin,” she responds immediately. “We used to go dancing at El Moroco, and we would bet each other which songs of ours the band would play and sing first—remember, I had two hits with Bing Crosby.”

I suggested that her life sounded like one of the movies she made.
”Movies were very elegant in those days, and we knew  how to speak,” she reflects.
The love of her life was playwright and director Moss Hart.
”We knew each other for nine years before we were married,” she recalls.  “Finally, he saw the light and called me up, asking me to marry him. 

“He asked ‘Are you surprised?’ and I said ‘No, I knew you’d call.’”

She pauses briefly—I was so luck to have found him. Neither of us had been married before…I was 36…we were married for only 15 years when he died of a heart attack.”
The death of a Father as a young girl…a widow at 51…how did she find the strength to continue.

The answer was her Mother.
”My Mother was always so important in my life,” Ms. Carlisle says.  “She just stepped in and made sure that things—and I—kept going.”

So, it is obvious that in addition to her charm, sophistication and elegance, Ms. Carlisle is also a very strong woman.  Now, audiences have a chance to see and hear first hand, up close and personal all the qualities that make her such a popular—and beloved—part of our lives.