Delloreese Patricia Early

This was going to be a straightforward introduction to Detroit native Della Reese (1931-2017), who once sat next to a friend of mine on a plane, but it got sidetracked, as always, by devoted fanboys on YouTube, who insist on making every waking hour of a famous person's life into its own mini-documentary.

(BTW, I finally caught the joke about an alternative reading of "Isle of Dogs" being "I Love Dogs".  Watch Hollywood quickly churn out imitators like "Isle of Ice Cream" and "Isle of Drawing Moustaches on Concert Posters".)
Hubba hubba
The gold standard for the Damn Yankees tune "Whatever Lola Wants" was the originator, Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (wife of Bob Fosse, despite his philandering), who did not have, despite what Wikipedia claims, "the exquisite beauty of a pin-up girl".  She was a fabulous dancer and choreographer, but there was no confusion over who was who when she taught pin-up girls like Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth how to dance.  Della, too, is a bit of a reach with her longish everything, including face, but for straightforward singing of this rather lightweight number, I'd take Della or Sarah Vaughan or even Bebe Neuwirth (killing it in this Letterman clip from 1994) over Gwen as the Devil's chanteuse Lolita "Lola" Banana.
All building up sideways to the collapse of a space-age pedestrian bridge in Florida (outlaw bridges) and a 2007 movie you likely haven't seen, filmed in Egypt and Morocco with an American lead and French production company.  Here's the poster, but check out the YouTube clip that highlights the song, and then rent the entire two hours from Nexflix on your next date night.  Exotic sparks will fly, and as Bebe hints rather ribaldly, someone's SAG card will likely be showing before all's said and done.


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Johanna writes

I'm always fascinated by the question of why Marie Cenac entered local politics

Okay so I'll say it