on the Sam-O-Meter.
Woohoo! Is that the proper reaction?
In graduate school, a classmate of mine and I liked to go on road trips to explore various historical, local things. One, one weekend, was to try to find the remaining Mason-Dixon line markers on the Pennsylvania/Delaware/Maryland border (we found a few of them, by the way). But as a part of our exploration, we came across a rural cemetery in Chestertown, Maryland. Middle of fucking Nowheresville. And guess whose grave site we found there? Tallulah Bankhead's. No pomp, and no circumstance. We both recognized the name, but thought..."can't be!" Well, it could be! Never found out why she was buried out in Nowheresville.Libby Holman - The Scandalous Libby Holman (rec 1928-42, Jasmine comp. 2005)
"Scandalous" just about covers it. Libby supposedly invented the strapless dress but Wiki sez "she went around in a ratty old beret and an overcoat made from the pelts of one fox and several rabbits with rabies."
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During her lifetime, she had well known affairs with numerous men and women, including Tallulah Bankhead and Montgomery Clift. Tragedy seemed to follow Libby. Her first husband, a Reynolds tobacco heir, was found with a bullet in his head after a wild party, while her biological son died mountain climbing. Libby herself died of asphyxiation in her Rolls-Royce shortly after her 67th birthday.
To her credit, during WWII Libby tried to organize shows featuring her with Josh White, but encountered predictable resistance. Her reaction when told that the Army wouldn't book a mixed show: "Mixed? You mean boys and girls?"
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This terrific Jasmine comp features a bunch of her torchy 30's singles for Brunswick, along with her standout 1942 Decca album with Josh White. Sadly, he was reduced to secondary billing as an accompanist.
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If the confused map I carry in my head is correct, Chestertown was on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, on the so-called Eastern Neck.
