Eartha Kitt Purr-severes The feline feminist talks about her two lives as the child and the woman by Blase DiStefano

Eartha Mae Kitt was born almost 75 years ago in the small town of North in South Carolina. She is the child of a white father, whom she never knew, and a black mother, who gave her away at a very early age. This has colored her life forever, yet it has made her stronger and more open to life’s opportunities.

And open she is. Our conversation took place while Kitt was performing in Cinderella in Costa Mesa, California. "I love this production of Cinderella," she says. "It’s very integrated. The stepmother is played by a man–and we have Asians, we have blacks, we have whites, we have gay boys, we have straight boys. It’s all wonderful."

And so is Kitt, who has been nominated for an Emmy Award and two Grammys. The singer/actress also has three Tony nominations to her credit. When I tell her that the Tony Awards website lists her nominations for The Wild Party and Timbuktu, but not Mrs. Patterson, the voice that can cause this gay man to question his sexual identity purrs, "I have been nominated three times. I have the little pieces of paper to prove it."

The sultry singer had a hit single, "Uska Dara," in the early 1950s; the song was from her debut album, RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt, which also included the song "C’est Si Bon," which had been recently recorded by Danny Kaye and Johnny Desmond. But it is Kitt’s version that has become the classic. The follow-up to the French song was "I Want to Be Evil": "I wanna be evil/I wanna spit tacks/I wanna be evil/And cheat at jacks..../In the theatuh I’m gonna change my seat/Just so I can step on ev’rybody’s feet." The song was actually banned in some areas for being too risqué.

Speaking of risqué, "Santa Baby," which became a hit for Kitt in 1953, was recorded by Madonna. So what does Kitt think of that version? You’ll have to read the interview.

With all of her successes in music and theater, the engaging entertainer added television to the list when she played Catwoman in the campy 1960s TV series Batman. As an author, her fourth book, Rejuvenate: It’s Never Too Late, was recently released.

OutSmart: So, you’re playing a fairy. Now you’re just like us.

Eartha Kitt: I’m playing a fairy godmother. [Laughs] Thank God you’ve got a sense of humor or you’d be in trouble.

Well , you’re Eartha Kitt–you can do anything you want.

Within reason.

[Laughs] Well, yeah. Okay, can we go way back? What are some of the differences between Eartha Kitt and Eartha Mae?

Eartha Mae is afraid of being rejected and she is always in hiding. She never goes around with a lot of makeup on because that means she is attracting attention and somebody might recognize her as Eartha Kitt. But since she feels very private, very personal, and is always in hiding, so to speak, she never wants to attract attention to herself.

Eartha Kitt, she’s open 99-and-nine-tenths of the time and is very happy she has become Eartha Kitt because the public has made her who she is. The public has become my fairy godmother and that’s the only way I was adopted. Because as you know, I was given away.

Yes.

And when you are given away, you never know who your mother really was. You never know who is going to give you away again, because if your mother gives you away, you think everybody who comes into your life is going to give you away. You live in constant fear of rejection.

And so this has been with you forever.

Yes, it will always be, I’m sure. It probably is that way with everybody who has been given away, even though now I am 74 years old and I’m still with that feeling that I am afraid of doing the wrong thing, because somebody is going to punish me. And I punish myself more than anybody else does if I am stupid about my actions in public or whatever, and therefore I suffer, really suffer.

I am not saying this in a bad way, because I learn from these things. And I analyze myself and I have to exorcise that feeling out of me. So, my exercise and being outdoors will exorcise me from doing that to a great extent. Also, having my animals with me or my children with me exorcises that feeling of not being wanted.

Eartha Kitt is, in some ways, also afraid because when she walks out on the stage, she never knows whether the public is going to give her the kind of applause that says, "We’re glad you are here. We appreciate you as a person, we appreciate you as a talent. We are here to see you do your thing." You never know that. You are always walking on tenterhooks.

You don’t think or know that when you walk out on stage, we will really appreciate you?

No, I never take anything for granted. Because I may slip any minute, forget my lyrics. And then you’ll look at me and say, "Uh, oh, she forgot her words."

[Both laugh]

Am I correct that you took dancing lessons with James Dean?

I used to teach him dance lessons.

You taught him?

Yes, I taught him. Because Jamie came to me and told me that he wanted to move like I do. So I was teaching him, not dancing like he wanted to be a dancer, but to be more conscious of body movement. Because I am always trying to show that you don’t move just because you want to go from this point to that point–the body [has got] to be using the words as well as you vocally use the words.

I see. Now, you went to Paris in 1951 and became a hit.

Well, no. I was already in Paris; I went there with a ballet company in 1947.

Oh, I am messed up here.

Well, that’s okay. Let’s fix you.

[Both laugh]

Thank you. Do you still travel there occasionally?

Well, I love being in America. And I love being home. I used to love traveling and I am glad that I was able to go around the world and take my daughter with me from the time she was 3 months old until she decided she wanted to stay home with her peers when she was about 15 or 16. I still love to go to Europe, but I always want to come home.

How do you feel though about North, South Carolina?

Well, I thought I was born in North, South Carolina, because that is what I was told. I didn’t have a birth certificate, no proof of where or how old I was until a few years ago. I was living under the understanding that I was born January 26, 1926.

I was doing a benefit for Benedict College in South Carolina and I jokingly, but meaningfully, said, "Well, I am coming down there to do a benefit for you kids. Why don’t you do some research on Eartha Kitt since I was born in that area to find a birth certificate?" I didn’t think that they would do it seriously, but they did it. They found a birth certificate. So it’s Eartha Keith, which was pronounced "Kitt." And it’s January 17, 1927, so I am a Capricorn.

But I was also trying to find out who my father was. And all of the writing on the birth certificate is in the same handwriting, so I still don’t know who my father is. But they say that at that time–and it is still on the books obviously, because this is only a few years ago–that if you are an illegitimate child , the father doesn’t have to put his name down on the certificate. So the nurse put all the information in her handwriting. In many ways, they say, it might be because she is protecting the father because I am supposed to be, according to what I am told, one of the children of the cotton plantation owner’s sons. If I could prove that this is the case, I’d own the whole goddamn everything.

[Both laugh.]

That’s great. So that was January 17, but then on January 18, many years later in 1968, you were at the White House.

Is that the date? For that luncheon, I was not there to sing songs. I was invited to a luncheon with 49 other women to give my opinions about the problematic situation among the young people at the time. And my invitation said that they wanted me to talk about why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America.

Now the boys that were running away from America, because they didn’t want to get involved with the Vietnam War, [they] had come to me in various areas of the country–and also in Canada and England and several other areas of the world–and we would sit on my dressing room floor, or my hotel room floor, and we would talk and they would tell me how they felt. Their reason was that it was a dishonorable war and this is the way that I felt. Dishonorable war, unwinnable war, and they are killing the innocent for no reason. And therefore this is what I told Mrs. Johnson.

President Johnson decided to get rid of me and, according to what I was told, he called the media and said, "I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere." So you’re out of work and you don’t know why. Because nobody bothers to tell you, because maybe they don’t know.

And you found out you were bugged, right?

Oh, yes. My house was bugged and it’s only recently that [investigative journalist] Jack Anderson was giving an interview with somebody and it was on the news. He said, "Yes, her house was bugged and the CIA was following her." [President Johnson] sent out the FBI, but they couldn’t find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don’t like some of the things that maybe the government is doing. If you ask me a question, I am going to give my opinion. And in a case like that when the people who are responsible for our country ask you a direct question, I expect them to accept a direct answer. Not to be blackballed because you are telling the truth.

So Jack Anderson said, "Yes, when they came back with the fact that she loves her country, [President Johnson] didn’t like that because that was not bad news. So then he sends out the other group, the CIA, and they came back with backyard gossip–it is rumored she is a sadistic sex nymphomaniac."

Are you serious?

That’s what it says on the dossier. And they interview anybody you have been working with, like the theater owners or the hotel owners, the nightclub owners, and it’s not that they didn’t want me to be working for them because they love my work. They didn’t want the CIA or the FBI on their doorsteps. So you are out of work.

And that went on for close to 10 years?

Yes, until I came back to Broadway because I was asked to be in Timbuktu.

So it was the late ’70s.

Yes, the end of the ’70s, when the American audience gave me a standing ovation before I opened my mouth.

That must have been a nice feeling.

God, you have no idea. I could hardly say what I was ... I think I forgot the words in the play. [Laughs] I was so elated by the way the audience accepted me. It was wonderful. As far as I am concerned, it is the public that has become my fairy godmother. So the fact that I am doing the fairy godmother in the Cinderella production is me looking at myself as Deborah Gibson is playing Cinderella. Because that was really me, being given away, and all of that not knowing who I am.

As a matter of fact, I am still confused because I still don’t know who my father is. The people who told me that the person who gave me away was my real mother, but when I went up north, I was sent for by this lady in New York who took me out of the South because she got a letter. It said if I wasn’t taken away from that family, I would either be abused to death, or starved to death, or worked to death. Out of her Christian duty, she took me away from that family and she told me she was my mother; so who is my mother? The feeling is still there.

Do you at least get to a point where you can live with it?

Well, you do live with it, but at the same time you use it with everything that you do. Because every character I play, all of these rejection feelings are still there.

Do you still experience obvious discrimination?

I don’t think so–but I see it as their problem, not mine.

What about in the past?

In my last book, I told about being rejected from going into a bar with a boyfriend of mine. The maitre’d looked down at me and I was all dressed up like I just stepped out of Vogue with my coiffure well done, and my makeup was on, and I had on a beautiful cocktail dress, and sandals on ... and no stockings. He looked down at my feet and said, "You can’t come in. You don’t have any stockings on." It’s the dumbest law in the world. He said, "I am sorry but that’s the law." Well, maybe it was a law, but I don’t know anything about it. So I went across the lobby to the novelty shop. In those days, it was single stockings. I bought a pair of stockings and put them on, but I never pulled them up. I went back to the door and he had to let me in because now, what kind of excuse did he have?

[Both laugh]

And then another time, in Canada in the middle of winter, my girlfriend came to get me for lunch. I had a mink coat, a three-quarter length, and I had on slacks. It’s cold!! I’m wearing slacks and I get to the door and the man says, "You can’t come in because you have slacks on." So I went outside and right outside the entrance to the restaurant is a cloak room. I went to the bathroom, took off my slacks, kept my mink coat on–three quarters, mind you. All I have on underneath are panties, my little bikini panties. I checked my pants and I went back. What kind of excuse do you think he had?

[Laughs] I have a copy of an ad in a gay paper that shows you appearing at a gay club in California in 1986. Why do you think there is such a strong connection between you and gays?

Darling, we have the same problem–rejection. And I think that when we are individuals and we want to have our own style of living, it is nobody’s business but ours. And what we do in private is our private business. And just because you are different does not mean that you have to be rejected.

Now I am not saying that is the reason why you guys and I get along so well, but because we understand each other. We are different, but I’ll tell you a phrase we have in French. Je suis comme je suis. "I am as I am"–I was born this way, but it’s nothing for me to explain. As long as we are not trying to change somebody else to be like me, or like you, or like him, or like her, what’s your problem?

That’s really nice. Have you heard Madonna’s "Santa Baby"?

Yes.

What do you think?

[Very long silence]

[Laughs] Oh, okay, I’ve got it. Your latest book is Rejuvenate. And how is that going?

It’s going beautifully. I’ve just had some tremendous response on it this morning from people who are interviewing me about it. And they happen to love it. And a hospital has called me, doctors’ offices, regarding patients’ questions on health and how I have kept myself physically fit and mentally alert. I’m not pretending that I am something I am not, but I do try to do what is right for me. I just hope that the book absolutely sells and will be on the "hit list," because I would like to be writing more because people are constantly asking me questions; and I write down what they are asking me, my feelings about myself. Not that I am saying that everybody should be doing what I am doing, but I give them food for thought; to use common sense about what it is that they want to do about themselves. Everything should be with moderation and using common sense.

Could you say in a couple of sentences what your book is about?

Don’t depend on other people to be responsible for you and don’t make yourself stressed out over nonsensical things like material things. Jewelry, for instance, to me, is a pain in the derriere, because you have to be watching it all the time. You are worried somebody is going to be taking it. I’ve always said to my men friends, "If you really care for me, darling, you will give me territory. Give me land, give me land."

[Both laugh]

Dirt always knows how to take care of me. I have a piece of land now in Westchester, Connecticut. I always believe in living in the country, because that’s where what I eat is what I can put back in the dirt. I am always trying to eat the right kind of foods that are going to keep me healthy–not that I am fanatical about anything, because everything in moderation. But I don’t eat a lot of junk food ... once in a while, I am guilty of that and I do eat a piece of chocolate with nuts in it; then I don’t feel guilty about eating the chocolate because I have also eaten energy.

I don’t remember which part of the world I was in, but I asked a man who manufactures sugar in a sugar factory why it isn’t easier to keep the sugar natural from sugar cane syrup. He said that people have grown so used to processed sugar that they won’t buy the stuff that is natural. And he said that he would have to change all of his machines. So it all comes down to economics and what people have become accustomed to.

So you’re coming to Houston?

Oh, yes. Oh, Houston! Now let me ask you something. I don’t remember–was Houston where Kennedy was shot?

Dallas.

Dallas is where Kennedy was shot and that’s where I was put in jail. I think it was Dallas, I am not quite sure.

What for?

I came out of a party, and there was a gentleman who had passed out in the lobby of this building, and there were three gentlemen standing around. I asked them to send for a doctor. They said, "Oh, lady, he’s just passed out." They thought he was drunk.

I have a piece of paper that I used to carry with me, because when my baby was born I had to know how to save her in case she fell in the pool or something like that. Therefore, I went to one of these nursing places to learn how to take care of the child.

And I was trying to give this gentleman artificial resuscitation, and they sent for the police instead of the doctor. It was early in the morning, so they put me in jail. Once they got me in the police car they took me to the jailhouse, and as we are driving to the jailhouse, they said, "What’s your name?" I said, "You didn’t ask me that before I got into the car, so now it’s up to you to find out."

So once they put you in jail, they can’t do anything about it until they change guards. And that’s at 7 in the morning. I remember this lady coming in at 7, and she looked in the cell and she looked at me and she said, "Ohhhhh, shit. They did it again."

[Laughs]

Headlines in the evening news: " Eartha Kitt in jail." The newspapers were calling and asking me, "We heard you were in jail this morning. What happened? Do you think that the police put you in jail because of your color?" And I said, "Oh, no, darling. I thought that the police were only doing their duty." Anytime a policeman saw me, they’d say, "Hey, Eartha, this way." It was a very funny situation. What I am trying to say also is that it’s best if you can do things with a sense of humor and finesse; I think I got much further than if I had gotten mad and said, "Yes, it’s a racial thing." I didn’t go that route at all. So we all had a good time.

That’s great. Well, you had mentioned your daughter. How old is she now?

Well, I made a mistake. I sent my daughter 40 roses last November because I thought she was 40. And she laughed her head off. She is not going to be 40 until November 26. And I said, "Well, now you know what you are getting for your 40th birthday."

[Laughs] What is her name?

Kitt. And everybody says, "Well, was she always a Kitt Kitt?" I don’t believe in bringing children into the world out of wedlock, so her real father’s name is McDonald. I absolutely adored his mother. She was a great lady. I loved her very much, and she had a fantastic sense of humor. We got along extremely well. She was Irish, and she had married a Jew, and her parents gave her a hard time [as did] her whole family–her brothers and sisters–she was the oldest of 12 or 15 children. She understood what the situation is like when you have interracial marriages. She and I had a wonderful time ’cause she had experienced the same things that I had experienced.

Do you think it’s gotten better for interracial marriages, or interracial anything, for that matter?

That’s one of the reasons why I love doing this production of Cinderella. It’s very integrated. The stepmother is played by a man, Everett Quinton, and he is marvelous in the part. And we have Asians, we have blacks, we have whites, we have gay boys, we have straight boys. It’s all wonderful. The public loves it. But you know, the entertainment world has no color. At least we’re not thought of in terms of color because we are entertainers. We are there to entertain you not because we are black, white, pink, or green or gay or straight or whatever the case might be or because we are catholic or protestant. We are entertainers and that is what we are here for. So don’t look at me as a color. Look at me as what I am capable of doing.

Live theater to me is much more free as artists than say the movies or television. Because the movies or the television particularly are in people’s bedrooms, and I know that I used to get flack because they would say, "We don’t want that evil woman in our bedroom," not because I was evil, but because I look the way I do. She’s too sexy, too sensuous, she’s too this, she’s too that. She’s a brown-skinned woman. But I think things are a little better today than they were then.

How much longer for your tour?

We have about six more weeks in this part of the tour. And then we have–well, I can’t say definitely, because the contracts are not signed–we are supposed to have about two months off, or something like that, and then we are supposed to start up again in December. There seems such a demand for the show. It’s that successful.

I am so glad. I cannot wait to see it.

It’s fun. I think you will enjoy it. And it’s a wonderful show for the whole family to introduce young people to enjoy legitimate theater. This is where you see the truth of the entertainment, because it is not edited and they see on stage what is happening. Even if we fall down or forget our words, it’s all a part of live entertainment. Because, as you know, when the fairy godmother comes down out of the tree–oh, you haven’t seen it–when she comes out of the tree, there’s a lot of smoke and steam, and therefore the stage gets wet. So sometimes, there is a little bit of sliding and slipping. So we have to be very careful about that.

Before or after the slipping and sliding, were you able to catch the Tony Awards this year?

Yes, I did. It was very, very good.

The Tony Awards are always good. I read that you got three nominations, but I looked on the Tony Awards website and it only showed two.

Well ,because they haven’t put that one in yet.

They had The Wild Party and they had Timbuktu, but they didn’t have Mrs. Patterson.

Oh, they forgot that one.

Isn’t that interesting?

It is interesting. Well, I have been nominated three times. I have the little pieces of paper to prove it.

[Laughter] Okay, last two questions. If you were stranded on a desert island and you could have only one person with you, not a friend, lover, or family member. Who would that be?

I think it would be Orson Welles. Because he was one of these people who was defying everything that the doctors told him he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Now he was really enjoying himself when he was eating what he wanted to eat and doing what he wanted to do. I used to be with him [and his friends] at a restaurant in Dublin–I was the only woman they would ask to have lunch or dinner with them. And of course I was really excited because these guys were so interesting. There’s no sense in trying to get in on the conversation because you don’t know what the hell they are talking about, so the best thing to do is be like a sponge and listen and absorb.

These guys were so wonderful, and I learned so much from them that it gave me a feeling of being mentally alert. It was like, "Read the book, get the education, then you can get into a conversation." That makes sense.

So it would be Orson Welles, or Dr. Einstein, whom I absolutely love. He was not very successful in school, but he found something in the air from his own imagination and his own brain power and look what he did.

So I would like to be with both of those guys. They would feed each other through brain power, and I would be there as a listener to be learning how to use my own brain power.

Okay, you are still stranded on that island and you can have only one record. What would that be?

I think it would be my own version of "Moon River." The river is constantly turning and bending and you never know where it’s going to go and where you’ll wind up . . . in some ocean or lake somewhere. But following the bend in the river and staying on your own path means that you are on the right track. And don’t let anyone deter you from that.

I really appreciate your time, and I can’t wait to see the show. Thank you so much, Eartha. Take care.

Okay, honey.

Eartha Kitt stars in Cinderella from July 24—29 at the Wortham Center’s Brown Theater in downtown Houston. Tickets are $33.25—$56.25 and are available at all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 713/629-3700. For updates, you can also check out www.broadwayseries.com/houston.Eartha Kitt Purr-severes

The feline feminist talks about her two lives as the child and the woman
by Blase DiStefano

Eartha Mae Kitt was born almost 75 years ago in the small town of North in South Carolina. She is the child of a white father, whom she never knew, and a black mother, who gave her away at a very early age. This has colored her life forever, yet it has made her stronger and more open to life’s opportunities.

And open she is. Our conversation took place while Kitt was performing in Cinderella in Costa Mesa, California. "I love this production of Cinderella," she says. "It’s very integrated. The stepmother is played by a man–and we have Asians, we have blacks, we have whites, we have gay boys, we have straight boys. It’s all wonderful."

And so is Kitt, who has been nominated for an Emmy Award and two Grammys. The singer/actress also has three Tony nominations to her credit. When I tell her that the Tony Awards website lists her nominations for The Wild Party and Timbuktu, but not Mrs. Patterson, the voice that can cause this gay man to question his sexual identity purrs, "I have been nominated three times. I have the little pieces of paper to prove it."

The sultry singer had a hit single, "Uska Dara," in the early 1950s; the song was from her debut album, RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt, which also included the song "C’est Si Bon," which had been recently recorded by Danny Kaye and Johnny Desmond. But it is Kitt’s version that has become the classic. The follow-up to the French song was "I Want to Be Evil": "I wanna be evil/I wanna spit tacks/I wanna be evil/And cheat at jacks..../In the theatuh I’m gonna change my seat/Just so I can step on ev’rybody’s feet." The song was actually banned in some areas for being too risqué.

Speaking of risqué, "Santa Baby," which became a hit for Kitt in 1953, was recorded by Madonna. So what does Kitt think of that version? You’ll have to read the interview.

With all of her successes in music and theater, the engaging entertainer added television to the list when she played Catwoman in the campy 1960s TV series Batman. As an author, her fourth book, Rejuvenate: It’s Never Too Late, was recently released.

OutSmart: So, you’re playing a fairy. Now you’re just like us.

Eartha Kitt: I’m playing a fairy godmother. [Laughs] Thank God you’ve got a sense of humor or you’d be in trouble.

Well , you’re Eartha Kitt–you can do anything you want.

Within reason.

[Laughs] Well, yeah. Okay, can we go way back? What are some of the differences between Eartha Kitt and Eartha Mae?

Eartha Mae is afraid of being rejected and she is always in hiding. She never goes around with a lot of makeup on because that means she is attracting attention and somebody might recognize her as Eartha Kitt. But since she feels very private, very personal, and is always in hiding, so to speak, she never wants to attract attention to herself.

Eartha Kitt, she’s open 99-and-nine-tenths of the time and is very happy she has become Eartha Kitt because the public has made her who she is. The public has become my fairy godmother and that’s the only way I was adopted. Because as you know, I was given away.

Yes.

And when you are given away, you never know who your mother really was. You never know who is going to give you away again, because if your mother gives you away, you think everybody who comes into your life is going to give you away. You live in constant fear of rejection.

And so this has been with you forever.

Yes, it will always be, I’m sure. It probably is that way with everybody who has been given away, even though now I am 74 years old and I’m still with that feeling that I am afraid of doing the wrong thing, because somebody is going to punish me. And I punish myself more than anybody else does if I am stupid about my actions in public or whatever, and therefore I suffer, really suffer.

I am not saying this in a bad way, because I learn from these things. And I analyze myself and I have to exorcise that feeling out of me. So, my exercise and being outdoors will exorcise me from doing that to a great extent. Also, having my animals with me or my children with me exorcises that feeling of not being wanted.

Eartha Kitt is, in some ways, also afraid because when she walks out on the stage, she never knows whether the public is going to give her the kind of applause that says, "We’re glad you are here. We appreciate you as a person, we appreciate you as a talent. We are here to see you do your thing." You never know that. You are always walking on tenterhooks.

You don’t think or know that when you walk out on stage, we will really appreciate you?

No, I never take anything for granted. Because I may slip any minute, forget my lyrics. And then you’ll look at me and say, "Uh, oh, she forgot her words."

[Both laugh]

Am I correct that you took dancing lessons with James Dean?

I used to teach him dance lessons.

You taught him?

Yes, I taught him. Because Jamie came to me and told me that he wanted to move like I do. So I was teaching him, not dancing like he wanted to be a dancer, but to be more conscious of body movement. Because I am always trying to show that you don’t move just because you want to go from this point to that point–the body [has got] to be using the words as well as you vocally use the words.

I see. Now, you went to Paris in 1951 and became a hit.

Well, no. I was already in Paris; I went there with a ballet company in 1947.

Oh, I am messed up here.

Well, that’s okay. Let’s fix you.

[Both laugh]

Thank you. Do you still travel there occasionally?

Well, I love being in America. And I love being home. I used to love traveling and I am glad that I was able to go around the world and take my daughter with me from the time she was 3 months old until she decided she wanted to stay home with her peers when she was about 15 or 16. I still love to go to Europe, but I always want to come home.

How do you feel though about North, South Carolina?

Well, I thought I was born in North, South Carolina, because that is what I was told. I didn’t have a birth certificate, no proof of where or how old I was until a few years ago. I was living under the understanding that I was born January 26, 1926.

I was doing a benefit for Benedict College in South Carolina and I jokingly, but meaningfully, said, "Well, I am coming down there to do a benefit for you kids. Why don’t you do some research on Eartha Kitt since I was born in that area to find a birth certificate?" I didn’t think that they would do it seriously, but they did it. They found a birth certificate. So it’s Eartha Keith, which was pronounced "Kitt." And it’s January 17, 1927, so I am a Capricorn.

But I was also trying to find out who my father was. And all of the writing on the birth certificate is in the same handwriting, so I still don’t know who my father is. But they say that at that time–and it is still on the books obviously, because this is only a few years ago–that if you are an illegitimate child , the father doesn’t have to put his name down on the certificate. So the nurse put all the information in her handwriting. In many ways, they say, it might be because she is protecting the father because I am supposed to be, according to what I am told, one of the children of the cotton plantation owner’s sons. If I could prove that this is the case, I’d own the whole goddamn everything.

[Both laugh.]

That’s great. So that was January 17, but then on January 18, many years later in 1968, you were at the White House.

Is that the date? For that luncheon, I was not there to sing songs. I was invited to a luncheon with 49 other women to give my opinions about the problematic situation among the young people at the time. And my invitation said that they wanted me to talk about why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America.

Now the boys that were running away from America, because they didn’t want to get involved with the Vietnam War, [they] had come to me in various areas of the country–and also in Canada and England and several other areas of the world–and we would sit on my dressing room floor, or my hotel room floor, and we would talk and they would tell me how they felt. Their reason was that it was a dishonorable war and this is the way that I felt. Dishonorable war, unwinnable war, and they are killing the innocent for no reason. And therefore this is what I told Mrs. Johnson.

President Johnson decided to get rid of me and, according to what I was told, he called the media and said, "I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere." So you’re out of work and you don’t know why. Because nobody bothers to tell you, because maybe they don’t know.

And you found out you were bugged, right?

Oh, yes. My house was bugged and it’s only recently that [investigative journalist] Jack Anderson was giving an interview with somebody and it was on the news. He said, "Yes, her house was bugged and the CIA was following her." [President Johnson] sent out the FBI, but they couldn’t find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don’t like some of the things that maybe the government is doing. If you ask me a question, I am going to give my opinion. And in a case like that when the people who are responsible for our country ask you a direct question, I expect them to accept a direct answer. Not to be blackballed because you are telling the truth.

So Jack Anderson said, "Yes, when they came back with the fact that she loves her country, [President Johnson] didn’t like that because that was not bad news. So then he sends out the other group, the CIA, and they came back with backyard gossip–it is rumored she is a sadistic sex nymphomaniac."

Are you serious?

That’s what it says on the dossier. And they interview anybody you have been working with, like the theater owners or the hotel owners, the nightclub owners, and it’s not that they didn’t want me to be working for them because they love my work. They didn’t want the CIA or the FBI on their doorsteps. So you are out of work.

And that went on for close to 10 years?

Yes, until I came back to Broadway because I was asked to be in Timbuktu.

So it was the late ’70s.

Yes, the end of the ’70s, when the American audience gave me a standing ovation before I opened my mouth.

That must have been a nice feeling.

God, you have no idea. I could hardly say what I was ... I think I forgot the words in the play. [Laughs] I was so elated by the way the audience accepted me. It was wonderful. As far as I am concerned, it is the public that has become my fairy godmother. So the fact that I am doing the fairy godmother in the Cinderella production is me looking at myself as Deborah Gibson is playing Cinderella. Because that was really me, being given away, and all of that not knowing who I am.

As a matter of fact, I am still confused because I still don’t know who my father is. The people who told me that the person who gave me away was my real mother, but when I went up north, I was sent for by this lady in New York who took me out of the South because she got a letter. It said if I wasn’t taken away from that family, I would either be abused to death, or starved to death, or worked to death. Out of her Christian duty, she took me away from that family and she told me she was my mother; so who is my mother? The feeling is still there.

Do you at least get to a point where you can live with it?

Well, you do live with it, but at the same time you use it with everything that you do. Because every character I play, all of these rejection feelings are still there.

Do you still experience obvious discrimination?

I don’t think so–but I see it as their problem, not mine.

What about in the past?

In my last book, I told about being rejected from going into a bar with a boyfriend of mine. The maitre’d looked down at me and I was all dressed up like I just stepped out of Vogue with my coiffure well done, and my makeup was on, and I had on a beautiful cocktail dress, and sandals on ... and no stockings. He looked down at my feet and said, "You can’t come in. You don’t have any stockings on." It’s the dumbest law in the world. He said, "I am sorry but that’s the law." Well, maybe it was a law, but I don’t know anything about it. So I went across the lobby to the novelty shop. In those days, it was single stockings. I bought a pair of stockings and put them on, but I never pulled them up. I went back to the door and he had to let me in because now, what kind of excuse did he have?

[Both laugh]

And then another time, in Canada in the middle of winter, my girlfriend came to get me for lunch. I had a mink coat, a three-quarter length, and I had on slacks. It’s cold!! I’m wearing slacks and I get to the door and the man says, "You can’t come in because you have slacks on." So I went outside and right outside the entrance to the restaurant is a cloak room. I went to the bathroom, took off my slacks, kept my mink coat on–three quarters, mind you. All I have on underneath are panties, my little bikini panties. I checked my pants and I went back. What kind of excuse do you think he had?

[Laughs] I have a copy of an ad in a gay paper that shows you appearing at a gay club in California in 1986. Why do you think there is such a strong connection between you and gays?

Darling, we have the same problem–rejection. And I think that when we are individuals and we want to have our own style of living, it is nobody’s business but ours. And what we do in private is our private business. And just because you are different does not mean that you have to be rejected.

Now I am not saying that is the reason why you guys and I get along so well, but because we understand each other. We are different, but I’ll tell you a phrase we have in French. Je suis comme je suis. "I am as I am"–I was born this way, but it’s nothing for me to explain. As long as we are not trying to change somebody else to be like me, or like you, or like him, or like her, what’s your problem?

That’s really nice. Have you heard Madonna’s "Santa Baby"?

Yes.

What do you think?

[Very long silence]

[Laughs] Oh, okay, I’ve got it. Your latest book is Rejuvenate. And how is that going?

It’s going beautifully. I’ve just had some tremendous response on it this morning from people who are interviewing me about it. And they happen to love it. And a hospital has called me, doctors’ offices, regarding patients’ questions on health and how I have kept myself physically fit and mentally alert. I’m not pretending that I am something I am not, but I do try to do what is right for me. I just hope that the book absolutely sells and will be on the "hit list," because I would like to be writing more because people are constantly asking me questions; and I write down what they are asking me, my feelings about myself. Not that I am saying that everybody should be doing what I am doing, but I give them food for thought; to use common sense about what it is that they want to do about themselves. Everything should be with moderation and using common sense.

Could you say in a couple of sentences what your book is about?

Don’t depend on other people to be responsible for you and don’t make yourself stressed out over nonsensical things like material things. Jewelry, for instance, to me, is a pain in the derriere, because you have to be watching it all the time. You are worried somebody is going to be taking it. I’ve always said to my men friends, "If you really care for me, darling, you will give me territory. Give me land, give me land."

[Both laugh]

Dirt always knows how to take care of me. I have a piece of land now in Westchester, Connecticut. I always believe in living in the country, because that’s where what I eat is what I can put back in the dirt. I am always trying to eat the right kind of foods that are going to keep me healthy–not that I am fanatical about anything, because everything in moderation. But I don’t eat a lot of junk food ... once in a while, I am guilty of that and I do eat a piece of chocolate with nuts in it; then I don’t feel guilty about eating the chocolate because I have also eaten energy.

I don’t remember which part of the world I was in, but I asked a man who manufactures sugar in a sugar factory why it isn’t easier to keep the sugar natural from sugar cane syrup. He said that people have grown so used to processed sugar that they won’t buy the stuff that is natural. And he said that he would have to change all of his machines. So it all comes down to economics and what people have become accustomed to.

So you’re coming to Houston?

Oh, yes. Oh, Houston! Now let me ask you something. I don’t remember–was Houston where Kennedy was shot?

Dallas.

Dallas is where Kennedy was shot and that’s where I was put in jail. I think it was Dallas, I am not quite sure.

What for?

I came out of a party, and there was a gentleman who had passed out in the lobby of this building, and there were three gentlemen standing around. I asked them to send for a doctor. They said, "Oh, lady, he’s just passed out." They thought he was drunk.

I have a piece of paper that I used to carry with me, because when my baby was born I had to know how to save her in case she fell in the pool or something like that. Therefore, I went to one of these nursing places to learn how to take care of the child.

And I was trying to give this gentleman artificial resuscitation, and they sent for the police instead of the doctor. It was early in the morning, so they put me in jail. Once they got me in the police car they took me to the jailhouse, and as we are driving to the jailhouse, they said, "What’s your name?" I said, "You didn’t ask me that before I got into the car, so now it’s up to you to find out."

So once they put you in jail, they can’t do anything about it until they change guards. And that’s at 7 in the morning. I remember this lady coming in at 7, and she looked in the cell and she looked at me and she said, "Ohhhhh, shit. They did it again."

[Laughs]

Headlines in the evening news: " Eartha Kitt in jail." The newspapers were calling and asking me, "We heard you were in jail this morning. What happened? Do you think that the police put you in jail because of your color?" And I said, "Oh, no, darling. I thought that the police were only doing their duty." Anytime a policeman saw me, they’d say, "Hey, Eartha, this way." It was a very funny situation. What I am trying to say also is that it’s best if you can do things with a sense of humor and finesse; I think I got much further than if I had gotten mad and said, "Yes, it’s a racial thing." I didn’t go that route at all. So we all had a good time.

That’s great. Well, you had mentioned your daughter. How old is she now?

Well, I made a mistake. I sent my daughter 40 roses last November because I thought she was 40. And she laughed her head off. She is not going to be 40 until November 26. And I said, "Well, now you know what you are getting for your 40th birthday."

[Laughs] What is her name?

Kitt. And everybody says, "Well, was she always a Kitt Kitt?" I don’t believe in bringing children into the world out of wedlock, so her real father’s name is McDonald. I absolutely adored his mother. She was a great lady. I loved her very much, and she had a fantastic sense of humor. We got along extremely well. She was Irish, and she had married a Jew, and her parents gave her a hard time [as did] her whole family–her brothers and sisters–she was the oldest of 12 or 15 children. She understood what the situation is like when you have interracial marriages. She and I had a wonderful time ’cause she had experienced the same things that I had experienced.

Do you think it’s gotten better for interracial marriages, or interracial anything, for that matter?

That’s one of the reasons why I love doing this production of Cinderella. It’s very integrated. The stepmother is played by a man, Everett Quinton, and he is marvelous in the part. And we have Asians, we have blacks, we have whites, we have gay boys, we have straight boys. It’s all wonderful. The public loves it. But you know, the entertainment world has no color. At least we’re not thought of in terms of color because we are entertainers. We are there to entertain you not because we are black, white, pink, or green or gay or straight or whatever the case might be or because we are catholic or protestant. We are entertainers and that is what we are here for. So don’t look at me as a color. Look at me as what I am capable of doing.

Live theater to me is much more free as artists than say the movies or television. Because the movies or the television particularly are in people’s bedrooms, and I know that I used to get flack because they would say, "We don’t want that evil woman in our bedroom," not because I was evil, but because I look the way I do. She’s too sexy, too sensuous, she’s too this, she’s too that. She’s a brown-skinned woman. But I think things are a little better today than they were then.

How much longer for your tour?

We have about six more weeks in this part of the tour. And then we have–well, I can’t say definitely, because the contracts are not signed–we are supposed to have about two months off, or something like that, and then we are supposed to start up again in December. There seems such a demand for the show. It’s that successful.

I am so glad. I cannot wait to see it.

It’s fun. I think you will enjoy it. And it’s a wonderful show for the whole family to introduce young people to enjoy legitimate theater. This is where you see the truth of the entertainment, because it is not edited and they see on stage what is happening. Even if we fall down or forget our words, it’s all a part of live entertainment. Because, as you know, when the fairy godmother comes down out of the tree–oh, you haven’t seen it–when she comes out of the tree, there’s a lot of smoke and steam, and therefore the stage gets wet. So sometimes, there is a little bit of sliding and slipping. So we have to be very careful about that.

Before or after the slipping and sliding, were you able to catch the Tony Awards this year?

Yes, I did. It was very, very good.

The Tony Awards are always good. I read that you got three nominations, but I looked on the Tony Awards website and it only showed two.

Well ,because they haven’t put that one in yet.

They had The Wild Party and they had Timbuktu, but they didn’t have Mrs. Patterson.

Oh, they forgot that one.

Isn’t that interesting?

It is interesting. Well, I have been nominated three times. I have the little pieces of paper to prove it.

[Laughter] Okay, last two questions. If you were stranded on a desert island and you could have only one person with you, not a friend, lover, or family member. Who would that be?

I think it would be Orson Welles. Because he was one of these people who was defying everything that the doctors told him he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Now he was really enjoying himself when he was eating what he wanted to eat and doing what he wanted to do. I used to be with him [and his friends] at a restaurant in Dublin–I was the only woman they would ask to have lunch or dinner with them. And of course I was really excited because these guys were so interesting. There’s no sense in trying to get in on the conversation because you don’t know what the hell they are talking about, so the best thing to do is be like a sponge and listen and absorb.

These guys were so wonderful, and I learned so much from them that it gave me a feeling of being mentally alert. It was like, "Read the book, get the education, then you can get into a conversation." That makes sense.

So it would be Orson Welles, or Dr. Einstein, whom I absolutely love. He was not very successful in school, but he found something in the air from his own imagination and his own brain power and look what he did.

So I would like to be with both of those guys. They would feed each other through brain power, and I would be there as a listener to be learning how to use my own brain power.

Okay, you are still stranded on that island and you can have only one record. What would that be?

I think it would be my own version of "Moon River." The river is constantly turning and bending and you never know where it’s going to go and where you’ll wind up . . . in some ocean or lake somewhere. But following the bend in the river and staying on your own path means that you are on the right track. And don’t let anyone deter you from that.

I really appreciate your time, and I can’t wait to see the show. Thank you so much, Eartha. Take care.

Okay, honey.

Eartha Kitt stars in Cinderella from July 24—29 at the Wortham Center’s Brown Theater in downtown Houston. Tickets are $33.25—$56.25 and are available at all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 713/629-3700. For updates, you can also check out www.broadwayseries.com/houston.