She’s sublimely eccentric, very witty, direct and frank, and truly moving,” says Brigitte Lacombe of cabaret entertainer Elaine Stritch, who the photographer commemorated in the poster for new documentary Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. In her trademark style—roomy button-down shirt, black tights and, ahem, no pants—Stritch exhibits the brass and charm that have made her a New York legend in this never-before-seen moment at the Carlyle, the luxury hotel she called home for nearly a decade. That ferocity, and the increasing fragility that comes with old age, is candidly portrayed in the chronicle of a then 87-year-old Stritch’s preparations for her one-woman show Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim... One Song at a Time, as she copes with diabetes, memory loss and alcoholism. First-time director Chiemi Karasawa, who found her gravelly voiced subject via a chance encounter at a hair salon, says they grew very close during filming.
“After hearing the same stories about a certain gentleman in my life, she said: ‘Chiemi, either the circus is in town, or it’s not!’" Now 89, Stritch hails from the golden age of theater. As a young leggy stage and television performer she became fast friends with gossip columnist Liz Smith, shared martinis with John F. Kennedy, dated Marlon Brando, and enjoyed the high life in London for years with her late husband, John Bay. She went on to win several Tony and Emmy Awards, and more recently enjoyed a comeback on 30 Rock. Tina Fey makes a cameo in Karasawa’s stirring portrait, as do Nathan Lane and James Gandolfini, who predicted that had he and Stritch met at 35 they would have had a torrid, and ultimately disastrous, love affair.
So Shoot Me on Nowness.com
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