Merry Christmas and Miss Kitt to You

Merry Christmas, Straight Guy,

I hope Santa Claus made it to your house and to the houses of our readers. It was a nice day, full of the typical overindulgence in food. Gay Guy is going to hit the gym as soon as he gets back to his normal routine.

Sadly, singer and actress Eartha Kit died today. I had the great fortune to see her club performance once. Still feisty and sexy at a ripe age. Witty and sassy, with a touch of gay sensibility, but all for the boys.

Straight Guy: How was Eartha Kitt's turn as Batwoman for you? Steamy? Limp? Over the top? Did she stir up any preadolescent drama in the Southern Hemisphere?

Merry Christmas.

--Gay Guy

I don't want to snub Eartha now, but since you asked, Julie Newmar was the superior TV Catwoman.

(GG, BATwoman existed in the DC Comics universe, but was never a major character. CATwoman (played by Kitt), was a villian/bootiecall for Batman, probably created to verify Batman's straightness... what with all the bodysculpting and homoerotic tension in the Batcave.)

Like many other gay icons, Eartha Kitt scared the bejeezus out of me. Can you imagine being trapped in an elevator with that? I'm sure there was a real person in there somewhere, but her grandma/sexkitten stage persona was all I knew. Eddie Murphy's petrified take in "Boomerang" was exactly right (if you haven't seen this film, set the DVR, it's more interesting than you'd expect). Yes, I get that her intimidating personality was the whole point... that she always had the power, sexual or otherwise.

If you didn't know, she was well-caricatured by herself and the Disney animators as the glam Aztec sorceress Yzma in "The Emperor's New Groove" ... sharply drawn as all hip bones and eyelashes.

I have a soft spot for Christmas music, so props to her on "Santa Baby." Her version (I assume the original, if not, she still owns it) is far superior to the annoying Madonna cover.

--Straight Guy

Lots of good articles on Eartha Kitt, but I am fondest of this letter to the editor about Miss Kitt at a drag show that appeared in today's Washington Post. Toujour gai.

--GG