Joan Crawford

3 hours ago, Maxim said:

I just found out that the song "I'm still here" is loosely based on Joan's life. @DRW50 linked me to a performance of it in the OLTL topic and one thing led to another... and here is what I found out on the internet.

"I'm Still Here" is a famous showstopper from the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, often associated with Joan Crawford because Sondheim later stated he wrote it with her enduring career in mind, particularly her transition from ingénue to film noir icon. The song highlights survival, resilience, and navigating fame.

While written for the show, Sondheim later mentioned in his memoir that the song was inspired by watching Joan Crawford’s filmography, particularly her career arc through "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

"She [Crawford] started as a silent film-star, then she became a sound-star, and she eventually became superannuated and started to do camp movies [...] she became a joke on and of herself, but she survived." This shows up in the line 'First you're another sloe-eyed vamp/ Then someone's mother/ then you're camp/ then you career from career to career/ I'm almost through my memoirs/ and I'm here!"

Love this! I actually came to appreciate "I'm still here" backwards... I didn't know Broadway growing up and wasn't familiar with Elaine Stritch. But I saw "Postcards from the edge" in the theatre and adored Shirley's performance. Especially near the end when she slams the piano and yells "I'm! Still! Here!!!" ❤️😂

In recent years I learned all about Elaine and grew to love her...

@Maxim you will love this... Elaine's other standard is "The Ladies Who Lunch" from the Broadway show "Company" 1970. A documentary was filmed on the making of the Company cast album. This is behind-the-scenes of Elaine recording "Ladies who lunch" and struggling greatly, much to the frustration of the producers. But like any great diva, she ultimately perseveres and nails it!