RIP Elizabeth Taylor

I guess I am very late in posting my respects for Ms. Taylor. I noticed all of my fellow bloggers were on the ball in paying homage.

I was too distraught yesterday.

My beautiful Spring weather had turned to freezing rain, it was so dreary and of course the magnificent Ms. Taylor passed away.

My sisters and I were raised on old Hollywood and I in turn have my giant library of film that I have immersed my children with.

Just the day before last, my mother, sat at the dining table sipping her tea and eating her morning toast. " I don't think Elizabeth will be with us much longer", she said. I gasped, mainly because my mother has made these statements before and within 24 hours, the poor soul was gone.

I remember when she killed Lucille Ball, Elvis and Ernie Harwell.

I asked why she thought Elizabeth was about to go. She said,"No one is in the hospital for a month with heart problems like hers".

Twelve hours later, the Great Elizabeth was dead.
As I said earlier, my sisters and I attended the school of Liz. We can recite the husbands, the affairs, the feuds, the illness,the fattiness, the skinniness,the drugs, the alcohol, the rehab, the kids, the jewelry , the friendships and of course the films.

I think one of the first films I remember seeing starring Elizabeth was" National Velvet." Little Ms Taylor was so beautiful. An early casting director had compared her to a "sport" on an orchid plant.
A genetic combination of qualities that separates a single bloom from the others on the stem.

She was not only a beautiful little girl, but she had such an authenticity in her performances.

I am also enclosing a brief scene from "Jane Eyre", she had a small part, but it kind of traumatized me as a kid, very sad.
Mom always said that her young movie going days were spent being traumatized.
In turn, she would have us watch Prize Movie with Rita Bell and "At the Movies with Bill Kennedy"
"Lassie Come Home" with Liz and Roddy McDowell, and "Little Women" with June Alyson and Margaret Obrien, were viewed with ongoing wailing and sadness. Those were the days.

So now it is time for me to bring out my Liz DVD's, starting from "National Velvet" to "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof." My sisters and I may even watch some old reruns of General Hospital for kitsch times sake.

If anyone comes to call at the house, they must be prepared to watch "Butterfield 8"(super kitschy) .We shall raise a glass to a great dame and her full life. We will also wallow in the sadness of the end of Silver Screen royalty.