"It's Awful Hard To Bare..."

When I was a little baby queer, my mother dropped me off, all on my own, at Spokane’s Post Theatre for the Saturday 1st matinee showing of the movie version of the Broadway hit- Bye Bye Birdie. I was gobsmacked & have never recovered. The very next day, after church, I set up my room’s summer window fan in the bathroom as a wind machine, & sang the title song in the manner of Ann-Margaret, moving closer to the bathroom mirror & pulling back to gain the effect of the camera work. I was especially adept at having the little catch in my voice, just like the 22 year old star of the movie. I can still do it today, although I no longer have hair to be blown around & flounce.





Anne-Margaret has worked in 75+ films & has received 2 Oscar Nominations, for Carnal Knowledge (1971) & Tommy (1975). She has won 5 Golden Globe Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, & 5 Emmy Awards.

She was born in Sweden, on this very day in 1941 & moved with her family to Chicago when she was 6 years old. She was discovered by George Burns, who put her in his nightclub act. She had a passionate affair with Elvis while filming Viva Las Vegas. In 1972 she survived a dramatic fall from a concert stage in Lake Tahoe that shattered her face & left her in a coma. She fought back through tedious reconstructive surgeries & convalescence. Within a year she was back on stage. Anne-Margaret: "I really believed I was spared by God in 1972 because I had so much to do," She has been married to Roger Smith, known for his hit series 77 Sunset Strip & her manager, for 43 years.

She is my kind of entertainer: nightclubs, Vegas, films, TV, & stage. She turns 69 today & she still keeps working. Ann-Margret was a guest star in an episode of Law & Order: SVU just last month. I have been so inspired by this beautiful & talented lady, that I have a chapter in my memoir- Jockstraps & Vicodin, titled Kitten With A Whip.