Remembering the Other Eartha Kitt

The smile on Eartha Kitt's face was unforgettable. It belied the pain, ridicule and turmoil that she had endured after she was unceremoniously shoved at or near the top of then President Lyndon Johnson's enemies list. But that seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind that late spring afternoon in 1978 when she greeted me at the old Aquarius Theater in Hollywood. Kitt was in Los Angeles starring in her tour production of the musical Timbuktu. I was assigned to do a brief interview and a review of the production.

Kitt's smile and infectious energy melted the awe and nervousness that I felt at being up close too and actually talking with an entertainment legend. Then there was the "incident." That was the furor that Kitt ignited when she denounced the Vietnam War and poverty to Johnson at that White House luncheon in January, 1968. A decade later the controversy still got the tongues wagging.

Her performance in Los Angeles was in part Kitt's American scene entertainment rehabilitation after being virtually banned in the U.S. after her Johnson White House outburst. Her performance was also in part a brash effort to reclaim the luster that had made her virtually a household name and an icon in the entertainment world in the 1950s and early 1960s. By then Kitt had firmly established her legacy as an award winning internationally acclaimed singer, dancer, film, stage and TV actress. Kitt was tagged as sultry, sensual, and sexual alluring. But that was the surface stuff. Kitt's brash, sassy, and high energy style and persona sent the clear message that she was her own woman. She refused to be relegated to the stereotypical stage and film roles, and turned her sensuality into a badge of fierce independence and pride, the trademark of defiance. Kitt's pioneer independence and sense of self influenced the coming generation of young female entertainers and personalities from Oprah to Beyonce to Madonna. They owe her a debt of gratitude.

But even that side of Kitt obscured the Kitt who was passionately devoted to and supported peace and civil rights causes. The clash with Johnson, really the Johnsons, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, at the celebrity women's luncheon in January 1968 gave the first public hint of that.

Lady Bird Johnson had invited Kitt to the luncheon and in an innocent moment asked Kitt what she thought about the problems of inner city youth. Kitt didn't mince words and lambasted the Johnson administration for not doing more about poverty, joblessness, and drugs in black communities. Kitt didn't stop there, she tied her outburst directly into an attack on the Vietnam War, a war she said was without reason or explanation. Kitt's verbal assault on the war and racial problems made headline news. A badly shaken first lady and an enraged LBJ denounced her. The next few years she was hounded and harassed by the FBI, the IRS and Secret Service agents. The CIA even compiled a gossipy, intrusive dossier on her that attempted to paint her as a sex starved malcontent. The public storm and the negative press proved too much.

Kitt's career was effectively dead in the United States. But she stuck by her guns and did not apologize, retract or soften her criticism of Johnson's war and racial policies. Kitt in fact hadn't said anything at that luncheon that thousands of others hadn't said about Johnson's hopelessly failed, flawed and losing war and racial problems. The difference was who said it; namely a celebrated star, and where it was said at the White House. Kitt took the heat and paid the price for giving an honest opinion and her deep felt belief about the cause of peace and social justice. She was branded as a racial agitator.

Missed in the overreaching hysteria and the vindictive bashing was that underneath the glitter and carefully crafted sexpot image, Kitt had given time and money to the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. She supported and participated in the March on Washington. During her wilderness years when she was forced to work outside the U.S. she took heat for performing before all white audiences in South Africa. But like so much about Kitt that went unnoticed, she broke barriers by insisting that her cast was integrated. She also quietly raised money for black schools in the country.

During our brief talk before her stage performance in Los Angeles, Kitt spent as much time talking about her devotion to the civil rights movement and the injustice of apartheid in South Africa, than about the production she was in. She did not mince words when I gingerly asked her about the "incident." She laughed but did not express any regret about what she said and did that day at the White House. She expressed no bitterness about the years of media and public ostracism.

This is the Eartha Kitt, the impassioned contributor to peace and civil rights, that I knew, remember, and pay homage to.

C'est si bon"

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is How Obama Won (Middle Passage Press, January 2009).

Comments

[fcsakes]

I confess, for years I have adored her voice and admired her moxie, yet I never knew much about her. Thank you for writing this article.

[findingmyvoice]

I want to add my thanks for this excellent overview of Ms Kitt's life, I had forgotten the entire story but I knew she was blackballed in the U.S. I do hope she found some peace in the outcome of the election and knowing she was a part of a new era. Thanks again.

[jalowe1957]

Eartha Kitt: lurking beneath that nasty but nice sex goddess and cocktail chanteuse was a woman who made it on her moxie, who fearlessly spoke her mind and suffered reprisals for it, only to emerge triumphantly as a survivor in the end.

As Eartha triumphantly exclaimed during curtain calls during her performance in the Broadway musical "Timbuktu," "I AM BACK!"

Dare to guess who she was responding to?

[neosoul]

Yes I agree she was a pioneer…she definitely had a sense of fire, sensuality, intelligence and fearlessness that was quite unique, especially given the times that she rose to fame.

I was shocked to fine out how little I knew about her, like her nonprofit efforts. It took her death for me google info on her. Thanks for the post!

[larry278]

It speaks well of Eartha Kitt that she was at the top of LBJ's hate list.
As for LBJ, his library has the most visitors when the near by stadium's rest rooms are inadequate & sports fans use the rest rooms at LBJ's library for relief.

[mheister]

Or, looking at it another way, the WC's in the LBJ Library are being put to better use than part of the GW Bush Library will be.....

[schatsie]

She is in a class by herself and always will be an world treasure..

I sure hope Obama has Ruby Dee and Danny Glover at his side for the inauguration, I respect them so highly and god knows he needs some good people by his side. there are more, but these 2 have been stalwarts and not just good time joes....(O­f course I would like to see Cornel West and Travis Smiley there also)

[dkuz09]

well good luck on those last two; they have a little bit of getting over themselves, well maybe not Cornell West as he's spoken some good words about Obama before the election even happened, but Tavis....s­mh.

But I wholeheartedly agree with you on Ruby Dee and Danny Glover--two ultra talented actors who've devoted their time offscreen to others...I hope we see alot of the legendary 'stalwarts' at the inaugarati­on...harry belafonte would be another good one..

[ponderingmuch]

I remember reading the news about the "Eartha Incident" while I was in college in 1968.

Although Eartha was far removed stylistically from us hippies, the way she was vilified after the incident gave me great pause.

I am grateful she did what she did that day. The echoes remain with me.

Thanks for this piece.

[QueenOfViolets]

I remember the Earth Kitt who played Catwoman on the TV series Batman. She took over the role from Julie Newmar, who was white.

It felt to me like the show was making a statement about race, that the most important attributes of Catwoman as a character existed apart from her race.

[schatsie]

darn I missed those shows, glad you reminded us all about that.

[LeeCalif]

I'm so glad to finally be reading a true and full description of Ms. Kitt.

Thank you so much, Mr. Ofari Hutchinson.

[curiousasheck]

She was one of the heavies no doubt about it.

She had a lot of courage and the worlds better off because of it.

[Dubois651]

Great article Mr. Hutchinson. Thank you. I'm 27 years old, I didn't know anything more about Eartha Kitt than the fact that she was in the Eddie Murphy flick, "Boomerang­." However, I am glad that you blessed us with this nugget of information in regrads to Eartha Kitt. The destruction and redemption of Ms. Kitt is another sad story, in a long line of sad stories, conerning the attempt by the White establishment to shape the political discourse and agenda of the diverse Black community. When those leaders are challenged by these voices, they declare war on that individual or group immediately.

Here we have a woman of African descent with the courage and sense to speak openly about a failed war and the condition of the Black youth to the entity most able to change these conditions, but she is attacked. Still, there is a day coming real soon when Pharoah will no longer be able to handpick our leaders and silence those that speak the truth.