I love me some Eartha Kitt. Like others my age I was first exposed to her voice during the holidays, seductively whining to St. Nick about what she'd like to receive for Christmas in the 1953 recording "Santa Baby." Even without a visual, her voice sounded sublimely seductive and tigerish. Unlike people who have covered it since, who treat the song as if it were just a cute little novelty wish list ("ha ha, yes we would all like a duplex and checks, isn't that funny?"), Eartha sang it from the perspective of a woman already well kept and pampered by the men in her life who fully expects to receive what she's asking for or there will be hell to pay. It's a list of demands delivered with a wink and a hike of her skirt. Powerful stuff.
And then there was the Eartha Kitt who played Catwoman on "Batman." Did flames not erupt from the screen whenever she was on it, purring and vamping, one of the first black women in a role of any import on TV in the '60s? Eartha hit the "Batman" scene in '67, overlapping with Diahann Carroll in "Julia" by '68, but as groundbreaking as Julia was, it wasn't nearly as much fun to watch as "Batman." Plus, Diahann was all covered up in her nurse's whites and tasteful dresses, while Eartha was tricked out in skintight leather, a mask, and talons!
Eartha fascinated me. People told my mother that she resembled the actress, which further fueled my fascination. Also, Eartha's unplaceable, unique style of speaking had many wondering where she came from. She looked and sounded too exotic to have been from South Carolina, which is exactly where she was born.
Anyway, I didn't get an opportunity to see much more of Ms. Kitt apart from guest appearances on the ubiquitous '70s variety shows. I hadn't seen many of her films from the early days. Recently, I saw Anna Lucasta. At first I thought this was a remake of the Greta Garbo film Anna Christie, but I have to watch that flick again to be sure. ** Aha! It is a remake of a 1949 film with Paulette Goddard as Anna.
While times have certainly changed since the 1950s, narrative standards haven't changed much: the story of the bad girl -- the fallen woman who tries to make good -- is as perennial now as it was back then (Cinderella Liberty, Mona Lisa, Pretty Woman, the list goes on). It's also a role that often proves the mettle of an actress. Anna Lucasta was Eartha's turn, and she is quite good in the film, as is Sammy Davis Jr. The drama has some overtly comedic moments, and it also has a natural rhythm of showing the life and values of a real black middle class family of the era. But Rex Ingram, who plays the family patriarch, overdoes his role, chews up all the scenery, and nearly ruins the picture.
The Plot: Anna is a San Diego dockside prostitute, a good time girl whose father threw her out of the house years before, so she had nowhere to go but down. Later we discover that Anna was her father's favorite, but when he found her sitting too close to her high school boyfriend, he labeled her a slut and forced her from their home. It's hard to read between the lines of the dialog and '50s standards whether there is actually more to the incident -- it doesn't appear that Anna and her beau were doing anything that illicit, and one wonders whether Mr. Lucasta, represented as an extremely religious man with a drinking problem, bore an unhealthy fondness for his own daughter that led him to this extreme reaction. But now his son's antiques/junk business is foundering, and an old army friend from Alabama has written to ask that the family find a wife for his son, who is coming for a visit. The son is coming bearing gifts, a lump sum of $5,000, and suddenly the whole extended family is scheming on ways to get the money from what they assume will be a dimwitted country bumpkin. Improbably, they plan to pass off Anna as an acceptable wife, if only Mr. Lucasta will fetch her. It seems a highly immoral plan. The old man is having none of it, but his wife, two sons and two daughters-in-law keep at him until he agrees.
Meanwhile, Anna scrounges drinks and cigarettes in the dockside bar, and brushes off a sailor who shows some interest. When Sammy Davis as Danny, another sailor on leave, blows in, it's obvious that Anna has been waiting for him. They dance, kiss, lush it up, and make plans to paint the town red until, da da DA, Mr. Lucasta appears at the door, begging her to come home. Gratified that the father whose approval she desperately wants has come to call, she agrees.
Back at the Lucasta house, Anna has been apprised of the family's plans and has been cleaned up and coached to ensnare the visitor. But Rudolph, when he arrives, is no country bumpkin. He's an upstanding, handsome agricultural college grad who is smitten the minute he lays eyes on Anna. The two court and coo, and Anna actually falls for Rudolph and realizes she cannot go through with the scheme. She tells Rudolph that she can't marry him and tearfully tells him why. Goodhearted Rudolph says that none of it matters, he loves her anyway. The wedding date is set, Rudolph lines up a great job teaching at a nearby college, and the family is ecstatic.
Except for Dad. Somehow he cannot bear to see his daughter happy. As Anna and Rudy say I do, Mr. Lucasta pays a call to the dean's office of the college where Rudy plans to teach, telling them they shouldn't hire a man whose wife is of low morals. After the wedding, Anna comes home to get ready for the reception and who should show up? Danny, now on leave once more. Though Anna tries to shoo him away, Danny convinces her that she can never live her life "on the square," and she's better off with him, living it up. Anna resists. Danny leaves, but when her father shows up, drunk, and reveals that he has ruined the new couple's reputation, Anna runs after Danny. That age-old adage, "once a 'ho, always a 'ho." Everyone else believes it, so why shouldn't Anna?
Well. improbably, there is a happy ending. Once Anna and Danny have spent all their cash on booze and clubs, they come back to the Lucasta house so Anna can swipe more dough from a hiding place while the family is at church. As fate would have it, her father is in the house, dying in bed, and Anna again tries to appeal to him before he passes. She is too late. The rest of the family comes home and Rudolph sees that Danny has ducked out and rushes to the house to be reunited with Anna.
This is Eartha Kitt at her earth-iest -- pun intended -- and a good look at the fire of young Sammy Davis Jr. as well. Not a perfect film, but a perfect piece of African American film history, alongside 1958's St. Louis Blues, which also featured Eartha as a nightclub singer.
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