If they were still alive....

...today would be the birthday of these notables--it's (mostly) "ladies' day" today:




"The World's Fastest Tap-Dancer," Ann Miller would be 88.  The forever sparkly and dynamic dancer/actress (born Johnnie Lucille Collier in Houston) started in films by lying about her age (by five years), signing a contract with RKO Pictures at age 13!  She proved her stuff and went on to become one of MGM's top musical stars of the 1940's and 50's, in such classics as On the Town, Kiss Me Kate and Easter Parade.  The term "one-of-a-kind" can most certainly be applied to Miss Ann Miller.  Here she is in one of her finest numbers, from Kiss Me Kate, with Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, Carol Haney and Tommy Rall (HIGHLY underrated actor/singer/dancer--the only one in this scene who is still living--that's him singing the number):




Lily Pons would be 113.  The petite, lovely French coloratura soprano was one of the first female opera singers to bring opera to film audiences (Grace Moore was the first).  She appeared in a few very successful films in the latter half of the 1930's before returning to the stage, mostly at the Metropolitan Opera, where she reigned for 30 years.  Her signature role was " Lakmé" in the opera of that name by Léo Delibes. She performed the most famous aria from that opera, "The Bell Song," in the 1937 film, I Dream Too Much (which was known by wags at the time as I Scream Too Much!).

Imogen Cunningham self-portrait, 1974



Frida Kahlo, 1931 by Cunningham


Imogen Cunningham would be 128.  Brilliant...stylish...ground-breaking...influential...all words that would apply to the noted 20th century photographer, whose works populate the great art museums of the world. 

Tiny Tim would be 79.  What an anomaly this fellow was.  He had a bit of freakish fame in the 1960's, strumming a ukulele and singing in a silly falsetto voice, most famously "Tiptoe Thru the Tulips," which became a hugely successful hit single in 1968.  He appeared regularly on the hit TV series, Laugh-In, as well as Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, on which he was famously "married," to a woman who went by the name of "Miss Vicki"--whom he quietly divorced eight years later.  It turns out that he was actually quite a knowledgeable musicologist and was something of an expert on the music of the early 20th century.  He released an album of Russ Columbo's songs in 1993, which is surprisingly...er...not bad.