Bobby Short

March 21, 2005 1:45 PM

R.I.P. Bobby Short. One of the finest cabaret singers of all time, and a Manhattan fixture at the Carlyle Hotel since 1968, Short died of leukemia yesterday. He was 80. Listen to an NPR tribute. Time Magazine once said of him, "In an increasingly inelegant world, Bobby Short is the very symbol of elegance." Thankfully, many of his best recordings are available on CD. (Requisite Wikipedia entry.)
posted by goatdog (10 comments total)

First the Plaza story, and now this. Elegance in New York is fading fast.

.
posted by bashos_frog at 2:40 PM on March 21, 2005

A classy guy and good singer. He will be missed.
posted by pmurray63 at 2:53 PM on March 21, 2005

His picture should be in the dictionary next to classy.

And cabaret singer.
posted by tommasz at 2:56 PM on March 21, 2005

Mr. Short's appeal was so broad, his appeal was so great. I have rarely spun a track for friends without bringing a smile to their faces and my own.

Thanks for posting the rememberence, goatdog.
posted by LinnTate at 3:18 PM on March 21, 2005

I had never heard about this guy until the piece NPR did on him this afternoon. Maybe they just didn't pick the right clips, but the guy sounded rather schmaltzy and campy to me. He sounded like a bad lounge singer, as parodied on Saturday Night Live.
posted by Doohickie at 4:41 PM on March 21, 2005

-- He sounded like a bad lounge singer, as parodied on Saturday Night Live.

Jeez...trolling in an obituary topic. Thats schmaltzy

I'm sad to hear of his passing.

Certainly marks the end of an era. The 60's gave us Bobby Short and the new millennium gives us American Idol
posted by pixelgeek at 4:54 PM on March 21, 2005

He was one of my mom's favorites. I remember her listening to him when I was a kid. Maybe now she'll get to go to another one of his shows...
posted by alms at 5:54 PM on March 21, 2005

.
posted by lilboo at 7:47 PM on March 21, 2005

Well, since it's an obituary link and all, maybe I should just say: "I suppose he sounded better live than on NPR".
posted by Doohickie at 8:14 AM on March 22, 2005

If you want a good look at Bobby Short in action, check out Woody's last great movie Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
posted by Ben Grimm at 11:59 AM on March 22, 2005