It's Oh So Quiet. Shhh. Shhhhh.

March 12, 2007 9:52 PM

"I am not a great singer and I am not a great dancer, but I am a great actress, and nobody ever let me except Preston Sturges. He believed in me."

Rest in Peace, Betty Hutton.
posted by miss lynnster (17 comments total)

:(

This was a talented lady.

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posted by perilous at 9:56 PM on March 12, 2007

Oh, dear.

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posted by padraigin at 10:12 PM on March 12, 2007

You are missed, Trudy Kockenlocker (beloved of Norval Jones, but knocked up by Ignatz Ratzkywatzky).
posted by rob511 at 10:19 PM on March 12, 2007

"Oh a man
may be hot,
but he's not,
when he's shot!
Oh you cain't
git a man
with a gun!"

I think she was a great dancer, singer, AND actress. Comedy is the tough one. In my book, any woman who can do comedy is worth her weight in gold. Thank you, ma'am. May you now forever shine like the star you are.

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posted by ZachsMind at 10:31 PM on March 12, 2007

Thanks so much for this; I'd stumbled across a couple of those clips before (the Sewing Machine song, definitely), but didn't know anything about that great, brassy woman in them. (And I'd love to hear someone watch the last minute of "Can't Stop Talking About Him" and then try to argue that Hutton wasn't a great dancer.) Thanks again for the cool obit post.
posted by mediareport at 11:58 PM on March 12, 2007

Don't know if it's true, but if so it's interesting... this is on her Wikipedia trivia page:
"Her one big musical number in the Broadway show "Panama Hattie" was cut just before opening night by orders of star Ethel Merman. Hutton was so upset, a producer on the show promised to make her a star in movies at Paramount and he kept his word. The incident was later used in both the book and film Valley of the Dolls (1967)."
posted by miss lynnster at 12:14 AM on March 13, 2007

Thanks so much for this post, miss lynnster. You did a great job of showcasing a woman whose career deserves to be better known.

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posted by maryh at 12:23 AM on March 13, 2007

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posted by paddbear at 2:55 AM on March 13, 2007

Miss L: Funny, as I read your post, I was thinking "Valley of the Dolls". I read it when I was 13, only because I knew my mother wouldn't approve. :-))

Weird to read this woman's story, as my own mother passed last week. Also a singer from Michigan, who also went to NYC for awhile (but for modeling school). Six years younger than Betty.
posted by Goofyy at 4:06 AM on March 13, 2007

Huh. I'd heard her doing "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" on the radio once -- fun! Way to go, Miss L.
posted by pax digita at 4:57 AM on March 13, 2007

Weird timing.

At my poker game this week, I called a game of Betty Hutton (7 card stud, 5 and 9 wild) and someone asked who Betty Hutton is. None of us knew.

That's a little piece of immortality there.
posted by bryak at 7:20 AM on March 13, 2007 [2 favorites]

Ha! It's true, she has a poker variant named after her!
posted by mediareport at 7:44 AM on March 13, 2007

Love that. I want my own poker game!
posted by miss lynnster at 8:26 AM on March 13, 2007

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posted by dobbs at 8:33 AM on March 13, 2007

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a great, great, great film. Why Preston Sturges is nearly forgotten is beyond me -- although a very nice box set of his works come out a few months back (missing Morgan's Creek, but still nice).
posted by Bookhouse at 5:38 PM on March 13, 2007

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posted by moonbird at 8:01 PM on March 13, 2007

Thanks for the excellent obit post miss lynnster.

Betty Hutton, what a firecracker! I loved her feistiness, her boldy not appearing merely pretty but making all kinds of fun faces as she sang. She had manic energy. My favorite song of hers is the marvellous Murder, He Says. Yes, "a vitamin pill with legs".

Just watched the moving interview lovely Robert Osborne did with her for the American Movie Classics series "Private Screenings".

Glad she found some peace in her life before she died. She certainly gave me a lot of joy and still does. Somehow I can't say rest in peace for her, it seems wrong. May she razzle and dazzle in peace.
posted by nickyskye at 10:48 PM on March 16, 2007