I’ve never laughed as much reading an obituary as I did today reading Dame Edna Everage’s, the character created and inhabited by Australian actor/comedian Barry Humphries. He was 89 and died yesterday in Sydney. He was born in Melbourne in 1934.
Margalit Fox wrote the obit for The Times and described Dame Edna as a “stiletto-heeled, stiletto-tongued persona.” Fox described her as “bewigged, bejeweled, and bejowled,” and said she “might well have been the spawn of a menage a quatre involving Oscar Wilde, Salvador Dali, Auntie Mame, and Miss Piggy.”
The obit noted the first three marriages of Mr. Humphries ended in divorce, with the second and third each yielding two children. He was survived by his fourth wife of 33 years, Elizabeth Spender, the daughter of British poet Stephen Spender, four children, and ten grandchildren. And it went on to note that Dame Edna’s survivors included “an adored son, Kenny, who designed all her gowns; a less-adored son, Bruce; and a despised daughter, the wayward Valmai. (‘She steals things. Puts them in her pantyhose. Particularly frozen chickens when she’s in a supermarket.’)”
Another daughter, Lois, was abducted as an infant by a “rogue koala,” a subject Dame Edna could bring herself to discuss with interviewers only rarely. Though the child was never seen again, to the end of her life Dame Edna never gave up hope she would be found.
“I’m looking,” she told NPR in 2015. “Every time I pass a eucalyptus tree I look up.”
Too funny, amirite?
Dame Edna’s husband Norm passed away years ago. He was a chronic invalid “whose prostate,” she often lamented, “has been hanging over me for years.”
Humphries originally wrote a part for Edna in 1955 to be performed in a revue by actress Zoe Caldwell, but when Caldwell was too busy to use it, Humphries took it for himself. He was drowning in alcoholism until he woke up in a Melbourne gutter one day to find himself under arrest in 1970. A doctor helped him recover and he stayed sober the rest of his life. According to Fox, “he dusted off Dame Edna and, little by little, de-dowdified her,” and he ran with her very successfully thereafter, attaining “international renown and unremitting employment.” Not everyone was a fan. In 1977, Richard Eder of The Times called Dame Edna’s first NY stage show “abysmal.”
And she often got into very hot water.
In 2003, writing an advice column in Vanity Fair, Dame Edna replied to a reader’s query about whether to learn Spanish. “Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to?” Dame Edna’s characteristically caustic response read. “The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at least a few books worth reading, or, if you’re American, try English.”
A public furor ensued, led by the Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, and Vanity Fair discontinued Dame Edna’s column not long afterward. In an interview with The Times in 2004, Mr. Humphries was unrepentant. “The people I offended were minorities with no sense of humor, I fear,” he said. “When you have to explain the nature of satire to somebody, you’re fighting a losing battle.”
Owl Chatter might not agree that it was always a “losing” battle. In Britain, where Humphries lived most of his life, Dame Edna was considered a national treasure. Dame Edna said she had to change her phone number several times because the Queen and her family called so often for advice. Owl Chatter imagines they’ll be having tea together shortly.
As for Humphries and Everage — rest in peace, you two.
It’s Shakespeare’s birthday today (born in 1564), noted in Crossworld by a Hamlet-related clue/answer in today’s puzzle, a reference to the “play within a play” that Hamlet staged to “catch the conscience of the king.” It led a commenter who named him or herself Gildencranz to share this with us:
“The [puzzle] reminds me of an extraordinary production of Hamlet at the Wisdom Bridge Theater in Chicago about 30 years ago directed by Robert Falls and starring Aidan Quinn. When the king’s conscience has been caught, lights bounced all over while Talking Heads’ ‘Burning Down the House’ boomed.”
Today’s Writer’s Almanac noted that WS was only 18 when he married Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and pregnant with their daughter Susanna. Two years later they had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Sadly, Hamnet died at age 11 from unknown causes. (WS himself lived until age 52.) Susanna married a doctor, which, WS and Anne not being Jewish, it’s not clear how much naches they took from that. Judith married a vintner. Sadly, WS never finished his play about his son-in-law which was to be called A Vintner’s Tale. WS had four grandchildren from his daughters, but none of them had children, so his line ended.
Good night folks! Thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 