Actress, singer, author, and activist Eartha Kitt might be best known as the singer behind "Santa Baby" and "C'est si bon," or as the third Catwoman on the sixties Batman TV series. However, a government-led blacklisting in the late sixties halted her career for an entire decade.
The infamous blacklisting forms the basis for Down To Eartha, a one-woman show which will begin its 10-show run at the Gene Frankel Theater (24 Bond Street) in August.
"I simply loved her as a young girl growing up in the theater," said Down To Eartha producer and director Marishka Phillips. "After seeing her comeback performance in Timbuktu! I knew I wanted to be a part of this business." The play, which premiered earlier this year at the WOW Cafe in Manhattan, was written by Dierdra McDowell, who also stars as Kitt. "I was first inspired to play Eartha Kitt by acting coach Susan Batson, in 2010," said McDowell. "After performing an animal exercise in class, she simply stated, 'I see Eartha.' From there, I felt the need to tell Kitt's story." Many will be shocked to discover the measures the CIA took to silence Kitt following an incident at a White House luncheon in January 1968. Kitt's anti-war statements on that day personally insulted First Lady Lady Bird Johnson so much that she urged President Lyndon Johnson to blacklist Kitt from working in the United States. The government succeeded in doing so for the following ten years.Videos