EARTHA KITT TAKES A NAP

In a memoir just published by Smoking Gun Books, cabaret entertainer Jon Jon Keefe recalls an occasion when he introduced the great diva – who played Catwoman in the TV series Batman – at North London’s Starlight Club, where he was compere back in the Seventies.

She came to the end of her trademark number Just An Old-Fashioned Girl, which she performed lying on a chaise longue. Unfortunately she had drunk a vast amount of fine brandy before she went on stage and at the end of the song Kitt simply nodded off.

Keefe was summoned by the owner of the club, a man who had made his money in the construction trade, to do something. “I didn’t know who to be more fearful of, an irate, evening-suited builder or a temperamental she-cat,” he recalls.

His quick-thinking solution? Pushed on stage by his frantic boss, he signalled for the band to play some “get-off” music and proceeded to push the chaise longue with Miss Kitt exiting stage right – trying to make it look as much a part of the act as possible without waking her up.

“I seemed to have done this successfully and, just as we rounded the curtains, she awoke and shouted at me as loud as she could. I scarpered, leaving her to be dealt with by her own minders.”

The great lady is sorely missed.