front cover photo by Horn & Griner
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today, Friday, July 17, is the birthday of comedienne, Phyllis Diller. She was wacky she was a hoot and I loved her and her cackle dearly. I would watch her acts on TV or listen to them on record and
even though she might repeat a line or two now and then, I didn't care! I
would laugh as hard as the first time I'd heard it!
She was one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S., credited as an influence by Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. She had a large gay following and is considered a gay icon. She was one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the cosmetic surgery industry. She was an artist, author, musician (appearing at the Met under the stage name Dame Illya Dillya), actress and the recipient of many awards (links below).
She was one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S., credited as an influence by Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. She had a large gay following and is considered a gay icon. She was one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the cosmetic surgery industry. She was an artist, author, musician (appearing at the Met under the stage name Dame Illya Dillya), actress and the recipient of many awards (links below).
photo by Styrous®
She was born in Lima, Ohio in 1917; she was raised Methodist
but later became an atheist. She attended Lima's Central High School
and discovered she had the gift of humor early on. She studied piano for
three years at the Sherwood Music Conservatory of Columbia College Chicago but decided against a music career and transferred to Bluffton College where she studied literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. She
met Sherwood Diller at Bluffton and they married in 1939.
detail photo by Styrous®
The Dillers moved to Alameda, California, in 1952, (soprano Frederica von Stade now lives there). Diller began working in broadcasting at KROW radio in Oakland, California. I have seen an exhibit at the Alameda Museum devoted to Diller.
Diller's self-designed costumes & her pump organ
In November of 1952, she filmed several 15-minute segments for the Bay Area television series Phyllis Diller, the Homely Friendmaker—dressed in a housecoat to offer absurd "advice" to homemakers. Diller also worked as a copywriter at KSFO radio in San Francisco and a vocalist for a music-review TV show called Pop Club, hosted by Don Sherwood.
detail photo by Styrous®
With the encouragement of her husband, Diller made her debut as a
stand-up comedian at age 37 in the basement of the San Francisco North Beach night club, The Purple Onion,
on March 7, 1955. Her first professional show was a success and the
two-week booking stretched out to 89 consecutive weeks. One of her shticks was a character she called "Fang" who was supposed to be her husband.
Phyllis Diller, Liberace & "Fang"
Her first national television appearance was as a contestant on the Groucho Marx quiz show You Bet Your Life in 1958 (link below). Multiple bookings on the Jack Paar Tonight Show led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought her national prominence as she continued to perform stand-up throughout the U.S. She also appeared on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
She was on the The Gong Show and as a panelist on the Match Game PM show. She also guest-starred in The Mouse Factory, the Rod Serling Night Gallery, Love American Style, The Muppet Show and The Love Boat. Between 1999 and 2003 she played roles in 7th Heaven and The Drew Carey Show.
detail photo by Styrous®
She developed a stage persona of a totally incompetent housewife and dressed in
outlandish outfits with wild hair.
What I liked about her was she avoided blue comedy and never made fun of anyone other than herself; her jokes tackled the idealized image of American mothers and homemakers and she wrote her own material. Diller developed a singular comedic persona — a surreal version of femininity. This absurd caricature with garish baggy dresses and gigantic, clownish hair made fun of her lack of sex appeal while brandishing a cigarette holder (with a wooden cigarette because she didn't smoke), punctuating the humor with a hearty cackle to show she was in on the joke. At the time, Diller said, "They had no idea what I was. It was like—'Get a stick and kill it before it multiplies!'"
Phyllis Diller publicity photo
What I liked about her was she avoided blue comedy and never made fun of anyone other than herself; her jokes tackled the idealized image of American mothers and homemakers and she wrote her own material. Diller developed a singular comedic persona — a surreal version of femininity. This absurd caricature with garish baggy dresses and gigantic, clownish hair made fun of her lack of sex appeal while brandishing a cigarette holder (with a wooden cigarette because she didn't smoke), punctuating the humor with a hearty cackle to show she was in on the joke. At the time, Diller said, "They had no idea what I was. It was like—'Get a stick and kill it before it multiplies!'"
Self-deprecating to a fault, a typical Diller joke had her running
after a garbage truck pulling away from the curb. "Am I too late for the
trash?" she'd yell. The driver's reply: "No, jump right in!"
Bob Hope described her as "a Warhol mobile of spare parts picked up along a freeway." They worked together in the films Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Eight on the Lam, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, all critically panned, but Boy... did well at the box office. Diller accompanied Hope to Vietnam in 1966 with his USO troupe near the height of the Vietnam War.
Bob Hope & Phyllis Diller - 1966
Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam
photo by Gerard Forken/Stars & Stripes
In all fairness Diller was actually quite beautiful as witness a makeover of her by make up aritist and photographer, Michael Maron during a 1965 episode of The Merv Griffin Show.
Phyllis Diller - 1965
photo by Michael Maron
Starting in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, she released several comedy albums, including the titles Wet Toe in a Hot Socket!, Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller?, and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller.
In Born To Sing, Diller has fun with most of the songs; some are sung "straight" (well, sort of), such as Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones and the ballads Hello Young Lovers and I Enjoy Being A Girl both by Rodgers and Hammerstein. If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time), by Lefty Frizzell, is done as only Diller could do it with a country/western he-haw twist and jabs at "Fang". This song is actually my favorite on the album.
In 1992 Diller was the recipient of the American Comedy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2005 she published her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse (link below).
In 1999 her heart stopped during a hospital stay. She was fitted with a pacemaker but had a bad drug reaction and became paralyzed. Through physical therapy, she was able to walk again. Approaching the age of 90, Diller retired from stand-up comedy appearances.
Chapter One
THE FUNERAL-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB In the fall of 1934, I arrived at Chicago's Sherwood Conservatory of Music to study piano, voice, harmony, and theory. Just seventeen years old, I was a model of wide-eyed naiveté I'd be well into my seventies before that would change.
Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse
In 1999 her heart stopped during a hospital stay. She was fitted with a pacemaker but had a bad drug reaction and became paralyzed. Through physical therapy, she was able to walk again. Approaching the age of 90, Diller retired from stand-up comedy appearances.
On July 11, 2007, USA Today reported that she had fractured her back and had to cancel an appearance on The Tonight Show,
during which she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday. On May 15,
2012, Diller conducted her final interview accepting the “Lifetime
Achievement” award from her hometown of Lima, Ohio, as part of a panel
of comedians.
On the morning of August 20, 2012, Diller died at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 95. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea.
On the morning of August 20, 2012, Diller died at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 95. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea.
detail photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 Satisfaction
A2 Hello Young Lovers
A3 Bei Mir, Bist Du Schon
A4 And This Is My Beloved
A5 My Man
A6 I Enjoy Being A Girl
Side 1:
B1 The Man I Love
B2 Nobody Makes A Pass At Me
B3 If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time)
B4a The Curse Of An Aching Heart
B4b A Bird In A Gilded Cage
B5 One For My Baby, And One More For The Road
Notes:
Two eye "360 SOUND" STEREO label.
Phyllis Diller – Born To Sing
Label: Columbia – CS 9523
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock, Non-Music, Pop
Style: Comedy
Side 1:
A1 Satisfaction
A2 Hello Young Lovers
A3 Bei Mir, Bist Du Schon
A4 And This Is My Beloved
A5 My Man
A6 I Enjoy Being A Girl
Side 1:
B1 The Man I Love
B2 Nobody Makes A Pass At Me
B3 If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time)
B4a The Curse Of An Aching Heart
B4b A Bird In A Gilded Cage
B5 One For My Baby, And One More For The Road
Notes:
Two eye "360 SOUND" STEREO label.
Phyllis Diller – Born To Sing
Label: Columbia – CS 9523
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock, Non-Music, Pop
Style: Comedy
Viewfinder links:
Drew Carey
Johnny Carson
Phyllis Diller Lefty Frizzell
Oscar Hammerstein II
Bob Hope
Liberace
Groucho Marx
Richard Rodgers
Rod Serling
Frederica von Stade
Rolling Stones
Ed Sullivan Andy Warhol
Net links:
AmoMama ~ Diller’s Son Perry Talks about His Mother's Life and Career
CNN ~ Phyllis Diller dies 'with a smile on her face'
Phyllis Diller ~
Artist
Author
Awards and honors
Filmography
Musician
History for Sale ~ Color publicity photograph
National Museum of American History ~ HAH! Phyllis Diller's gag file
NPR ~ Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse
NY Times ~ Phyllis Diller, Sassy Comedian, Dies at 95
PBS Pioneers of TV ~ Phyllis Diller
Smithsonian ~ Phyllis Diller: Born to Sing
YouTube links:
American Bandstand ~ Phyllis Diller Interview (1976)
Phyllis Diller ~ Born To Sing
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Hello Young Lovers
Bei Mir, Bist Du Schon
And This Is My Beloved
My Man
I Enjoy Being A Girl
The Man I Love
Nobody Makes A Pass At Me
If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time)
The Curse Of An Aching Heart/A Bird In A Gilded Cage
One For My Baby, And One More For The Road
Phyllis Diller on The Carol Burnett Show
Phyllis Diller @ 89 - Last Stand-Up on 'LENO'
Phyllis Diller & Groucho Marx ~ You Bet Your Life (1958) (13 min.)
Phyllis Diller ~ Jim Nabors
Phyllis Diller ~ Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Phyllis Diller on The Ed Sullivan Show
David Hartnell MNZM Phyllis Diller interview
Liberace and Phyllis Diller - The Liberace Show
NWOFF ~ Phyllis Diller's last interview, Lifetime Achievement Award
Roseanne Has Lunch With Phyliss Diller
Phyllis Diller on The Ed Sullivan Show
David Hartnell MNZM Phyllis Diller interview
Liberace and Phyllis Diller - The Liberace Show
NWOFF ~ Phyllis Diller's last interview, Lifetime Achievement Award
Roseanne Has Lunch With Phyliss Diller
"They had no idea what I was."
~ Phyllis Diller
