Kitty Carlisle Hart story from the old **OFFICIAL** SUMMER STOCK THEATER MEMORIES thread:

-Kitty Carlisle Hart-

Star Stock had its stable of real professionals – folks who respected the media, gave 100% every performance, and were genuinely nice. Kitty Carlisle Hart was one of those pros.

She played the Falmouth Playhouse in a production of the musical YOU NEVER KNOW with songs by Cole Porter. Playing opposite Joe Masiell (another pro), Miss Carlisle warmed the stage with elegance, poise, and a trained operatic voice. While she was way past her vocal prime, she prepared for each performance with a warm-up worthy of a Metropolitan Opera diva. I remember well her vocal exercises as I walked down the dressing room hallway.

I had an interesting experience at the beginning of that week. It was an extremely hot and humid day when the company arrived at the theater. After a brief tour, we dispatched all the performers to their quarters. Miss Carlisle was staying in a suite at Clausons Inn, the golf course hotel. All of the luggage for the company was arriving in a separate van, and we typically distributed it once it arrived. Today the van was late.

So later, when then the van finally showed up, I was given the job of getting Miss Carlisle’s luggage to the Inn. I was thrilled to do this, and a bit surprised to see that her classic luggage include a dresser trunk and other pieces more appropriate for an ocean crossing. She was a real Cole Porter heroine! Along with two apprentices, we drove to the Inn and carried the trunks up to the second floor. I knocked on the door.

It took a while for Miss Carlisle to answer. Through the door, she asked who it was, and I told her we were from the Playhouse and had her luggage. She explained that because of the heat, she had just taken a shower, and asked that we move the pieces into the center of the room. “Don’t peek!” she said like a little school girl.

She opened the door, and stood behind it to hide herself. Her hair was wrapped in a big towel, and she apparently had wrapped herself in a plush Turkish towel as a bath robe. She was wonderfully animated, and directed us as best she could about where to put the various pieces. We finished quickly, and eyes to the floor, we started to leave.

I was the first to exit, and since I was the de facto leader, she extended her hand to me from behind the door and said “Thank you all so much! I eagerly shook it. That’s when it happened. Like a Billy Wilder movie without the music, her towel fell to the ground! For one brief moment (along with two adolescent apprentices) I got to see a naked, 65 year old Kitty Carlisle Hart.

Of course, I immediately turned away, but I can tell you (from my gay perspective) that she looked great for her age. She was not embarrassed at all – she laughed and said something like “I bet you’ll never forget that.” We scooted out of the room, and once we were back in the van, we compared notes. They had all seen what I saw. And she was right. I’ve never forgotten.