ELAINE STRITCH's 88th Birthday Bash on THEATER TALK (full episode)

In 2013, we celebrated the 88th birthday of the great star Elaine Stritch. Joining us along with Stritch herself were her good friends, music director Rob Bowman, and actor Hunter Ryan Herdlicka who appeared with Stritch in "A Little Night Music" on Broadway. In a freewheeling conversation, Stritch reminisced about a number of people and things of significance to her including Stephen Sondheim, Bela Lugosi, and the gift basket that Alec Baldwin sent her after she injured her hip.
Original tape date: February 1, 2013.
First aired: February 16, 2013. (#1916)

[@Canuckmom128]

Gotta give big Kudos to Rob Bowman who was so much more than her Music Director. I don't think Elaine would have lived as long or as well if not for him, and I doubt she could have done "At Liberty" without him. They were like an old-marred couple in some ways, and he certainly helped her manage her Diabetes which was acute. Very generous guy who never seemed to seek out praise, and was a very positive force in her life.

[@hairyscotman]

a very special....wonderful friend, he was....

[@_kmCarter]

Anna Karinnina looks off and says, "by the way, I'm gay." /crying with laughter. I love you Elaine Stritch.

[@antoninr.t.5689]

I miss Elaine! So much laughter!

[@lilyjameson5156]

Aw, it got me when the host started out talking about losing a landmark, but especially when Elaine herself said, "I'm going home." Miss you already, wonderful lady! Thank you for always giving so much of yourself.

[@nancypahl7755]

Elaine Stritch's documentary was one big smile! Glad I watched it! She was incredible!

[@jimmymcevoy4226]

Elaine Stritch -- there will never be anyone like you again. RIP Ms. Stritch. Thank you for everything you gave to this world.

[@johndalton3180]

One of THE great treasures on KZbin.

[@juliedavis725]

I LOVE ELIANE I could listen to her FOREVER !!!

[@davidwise9487]

One of a kind! So honest and revealing! Truly funny! One woman show!

[@paulsimpson4155]

Don't rest in peace Elaine carry on up there Elaine and knock em dead a great lady !

[@chancebronson9375]

Oh fuck I'm so deep in depression and I just watched this again after seeing it many years ago it made me smile and laugh and cry and feel almost adjacent to being a human being again Elaine Stritch Christ what's a f****** sweet nasty mean and lovable curmudgeon what a treat

[@kennethbrady]

Yeah, I know how you feel:)

[@broadwayindie]

she is still super sharp! just an incredible person!

[@TimeIdle]

This interview is so bittersweet.

[@jmdartist]

Heaven just got one-helluva "Showstopper"...RIP Elaine Stritch.

[@MrGleek22]

This is my favorite interview of Ellaine. Love it!

[@johndalton3180]

Laughed and had a great time till the very last moment when she promised to return. Rest in Peace.

[@yogicolon8298]

Simply Spectacular!

[@Msrosie3bee]

Unbelievably funny - I laughed out loud at least a half dozen times watching this. We are so blessed to live in the time of Elaine Stritch, Much joy to her on her new adventure, and watch out Michigan!

[@paulbegg6128]

God how I love this old broad. I could listen to her all day. The most intelligent of the greats. So love you Lainey

[@fcfcabral]

The play was "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs " by Emilyn Williams--she would have crushed Ethel Barrymore! What a great lady--and what an affirmation of life. Thanks for posting!

[@KateAndMePopCulture]

Rest In Peace Miss Stritch.....you will always be here !! Fabulous post_subbed !

[@randysills4418]

Even though she promised to be on Theater Talk again, I don't believe she did. Sadly, she died the following year. Gone but NOT forgotten!

[@jasonws1972]

So very much missed, both this show and Elaine!

[@ProfessorStuDDS]

Elaine is amazing!! No questions asked. Oh yeah, I live in Michigan. And she ain't done performing yet.

[@maszlagma]

Aww this made me smile and sad at the same time... what an amazing lady she was! RIP!

[@MrVernonCampbell]

Anything with Elaine Stritch is great. A great STAR in the grand theater tradition...

[@lashelleullie]

Absolutely Looooove her in this interview!!!!

[@bennettsilverstein]

I was privileged to have met Elaine Stritch in 2007. She was very nice and very funny. I saw her in person in 2000 at a benefit performance in support of Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. She sang "Broadway Baby". Of course, I had my heart set on hearing her sing "The Ladies who Lunch". We will all miss her.

[@DamienSlattery68]

R.I.P. Elaine, you will always be a legend.

[@lakehayden]

Watching for the first time in tears 😂

[@blackbelt360]

I canNOT stop watching this

[@JohnSMonasteroJr]

Amazing Channel and terrific interview I watched about my Goldilocks, I still have that lp.

[@alicekane3913]

I have the record, too! Saw 'Goldilocks' when I was a kid - my 1st Bdway show. I memorized all the songs. :-D Elaine Stritch was just the BEST! Glad I got to see her in 'At Liberty!' (She invited audiences to greet her backstage after performances. When I told her I saw her in 'Goldilocks,' her head swiveled & her expression was priceless! Her humor was a national treasure. Sure miss her.....

[@DorothyBishop]

"Get your hand off my knee" LOLOLOL

[@louisorlando6879]

Brava Ciao Luigi

[@bryanisaacs6260]

I absolutely love her. What an icon.

[@mtmorrispk]

Thanks for this !

[@RUBYMUNRO]

Brilliant.

[@landerstyle100]

Wow,,,never saw this before. Sad to think she never made it back,,,hope her and John Bay are singing and laughing and making God smile :)

[@randysills4418]

She made it back home. Her niece found her a condominium in Michigan...

[@cassdaley2652]

Bela Lugosi and Elaine Stritch on the same stage? I would’ve paid a million bucks to have witnessed that spectacle.

[@glennfromthebronx]

Great hour long radio interview with Alec Baldwin...from last year/2013. Included a call to ELaine in Michigan. Rest in PEace....AND give them hell!

[@DamienSlattery68]

Loved this!

[@stevenkrage2412]

I like how Hunter just sits there like a big doorstop the entire time

[@andyvanm1]

A amazing career in-spite of herself ! Night Must Fall ) One of the plays ever and the movie is great too...

[@TheGuillermo519]

She is pure entertainment.

[@russellcusick4630]

I just watched the documentary "Shoot Me" on a flight from Italy, yesterday...and while watching it, I had no idea that Elaine Stritch had died...Rest in Peace...Ms. Stritch was living proof, that there is indeed NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE!

[@radds0191]

Great Lady.

[@andyvanm1]

Rest in peace ELAINE STRITCH , Retirement must have gotten to her.....

[@Chrille5782]

R.I.P Elaine Stritch She will be missed

[@leitnerricardo60]

Marvelous Elaine Stritch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@myboibill]

Damn I miss her but she had a great run.

[@peggypenny1]

I NEVER WENT TO WALGREENS, I never went through that drug store period, i went to saloons like a crazy person, that was fun

[@norelcopc2431]

TV studios used to be incredibly hot (due to the hot lights). Now performers complain about TV studios being cold. David Letterman kept his studio at around 65 degrees.

[@seethevolcane]

Bravo to Stritch for announcing, "By the way, I'm gay." A lot of viewers missed this.

[@gracielaV]

Rest in peace!!!

[@jc6594]

Today Commemorates Elaine Stritch's 100th Birthday

[@theatertalk]

We most certainly will. We’ve already reposted this program. Thank you. Long live Elaine!

[@bubbleworship]

I often wonder when I watch this... If she knew she had a year to live. When you listen to her talk about leaving New York... Yes, it's a positive chapter that's about to happen... but it's an undeniable bittersweet fact that a year later we would loose her.

[@bradmedicus]

I think she knew. I think that's why she returned home to Michigan. Her heart was in New York. But, her home was always Michigan ... she went home to her family. RIP Elaine

[@noreexic]

She for sure knew. Her health had been failing for a number of years. If you watch her documentary Just Shoot me, you'll see she was relapsing as an alcoholic, her memory was failing and everything was going south

[@trebors69nc]

CoCoMoroney I'm sorry, but she did not appear to be relapsing to me in the documentary. One drink a day, and still functional with no apparent adverse effects vocationally, or otherwise. I don't believe she met the DSM criteria for addiction or abuse. She drank for years before she started to have trouble with alcohol, and that came after the death of her husband, John. It was only then that alcohol appears to have become problematic for her. You're right though. She knew she was dying.

[@noreexic]

trebors69nc She began having one drink a day, and then she started having regular diabetic attacks, going into hypoglycemic fits and being taken into hospital, so from my perspective it appeared that it was having a substantial impact on her health. You just can't drink regularly when you have diabetes, it's not sustainable, and Stritch knew that and then told the camera that she would stop having her one drink a day, yet at the end of the movie she had gone back into this one drink a day habbit. The DSM criteria for many addictions an illnesses is also very unreliable and outdated, from eating disorders to alcoholism.

[@trebors69nc]

CoCoMoroney Fair enough, but without seeing her medical records (and more), neither of us can state with confidence what was going on with her diabetes vis a vis her alcohol consumption. I only saw her once in the hospital in the documentary, and I don't recall them stating that hypogylcemia brought on by alcohol was the cause. She may have been having regular episodes of hypoglycemia before she started drinking again. The only time I recall seeing her drink in the documentary was while also eating. Are you suggesting that alcohol consumption killed her? In any case, she said she's just a little old lady up on the hill in the corner room at the Carlyle who wanted one drink a day. The asked, "Does anybody mind?" My answer is no. I didn't mind. Thank you.

[@macco360]

For the record, I believe the interviewer said that. I assume as a joke/reference.

[@BIGSTEVE622]

REST IN PEACE MS. STRITCH. FOR YOU "ANOTHER VODKA STINGER":.

[@denisespurlock7869]

She only lived one year after retirement.

[@sdb1173]

RIP

[@RapunzelinOttawa]

Dahhhling, Showbiz would be Buffalo on a Monday night, without unbearable narcicisists.

[@Minemadurez]

They don't make dames like that anymore!!!

[@dorianlelong]

MICHAEL! The word is not ACCOMPANYIST, it's ACCOMPANIST!

[@mark-j-adderley]

The main distinction between the Old School English cultural elite, and the ones over the pond, is that the English ones are less gregarious, less egocentric, more humble, self-effacing and give more space to the others ... ... but she’s lovely, don’t want to drink tea with her, how-ever, and, never-the-less ...

[@chrisparker2118]

I know this guy who is her nephew.

[@zachw225]

1946...Westport Country Playhouse

[@markfadness9204]

NIGHT MUST FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@connorjones100]

I'm finally getting round to watching 30 Rock (halfway through season 3) and that bitch just ruined it for me.. I only watched it for Elaine. Might stop watching it now, don't think i'll be able to cope with her getting killed off on the show.

[@noreexic]

er... elaine is dead so i thought it was obvious that the character would be killed off

[@connorjones100]

CoCoMoroney well she died after 30 rock ended. so your logic doesn't exactly work.

[@connorjones100]

Prog X what the fuck are you talking about? i just said in the comments above that Elaine died after 30 Rock had finished. You gotta learn to read.

[@ingridself6076]

she's amazing, but the perpetual giggling from the others is spoiling it.

[@IIth3shootistII]

Whoooooooooooo cares......