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Thursday's Child
"Thursday's child has far to go." - This is the story of a penniless waif, born to misery in the Deep South, who has now rocketed to international fame and an £80,000-a-year income. The name of Eartha Kitt has become a household word in many languages, her records, such as Santa Baby, I Wanna be Evil, C'est Si Bon, Monotonous and Uska Dara, are world-wide best-sellers.
The impact of Eartha Kitt on some of London's toughest dramatic critics is indication enough of her dynamic personality. Milton Shulman filled his pen with honey and began a half-page eulogy in the Evening Standard with: "Eartha Kitt does not so much conquer an audience as devour it. Last night she slithered out of the dark of the Café de Paris and, pin-pointed in a needle of light, she surveyed us with the expectant look of a hungry vacuum cleaner contemplating a handful of dust."
Kenneth Tynan, the Observer's drama critic, began his notice with: "Miss Kitt combines three epochs of womanhood. Her plaintive, furry vibrato is that of an injured child; her face wears the scowl of a discarded mistress; and her words are those of a mistress-to- be," and ended: "she is the vocal soul of every Siamese cat who ever lived."
In Britain she first became known with the showing of the film New Faces, but for Eartha this was nowhere near the beginning of the story - a story which she now tells in her own words, racy, forthright, intelligent and often moving.
Eartha's early life among the cotton fields of the South was lived in a world overshadowed by fear, by physical violence and by hunger. As an outcast orphan she escaped when a maiden aunt in New York offered to take her over. There she went to school until poverty forced her to work - her one joy, the frenzied Cuban jazz sessions at the local dance hall. But at fifteen she was, by sheer luck, auditioned by Katherine Dunham and with the troupe she began to travel, coming to England in the Dunham Caribbean show London raved about. Then came Paris, where she was offered a cabaret spot; she swallowed Paris in one gulp and the world suddenly opened to her; life became dazzling if bitter-sweet.
For some years now Eartha Kitt has been living from one ovation to the next, but behind the glitter and the sophistication still lies the paradox of the piccaninny from the cotton fields. This is the Eartha that smoulders disturbingly through every page of Thursday's Child.
The impact of Eartha Kitt on some of London's toughest dramatic critics is indication enough of her dynamic personality. Milton Shulman filled his pen with honey and began a half-page eulogy in the Evening Standard with: "Eartha Kitt does not so much conquer an audience as devour it. Last night she slithered out of the dark of the Café de Paris and, pin-pointed in a needle of light, she surveyed us with the expectant look of a hungry vacuum cleaner contemplating a handful of dust."
Kenneth Tynan, the Observer's drama critic, began his notice with: "Miss Kitt combines three epochs of womanhood. Her plaintive, furry vibrato is that of an injured child; her face wears the scowl of a discarded mistress; and her words are those of a mistress-to- be," and ended: "she is the vocal soul of every Siamese cat who ever lived."
In Britain she first became known with the showing of the film New Faces, but for Eartha this was nowhere near the beginning of the story - a story which she now tells in her own words, racy, forthright, intelligent and often moving.
Eartha's early life among the cotton fields of the South was lived in a world overshadowed by fear, by physical violence and by hunger. As an outcast orphan she escaped when a maiden aunt in New York offered to take her over. There she went to school until poverty forced her to work - her one joy, the frenzied Cuban jazz sessions at the local dance hall. But at fifteen she was, by sheer luck, auditioned by Katherine Dunham and with the troupe she began to travel, coming to England in the Dunham Caribbean show London raved about. Then came Paris, where she was offered a cabaret spot; she swallowed Paris in one gulp and the world suddenly opened to her; life became dazzling if bitter-sweet.
For some years now Eartha Kitt has been living from one ovation to the next, but behind the glitter and the sophistication still lies the paradox of the piccaninny from the cotton fields. This is the Eartha that smoulders disturbingly through every page of Thursday's Child.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1957
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714 people want to read
About the author
Eartha Kitt
24 books75 followersEartha Mae Kitt was an American actress, singer, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her 1953 Christmas song "Santa Baby". Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world." She took over the role of Catwoman for the third season of the 1960s Batman television series, replacing Julie Newmar, who was unavailable for the final season.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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July 14, 2013I read this book in early high school. It was from Eartha's autobiography that I vowed to go to Paris one day. It took me over 40 years but I got there. Then I wrote a book about an entertainer, my great-grandmother Laura Boullt from Natchitoches, Louisiana, who lived and worked in Paris as an entertainer from 1905 until her death in 1960.
March 25, 2018
Parts of this book are going to stick with me forever, especially the first half or so (some of the travelogue sections in the second half get a bit repetitive compared to how engrossing the first part was). Kitt was clearly speaking up about sexual harassment and violence long before #metoo.
December 13, 2022
Enjoyed this so much! There is a free PDF version in an online archive (google it). I read it in 3 nights! Exciting account of her first 3 decades of life :)
February 24, 2022
I love her so much - always Catwoman to me!
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May 20, 2022I loved this even more than "I'm Still Here"!
November 2, 2022
A great lady who overcame a difficult childhood to become a star. She never stopped working even when she struggled to win over her audience. Never say quit!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews