Talk about the great time-waster.  Nothing does it like YouTube for me.  Here I was, researching something — I can barely remember what — and then I get distracted by clips of the amazing Kay Thompson.  Understandable, as she’s dynamite in 1957′s Funny Face, directed by Stanley Donen, giving a huge dose of “Bazazz” (her own word) to the witty romantic musical.  Thompson was mostly a behind-the-scenes wizard in Hollywood, making many MGM musicals of the 1940s — Ziegfeld Follies, The Harvey Girls, The Pirate and many more — into the perfect classics of the genre that they are.  She was also the bestselling author of the Eloise books, about the little girl who lives in a posh NYC hotel.  But I like her best performing, where she’s a force of nature that’s snappy, sly and sophisticated.

Rather than try to recount her life here for you in my own words, I’m going to link to some terrific articles and sites about her that will say everything about her better than I could paraphrase.   One of the most heartfelt tributes to Kay is from the website of the wonderful performer Lypsinka aka John Epperson, who tell of her childhood influence on him.  When Kay Thompson died in 1998, friend Rex Reed wrote a lovely tribute column that will make you wish you had known her, too.  Of course, the most famous and longstanding booster of Kay Thompson and her memory is Liza Minnelli, Thompson’s goddaughter.  Kay was instrumental in Liza’s mother Judy Garland’s career at MGM, and also that of her director father Vincente Minnelli.  In fact, an aging Kay Thompson spent some of the last years of her life living in Liza’s NYC apartment, sassy, safe and beloved.  One of Liza’s most recent theatrical outings was a critically lauded musical stage tribute to her godmother which played Broadway at the end of last year.  Thompson was somewhere around ninety when she died, though her actual age was disputed.  (For an excellent account of Thompson and her unique personality, definitely check out this Vanity Fair article from 1996, found on the Eloise website.  For a quick primer on her, Wikipedia does a good job, and of course you should check out her extensive credits.)

Nothing, but nothing, gives you the essence of Kay Thompson except looking at some of her clips.  Funny Face (music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin) showcased  her own musical gifts, singing and dancing chops that simply screamed talent and gave such verve and humor to the movie.  Here’s the trailer to the movie, and then her opening number is ‘Think Pink” — as a high-powered fashion magazine editor, she’s searching for the perfect inspiration to give to women of the world.  (There’s also an even better-looking version of the clip here, with the dialog (but not the song) in Spanish, if you care to watch it instead.)

Then she’s part of a Fred Astaire-Audrey Hepburn-Kay Thompson triple act as they sing the bouncy “Bonjour Paris!”

And here she gives Audrey Hepburn a probably unnecessary but adorable lesson “On How to Be Lovely”

Let’s not forget about “Clap Yo’ Hands”,  her beatnik coffeehouse revival-like song-and-dance with Fred Astaire

Also worth watching are some real rarities on YouTube, including this opening number from a TV adaptation of Eloise from 1956.  The quality varies, but the performances are so wonderful that it doesn’t matter — just watch her!

Here is some early film footage of a singing and piano-playing Thompson, plus later clips from TV

And last, a rare extant performance from a 1969 broadcast of TV’s Hollywood Palace variety show, hosted by John Gary

Whether behind-the-scenes or on the screen, Kay Thompson had it all.