Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Newm* + Nuem* (for Neum* or Newm*)

Holy Meow, Batman, Julie Newmar (TV's first "Catwoman") is turning 78 today and still looks purr-fect. Julie's father was head of the Physical Education Department at Los Angeles City College and it looks as if he taught her well! There must have been something in the catnip back then (or, not to be catty, but the plastic surgeon's office now) because both Julie Newmar (briefly engaged to the wonderfully named writer of midlevel westerns, Louis L'Amour) and the kittenish Eartha Kitt continued to beguile and bewitch their fans long past the point at which most actresses are consigned to the doghouse. The equally campy Afred E. Neuman is known for his MADcap utterance: "What, me worry?" But as a cataloger, you probably should worry when it comes to possible typos Neum* (for Newm*) and vice versa. There were 97 examples of this dynamic duo in OhioLINK and 604 in WorldCat, although many of these are legitimate cases involving more than one person. (Another bit of Newmar trivia I truly love: as an avid gardener, she once did ferocious battle with Los Angeles leaf blowers in an attempt to effect a temporary ban.)

(Actress Julie Newmar at the 2007 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Ribbon of Hope Celebration, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

1 comment:

NYLA-SSL said...

I am sad to report that Eartha Kitt is not holding up her looks as well these days, since she passed away several years ago. R.I.P.