Eldergays, tell me about Barbara McNair

Strangely, her variety show was filmed here in Toronto in the late 60's.

I loved her hair removal products.

Nice smile

She was a familiar presence on tv in the 60s, performing on variety shows and also on the talk show circuit. But my impression as a kid was that she was not a major star.

She was beautiful in her prime.

I can't quite put my finger on it.... it's not just that she has a lovely voice and undeniable presence... something about her phrasing in Here I Am Baby feels... ahead of its time. I don't know. I just hear that vocal and kind of instantly know she was a cool lady.

What other songs should I check out?

I don't think any of her songs were actual chart hits, but her first song that got her noticed in the late '50s was this jazz cover of *Till There Was You" from [italic]The Music Man.[/italic]

Barbara Jean McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007); born in Chicago, died at 72 of throat cancer, an American singer and theater, television and film actress. Married five times, no children.

I stumbled on to her in December 1996, at a geigh bar in Laguna Beach (are there any left there?). She was tipsy, and in the company of a rough looking, butch lesbetarian, who looked to be her date (who knew?). I had a friend who was dying of AIDS, who was a huge fan of hers, and I had consumed enough liquid courage to ask her to sign an autograph for him. She graciously wrote a quick note on a cocktail napkin. I was very impressed and touched by her compassion, despite what looked like depression, alcoholism, and desperation. Sweetheart.

Her second husband was mobbed up and the victim of a hit carried out at their home in Vegas. The same year (1972), she did an episode of [italic]McMillan and Wife[/italic] about a singer whose abusive husband is murdered under mysterious circumstances.

She makes Vikki Carr seem sincere.

[Quote] despite what looked like depression, alcoholism, and desperation

Yours or hers?

This title would probably never fly today.

[quote]I was very impressed and touched by her compassion, despite what looked like depression, alcoholism, and desperation. Sweetheart.

That reads like one of Mary Wilson's backhanded compliments of Diana Ross.

R12, Your toofless, fat troll of a mother, you dirty skank. Now do us all a favor. Die.

I guess I hit a nerve...

Yes r16, because you were purposely being mean. R9 told us a nice, touching story about his friend and you come along let your cunt bleed all over it. Now go buy a fucking tampon.

That nice, touching story had a sting in its tail.

Like they said when she arrived, "She could pass for white, she's that pretty."

Yeah. Sure. What shit. No, no one ever said it about me. Being real for a moment.

She even could sing. In that feeling-it-but-keeping-cool-and-classy way. Leaning from the pop side of Carmen McRae to Nancy Wilson with her third blouse button buttoned. And what a hard life. I mean, smack arrest and a mob hit on her mob husband who was murdered, and all those marriages. And she really suffered with that throat cancer. A singer's horror.

I liked Barbara.

Now I'm sad. Shit.

R12/R18 is right. The "story" was nasty from that overly defensive cunt at R9 who told it, who was displaying her need to get her respect about a dying "AIDS friend" while expertly analyzing Ms. McNair in the time it took to sign the note. The conclusions were dubious and smelled of dirty ashtray soaked in vodka drool.

Thanks R17. I did not not mean anything negative with my description. I was a fan as a gayling, and my friend (RIP) was a little older, so he knew her work beyond just game shows of the 1970s. I was just describing what I saw and experienced. I had not seen a famous person so down and out before. I felt compassion for her. She was missing a tooth and her wig was askew. It was shocking. She displayed kindness and grace, I was touched. I was also shocked she seemed to seemed to be coupled with an unattractive, older, Caucasian lesbetarian. I was sad when I heard Ms. McNair died. Unfortunately, I’ve come to expect random cuntiness from “people” like R12. A small downside of the 24/7 Disco Partay that is the DL. Lol

Is she related to that astronaut Ronald?

Hon, you need to check your own random cuntiness.

[Quote] an unattractive, older, Caucasian lesbetarian

I'm calling bullshit on toothless Babs. The lady was always well put together.

Here is Barbara in 1997. No missing teeth.

And I’m calling bullshit on your illiteracy and expansive narcissism, R24. I said missing one tooth, not toothless. I don’t get to have an opinion, R23? It was descriptive. If you think THAT is cuntiness, then you’re either Mother Teresa, or new here. Go sharpen your fangs elsewhere. I was trying to tell a nice story about Barbara McNair. You can fuck right off. Jaysus, you’re nasty.

Quit throwing stones and hiding your hands.

They look like dentures, R25. The way she is speaking. Perhaps she went to the dentist? Are you the unattractive old Caucasian lesbetarian, the hyper vigilant geigh nephew, or just an obsessive cuntress?

Did you not read the sign on the way in, R27? Take your own advice, cunt.

Her teeth were consistent throughout the years.

[Quote] Did you not read the sign on the way in, [R27]? Take your own advice, cunt.

How am I hiding my hands?

It took me too long to use the FF feature when I was a newbie here. Funny how life can be so much more pleasant with its use, and how many posts disappear once it has been utilized. I blame myself for not detecting the unhinged here as easily as I do I in “real life” though. Benefits of reaching old age.

[quote] R32: Benefits of reaching old age.

So you started F&FIng in 1980, R32?

Smiling. Blink. Blink.

FF and Ignore are separate features.

She was a pioneer for black female singers being accepted by older, middle-class white audiences.

"Why, she's as pretty as a white woman," fraus would gasp in admiration.

She had an elegant bearing and spoke in a soft educated voice and was most popular in the early to mid 60s. She was much more acceptable in Flyover Land than Aretha and other Motown folks. Eventually, the Motowners won when young white people switched over en masse to R&B singers and rockers.

I remember a topless photo of her in Playboy which surprised me because she always seemed so wholesome. But women of the period needed to let people know they did indeed have breasts.

in r30s' clip BMc looks a lot like Farrah Fawcett.

She never showed her tuppence.

With a Farrah flick.

She guest starred on The Jeffersons in 1984.

People Got To Be Supper Club.

McNair along with Mary Tyler Moore played nuns in what I believe is Elvis' last feature film Change of Habit (1969) and I believe it was Moore's last film until 1980s Ordinary People. Mary's future boss Ed Asner is also in Change of Habit

Was that not a comedown for MTM?

Not certain if she was the first black woman in Playboy but if not she certainly was nearly the first. Doctor King would have approved her pioneering.

Gorgeous, loved her bouffant.