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Issue link: https://fairweathermagazine.epubxp.com/i/144159
And now Elaine is 88, in this Michigan condo with hopes of slowing down just a bit, enjoying suburban life, and seeing her family. There is a lot of adjustment to this move. And once again a great deal of fear and courage. This is not because she is old. It is because she has spent the last 20 years at fve-star hotels with Madison Avenue waiting outside to have a glimpse of this Broadway baby. She knows hotel life more than we know home life. "The stage is easy," she said. "It's getting the dry cleaning and buying a bra that is terrifying." When we few to Birmingham for this interview, Elaine had only been there two weeks. The enormous task of moving into a new home is daunting, and her wonderful friend, Marge McDonald, came from Los Angeles to help her start out. As did, of course, Bella Berliour, Elaine's long-time makeup artist from New York. We are witnesses to a new Elaine Stritch. FROM TOP: LUCA DE CONEY; TkTkTkTk Elaine's piano doubles as a pedestal for her many awards. E laine has the "It'' factor. When she goes out, the few people who do not recognize her want to know who she is, even if they do not know why. She just has that quality that makes a whole room stare at her. It has happened all her life. "I have a natural input fear of myself that goes in front of me. It's almost like someone says every time I walk into the room, 'Ladies and gentlemen…Elaine Stritch,''' she says. "There's something that says get out of my way, it's going to be my turn, because you need the love of the audience. My assistant/friend, Marge, says you can't live without an audience. That's why I'm questionable about this move. I don't know if it is going to work or not.'' When Elaine was a child, her mother put her on the back porch to play and would not let her back in. So she killed enough fies to write her name with them. It was her way of imagining her name in lights. "And that's what billing is all about," she says. "Dead fucking fies." After beginning the paperwork for the condo, Elaine fell down on Madison Avenue, damaging her eye and leaving her with limited vision. She has had a hip replacement, so some of the bucolic images of what this new life would be like are not that possible. She cannot go for a walk alone, while once she walked regularly from the hotel on 76th St. to Madison Square Park at 26th St. at a racecar clip. Not possible now without help. Her diabetes, brittle bones, impaired vision and reignited love of the "one cocktail a day" are requiring around-the-clock care. Worse still, her memory was slipping, so her ability to perform on stage was becoming limited. The TV hit she co-starred in, 30 Rock, was of the air. And, the Carlyle was sold and the new management company told her that in order to receive 24-hour care, she would have had to rent another room for her nurse. So Birmingham, where she was born, where her family and fond memories live, looked good. Since she has moved, in addition to Marge, friends Rob Bowman, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, and I have taken turns being there with her. Elaine prefers the company in her new home. "It's nice to have a day full of bullshit so you can talk about the bullshit for a while, " she avers. FAIRWEATHER | SUMMER 2013 | 39