“Steve, get me your boss.  I gotta talk to him.”

“Elaine.  My name is Ken, not Steve.”

“Sure, sure, Steve.”

“It’s Ken, Elaine.  Same Ken that was here last week when you called.”

“Right, that’s right.  So can you put the big guy on the phone, Steve?”

That little scene played out about half a dozen times when I was the Assistant Company Manager of Show Boat, the first big time Company Manager gig of my career.  Elaine always called me Steve.  And she and I both knew that she was well aware my name was Ken.

But Elaine Stritch did things her way, and she didn’t care what anyone else thought.  So my name was Steve.

(What was funny about those calls was that she wasn’t even in the show at the time!  But she still called.  Still drove us all a little nuts, to be honest, usually trying to get us to pay for stuff – my favorite story being the time she sent us a receipt for a lunch at Orso with a note that said, “I was supposed to have lunch with Garth [Drabinsky – our producer], and he canceled.  So he said to have lunch on him.  So I’m sending you this bill.”)

I crossed paths with Elaine a bunch of times throughout my career.  She was always around the Livent events (probably because she knew she could get a free lunch out of it), and Alec Baldwin had her introduce him when he was honored by my alma mater – and she took the opportunity to tear down the executives at NBC, even though they had helped sponsor the entire event.

Yep, for sure, Elaine wasn’t easy to deal with.  But she knew it.  And didn’t apologize for it, which is what allowed her to get away with that.  After witnessing a few of her “episodes” early in my career I remembered thinking, “I’m surprised that people keep wanting her to do stuff.”  And then I saw her perform.

Elaine Stritch was a ferocious talent.  She bit so deeply into every line and every lyric she uttered on a stage.  That signature throaty voice of hers?  It wasn’t pretty to listen to.  But that wasn’t the point.  It was raw, unadulterated emotion.  She could access the deepest part of her heart as easy as most of us turn on a kitchen tap.  And watching her soul pour out of her was one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever seen (thankfully – her one woman show was captured on film – it’s not the same as live, of course, but see it anyway).

Elaine passed yesterday.  And with that, we lost one of the most unique and awesome talents Broadway has ever, ever known.

She’s probably causing quite a ruckus upstairs right now. And she’s probably even calling a few people by the wrong name.

And I bet no one cares, because they’re in the presence of Elaine Stritch.

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