Thursday's Child - Eartha Kitt

 

Thursday's Child

Thursday's Child

Eartha Kitt

With Henri René and His Orchestra

RCA Victor LPM-1300

1956

From the back cover: I was born in a little town called North in South Carolina.

My first scene in life was a long dark dusty road. I could not see the end of it for it just went down, down, down to end in what to me seemed like hell. I hung onto my mother's hand as though life or death depended on it. My sister Pearl was in her arms. Mama began to hum as the sun sank into the ground ahead of us.

The wheat began to sway in the evening breeze and the cotton stood still and glared out at me with bulging eyes as we walked the narrow road through the fields.

I couldn't figure out why we were way out here so late or where we had come from or where we were going. I wanted to ask Mama, but I was afraid I would get her annoyed. Mama heaved a sigh as she adjusted Pearl in her arms. She looked down at me with wet eyes and stroked my long bushy brown hair. Something did not rest right in me-I felt as though I had done some- thing and was going to get a whipping for it, but I couldn't remember what it was – 

Then we saw the silhouette of a house in the distance. "Mama, are we home?" I asked.

"No, baby, not yet," she answered.

"Mama, I want some water," I said.

"Yes, baby, I know," Mama said. Mama switched Pearl, grabbed me by my left hand, and quickened her pace.

"Uh, good evening," Mama said, as the woman opened the door. "Would you mind if I came in for a while to rest and give my children some water?"

The kind-faced woman opened the door wider and greeted Mama with a smile of complete comfort. "Come in, please," she said.

There was a fire burning in the fireplace and I headed for that. I sat down on the floor and began to wonder if Mama was going to stay here for the night or forever. I wanted to stay – I didn't want to go back out into the night. Spooks might be roaming around out there and take me away. The woman soon brought us some bread and clabber milk and a pan of hot soup. She and Mama mumbled a conversation as I dreamed in the fire – 

Soon I heard Mama thanking the woman for her kindness. She started to gather up my sister who was sleeping on the floor, wrapped in some old blankets. I realized we were ready to go wherever it was we were going, so I bundled myself up and followed Mama out the door into the darkness. As Mama said goodby and thanks I looked to see if any spirits were around or if the bogey man was watching from behind some old tree.

Again we walked. By this time the moon was bright and the trees along the way threw shadows. We began to edge the forest and I knew the bogey man would be in there if nowhere else - I saw a spirit behind every tree. I clung closer to Mama – 

There was a spirit following us ... how can I tell Mama? I have to scream – no, I can't – Mama, hold me in your arms like Pearl. I'm too scared to walk down here by myself. The feeling of loneliness crept over me as though I was being covered with a blanket.

After what seemed like years of walking with the spirits, Mama stopped. I could see her, tall and thin, like a pine tree, as she stood among the pines. She laid my sister down on the ground and looked around for me. I was there, glaring at her in wonderment.

Why did she stop, what did she lay Pearl down for – are we going to sleep here? Where is a house for us, where is our cow and our horse, where are our chickens and pigs? Where did we come from? Why? I never for a moment stopped trying to find the answer to why.

Mama began to arrange a bed of pine straw. When it was finished, she comforted Pearl. When she thought Pearl was sleepy enough, she turned and made a bed for me and one for herself. All this was done in a clump of small bushes to protect us from the dew. She covered us with pine and some old clothing we were carrying and lay down to rest.

Excerpt from Thursday's Child by Eartha Kitt
Copyright 1956 by Eartha Kitt Published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce

"Thursday's Child has far to go... Eartha Kitt, one of the most fascinating personalities of our time, has already come a long way. Her autobiography traces her path from the cotton fields of South Carolina to the bright lights of Broadway. It is a story that ranges from one extreme of human experience to another, at times almost incredible in its swift pace from poverty and hardship to glamour and triumph. It is a story that makes the ancient Cinderella tale seem pale by comparison.

Eartha Kitt's book, like her life to date, is in four parts, the first of which describes in a straightforward and moving fashion her early years in the South and in Harlem. Childhood ended when she became a member of the famous Katherine Dunham troupe of dancers, playing on Broadway and touring Mexico and America. In Paris a third life opened up with her debut as a tremendously successful night-club singer. After further successes in Europe, on the stage with Orson Welles in, Paris and in night clubs of London and Istanbul, she returned to make her mark in America. Finally she emerges as a major and mature artist with a Broadway triumph.

In the meantime everyone had "discovered" Eartha Kitt and had selected his favorite from her dazzlingly popular records, C'est si bon, Monotonous, Santa Baby, Après moi, I Want to Be Evil, Uska Dara and a score of others. She had proved a powerful attraction in "New Faces of 1952" and in spots all the way from the Village Vanguard to Mocambo in Hollywood and El Rancho Vegas.

Eartha Kitt tells her own story in her own way and the result is effective, honest, and beautiful. Her suc- cess as a writer merely reveals one more facet of a brilliantly gifted and wonderfully alive nature, that same nature which expresses itself so stirringly in the variety of moods encompassed by the songs she has chosen for this album.

Fascinating Man

Mademoiselle Kitt

Oggere

No Importa Si Menti

Lisbon Antiqua

Just An Old Fashioned Girl

Le Danseur De Charleston

Lazy Afternoon

Jonny

If I Can't Take It With Me

Thurday's Child

Lullaby Of Birdland