On this day in 1968, poet, playwright, and novelist, MdA, Mercedes de Acosta died in New York City, at the age of 75. Born March 1, 1892 in New York City. De Acosta wrote almost a dozen plays, only four of which were produced, and she published a novel and three volumes of poetry; Moods (prose poems) (1919), Archways of Life (1921) and Streets and Shadows (1922). Her memoir, Here Lies the Heart (1960), is now recognized as an important contribution to gay and lesbian history.
De Acosta was involved in numerous lesbian relationships with Broadway’s and Hollywood’s elite and she did not attempt to hide her sexuality. Her uncloseted existence was very rare and daring in her generation. In 1916 she began an affair with actress Alla Nazimova and later with dancer Isadora Duncan. Shortly after marrying Abram Poole in 1920, de Acosta became involved in a five-year relationship with actress Eva Le Gallienne. De Acosta wrote two plays for Le Gallienne, Sandro Botticelli and Jehanne de Arc. After the financial failures of both plays they ended their relationship.
Over the next decade she was involved with several famous actresses and dancers including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ona Munson, and Russian ballerina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina. Additional unsubstantiated rumors include affairs with Tallulah Bankhead, Pola Negri, Eleonora Duse, Katherine Cornell, and Alice B. Toklas. Bankhead may have referred to de Acosta as “Countess Dracula” following their alleged affair.
Toklas, lover of Gertrude Stein and de Acosta’s long-term friend, wrote to a disapproving critic, “Say what you will about Mercedes, she’s had the most important women of the twentieth century”.
It has often been said that she once stated, “I can get any woman away from any man” but there is no evidence to substantiate this claim.
A tireless advocate for women’s rights, she wrote in her memoir, “I believed…in every form of independence for women and I was…an enrolled worker for women’s suffrage.”
The Final Footprint
Trinity Cemetery in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Other notable final footprints at Trinity include; Ralph Ellison.
#RIP #OTD in 1981 writer (The Man with the Golden Arm, The Neon Wilderness, A Walk on the Wild Side), lover of writer Simone de Beauvoir, Nelson Algren died of a heart attack at his home in Long Island, aged 72. Oakland Cemetery, Sag Harbor, Long Island
#RIP #OTD in 1989 singer, songwriter (“Miami, My Amy”, “Don’t Close Your Eyes“, “When You Say Nothing at All”, “I’m No Stranger to the Rain”) Keith Whitley died of alcohol intoxication at his Goodlettsville, Tennessee home, aged 34. Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville
On this day in 2010, Grammy Award winning singer, Tony Award winning actress, civil rights activist and dancer, Lena Horne died in New York City of heart failure at the age of 92. Born Lena Mary Calhoun Horne on 30 June 1917 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Horne’s career spanned over 70 years, appearing in film, television, and theater. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of 16 and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.
Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963 and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s.
Horne married twice; Louis Jordan (1937-1944 divorce) and Lennie Hayton (1947-1971 his death). Lena Horne; great voice, great beauty, trail blazer.
The Final Footprint – Horne was cremated and her cremains were returned to her family. Horne’s funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York City. Thousands gathered to mourn her, including Leontyne Price, Dionne Warwick, Jessye Norman, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams, Lauren Bacall, and Vanessa L. Williams.
#RIP #OTD musician, singer, songwriter (“Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally”), The Originator, The Architect of Rock and Roll, Little Richard died at his home in Tullahoma, Tennessee, from bone cancer, aged 87. Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama
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