MGM starlet Monica Lewis was, as almost immediately guessed by Den81164, our latest Mystery Guest. Judging by the other possibilities offered by our readers, we're tempted to dub Miss Lewis "The Poor Man's Lana Turner" - or, more accurately, via her marriage to producer Jennings Lang, "The Rich Man's Beverly Garland."
Lewis's film career never took off; indeed, her best-remembered roles were the ones Lang gave his semi-retired wife later in life during the "disaster" flick craze. Cashing in on her real-life former career as a nightclub chanteuse and minor jazz canary, Lewis was cast as a legendary jazz diva in The Concorde: Airport '79. In one of the wonkiest examples of kissing the producer and his wife's arses, the dialogue had Lewis's character compared to Ella Fitzgerald, and then to "prove" the point, a scene of her scatting - with Jimmie "Good Times" Walker!
Among Miss Lewis's other notable credits: appearing on the very first broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show (her brother produced that one!) and a 14 year run as the voice of Chiquita Banana. We think that Den81164 deserves a lifetime supply, don't you? Just remember, dear -
I'm Chiquita banana and I've come to say
bananas have to ripen in a certain way.
When they are fleck'd with brown and have a golden hue,
bananas taste the best and are best for you.
You can put them in a salad
You can put them in a pie-ay-yi!
Any way you want to eat them,
it's impossible to beat them.
Bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator,
so you should never put bananas in the refrigerator!
Coincidentally, I was singing and dancing to this tune just the other day!
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