Comfort Her With Apples

Preferably, The Golden Apple. Yes, friends, our last Mystery Guest was the star of stage, screen, nightclubs, and television, Miss Kaye Ballard. Belying the brash and brassy image she cultivated on such TV shows as The Doris Day Show and her own The Mothers-in-Law, La Ballard's early days found her talents alternating between broad comedy and sophisticated vocalese: in The Golden Apple, she introduced the gorgeous standard, "Lazy Afternoon," and (with apologies to other notable claimants Mabel Mercer and Portia Nelson) was the first to record Bart Howard's "In Other Words" -- better known by its alternate title, a little something called "Fly Me to the Moon."


In the 1970's, of course, Kaye became a familiar, funny fixture on the twin despositories for aging celebrities: Match Game and The Love Boat. Still going strong today, Kaye Ballard remains an amazing force of nature, and one of the few surviving links to the golden age of Broadway and New York cabaret.