Not As Funny As Rossellini

November 17, 2007

I’m roaming the Irish countryside with my cousin Shelly on a typically grey Irish morning. Suddenly, I’m not in Ireland anymore. I am now in the humble London flat of Elaine Stritch.

As the sun prepares to set outside, I carry a tray of tea from the kitchen to the sitting room where Elaine is watching TV.

“Let’s have some music, huh,” she tells me as she shuts off the television and turns on the stereo to play some classical music. Elaine tells me the composer’s name, but I can’t recall it.

“You were really funny on 30 Rock,” I tell her. “But not as funny as Isabella Rossellini.”

“Yeah, that crowd really knows what they’re doing over there.”

We have a detailed discussion on the number of camera setups used for any given scene on the show. “It’s a hell of a lot of work,” she says matter of factly.

“Hey, I got this for you,” Elaine tells me as she hands me my hometown paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

As I tare into this little slice of home, I realize that Elaine’s motives may not have been completely altruistic. On the front page of the Arts & Entertainment section there is a lengthy profile of…Elaine Stritch.