Historian Michael Beschloss is one of our favorite follows on Twitter. He usually ties his posts to either historical anniversaries or popular entertainment — "Sunset Boulevard," for example, is one of his favorites. (It's apparently also one of Benedict Donald's.) After all, as we all know, it's the pictures that got small.
And speaking of pictures, here is a photo that Beschloss tweeted on the occasion of the second Biden-Harris inaugural anniversary on January 20. This is a rehearsal of the star-studded pre-inaugural gala that was held on January 19, 1961 to celebrate John F. Kennedy's swearing-in. Produced by Frank Sinatra and JFK's brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, the show featured legendary entertainers like Nat King Cole, Gene Kelly and Ella Fitzgerald. Those were the days, kids.
(This was also before Sinatra became a Republican and BFFs with Ronny and Nancy, don'tcha know. Rumor has it that Blue Eyes was furious that JFK holidayed with Bing Crosby after getting cold feet over Sinatra's alleged mob connections. You could look it up.)
Anyway, Beschloss unintentionally gave us a good laugh with his Twitter thread on the gala. How many celebrities can you identify? he asked. We cats thought we'd have this down as a slam dunk. There's Nat King Cole at the mic, Joey Bishop second from left, and Harry Belafonte looking gorgeous in the middle. (And Kelly, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis on the right.) But who is that next to Belafonte, in the sunglasses?
The Twitterverse agreed — it was Bob Dylan. But nope, guess again. It's ETHEL MERMAN!
Who's going to tell our Nobel Prize winner for literature that people confused him with Ethel? We'll pass, thanks. But we cats PURR.
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