TIMELESS SPIRAL—FRANCES FAYE

“Is it true that when you're pretty it doesn't matter how you wear your hair? Do you think brandy is fattening?”—Frances Faye. 

Known for his bisexual chic just before the AIDS pandemic broke up the party, cabaret singer and recording artist Peter Allen managed to record duets with some of the most popular lesbians of his time: Dusty Springfield backed him up on “Back Doors Crying”, Lesley Gore on “She Loves to Hear the Music”, and Frances Faye on “Just A Gigolo.” Though I was familiar with Dusty and Lesley, Frances Faye came as a revelation. Her sassy, upbeat, comic delivery scored this side of sophisticated. Recently, I was watching Bruce Weber’s Chop Suey (2001) and was pleased to see his tribute to Frances Faye, if not startled to discover she played the madam in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby (1978). 

As Bob Downe writes at YouTube: “Frances Faye (1912-1991) was one of the world's most loved and enduring nightclub entertainers, with a career spanning the late 1920s to 1980. She hit her stride on New York's 52nd Street in the '30s, becoming known as the ‘Zazou-zaz’ gal as she thumped the piano and belted out her funny, racy blues and jazz songs.” 

Faye composed “Well All Right!”, which became a hit for the Andrew Sisters.  

YouTube offers two early Frances Faye “soundies” from 1942, which were used in a Panoram coin-operated jukebox. “Soundies” were the historic precursors to the modern music video. The first is Faye’s cover of “I Ain’t Got No Body” and the second is “Shut Your Mouth For Uncle Sam.”

  

 

In this clip Frances Faye, Martha Raye, and Bing Crosby perform "After You," the scat-challenge number from the finale of the 1937 Paramount film Double or Nothing, with Harry Barris as the bandleader. The film also starred William Frawley and Andy Devine.

  

Television appearances were rare for Faye but she was billed twice on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, first on June 9, 1957 and then on May 22, 1960. Both times she belted out her signature song “Darktown Strutters Ball”, adding "Oif’n Pripotchik & Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" for her first appearance and “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” for her second. Faye was riding high in 1960. She had shattered Peggy Lee's record at New York's Basin Street East and had released perhaps the greatest Live album ever made: “Caught In the Act”, recorded at the Thunderbird in Las Vegas. 

  

 

 

 

Also in 1960, she appeared on Hugh Hefner’s "Playboy’s Penthouse", singing "The Man I Love", "Just In Time", "Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." This performance is a perfect example of Faye's famous double entendres and references to homosexuality and lesbianism. An admitted bisexual herself, involved with lifelong partner Teri Shepherd, Faye frequently hinted at this frequently in her act. On national television, she would often playfully alter pronouns in love songs or weave her girlfriend's name into the lyrics of song. For instance, in this performance she's inserted "it's a Teri, Teri day" into "The Man I Love" and in her Ed Sullivan performance she sang "why do all the boys treat Teri so right" in "Shimmy Like My Sister Kate." Visual quality is poor on the Hefner clip but the sound is fine, featuring great percussion from Jack Costanza and truly funny adlibs from Faye, so it’s worth at least a listen if not a watch.

  

In 1977 she made a rare television appearance where she was interviewed by Hugh Downs and sang "A Taste of Honey" and the John Lennon-Paul McCartney hit "Yesterday". 

  

Frances Faye adored Sydney, Australia and Sydney adored her. The legendary nightclub entertainer made around 14 visits Down Under between 1961 and 1979, packing out legendary clubs like Chequers and the Silver Spade. In 1979 she appeared on the Mike Walsh Show. This was her last Australian visit. She had suffered a heart attack in 1978 and was visibly ready for retirement, which came in 1980. 

 

LED / ALEXA ROSE FOUNDATION—ARTIST HAVEN AT THE DIXON WITH DANIEL OJEDA (08/01/26)

In January of this year, LED—in partnership with the Alexa Rose Foundation—launched a unique new residency called Artist Haven, designed for performing artists with momentum and a record of excellence who are poised to benefit from working on a solo project or collaboration in an inspired space. Hosted at The Dixon, the program offers time, space, mentorship from LED's artistic and creative director, as well as a cash honorarium and additional resources for artists to deeply engage in their practice. It culminates in sharing their progress with a live performance or presentation. Artist Haven is an exciting new platform that inspires risk-taking, bold experimentation, and sustained creative exploration among artists in our community or those meaningfully tied to it. 

Alex Davis, Director of the Alexa Rose Foundation, answered a few of my basic questions about the foundation’s mission and their collaboration with LED. Davis is a forward-looking leader who has invested in our region's arts and culture for twenty years. She brings inspiration and deep belief, working for a world where artists are embraced as leaders and must never apologize for their creativity.

  

A published author, Davis served as Board President of The Cabin literary center, ensuring generational diversification of audiences and a sustained legacy of exceptional board leadership. Originally from the south, Davis started her career with PBS and NPR stations in Atlanta, Georgia. With a commitment to the arts, stewardship of culturally significant sites—modern and historic—as well as joie de vivre in education, Davis helped build the foundation and clear the way for an historic Hyde Park cathedral's restoration and completion, now home to a youth arts institute with imaginative programming that breaks all the rules. 

Inspired by the creative genius and collaboration on display in our region every day, Davis is a strategic thinking partner and steadfast champion for artists, arts leaders and people who envision stronger, more vibrant communities everywhere. 

Daniel Ojeda & Lauren Edson.  Photo: © Michael Guillén.

One of the first three recipients of the Artist Haven residency is Daniel Ojeda, who in 2024 likewise received the Alexa Rose Foundation’s Light of Day Grant. Daniel is a freelance choreographer and artist based in New York City and former Ballet Idaho Soloist. He has choreographed over 15 original works during his time at Ballet Idaho. His work has been featured all over the US including New York, Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Detroit, and Dallas. And it makes me happy to say that I “knew him when”, which is to say that I have been aware of and engaged with his creativity since at least 2011 when I first relocated to Boise, Idaho from San Francisco, California. 

At that time, I fell in with a group of young dancers, designers, musicians, and filmmakers, all of whom were familiar with each other’s work, often in collaboration, and Daniel was among them. It felt good to be included in such a community of talent and it has been fascinating to watch his maturation as an artist. To witness such creativity fills me with an audience member’s spiritual sense of gratitude. What struck me right off was the brilliance of his range. There was one day in particular that I remember watching his participation in a piece of public street theater mid-afternoon, only to see him that evening spotlighted at a Ballet Idaho performance on a professional stage. I remember thinking, “Ah, he’s crossing worlds like me.” 

Daniel Ojeda.  Photo: © Christina Birkinbine.

I attended Daniel’s choreographed piece for Project Flux during last year’s edition of the Treefort Music Festival, but have not had an opportunity to watch him dance since LED’s 2019 Red-HARE event at The Modern, so I was anticipating the chance to see him perform, though shortly before the doors opened he cautioned me to manage expectations as he wasn’t really going to be dancing much and that what he would be sharing was more of a multi-media spoken word piece that he had developed with Annika Barlow. 

The premise was a simple (yet thoughtful) equation that childhood experiences that feel traumatic often lead to drama. When the trauma is recognized as misperceived, the drama, the acting out, becomes embarrassment. These embarrassments can then be processed into creative output. By extrapolating on process, Daniel and Annika revealed the process by which they developed the piece shared with their LED audience. Expressed through a textured mixture of memoir, stand-up comedy, audio-visual overlay, and a little bit of slapstick, my favorite moment in Daniel’s shared piece was when he and Annika sat in chairs and repeated the same choreographed movements to two different pieces of music. I found that fascinating. 

Though he seemed reluctant to do so (though I’m not sure if this was staged), Daniel did finally dance a bit. Mention was made that he had not actually danced in two years and I asked him if that was true? He admitted that he has mainly been choreographing though he did a turn last year in The Nutcracker and has had his fill of that scene. A photograph of himself in white tights in company with a young seventeen-year-old sealed the deal for him once and for all. 

At 72, that amused me but did remind me that dance is a circumscribed art form. The average career expectancy for a professional dancer spans roughly 10 to 20 years, with most performers retiring from the stage between their early 30s and mid-40s. Peak performance typically occurs in a dancer's 20s to early 30s, after which high physical wear leads to retirement, or a shift from performance to choreography. If it’s true that—despite modern techniques often allowing for more organic movement and greater anatomical flexibility—a heavy toll is exerted on joints and bones, I remain grateful to have witnessed Daniel in his prime as a performer, and anticipate his matured creativity as a choreographer. 

Via LED: “Throughout his residency, Daniel has embraced this process with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to explore the unknown. Watching him follow his ideas, investigate new possibilities, and shape his work in real time has been a beautiful reminder of the power of artistic discovery and the importance of creating space for imagination.”