美国国家公共电台 NPR Zsa Zsa Gabor, An Icon Of Camp, Glitz And Glam, Dies At 99

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

Taking a moment to say goodbye to Zsa Zsa Gabor, who died yesterday in Los Angeles of heart failure, reportedly at the age of 99. Here's NPR's Neda Ulaby.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE¹: I know exactly what you're thinking. The cop slapper? The vampy, campy personality? The talk-show equivalent of a tick?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOLLYWOOD SQUARES")

PETER MARSHALL: Zsa Zsa.

(APPLAUSE)

ULABY: The flossy blonde who contributed mainly to such cultural touchstones as Hollywood Squares, where she answered questions about Cheez Whiz?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOLLYWOOD SQUARES")

ZSA ZSA GABOR: What is a Cheez Whiz though?

(LAUGHTER)

MARSHALL: Oh, Zsa Zsa, Zsa Zsa.

ULABY: But it would be a grave mistake to underestimate Zsa Zsa Gabor's achievements, says professor Kirsten Pullen of Texas A&M University.

KIRSTEN PULLEN: She is one of the most important figures of the late 20th century in terms of thinking about celebrities², thinking about women.

ULABY: Pullen is not joking. As far back as the 1950s, a time when women were expected to be decorous, Zsa Zsa Gabor sought and got constant press for her juicy hookups, her fabulous³ bling and her public antics.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Zsa Zsa Gabor - she makes a grand entrance on any occasion - and especially so at a premiere such as this.

ULABY: She could dominate a news reel about a movie premiere for a movie she wasn't even in just by showing up in a diaphanous⁴ gown. Arguably, she was the prototype for today's Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons. In fact, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Paris Hilton were related. You can trace a fameball genealogy⁵ from Gabor's marriage to Conrad Hilton that made her Paris's great ex-stepgrandmother.

PULLEN: You can't make this stuff up (laughter). Now, whether or not we think it's great to be famous for being famous, she is the one who really sort of set the template for that to continue to happen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MOULIN ROUGE⁶")

MURIEL SMITH: (Singing) It's April again...

ULABY: Zsa Zsa Gabor scored some small movie parts from big directors, Orson Welles and John Huston, after following her sister Eva from Hungary to Hollywood in the 1940s. But Gabor did not actually sing in Huston's movie "Moulin Rouge." This song was dubbed⁷. Gabor's singing was more like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GABOR: (Singing) In my high-heel sneakers, there's a big hat on my head.

ULABY: An irrepressible performer for over four decades, if not a skilled singer, dancer or actress, Gabor excelled at playing herself. Her charm made her jokes about marrying for money rather than romance palatable⁸ right when women were starting to demand more financial control.

PULLEN: She paved the way for the sexual revolution.

ULABY: And her off-stated fondness for sex dented⁹ traditional expectations of passive femininity, says professor Kirsten Pullen. Likewise, when Zsa Zsa Gabor hit a cop who pulled her over in 1989, she parlayed the incident into a full-blown comeback without any apparent help from managers or publicists, just David Letterman and Clive James.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAVID LETTERMAN: Welcome to the program.

GABOR: Thank you, my darling. This is crazier than the jail.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CLIVE JAMES: How did you manage your beauty treatment in the slammer?

GABOR: Oh, that's nothing. I didn't have a lipstick¹⁰. I had nothing.

ULABY: Even as an older woman, Zsa Zsa Gabor tended her image as the glamorous¹¹ starlet who married something like 10 times. She threw out lines like, I am a marvelous housekeeper¹². Every time I leave a man, I keep his house. But she also said this about Paris Hilton. I think she's rather silly. She does too many things for publicity¹³. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

3 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

4 diaphanous   

adj.(布)精致的，半透明的

参考例句：

• She was wearing a dress of diaphanous silk.她穿着一件薄如蝉翼的绸服。
• We have only a diaphanous hope of success.我们只有隐约的成功希望。

5 genealogy   

n.家系，宗谱

参考例句：

• He had sat and repeated his family's genealogy to her,twenty minutes of nonstop names.他坐下又给她细数了一遍他家族的家谱，20分钟内说出了一连串的名字。
• He was proficient in all questions of genealogy.他非常精通所有家谱的问题。

6 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

7 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

9 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

11 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

12 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

13 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。