Kay Thompson - Legacy

Legacy

• The original soundtrack to Funny Face has been remastered and reissued. Most of her exceptional work for MGM has been preserved and released on Rhino/Turner Classic Movies original soundtrack series, including little-known contributions she did for films such as Meet the People (1944) and Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945). Her 1930s recordings are available on the CD Kay Thompson: Queen of Swing Vocal & Her Rhythm Singers (Baldwin Street Records), produced and annotated by Ted Ono. The rest of her recording career is compiled on the 3-CD box set Think Pink! A Kay Thompson Party (Sepia Records), produced and annotated by Thompson biographer Sam Irvin.
• In 2003 Thompson was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
• Liza Minnelli recreated Thompson's nightclub act for her 2009 Tony Award-winning Broadway event, Liza's at the Palace. A CD cast recording, a PBS television special, and a DVD followed. Liza's at The Palace opened at New York's legendary Palace theater, an affectionate salute to her godmother Kay Thompson. Supported by a quartet of dynamic singer/dancers standing in for the original Williams Brothers, Minnelli performed songs (with the original vocal arrangements) from Thompson's famous act, including "I Love a Violin", "Clap Yo' Hands", "Jubilee Time", and "Hello Hello".
• For an exhaustively-researched list of all of Thompson's hundreds of credits for radio, TV, movies, stage, books, and music, see the "Kayographies" tab at Kay Thompson Website. Featuring over 300 pages of endnotes, sidebars, letters, credits, etc., this website includes exclusive comprehensive extras about Kay Thompson that, due to space considerations, could not be included in the book, Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise (Simon & Schuster), by Sam Irvin.
• One of Thompson's sisters, Blanche Hurd, was designated as her literary heir, and was the commanding interest in the Eloise franchise beginning in 1998. After Blanche's death in 2002, the estate passed to Hurd's two children.
• Hollywood director Sam Irvin wrote a comprehensive biography, Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise, published in November 2010 by Simon & Schuster.