A Tribute to Zsa Zsa Gabor from Miley Cyrus

It was interesting to see the reaction to Zsa Zsa Gabor's death.

Considering she was a raconteur when Carson hosted the Tonight Show, I didn't think anyone under 40 would even know her name. There's also someone else, Dahhhling, who uses an eccentric accent while flaunting her wealth, and her name is Huffington. Most people of any age would have trouble recalling a single movie she made.

And yet...the media headlined Zsa Zsa's death, and as they usually do, in lieu of actually writing a thoughtful appraisal of the deceased, they reprinted what publicity-hungry stars Tweeted.

Would you believe Viley Virus...er, MILEY CYRUS was one of them?

Here you go...

Always be sincere, whether you mean it or not.

A few of the steal-and-rewrite "news" sites (Decider, Gawker, Huffington-Puffer, Ripper Offer...) had a staffer analyze who Zsa Zsa Gabor was. The line most often used was "she was the Kardashian of her day" or "she pioneered being famous just for being famous."

Kardashian (pick any of 'em, and throw in two Jenners) never made a movie. Gabor did. She made many. They may be forgotten now, but she got good reviews for them.

Oh, you CAN claim that Kim Kardashian made a movie, if you count the porn video that leaked. But Paris Hilton pioneered THAT form of entertainment: the "celebutard" becoming famous through what some would called "a planned publicity-seeking embarrassment."

Gabor was discovered by the opera star Richard Tauber, who put her in an operetta in Vienna. Yes, she could sing. She also became "Miss Hungary," and she emerged in the 50's as the star of "Moulin Rouge," "Lovely To Look At," and "Lili." Yes, she also had husbands and romances, but these came AFTER she was a well-known personality. She wasn't famous because of scandal.

1958 was pretty much her last year of serious film making, which included a minor role in the Orson Welles classic "Touch of Evil" and the lead in "Queen of Outer Space." She survived the 60's and 70's not by twerking, getting involved with a series of grotesque football or basketball players, and using implants to become a caricature of womanhood. She was a kind of a female Liberace (I know, a bit of a redundancy there). She wore attention-getting outfits, and prepared herself with bon mots she could toss to nightclub hosts or the press.

She even had competition from another sister, Eva, who became much more famous to the world through the "Green Acres" TV show. When I was working for London Features as a photographer, it was Eva that I'd see at "must see" parties. Yet, the fascination with Zsa Zsa Gabor continued. She did become almost a parody of herself, but a dignified one.

A surprising word you could use in referencing Zsa Zsa Gabor, is "class." She certainly wasn't as outrageous as Jayne Mansfield was in the 60's, or Edy Williams in the 70's, or the vast array of wardrobe-malfunction Playboy-nude starlets of the past 40 years.