Cheesecake (photos) and Vera Amazar; OT: David Letterman Show

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OT: DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW
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As everyone knows by now, I dedicated "Big Apple Corner," just as both of my parents were dying, in 1997. That's eight years ago. I've never been invited on David Letterman's show, although it's on that corner, and although Letterman regularly features the corner deli guy, fer chrissake. Actually, I've never even been on tv.
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In 2002, I told my story to some friends from Australia while on a trip to New Zealand. They said to write back when I'm on the show, so I never wrote back to them. I also posted a note to alt.fan.letterman in 2002. At the time, Letterman was complaining about not being on Oprah, and Oprah not being on his show. There were press stories about streets named after Letterman and his band leader. It was more than I could take.
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Yesterday (three years later), someone on alt.fan.letterman suggested a write-in campaign. It looks like the poster had been to my website.
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CHEESECAKE (PHOTOS) AND VERA AMAZAR
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As I posted last weekend, the Museum of Sex credits Elvira Amazar for posing for the first "cheesecake" photos.
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An Ancestry-Plus Social Security check shows:
VERA AMAZAR 16 Feb. 1899 Feb. 1971 New York New York New York last residence 10022
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So nice, they named it thrice. 10022 is my zip code. Did she live in my building? The 1969 Manhattan White Pages has:
Amazar Vera 320E57...ELdrdo 5-5105.
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Nope, a block down. Close enough! From the 9 February 1971 New York Times obituaries:
AMAZAR--Vera, on February 7, 1971, beloved mother of Tatiana McKenna, grandmother of Kathleen and Alexandria. Services and interment private. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Cancer or Heart Fund.
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I went to the Lincoln Center NYPL branch and got her clipping file. Her name was misspelled often:
Elvira Amazar
Vira Amazar
Vera Amazar
Elmira Amazar
Elvira Amazas
Vira Amazor
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There was NOTHING about "cheesecake." However, there's also nothing to rule the story out. She did come to NYC in 1915. She came with a Russian singer named Baklanoff. Two years later, she would sue him for striking her.
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A clipping from some newspaper, dated 12 October 1915 and credited to the New York Herald, mentions her eating "cake" at the Knickerbocker Hotel.
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A large profile was in the 27 September 1917 MUSICAL COURIER (?). She was born in Serbia, both of her parents were killed during a mine strike, she lived in Warsaw until age 9, she lived in Dresden (Germany) until age 15, and then she moved to Russia. Here are some highlights:
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"Mlle. Amazar has excited attention in various centers of gayety in New York by the brilliancy and daring of her makeup. She paints very richly in spite of her youth and prettiness. She makes up her eyes and applies rouge heavily to her lips, according to the Parisian fashion. She also favors very short skirts, at least ten inches from the ground, and she recommends all these fashions warmly to American women."
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"...attracted the attention of Grand Duke Dimitri, uncle of the Czar. Under his patronage she came to the forefront as a singer and was a very frequent guest on the imperial yacht Standart, where she sang for the Czar. That was shortly before the declaration of war, when persecution of the Jews was general. A prominant political authority came to her, offering a quarter of a million dollars to go to the silent ruler, the monk Rasputin, and intercede for Jewish freedom. She was about to go on this mission when war broke out, and all her plans were frustrated."
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Cheesecake, the savior of the Jewish people?