Ain’t no party like a Kennebunkport, Maine, party

By Angela Lansbury

Veteran actor and beloved American icon Angela Lansbury, star of such projects as “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and the long-running television show “Murder, She Wrote,” will periodically share her reflections on a lifetime spent in the Hollywood spotlight.

When you’ve made as many pictures as I have, you learn the only thing an actor likes more than a standing ovation at curtain call is a good wrap party. The opportunity to hoist a few Sidecars with your fellow cast members is one to relish, not unlike one might relish earning an Oscar® nomination after starring alongside Ingrid Bergman in 1944’s “Gaslight.” Which I did. But of course you already knew that.

Yes, filmniks, Hollywood is a town that’s always ready to roister, whether it’s commemorating a memorable performance, like my Oscar®-nominated portrayal of ‘Sibyl Vane’ in “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” or toasting my Tony® Award-winning turn as ‘Mame Dennis’ in “Mame.” You see, Hollywood is a party town at heart, and few can burn the candle on both ends better than yours truly.

Sure, you might remember me more as ‘Clotilde de Marelle’ in “The Private Affairs of Bel Ami” or as the murderess ‘Myra Leeds’ in “Please Murder Me.” And I can’t condemn you if you do. But here in this farcical fraternity we call the entertainment business, ol’ Angie is known for her craving for carousal, a soft spot for shindigs that hasn’t waned even after seven decades of showing Hollywood how to put on their glad rags, tip a glass and turn a juice joint inside out and upside down.

And while you might suspect the star of such films as “Remains to Be Seen” and “The Purple Mask” prefers to stay close to the humming hive of the Hollywood Hills soirée circuit, I’m here to tell you: ain’t no party like a Kennebunkport, Maine, party.

Sure, Kennebunkport might not boast the glitz and glamour one can enjoy in the Big Apple after earning a fourth Best Leading Actress in a Musical statuette for her work in the stage adaptation of “Sweeney Todd.” Nor can the cantinas of Cape Porpoise provide the pleasures of the flesh one is privy to in Tinseltown after earning her eighteenth Primetime Emmy nomination.

But few pastimes are on par with putting back a few Bee’s Knees en route to the Benson Blacksmith Shop or galavanting about Goose Rocks while nursing a midday beer buzz and coaxing a constable and his consort into a ménage á trois atop the Wood Island Lighthouse.

So while I may have earned my reputation for revelry on the backs of my indulgent antics up and down both Hollywood Blvd. and the Great White Way, my craving for kink is only truly fulfilled on the coasts of Kennebunkport! C’est la vie!