Five Artists Honored At Kennedy Center Clintons Fete Playwright, Actor, Singer, Blues Figure, Dancer
President Clinton and a celebrity-packed audience that included the Duchess of York and Colin Powell honored five performing artists Sunday evening for their contributions to America.
In a salute to Neil Simon, comedian Steve Martin said the playwright’s works let Americans “see ourselves so clearly.”
“You have taken the stuff of life - marriage, divorce, love, death - and written so hilariously that it took years for anyone to notice that you captured an entire time in 20th-century American life,” Martin said.
Martin couldn’t resist a political joke, however. Rather than honor Simon, he said, “I would much rather suck up to the president and talk about my favorite cause - the celebrity tax break.”
Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., sitting in nearby box seats, leaned back and laughed heartily.
Just back from a trip to Europe, President Clinton, in black tie, and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, wearing a red ball gown, also honored dancer Jacques D’Amboise, opera singer Marilyn Horne, blues legend B.B. King and actor Sidney Poitier.
In fast-changing times, “we need our artists in a special way,” Clinton said at a White House reception before the Kennedy Center ceremonies were taped. The two-hour show will be televised on CBS on Dec. 27.
During the show, the audience craned their necks to get a glimpse of the president and first lady in their box seats. The former Sarah Ferguson, who chatted up her seat mates, Powell and his wife, Alma, also drew attention for a black gown that opened at the back, dipping below her shoulder blades.
During a tribute to D’Amboise, his daughter, Charlotte, and son, Christopher, a Broadway dancer and choreographer, introduced a spirited dance by children in bright sweat shirts and tennis shoes.
“Not only did he teach us to dance, Jacques taught us to believe in ourselves,” said George James, a financial analyst in New York who said his childhood classes with D’Amboise were pivotal in his life.
D’Amboise, 61, founded the National Dance Institute, which for two decades has introduced New York City children to dance. D’Amboise was a child himself when he joined George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. By 15 he was a member of the New York City Ballet and by 17 a principal dancer.
Simon, 68, was honored for plays like “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot in the Park” and his 1991 Pulitzer-winning “Lost in Yonkers.”
Horne, 61, a mezzo-soprano who sang at Clinton’s inauguration, started her career singing at age 4 for President Franklin Roosevelt before going on to star in the opera houses of Europe and America.
King, 70, considered one of the most influential electric guitarists and known as the “King of the Blues,” played on a street corner in Memphis, Tenn., before cutting his first record in 1949. In 1955, he started a band and came up with hits including “Rock Me, Baby,” “How Blue Can You Get” and “The Thrill Is Gone,” which brought him his first Grammy Award.
Poitier, 68, was the first black American actor to be nominated for an Oscar for best actor, the first to win one and the first to kiss a white actress on the screen - breaking color barrier after color barrier.
Born in the Bahamas to a farmer and his wife, at age 16 he traveled to New York City and auditioned for the American Negro Theater. He later starred in 1959 in “A Raisin in the Sun” and went on to movie stardom in the 1960s.
The five honorees bring to 48 the number of American performing artists to receive the Kennedy Center honors in a tradition begun 18 years ago.
Before the show, the Clintons feted the honorees and other guests in a White House brimming with fir trees and wreaths, golden balls, handmade paper angels, twinkling white lights and red velvet ribbons.