Elaine Stritch on Beckett

The incom­par­able Elaine Stritch is doing Beckett’s Endgame in New York:

I always remem­ber the story of the woman who under­stud­ied Lena Horne in some Broadway music­al. And she was told she was going to go on that night because Lena had lost her voice. And the under­study said, “Oh, won­der­ful!” She said she just needed a cer­tain kind of eye shad­ow she had to pick out her­self. And she was going to go out to one of the drug­stores on Eighth Avenue and she’d be right back. And she went to Philadelphia instead. Isn’t that a great story? And it’s true. I under­stand it per­fectly. I love the fact that she went to Philadelphia. What a story. And that’s an example of Beckett’s unhap­pi­ness being the fun­ni­est thing in the world.