Talk:Phyllis Diller/Archive 1

Archive 1

Adult swim

phyllis lended her voice on an episode of robot chicken on adult swim, should someone add it to the tv listings? --mike 03:45, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Image code

Someone, in their infinite wisdom (sarcasm intended) saw fit to change the image code--so that the image did not appear. I changed it back to the correct name of the image: Phyllis diller 2-25-2007.jpg If it ain't broke ....MrEguy | ♠♥♣♦ 06:49, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Blossom

Diller appeared as a regular on the sitcom Blossom -- that should be put in there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by B724 (talk • contribs) 03:35, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Bigbird?

From the first paragraph: "Diller is credited with opening the toilet seat to for bigbird." I don't honestly know what that means, unless it's a reference to her hair resembling that of Big Bird. The source is a Yahoo biography that doesn't mention this at all, so I have removed it. Clockster (talk) 11:44, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Pianist

Many years ago Phyllis Diller performed several of Bach's Two-part inventions on a talk show. Quite frankly, she did them better (more imaginatively) than most "professional" pianists. She might not be a "great" pianist, but she has nothing to apologize for. It would be nice if someone could track down the show and the date, and add it to the article. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 19:37, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

"Emily of New Moon"

Phyllis Diller was a guest named Aunt Nancy. Eccentric and rich, Aunt Nancy buried 5 (rumored 7) husbands, and lives with her equally "bats in the bell-free" never been kissed sister-in-law; on "Emily of New Moon", a Canadian television series which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2000. The show is currently airing on "This TV" in the US. --Mamadustyfoot (talk) 22:27, 2 March 2012 (UTC)Mamadustyfoot

Clean up

A lot of random stuff has been added since her death that probably needs to be looked into. I'm busy at work and can't really check on this right now, so just a warning to anyone watching the page. lukini (talk) 20:39, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

H.R. Puffinstuff

Phyllis Diller was not witchiepoo in this show, it was played by Billie Hayes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.246.157.214 (talk) 21:34, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Maniac (1934)

This comment is preemptive. The subject of this article did not appear in the 1934 public domain film Maniac. There is a Phyllis Diller credited in the cast but it's not the same Phyllis Diller. When Mystery Science Theater screened this film, they couldn't help but notice the coincidence but it should be noted it's not the same person Maniac (1934 film)Smiloid (talk) 00:27, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

oops! I meant to say RiffTrax and not MST3KSmiloid (talk) 00:28, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

"Baked potato!"

On July 11, 2007, USA Today reported that she had fractured her back and had to cancel a Tonight Show appearance, during which she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday. She appeared on Leno at either 91 or 92, she walked out and opened with a few minutes of stand-up. She had a silvery jacket on, and made some joke about looking like a baked potato. And yeah, this needs to be in the god damn article in some form. And I know some of you saw this episode. --RThompson82 (talk) 11:51, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Cause of death

Over and over again, people add "natural causes" as her cause of death. The closest thing I can find in any source is the comment "is thought to be from natural causes" in examiner.com. This is not fact. Until/unless the coroner and/or the family releases a statement as to cause of death, it doesn't belong in the article, right? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 00:26, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Quotes

I would love to see a few Phyllis Diller quotes, please. --Maikel 11:32, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

It would be much better if we could load sound files with that screechy voice and cackle ... - DavidWBrooks 13:25, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Why did you remove this interesting quote?

According to Peter Whitmer's book, The Inner Elvis: A Psychological Biography of Elvis Aaron Presley, Phyllis Diller said that if Elvis Presley's twin had lived, I am sure that he "would have been gay." Onefortyone 19:25, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Because it was peripheral, silly and confusing. It comes out of nowhere - why would she say that? what connection does it have to her life? her beliefs? anything all all? - and adds nothing to the article. The reason to put in a quote would be to cast light on Phyllis Diller's character, her humor or her personality. - DavidWBrooks 00:10, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

After undoing four straight joking vandalisms and finally blocking the anon IP, I'm going to be very embarrassed if Phyllis Diller *does* die of avian flu in Paris! - DavidWBrooks 21:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I revised this article, organizing it and filling in a lot more career information, as well as legacy information. I added her quotes throughout. More could easily be put in--she had thousands. --Utilizer (talk) 00:33, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Personal life - children

Under Personal life--I edited the paragraph about her children, streamlining some of the dates (there were a lot of dates) and references (most were from the same source--her autobiography--just different page numbers). There was a lot of detailed information about Diller's child who died two weeks after birth--regarding deformities. I took that out. I figure it's an article about Diller and although she wrote of her children in her autobiography, such personal and sensitive subject matter seemed invasive and unnecessary for this article. In my opinion. --Utilizer (talk) 22:29, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

images

I was already going to move some of the images down (i.e., spread them out) since the article is crowded as it is. If we want to keep the image of the costume and organ which doesn't actually depict Diller, I suggest it be moved to the bottom of the page, and the black and white image of her in a carriage be removed, since her face is not really distinguishable. Either that or we could make a gallery section at the bottom of the article. μηδείς (talk) 01:31, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

I was hoping to find an image from her early career, but no luck. Feel free to move the images around or delete. I already removed a black & white that was captioned 1994, but the source was undated, uncredited and appeared to be from the 70s. I also removed another 70s-portrait since there were a few already. I found out this week that she did design her costumes, so I thought that was of interest. --Utilizer (talk) 18:52, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

I adjusted the image layout a bit. The costume and organ photo is interesting, but at first glance it looks like the photographer cut off her head. Jonathunder (talk) 19:32, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

I know--that is a problem. Well, we can take it out if it's too disturbing. I do like seeing the detail of her costume, especially in a museum. But the mannequin had no head, it's true. --Utilizer (talk) 20:27, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Per my comments I have spread the images out a bit, and moved the costume and prop exhibit to the legacy section where her donation of her material is mentioned, and have moved the Pruitts headshot to the TV section, which lists the Pruitts. I am not bothered by the costume and organ image; I just don't think it deserved the prominence it was given. Here is before and here is after. I might try moving one of the nice face shots up to the 50's section on the right, since it is a bit bare. Maybe wikimedia commons has something relevant to put there? μηδείς (talk) 23:04, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Looks good--thanks for your thoughtful work on this. I checked the Commons a couple weeks ago and couldn't find a 50s shot for that section. I agree, it does look empty and that was her beginning and it would be great to have a shot of her performing in a club. Perhaps I can find someone who would be willing to upload a personal snapshot from the time. But it's getting tough to do that with older photos that need the author's permission to post.--Utilizer (talk) 21:29, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Atheism

I'm going to remove the part mentioning her being an Atheist (as well as removing her from that category). The source given for this information is NNDB, and NNDB really isn't a reliable source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.21.80.108 (talk) 03:57, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

There may be some support for her being an atheist. She certainly didn't think too highly of religion http://revart.blogs.com/rev_arts_atheist_pinups/2007/03/phyllis_diller_.html Smiloid (talk) 00:22, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

The Celebrity Atheist List calls her religion "ambiguous." Is mention of her skepticism being removed because she recently died? I think Ms. Diller's atheism or skepticism is relevant to her biographical information. Katherine Hepburn was an atheist and she stated it almost as plainly. Just a thought. RonaldBruceMeyer (talk) 10:53, 22 August 2012 (UTC)RonaldBruceMeyer

She was not an absolute atheist because she allowed for a conceptualization of a deity but she certainly came out as atheist in regards to all the established religions and their concepts of a deity so she should meet the criterion for the category of atheist on Wikipedia and a quote about religion should be included in her page. She made it clear she has no belief in an afterlife in the second quote (both were researched by Celebatheists.com[1]).

"The constants all through the centuries will be the same; wine, women and song. Other than that, life will be very different technologically. In the year 3000 the universe will be expanding as it will forever, infinitely. We will probe outer space but never find life as evolutionized as ours. We were not created by a deity. We created the deity on OUR image." (Emphasis in the original as an underlined word) "Life began on this planet when the first amoeba split. Mankind will still be seeking God, not accepting that God is a spirit; can't see it, touch it, only feel it. It's called LOVE." -- Phyllis Diller, July 17, 1997

How does she {Phyllis Diller} visualize the hereafter? "There isn't any, you dingbat!" she replies as she lets out that legendary, raucous laugh: Ahhha... Ha... Ha... Ha... Haaah. This is it, baby! Enjoy, carefully! Religion is such a medieval idea. Don't get me started. I have thought about every facet of religion and I can't buy any of it." She pauses and with a subtle smile continues; "So God made man in His own image? It's just the other way around. Man made God in his own image." Diller's on a religion roll. "Ah... it's all about money."97.85.173.38 (talk) 04:15, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

There's a video of Diller and Roseanne Barr having lunch together and Diller says she doesn't believe in an afterlife and that once you're gone, you're gone. I think putting her spiritual beliefs (or lack thereof) in this article gives it undue weight in context of her life and career. She never made the subject part of her act (that I know of), or her writing. This is subjective opinion on my part, of course, but it feels forced to me to highlight it when she didn't go out of her way to do so. --Utilizer (talk) 21:43, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

BART

I have a complaint about this sentence that is in the Careers section. 'The 15-minute series was a BART (Bay Area Radio-Television) production, directed for television by ABC's Jim Baker. In the mid 1950s, while residing in the East Bay city of Alameda, California.' I have never heard of ANYTHING in the Bay Area called 'BART' EXCEPT the Bay Area Rapid Transit. I lived in the Bay Area for 34 years and the acronym BART was never used for anything but the transit system. I think it should be removed. Mylittlezach (talk) 23:36, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Much of the Alameda information has been reedited and cleaned up a bit. There was a lot of detail that didn't cover Diller's life--mostly about hosts and producers who ran the shows she worked on. I tried to leave the information in that focused on her work. --Utilizer (talk) 21:48, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

St. Louis Walk of Fame

why is she on the st. louis walk of fame. the article suggests that it is for spending money on plastic surgery. Was it done in st. louis or something? DaronDierkes (talk) 02:27, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

This has been addressed and reedited for clarity. --Utilizer (talk) 21:49, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Work in NYC in the 1960s

Her work in New York City's nightclub scene in the '60s should be added [2]--Aichikawa (talk) 18:21, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

I did put a mention of her standup in NYC (when she opened for just-starting-out Barbra Streisand) and will add more if there's sufficient references. --Utilizer (talk) 04:55, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Official Phyllis Diller Days - citations needed

Today I spent some time researching the following paragraph, which has been picked up on IMDB and some other "biography" sites (not news sites):

Diller was a member of the Society of Singers, which supports singers in need. In June 2001, at Society member Scott Sherman's request, she appeared at Kansas City and Philadelphia Pride events. The mayor of Philadelphia officially proclaimed June 8, 2001 as "Phyllis Diller Day". She was presented an official proclamation onstage to a standing ovation. In 2006, Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom proclaimed February 5, 2006, "Phyllis Diller Day in San Francisco", which she accepted by phone.

I couldn't find any references to any of this information. If anyone can help out, I'll be glad to reinstate the paragraph in the article, but for now I can't substantiate any of it, unfortunately. I would love to be able to list all the official days she was granted, if possible. --Utilizer (talk) 06:15, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Long past my bedtime, but there's no support whatsoever with the Philly claim, it would certainly have appeared in the news, but did not. I suspect that if any such thing occured it was announced by an activist group, not John Street. μηδείς (talk) 07:05, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

I can't find any reference to it in San Francisco either, and the SF media tends to be good about publicizing this sort of thing. The paragraph reads like a wishful personal anecdote at this point. --Utilizer (talk) 04:56, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

One of the first ...

Request and reply moved here from Tea House.
In a statement from Phyllis Diller's biography, under 'Influence and legacy'[edit source]' the generalization is made: Diller is likely the first solo female comedian in the U.S. to become a household name.

While I understand this kind of generality highlights the well known comedian for her era of TV, Stand Up and film acting, I contend with the statement because of another more well known actress of the same time period; Lucille Ball. While her TV series with entertainer Desi Arnaz was a collaboration of story themes in her marriage, Lucy became a household name with solo Mimes, Improvisations and Stand Up within the program itself for many years of original TV genesis. Following Ms. Ball would be a younger Carole Burnett whose TV & film career became much more appealing to a vast audience in the USA and abroad.

My comment is made only to criticize that general statement about these past personalities is kept within reasonable guides, so that tweaking the truth (misinformation) does not become factual knowledge.

Thanks for your consideration, Gale Hall-Cunningham, MFA-CW, Author — Preceding unsigned comment added by Galewindsnepal (talk • contribs) 19:29, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment. I can't speak for the US, but here in the UK I heard of Lucille before Phyllis. I've changed the statement to read "one of the first" and removed the unencyclopaedic "likely". Will this suffice? Dbfirs 20:27, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 April 2016

She also appeared on the daytime game show The Match Game in 1964 and 1965, adding comedic entertainment to the show.

Add Citations:

Diller hosted a variety show in 1968 titled The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show.

Add Citations:

She still played in her private life, however, and owned a custom-made harpsichord.

Add Citations:

Diller made one of her final public appearances on Anderson Cooper 360° as part of a panel of comedians.

Add Citations:

References

LQ4ezA39 (talk) 07:40, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Note: IMDb is not considered a reliable source. Can you please provide other sources? EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 18:05, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. — JJMC89 (T·C) 15:36, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

I've added the references, correcting the Match Game date and replacing the former IMDB references as well. --Utilizer (talk) 19:28, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Photos removed

I've removed two of the 1973 show-portrait photos as they were in sections of the article not pertaining to the 1970s. Great photos--but not illustrative of the timeline. --Utilizer (talk) 19:31, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

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Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:26, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

In my view the term "Gay Icon" and definition offered in the referenced article are arbitrary, and application of the term to Diller falls somewhere between mischaracterization and misinformation. Maintaining a good relationship with a community does not automatically make one an "icon" of that community, and neither Diller nor her comedy specifically focused on that particular group of people.73.235.113.22 (talk) 05:02, 25 August 2018 (UTC)