Madeline Kahn Remembered

Sasha Stone

Mirror staff writer

   Tributes always come too late, but the passing of Madeline Kahn last Friday was a reminder that there can never be too many tributes to the living. Maybe because her face was the kind you half-forget until you see it again, maybe because she was known to most as a ' supporting character in Mel Brooks' company of funny people, maybe because her talent was too broad, but there didn't seem to be any one place to put Kahn. The truth is, until last Friday, Madeline Kahn wasn't on anyone's mind.
   Though most will remember her for her Oscar-nominated work in "Paper Moon"and "Blazing Saddles," or her Tony win for "The Sisters Rosensweig," to me her most memorable role was the Hitchcock blonde in Brooks' "High Anxiety."
   Surely it wasn't her biggest part or her most difficult role, but it seemed to showcase that thing about her I loved -- her ability to transform herself utterly and completely. What did Brooks need? The perfect parody of a Hitchcock blonde. So suddenly, amid dozens of hilarious jokes on Hitchcock's style, there she was. Gucci from head to toe, matching Brooks joke for joke, pretty enough, funny enough ...perfect.
   "She is one of the most talented people who ever lived,'' Brooks once said. "I mean, either in stand-up comedy, or acting,or whatever you want, you can't beat Madeline Kahn.''
   Kahn announced her struggle with ovarian cancer only last month, saying, "It is my hope that I might raise awareness of this awful disease and hasten the day that an effective test can be discovered to give women a fighting chance to catch this cancer in its earliest stage.''
   The tributes keep coming and going, and going and coming, but always too soon orin this case, too late. Madeline Kahn deserves them, though. Every last one.