Edie Adams

Edie Adams, who died on Wednesday, was one of those beautiful women who was willing to make fun of herself. I remember seeing her on old Ernie Kovacs shows, parodying Marilyn Monroe. We're so used to thinking of Monroe as an icon it's hard to remember how odd her oversexed style must have looked to many when she was alive.

Adams could sing and dance, and appeared in two Broadway shows, both 1950s hit musicals, Wonderful Town and Li'l Abner. Not bad. In the first she played lead character Ruth Sherwood's beautiful kid sister, Eileen. (The show is based on the hit play My Sister Eileen.) In Li'l Abner, she won a Tony as Abner's love, Daisy Mae. Her voice can still be heard on the original cast albums.

She married TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs in 1954 and worked regularly on his show, sometimes shuttling back and forth between the studio and the stage. He spent lavishly on her, and they had a great marriage, but when he died in a car crash in 1962, he left behind over a half million in debt. She worked off every penny of it.

She appeared several memorable movies. She was Fred MacMurray's spurned secretary in The Apartment. She was Sid Caesar's beleaguered wife in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. And she was a tough as nails wife of Cliff Robertson's ruthless politician in The Best Man. She also did a lot of TV work in later years.

But for anyone who lived through the 60s, she was best known as the Muriel Cigar girl. Her commericals were quite sexy, and she was famous for the catchphrase "why don't you pick one up and smoke it some time?" a la Mae West, as well her version of "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity, with the line changed to "spend a little dime with me."

(Sorry for all the videos, but you can watch them in about three minutes.)