Tuesday, January 11, 2011


DEATH VALLEY ~





Marta Becket


Maybe born to be a ballerina (1924), to this day Marta Becket is living and performing from her own private theater: Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction, California.

We stayed there once but slept in the parking lot, arriving way too late in the full moon for anyone to notice.

While performing with a road show in 1967, a flat tire stopped MB momentarily at this dusty four-corners and she decided to stay. If I remember correctly, she bought the whole town! Wind blown and sun~baked. Perfectly ghostly.

A dancer, painter, choreographer and desert rat (a lover of animals, mostso burros, cats and wild horses) this former Rockette from Radio City Music Hall is performing to this day at age 86.

In 1970 a crew from National Geographic discovered her paradise where she was performing on stage without an audience. Look around on the walls and one will see the murals the artist has painted of her world — classical sites and faces and applause.

Track down Todd Robinson's documentary film from 2000, it'll be a pleasure.









photo: jengray.com