I've never suffered stage fright. That fascinates people.

Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.

Mom and Pop were proud of my popularity, but from their point of view, show business was no way to make a living.

I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird

I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.

I remember Tallulah (Bankhead) telling of going into a public ladies' room and discovering there was no toilet tissue. She looked underneath the booth and said to the lady in the next stall, 'I beg your pardon, do you happen to have any toilet tissue in there?' The lady said no. So Tallulah said, 'Well, then, dahling, do you have two fives for a ten?'

Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.