Billie Burke. Name sound familiar? Not to me either...
...until one day I bought a greeting card of 'Glinda, the Good Witch of the North' from everyone's childhood favorite, "The Wizard of Oz." On the back is a short biography of she who played our beloved fairy godmother.
Real name: Billie Burke. Included in her history is the fact that Ms. Burke was fifty-three years old when she played the part.
Fifty-frickin'-three!!!
Seems to me that is a huge coup for a woman "of a certain age" at a time, in the 30's, when women's lib wasn't even a concept yet. Gloria Steinem was probably a toddler!
Was she an anomaly? I hope not. I like to believe that no matter what period of time in history, there were a lot more women like Billie Burke. They may not have played on the big screen, but like Burke, they defied their years.
As our modern world may afford us the best medicine, it is also poisoning us. Those who lived in an earlier time in a cleaner environment may not have enjoyed the conveniences of our day, they also didn't suffer the consequences of rampant cancer.
How did I go from Glinda to cancer? Hers was a natural beauty. No botox or other chemical injections. Sure, there was make-up like any Hollywood production...but otherwise, natural.
Billie Burke: my Shero!!
