Onstage with her group the Mamas & the Papas at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967, Cass Elliot, the grand doyenne of the Laurel Canyon scene, bantered with the timing of a vaudeville comedian.
“Somebody asked me today when I was going to have the baby, that’s funny,” she said, rolling her eyes.
The unspoken punchline — if you could call it that — was that she had already given birth to a daughter six weeks earlier.
July 29 is the 50th anniversary of her untimely death at 32, a tragedy that still spurs unanswerable questions.
Might Elliot, who was one of Johnny Carson’s most beloved substitutes, have become the first female late-night talk show host?
Persons:
Cass Elliot, “, ”, —, Owen Elliot, Kugell, ” Elliot, Elliot, Johnny Carson’s
Organizations:
Mamas, Monterey, Pop Festival, Sunset
Locations:
Laurel, Los Angeles