REVIEW: "Remembering Bobby Short" NYTimes

Stephen Holden

New York Times

What fragrance is “kinda young, kinda now, kinda free, kinda wow”? For those old enough to remember, that pitch from a 1970s TV commercial featuring Shelley Hack may unlock memories of a happy-go-lucky Bobby Short, who composed the jingle singing the praises of Charlie, the Revlon perfume for sophisticated on-the-go gals.

The Charlie commercial was the closest thing to a hit single for Short, recalled Clint Holmes, who performed it last week at the opening night of his show “Remembering Bobby Short,” at the Café Carlyle. He followed it with his bubbly rewrite, “Bobby.” However you feel about the fragrance, the jingle distilled the unquenchable joie de vivre that Short conveyed at the Café Carlyle, his stomping grounds for more than three decades until his death in 2005.