Cloris and the Queen
One thing’s for sure about the top ladies of New Year’s Day: They’ve got personality
By Joe Piasecki 12/24/2008
Let’s face it: With all of its grand history and traditions, the Tournament of Roses has had the reputation of being a bit stodgy pinned to it over the decades. While the basic concept remains the same this year, the leading ladies of next week’s New Year’s Day spectacular may help to change some of that perception.
From her hilarious role as Frau Blücher in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” (“He was my … boyfriend!”) to her outright raunchy performance in Comedy Central’s recent roast of comedian Bob Saget (we’ll leave this one alone), Grand Marshal Cloris Leachman is anything but uptight.
“I didn’t have anything else to do on Jan. 1,” Leachman, who won an Oscar for her role in 1971’s “The Last Picture Show,” joked during October’s grand marshal announcement ceremony. “I’ve never been named grand marshal before, so it’s a whole new feeling — and the most exciting, wonderful, thrilling, proud feeling you can imagine. It just tickles me all through my body, up to my head and all through my hair and out my ears and around my neck!”
Said the 82-year-old, best known as Phyllis in the “Mary Tyler Moore Show”: “My grandkids are thrilled that I’m going to be part of a parade that is actually older than I am.”
Although she won’t meet Leachman until the day of the parade, Rose Queen Courtney Lee — at 17, certainly young enough to be Leachman’s granddaughter — has plenty of personality of her own.
The Arcadia High School senior could easily fill the bill of prim and proper Rose Queen, but she’s not afraid just to be herself.
“I love to burp,” she tells the Weekly. “I have burping contests with my friends, and I can burp my ABCs. I’m very proud of that!”
With burping also comes a love for eating, “potato chips and Cheez-Its” in particular, says Lee.
But what seems most important to her, however, is being able to spread some cheer to those in need. In addition to being team captain of her school’s volleyball team, Lee is vice chair of the Arcadia Assisteens Auxiliary (a youth branch of the philanthropic Arcadia Assistance League).
As queen, Lee has expanded her good works, recently visiting cancer patients at City of Hope in Duarte, hosting a tea party with foster children at Pasadena’s Hillsides Home for Children and attending a holiday event at the Pasadena Humane Society that aimed to bring a little joy into the otherwise tough lives of some area youth.
“Just to smile and bring some sort of light to their day was great,” says Lee, who hopes to attend USC. “At school, some people think all you do is smile and wave, but it’s really so much more than that. It’s incredible to think how much I’ve grown. I’m so much more confident and secure with myself, and I know doors have been opened for me.”
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