Around the nation
Miley Cyrus befriends 90-year-old bingo caller.
PALM SPRINGS – Huge silver Mylar balloons — hung against a black curtain in an event space at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club — spelled out the name Shirley Claire. They were a gift from singer and actress Miley Cyrus, on the occasion of Shirley’s 90th birthday.
Claire, a petite, feisty and limber nonagenarian who used to be a showgirl and a Palm Springs Follies dancer, performed in Cyrus’
Younger Now video.
Claire walked side-by-side with Cyrus during one part of the video and was kissed on the lips by the 25-year-old pop star. Shirley also appeared with Cyrus in a live performance of the song during the MTV Video Music Awards at the Forum in Inglewood last summer.
Cyrus, who was invited to the birthday bash but unable to attend, sent balloons and best wishes to her Younger Now dance partner.
They shared some intimate moments during the performances — some scripted, some spontaneous.
“She kissed me five times because we had to do five takes and she kissed me full on the mouth,” Claire said, laughing. “She’s a hell of a nice gal — she’s one of the nicest people you ever want to meet.”
Claire was “discovered” while hosting her Monday night bingo game at the Ace Hotel.
“I got a telephone call the next day from an agent saying, ‘ We want you to do the Miley Cyrus video,’ and so I said, ‘Gee that’s wonderful, how come you’re calling me?’ and she said the producer came in and saw me during bingo last night and he was (interested in) hiring someone my age.”
“I couldn’t have been treated more like a movie star,” she said of the experience. “We were all older people — they treated me like I was some kind of rare thing that was going to break any minute and I’m kicking a-- with everybody over there.”
Claire performed on America’s
Got Talent during its 10th season. “No matter how old one is, one gets up every morning and they don’t think, ‘I’m going to be 90,’ you wake up and say, ‘What the (expletive) am I gonna do today,’ and you try to get through the day,” Shirley said. “There is no difference (between 80 and 90), except at 90 I have a strong, very impending knowledge that my time is ending. This is what happens at 90 because you know when it’s past a hundred the quality of life sucks, probably, so at 90, I’m looking at death, in my own way. ... There’s something about 90, you know you’ve only got 10 years and then, who really knows.”