A reader reminds me: “Mr. Derbyshire—Here’s an American diseuse–widely acclaimed in her time (on both sides of the pond, I might add), as the queen of them all. Vanity Fair had a great article about her in 1999.”

I say “reminds” because I recall reading a column the late Bernard Levin did in the London Times about Ruth Draper. He was a great fan. He warned, though, that the few surviving recordings of her performances only capture a pale shadow of her genius. You had to be there. Oh, well.

I feel sure that Carol Burnett must have done some diseuse routines, but can’t remember seeing any.