Optimistic Varla confronts some of the challenges of New Orleans’s post-Katrina dating scene in this touching slice of Louisiana life. You know who sent this to me? Miss Understood! Also: Ty, Garrett!

Previously: Varla teams with Flotilla DeBarge to perform Cher’s “Dark Lady.”

Handsome youtube troubadour Valerio, from Varese, Italy, strums and claps his way through a sunny cover of Ingrid Michaelson’s little ditty, and his homemade music video is a fun moment with a creative guy. Says Valerio: “People may say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.” Hooray to the indomitable spirt of show business!

Similarly: Brazil’s winsome Pedro Capeto sings Stevie Nicks’s “Landslide.”

As Coco Chanel, self-assured film legend Katherine Hepburn swans her way through the finale of Broadway’s “Coco,” then reveals a singing voice every bit as distinct as that of Lauren Bacall. The intricate set is by Cecil Beaton, and the gowns are a selection of Chanel designs from 1918-1959. Thank you, TimNyTx!

Similarly: Bette Davis does a groovy-granny routine to promote “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” on the Andy Williams Show.

Excessive! Dig those high kicks and the androgynous partner who joins her midway.

More is more: Get a load of limber Heather’s credit-sequence razzle-dazzler from “Fantastico 81.”

“Queen of Italo” Vivian chanteuses her way through this icy dance number backed by a bevy of chicken-inspired leather ladies. Says RcktMan: “As she sings ‘Higher! Higher!’, her backups wave their arms in a fanning motion, as if to summon some unknown goddess to lift her lacy self up to the heavens.”

Mas italo!: American vedette Lola Falana struts her stuff in her Italian period.

Special thanks to listener dobbythewarrior for finding this spectacular real-life production number. Special thanks also to the dancer who really cuts loose 55 seconds into this.

Somewhat similar: Technoviking, Rave Granny (ty, brainfork!), Granny’s One-Eyed Cupid Shuffle.

…from Chile! Thank you, Billy, for the tip!

Have you heard the news? Fausto and Marc are coming to Philadelphia! Celebrate by spending a moment with Angie, the gutsy Philly waitress with a rich doctor husband and snooty new relatives. Though the clip is short, it’s got two incidents of sploshing and other food-on-human scenarios. And, some birds poop on Angie’s mean sister in law. Ha!

Somewhat related: A fan-made photo montage of Orlando Bloom, set to the “Angie” theme song, “Different Worlds,” by Maureen McGovern.

Also known as “Why Do You Think You Are Nuts?”

After this mind-rending show-stopper went around the Web awhile back, determined fans tracked down and unearthed lead singer Penny Pearce, who is said to have a comeback in the works. That’s nuts!

Even more nuts: Penny & company’s unsettling act inspired many remakes and remixes on youtube—including one by FoF pal Miss Understood, starring the Carol Channing Ventriloquist Doll. Click through and see!

“That’s right, Evita—stamp your feet and clap your hands…. She simply seduced a country!” Starring Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.

Act II: SCTV’s spoof, “Indira,” starring Andrea Martin, now appearing on Broadway in “Young Frankenstein.”

Their Kim Carnes (her lyric: “when we”) is particularly inaccurate. Thank you, listener David, for the tip!

Similarly: “Something to Believe In,” a “We Are the World” parody by the Ramones, starring impersonators plus actual punk-rockish West Coast luminaries including Rodney Bingenheimer, John & Exene from X, Mary Woronov, Toni Basil, Spinal Tap, Sparks, and more!

“Honey, hands come up soft / just like roses / try Vel and you’ll see!”

And get a load of this!: Carol Channing and the cast of “Hogan’s Heros” for Jell-O, the light dessert with fresh-fruit taste.

Starring Carol Channing, the Rockettes, Sally Kellerman, Ben Vereen, Telly Savalas, Joe Namath, Bob Hope, John Forsythe, and more!

And!: In a contemporaneous clip, a brassy anthropomorphic Ms. Pac Man does her best Mama Rose.

How I wish I could have been a “fly on the wall” at Patricia Neal’s meeting with Anacin’s research scientists.

“Mmm… It’s a coffee lover’s dream!“

After Scotland’s wee Lena won British TV’s “Opportunity Knocks” for an unprecedented five weeks at age 10, her high-octane singing style made her a superstar throughout the English-speaking world.

Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra counted themselves among her fans, and she sang at the White House for President Gerald Ford. Sadly, Lena’s life was no trip on the good ship Lollipop. From age 13, she suffered from anorexia; depression followed, and so did the end of her singing career.

At age 35, Lena underwent brain surgery in an attempt to finally cure her anorexia. Two weeks later she died of pneumonia. Her life is remembered in six parts on youtube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

B-Side: Mature Lena sings Neil Sedaka’s stirring “Going Nowhere.”

“We just bought a new house. It’s really the first house I’ve ever had and not a hotel. This is our house, and they robbed us.”

See cbs2′s site for the gripping video (and take a moment to appreciate their masterful headline, “Hello Dolly Says Hello To Bank Robber.”)

Talented, energetic 13-year-old youtuber Supermac18 has 59 videos, each ready to blow your mind in a new way. He’s a star!

More! (when you click through): Mac’s take on the “IDK, my BFF Jill” commercial (also played with by fun girl comedy duo The White Africans) makes me see trophies and tiaras in his future!

Thousands of last-minute costume ideas in four fun-filled minutes!

They missed one!: Tim Curry does that thing he does best while singing “Anything Can Happen on Halloween” from 1986′s “The Worst Witch,” when you click through.

This Gothish toe-tapper was Switzerland’s entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Can you believe it didn’t make it to the finals? But it still could go on to become this century’s “Monster Mash.”

Also seasonal: Shirley Bassey does Pink. One killjoy told me this video looks like it should be a Halloween commercial for Target, but so what?

Listener Troy has totally flipped for this clip, the grand finale from an 80s afterschool special, starring Rob Stone from Mr. Belvedere and Wallace Langham from the Larry Sanders Show. Advisory: Don’t jump off warehouse roofs. Also: earworm!

And more: Troy’s also over the moon for “Starbucks Rejection Tour,” a short culture-hacking documentary starring “kooky crooner” DaVido getting kicked out of one Starbucks after another. All he wanted to do was sing his song, man!

Says YouTuber BenBenDD, “crazy look, crazy woman, crazy song…” (Warning: male strippers!)

German transsexual superstar Romy is a former teen circus performer who ran the legendary glitter-rock era Berlin nightclub and cabaret Chez Romy Haag and went on to dazzle dance-floor denizens with sultry Europop hits like this.

Update: Thank you to listener Michael for pointing out that Romy is Dutch (and fabulous), not German.
Hello, Kitt!: Click though to see Romy’s musical catfight with FoF fave Eartha Kitt.

Have you seen it already? This post-apocalyptic stunner was shot in the streets of Berlin.

Kooky FoF pal Miss Understood sent in this campy clip. Though it’s a comedy, “Queen Kong” looks very much like “King Kong” but with boobs (not on the ape, though). The beauty who attracts the beast this time is a foppish fella with a taste for chicken-feather boas. Also stars inflatable dinosaurs, a pugnacious priest, a pervy plant, and Rula Lenska.

Beauty and the beat: Click through, and you will see “Queen Kong” star Robin Askwith perform his song “Confessions” on TV with four tiny dancers while looking like Ewan McGregor in “Velvet Goldmine.”

This clip’s many pleasures are obvious—my favorite is the audience’s reaction at the end: stunned silence. Thank you to listener David for the clip.

More from the pageant scene: Click through and see Miss Black America 2001 contestant Tandi Iman Dupree’s routine to “Holding Out for a Hero,” featuring one of the most phenomenal entrances in the history of showbiz.

After a long spoken intro, Shingo Mama busts out a hyper-hyper kids’-show production number about getting up in the morning. Notes listener Olah, “Shingo Mama is off the chain!” Watch out for a surprise guest appearance from a legendary American musician. Thank you for the clip, listener Steve.

More, more, more: Click to witness Shingo Mama’s overtures to heartthrob Gackt.

Last night, the mind-boggling Eartha Kitt wowed ‘em at Puffy‘s party and even treated curbside onlookers to a few bars of this insightful, Dietrich-esque camp classic.

And that ain’t all: After the jump, intense young Eartha forcefully delivers one of her signature songs, “I Want to Be Evil.”

American Gay wins 100 metres at track worlds (CBC)

Gay Cements Status as World’s Fastest Man with Help From Mom (Bloomberg)

Gay destroys Powell to win world 100m title (Reuters Canada)

Gay wins battle of the sprint kings (Times Online, UK)

A twee boy with broad shoulders wearing a fitted black T-shirt and tight jeans plays ukulele and sings a fruitiful rendition of a Beatles song on a beach. Five stars! You know who he reminds me of? Brendan Fowler from Barr!

Same song, different ladies: Dionne Warwick and Anne Murray duet on “Solid Gold.”