A comedy club in Lima, Ohio, is raising money to launch a museum exhibit honoring trailblazing stand-up comic Phyllis Diller. Lima was Diller’s hometown.
Limaland Comedy is hosting the third annual Lima’s Funniest Lady Festival to help generate funds for a permanent exhibit focused on the legendary singer, dancer and actress at the Allen County Museum. The event will take place on July 16–19.
Gina Chiappazzi of Limaland Comedy describes the late Dillard as “an inspiration for women, because she broke into an industry that’s still male-dominated, and she was better than nearly all of them.”
The Allen County Museum already includes some Diller-related items, including one of her dresses and two paintings that she herself painted. But the museum’s director, Patricia Smith, is eager to expand the collection and to offer visitors a more elaborate exhibit. “Our goal is to get [Diller] a good, solid exhibit inside the museum that does her legacy justice,” explained Chiappazzi.
Aside from her stand-up, Diller is perhaps best known for her television appearances and film collaborations with Bob Hope in the ’60s, including the box-office hit “Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!” Diller died in 2012 at the age of 95.
For more information on the Funniest Lady Festival, visit Limaland Comedy’s website here.
[via The Lima News and Yahoo! News]
