It's a class of human known to many if not all American male homosexuals of a certain age: the kid-friendly proto-diva. Before we had an appreciation for drag queens and the Eternal Divas, before we even had identifiable erotic urges, many a pre-sexual young gay man got his first clue of what makes his psycho-sexual disposition distinct by forming deep and immediate emotional alliances with a certain type of female performer. These performers were all fascinating representations of womanhood, making the blonde-and-perfect Price Is Right models look like the dullards they were (or were at least required to be). But these spunky gay-boy-attracting proto-divas also seemed to be part Muppet, in a way that was endlessly attractive to a kid just learning of his own freakiness. Representative figures in this genre of human: Dolly Parton. Lily Tomlin. Nell Carter. Ruth Buzzi. Karen Carpenter. Cher. Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life. Endora from Bewitched.

And, of course, the late, great Madeline Kahn, whose birthday we commemorate today with this clip of her in all her full, Muppety, proto-diva glory, from that classic of training-wheels camp, Clue.

(And here she is brushing her hair while singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.")