The title of today's post is lifted wholesale from a dear friend's Facebook status, which was where I first read that the greatest prize-enhancer of all time, Adriana Xenides, had passed away at the young age of 54.

His short eulogy summed up both Xenides' legacy as a glamorous personality of Australian television's gaudiest era and something deeper.

It spoke directly to pre-teen me, who found Xenides - so often kitted out in the best the Australian fashion industry had to offer - to be the very last word in sophisticated glamour.

As we are all too keenly aware, in later years the former glamazon was reduced to a life of relative solitude (her choice) punctuated only by the occasional vaguely sordid women's magazine interview (her... mortgage's choice?) like this:



Back when Adriana was spinning letters, though, she was - like Jessica Rabbit, That's Dancin'! co-host Maureen Delacy, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid - my personal fashion hero.

It's true that when you're little, your concepts of taste and style can leave a little to be desired in later life.

After all, at the same young age at which I idolised Adriana, I thought the ultimate indication that I had "made it" (i.e. once I'd grown up) would be a house full of chandeliers and porcelain Pierrot masks accented with glitter:


Mmm... glamorous and tasteful.

But Adriana's appeal wasn't just chintz value. She had a charming television presence, and handled those spinning letters with as much aplomb as could be expected. Unlike the (arguably equally mythologised) Price Is Right girls, Adriana had class and poise.

Look, here she is with Burgo, taking Australian Wheel Of Fortune to the world when its American counterpart hosted an "Around The Word" series of specials: 



I love the knowing nod she and Vanna White give each other at 1:14-minutes. The role of "letter girl" or "barrel girl" or "prize enhancer" has the potential to make its holder a human punchline, but both White and Xenides took their gigs to somewhere transcendent.

What was particularly appealing about Xenides - again, in stark contrast to the mute Price Is Right Girls - was her personality.

As Pat notes in the above video, she wasn't afraid of a bit of sparring with the show's host, or a kicky little "derrr" facial expression or head-tilt when a contestant made a particularly dumb decision. She was sassy and smart.

For young girls in the '80s and '90s Adriana was a glam icon, a Barbie come to life in the best way (with a cool job, a sparky personality, and a wicked wardrobe), and to young (and not so young) boys she was an object of the sort of desire that went beyond a simple "cor, she's hot".

She occupied a rarefied air and the sensibility of a television era that is now long gone. Her beauty and glamour were accessible yet her persona made her real.

To borrow from Robert Menzies and quote the Elizabethan poet Thomas Ford,

There is a lady sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleas'd my mind;
I did but see her passing by,
And yet I love her till I die.

Her gesture, motion, and her smiles,
Her wit, her voice, my heart beguiles,
Beguiles my heart, I know not why,
And yet I love her till I die.

Her free behaviour, winning looks,
Will make a lawyer burn his books;
I touch'd her not, alas! not I,
And yet I love her till I die.

Dear Adriana, I'd like to buy a vowel: _'LL M_SS YOU.