It’s Martha Raye and the USA

The flags and bunting are starting to come down after the July 4 holiday, but at one home in Bel-Air, quirkily devoted to the twin spirits of America and entertainer Martha Raye, toning down the stars-and-stripes theme won’t be a quick task.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Mark Harris, an actor who was married to Raye for the last four years of her life, adorned his house with patriotic murals, images of Raye and the slogans “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” and “Victory for All Americans!” in large red letters. It was, he says, both an expression of patriotism and a homage to Raye’s decades of entertaining U.S. troops from World War II to the Vietnam War. “I wouldn’t call it a shrine. I find it synonymous: Martha Raye-patriotism, Martha Raye-America. She was a very proud American. It’s a tribute. I’m not a lunatic.”

The house, in all its tricolor glory, has been impossible to miss. One wall displays a Lady Liberty mural that’s nearly 10 feet high, with the words, “Feel the Spirit of Martha Raye / Help Protect the U.S.A.!” “I started doing flags” -- 111 at one point, now down to nine -- “and then I envisioned [the house] as a canvas to put out some Americana,” says Harris, who raised eyebrows in 1991 when he became Raye’s seventh husband. (She was 75, he 42.)

The response to his paint job has been mostly positive, including some kind notes and patriotic candles left on his door, he says. But one man’s paean is another’s pain. “I’ve had difficulty with one neighbor,” he admits.

And now, he’s retiring the color scheme. Apparently, it’s time to start moving on. The paintings of Raye in front, the bald eagle and George W. Bush in the back will stay, Harris says, but “I am taking down the written words. The nine flags will remain.” He’ll keep photos of the house in its “patriotic period” on his Web site (www.akamarkharris.com/april/martha.html), but in a few weeks, “I’m going to paint it a Mediterranean yellow. It’s the color of peace.”

-- Michael T. Jarvis