Male Tan Lines

February 21

2012-02-21T00:05:00.007-05:00

February 20

2012-02-20T00:03:00.000-05:00

February 19

2012-02-19T00:05:00.008-05:00

Actor Dick Sargent

Actor Dick Sargent (1930-1994) was best known as the “second” Darrin on the 1960s TV sit-com, Bewitched. In a strange twist of fate, he was the original choice for the role when the show began, but a studio scheduling conflict prevented his taking the job when production began in 1964. Dick York played the character Darrin from the show’s inception until 1969, when Sargent took over the role, since a chronic back ailment prevented York from continuing the part. The network offered viewers no explanation for the different appearance of Darrin from 1969 through the show’s last season in 1972.

Sargent’s professional career began in the mid 1950s, and he worked until a year before his death from cancer in 1994. There was high drama in the last years of his life, when he openly declared his homosexuality. He called himself a “retroactive role model” in the battle for gay rights. Prior to his coming out in 1991, tabloids had written salacious items about Sargent’s relationship with a “young black guy.” Sargent commented on the tabloid outing at the time: “I'm not against outing in terms of being pegged as gay. I am gay, I always was. It can't really hurt me now, I mean professionally. But for them to reveal it as if they caught you, like some dirty little secret – that was despicable.” Sargent had a long-time male partner for 20 years before the man's death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979. From 1989 until his death, Sargent’s partner was African-American producer and writer Albert Williams.

Sargent gave an interview in which he talked about how so many Hollywood marriages are shams, especially those involving a gay actor – “strategic moves” was the term he used. Dick also commented on the large percentage of gay actors among his Bewitched cast: “Now, whether George Tobias was gay or not, I couldn't say. But he never married, and his friends were always guys; he showed no interest whatsoever in women...”

OK, then. This statement inspired me to do a little Internet research, and I found this comment:

At the funeral of George Tobias, Bob Siler, working as a parking attendant, noticed that there were more World War II vets than anyone else in attendance. One mourner told him that it was “well known among servicemen that if they were in Los Angeles, they were more than welcome to stay at George's ranch instead of spending money on a hotel. Everything was on George, who ‘couldn't do enough’ for the men fighting for his country”.

Guess that explains it.

Sargent’s take on being recognized as a celebrity: “Most of it is a pain in the ass. Sure, it can get you a theater ticket or a better seat in a restaurant, but a lot of times it's having your dinner interrupted or being asked for an autograph at the urinal.”

In June 1992, Sargent was Grand Marshal of the Los Angeles Gay Pride parade along with actress and former Bewitched co-star Elizabeth Montgomery.

He also spoke about what a gentleman Cary Grant was. The two went out on several dates, but there was no sexual activity, according to Sargent. “He hated being alone. He liked being around good-looking men. In fact, I heard all his secretaries were good-looking young men. He was indeed very closeted, but he didn't avoid you if you were a good-looking guy, the way some others will. I was just thrilled to be socializing with Cary Grant. It was the two of us, we'd go out together, then we'd talk, but nothing else.” Grant and Sargent made two movies together, but Sargent’s screen debut was in a 1954 film with Ronald Reagan (Prisoner of War). I’m not making this up.

When Sargent died after a 4-year struggle with prostate cancer at age 64, with his partner Albert Williams, age 37, at his side.

February 18

2012-02-18T00:18:00.000-05:00

February 17

2012-02-17T00:07:00.000-05:00

February 16

2012-02-16T00:34:00.007-05:00

February 15

2012-02-15T00:12:00.018-05:00

Power Couple Recipe:
Facebook+Freedom to Marry

While we're still basking in the glow of Valentine's Day, let's visit Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes (right) and partner Sean Eldridge (left), political director for Freedom to Marry, who announced their engagement a year ago. Hughes had proposed in the traditional way – down on one knee with a ring in a box – while the couple were celebrating New Years in Thailand. Four months later they were on the cover of The Advocate, headlining the annual list of forty LGBT leaders/newsmakers under the age of 40 (in their case, way under 40).

At age 19 Hughes was at Harvard on a scholarship when he and three friends founded Facebook. The 2010 movie The Social Network recounted that tale (Chris Hughes was played by actor Patrick Mapel). In 2006 Chris graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, then lived for a year in California. In 2007 he left for Chicago, where he oversaw the social media efforts of presidential candidate Barack Obama, who was then a long shot. The media subsequently put Hughes on a pedestal, honoring him with headlines such as “The kid who made Obama president.” Having made his fortune off Facebook (at least $500 million), he launched Jumo.com, a social networking hub aimed at connecting donors and volunteers to non-profit organizations.

Hughs met Sean Eldridge on a blind date in November 2005, when Eldridge was still a social network virgin. “I literally joined Facebook the day I met Chris,” Sean relates. Eldridge, three years younger than Hughes, also went on to campaign for Obama, as part of the team that put together Students for Obama. Heady from their political success, in 2008 they dined as a couple at the White House, as guests of Obama at his first state dinner. By 2009 Eldridge was a law school student at Columbia University, but dropped out in order to fight full time for the right to marry. Eldridge became communications director for the national group Freedom to Marry in early 2010 and was soon promoted to political director.

Since the couple make their in-town home in NYC’s Soho district, this cause was especially close to their hearts. Then, on July 24, 2011, New York State passed legislation giving gay couples the right to marry. Nevertheless, they decided to stick to their wedding date this coming June. They have planned a rehearsal dinner at Per Se, an intimate wedding at the couple’s home in Garrison, NY, and a reception that evening at Cipriani Wall Street, all orchestrated by Bryan Rafanelli, who planned Chelsea Clinton’s wedding.

With a victory in Washington State still just hours old, there are currently only seven states plus the District of Columbia where gay marriages have legal recognition – Massachusetts, Iowa, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington and DC. California allowed gays to marry for six months in 2008, until the Proposition 8 initiative reversed the legislation. A week ago the Ninth Circuit Court of California ruled 2 to 1 that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, so stay tuned. If there is a momentum gathering for same sex marriage, Eldridge deserves a large amount of credit. Hughes is a major donor to Freedom to Marry and serves as an advisor. “As a gay man, I want the freedom to marry Sean so we can build a family and a life together over the long term,” Hughes says. “I think marriage is a basic fundamental freedom that every American should have.”

We all owe a huge debt to these two men. With the advantage of wealth, the force of passionate conviction and wisdom beyond their years, Hughes and Eldridge are destined to become major forces in progressive politics.

Wow -- to be young, rich and famous. But let's come back down to earth and have a look at some sexy tan lines:

February 14

2012-02-14T22:49:00.002-05:00

Private Romeo's Rising Stars Seth Numrich & Matt Doyle
Costar in Gay Indie Film & Hit Broadway Stage Play

Young Broadway actors Matt Doyle and Seth Numrich (pronounced NOOM-rick) are filmed shaving in a locker room of a boys’ military high school – while delivering lines in iambic pentameter from Shakespeare. You’re not hallucinating, you’re watching director-writer Alan Brown’s Private Romeo, a provocative all-male film version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Brown tosses in YouTube videos, social networking and lip-synched Indie rock for a contemporary take on the Bard’s tale of star-crossed young lovers – as gay male soldiers-in-training. Brown gets the deed done with an all-male cast of eight in a compressed 90-minute film now showing in select markets after numerous accolades at various film festivals. Amazingly, much of Shakespeare’s script is intact. For added realism Private Romeo was filmed at the SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx, a high school in Mineola and Sarah Lawrence College.

From the routine of military training to stolen moments in shadowy hallways, Private Romeo's martial backdrop is a hotbed of homophobia and hazing rituals. Instead of Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers from rival families, the tension is transferred to eight male cadets, the only students on the grounds due to their peers going on a land navigation exercise. They engage in marching, classwork, homework, and physical exercises. The classwork entails reading aloud from Romeo and Juliet. In the early moments the young men take on this task with a sort of goofy glee, mocking the boys portraying the female roles. But as the days pass, each becomes his part, and Sam/Romeo and Glenn/Juliet find themselves enamored with each other outside of class. The Bard’s celebrated play has a history of adaptability, having been transformed into Broadway’s classic West Side Story.

While filming Private Romeo together, Numrich (identifies as straight) and Doyle (identifies as gay) both auditioned for and were cast in Broadway’s War Horse, the Tony Award winner for Best Play of 2011. Both the current movie version of War Horse and the stage play are based on Michael Morpurge’s novel, acclaimed in all three forms. Private Romeo’s Seth Numrich (Private Sam Singleton) snagged the leading role of Albert in War Horse (still playing at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater). Doyle, who played Albert's cousin on stage, also understudied for Numrich's role. Numrich was the youngest student ever admitted into Juilliard's drama department, enrolling at age 15 in 2002. He played Adam in Gravity (2010), a TV comedy series about a group of eccentrics in an out-patient program for suicide survivors. Seth, who was a presenter at the 2011 Tony Awards, is a long distance runner when offstage.

Seth Numrich (with his arm around co-star Sean Hudock) in a behind-the-scenes video while making Private Romeo:

Numrich introduces War Horse as a nominee (and eventual winner) for Best Play of 2011 at the Tony Awards ceremony:

Matt Doyle (Cadet Glenn Mangan), who originated the role of Billy Narracott in Broadway’s War Horse, appeared on Broadway at age 19 in the hugely successful Spring Awakening. As well he played Jonathan (Eric’s boyfriend) on three seasons of TV’s Gossip Girl. Matt left War Horse last month to begin work on Giant, a new musical based on Edna Ferber’s novel. Doyle will play the role of Jordy Jr, portrayed by a young Dennis Hopper in the 1956 film (Giant is remembered as James Dean’s last starring film role, released after his death).

When not acting, Doyle (right) also performs as a songwriter, pop vocalist and recording artist. On August 15, 2011, Matt appeared at NYC's celebrated Le Poisson Rouge (video clip follows) to mark the release of Daylight, his first EP of 5 original songs, co-written with Will Van Dyke. Inspired by the golden age of soul music, Daylight includes a cover of Sam Cooke’s Lost and Lookin’.

Alan Brown (right) is gay writer and director of three feature-length Indie films, including Private Romeo. His film short, O Beautiful, was included as a segment of Boys Life 4: Four Play. Brown is currently shooting his latest project and fourth feature film, Five Dances, again as both writer and director. He is also the author of the award-winning novel, Audrey Hepburn's Neck, set in Japan.

Well then, guess it's time to share some male tan lines with your Valentine. Speaking of war horses:

February 13

2012-02-13T00:05:00.009-05:00

February 12

2012-02-12T04:48:00.010-05:00

February 11

2012-02-11T00:46:00.000-05:00

February 10

2012-02-10T00:45:00.013-05:00

Birthday boy Ari Gold

WARNING: Full rear nudity! He describes his own sound as "smooth, soulful, jazzy and funky." Born and raised in the Bronx by parents who were Orthodox Jews, he first gained recognition as a singer when he performed a solo at the age of five for his brother’s Bar Mitzvah. A guest at the Bar Mitzvah happened to be putting on a Jewish children's song festival and invited Ari Gold to participate. He performed along with his two older brothers, and they won first prize. From there, the festival engineer told him about an audition, and Ari got the lead. Then he got an agent and was regularly taken out of Yeshiva to go to work.

Soon he had 400 jingles under his belt, and he sang backup for Diana Ross (on her Swept Away album), well on his way to a successful professional singing career. He was also harboring the secret that he was gay, even from a very young age. Gold finally came out to his best friend at Yeshiva high school when he was 16, and to everyone else at age 18. It was not a huge surprise, because he had a shrine to Madonna in his room and had mostly played with girls (and their Barbies) when he was younger. He admits all that likely did not escape his parents’ attention. "C'mon, they're not clueless. They were pretty sophisticated Orthodox Jews."

His parents were fairly accepting, but along with coming out, he stopped being observant. That was more difficult for his parents to accept than his revealing his homosexuality.

Ari released his self-titled debut album in 2000, receiving acclaim from Billboard, HITS and VIBE for being the first openly gay pop singer who was out from the beginning of his musical career. The debut album included something unprecedented in R&B/pop: explicit gay love songs. He has released five albums, the most recent being Between the Spirit & the Flesh (2011). "This one was a big deal for me," he says, "every level of my identity: as a Jewish person, as a homosexual and where we are in the gay civil rights movement – all these layers of my identity." Assuming the role of a vampire for the video to "Make My Body Rock" panders to the metaphor of revelation and transformation.

Ari attended Yale and graduated with honors from NYU. He gives talks at community centers, synagogues and universities about growing up gay and Orthodox and is a contributing writer to the anthology CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay and Religious in America. Sir Ari received his Knighthood at the 24th Annual Night Of 1000 Gowns by the Imperial Court of New York for his commitment to LGBT issues and HIV/AIDS. Ari's activism and charity work also includes the HRC, UJA, Soulforce, Ali Forney Center, ACLU, Bialy House, amFAR, Live Out Loud and GMHC on HIV/AIDS awareness and research, homelessness and human rights. His career has also encompassed turns as a songwriter, music producer, actor and model. Whew!

He continues his tireless work as an advocate for the gay community and the pursuit of equal rights. "Music is political, and I don’t like when people try to pretend it’s not," he says, always using his platform as an out gay artist. "It’s never too late to learn and that’s something that both my parents (who were teachers) have always taught me." But between his responsibility to nourish his spirit and feed the flesh, Sir Ari still finds time to dance.

Ari celebrates a birthday tomorrow, February 11, when he will turn 35. He still lives in Manhattan, where he is a fourth generation Lower East Sider, born there in 1977.

My Favorite Religion
(music video, the third from the album Between the Spirit & the Flesh, released a few days ago)

To say that this video is edgy is understatement. It contains both full rear nudity (Mr. Gold has a sexy, muscular butt – as you’ll note at the 2:21 timing mark), a Tallit (Jewish prayer shawl, at the 3:40 mark) and implied sex with a Christian cleric (at 3:04). And you can dance to it. Have a look and listen:

Wow. Now back to the tan lines:

February 9

2012-02-09T00:16:00.003-05:00

Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg

Ginsberg (1926-1997), a Beat Generation poet, wrote a long poem, Howl, in 1956. Its famous opening line:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.

The poem warns of the destructive forces of materialism and conformity in the United States at the time, and its first hearing was an iconic moment in the social upheaval of the 1960s.

Allen Ginsberg was born into a New Jersey Jewish family, the son of poet/teacher father and a mother who was a member of the Communist party. At Columbia University Allen Ginsberg (who was never himself a Communist), met Lucien Carr, who introduced him to Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and John Clellon Holmes, all future Beat Generation writers. They bonded over the potential they saw in the youth of America, as a counter movement to the post-WWII McCarthy era.

In San Francisco, Ginsberg met 21-year-old Peter Orlovsky (1933-2010), with whom he fell in love. Ginsberg encouraged Orlovsky to try writing poetry, and they became life-long partners. Orlovsky’s gentleness and kindness were a perfect foil to Ginsberg’s brittle coldness. There Ginsberg met members of the San Francisco Renaissance and other poets who would become part of a broader, expanded Beat Generation. Ginsberg planned a poetry reading at the Six Gallery, advertising the event as Six Poets at the Six Gallery. The reading, held on October 7, 1955, brought together the East and West Coast factions of the Beat Generation. It was the first public reading of Howl, the poem that brought world-wide fame to Ginsberg and many of the poets associated with him.

Because of its explicit, raw language, Howl was considered scandalous when it was first published. Banned for obscenity shortly after its 1956 publication, that action became a cause célèbre among defenders of the First Amendment; the ban was rescinded after a judge declared the poem as having redeeming social importance.

Orlovsky (left) and Ginsberg in Paris, 1957:

Ginsberg's speech and writings about taboo subjects made him a controversial figure in the conservative 1950s, but he continued to tackle sensitive and inflammatory subjects throughout the next four decades. His openness about homosexuality, including his love of young men, was a constant expression. In his poetry he wrote openly and graphically about his desire for the freedom of men to love other men, paving the way for other writers to express themselves more honestly. As well, his use of language deemed indecent challenged obscenity laws, ultimately changing them.

Allen Ginsberg succumbed to cancer fifteen years ago. He died on April 5, 1997, at age 70, surrounded by family and friends in his East Village loft in New York City. All of us owe our legal freedom of expression to this man who bravely challenged the status quo.

February 8

2012-02-08T00:11:00.014-05:00

Art by Ulf

Ulf produces erotic illustrations in a photo-realism style that usually depict men of exaggerated physical proportions engaging in homosexual activity. Frequent themes are the military, S/M and water sports (not to mention tan lines!). He also draws fantasy images under the name Cerrin.

Ulf was born in a military hospital in Portsmouth, Va., was raised in a military family in Georgia and now resides and works in West Virginia. He has had minimal formal art training and says that “anything else you’d want to know about me can be found in my art work.” Artist Ulf has a birthday next week, on February 16. You can send him birthday wishes at:
ulfr57@gmail.com

A large sampling of his work can be found at:
http://www.daddyshere.com/posers/ulf/dangerous-marine/dangerous-marine.asp

Amazing stuff. Now let's move on to the tan lines.

February 7

2012-02-07T00:04:00.012-05:00

Charles Frohman: Paramount Pictures Centennial

Charles Frohman (1856-1915), an American theatrical producer of both stage and screen, was one of three founders of The Famous Players Film Company (1912), which merged into Paramount Pictures, celebrating its hundredth anniversary this year. Today owned by Viacom, Paramount is America's oldest existing film studio and the last major film studio still headquartered in Hollywood.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. In the late nineteenth century Frohman developed a “star and combination system” in which his stage stars and their original casts would tour the country after opening runs in New York City, a feat that revolutionized theater in the U.S. He mimicked the success of this system in London, as well. Frohman then organized the Theatrical Syndicate, which made stars of many playwrights and actors under his control. He thus wielded significant influence in matters of theatrical taste on both sides of the Atlantic. By the turn of the century he was the leading impresario of both New York and London, bringing British plays to New York and vice-versa. Frohman’s NY headquarters and office were in his Empire Theater, across the street from the Metropolitan Opera, at Broadway and 40th St. Beloved actor John Drew held sway here for more than 20 years (photo below), but Maud Adams, a celebrity actress in her day, created the role of Peter Pan here in 1907, the landmark event that theater goers would probably most remember about the Empire (sadly demolished in 1953).

However, Frohman soon set his sights on movies. The slogan for Frohman’s Famous Player Film Company was “Famous Players in Famous Plays,” offering feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by showcasing the leading theatrical players of the time, including Sarah Bernhardt and Mary Pickford. Famous Player distributed its films through the start-up company Paramount (1914), the first successful nation-wide distributor. Until this time, films were sold on a state or regional basis, which was costly to film producers. In 1916, Famous Player Film Company merged with Lasky Features and Paramount distributors to become Paramount Pictures.

Tragically, Frohman never lived to see the merger that would spawn the creation of a worldwide cinematic powerhouse. A discrete homosexual, Frohman had a longtime live-in partner, theater critic Charles Dillingham (1868–1934), who had became a well-known producer. Dillingham (1916 photo at right) produced nine musicals each by composers Victor Herbert and Jerome Kern. By 1914 Dillingham was operating the massive Hippodrome Theatre, staging some of the largest spectacles New York had ever seen. He also collaborated with Florenz Ziegfeld and showcased the dance team of Adele and Fred Astaire. Charles Dillingham was also the inspiration for Billings, the fictional character played by Frank Morgan in MGM's movie, The Great Ziegfeld (1936).

In 1915 Frohman left Charles in New York to go to the aid of his favorite playwright, J. M. Barrie (noted author of Peter Pan). Barrie’s current play was troubled by a faltering London production, and Frohman, at age 58, sailed to the rescue on the ill-fated Lusitania, which went down within sight of the Irish coast. Calmly puffing a cigar as the ship was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, Frohman met his end as bravely as any stage hero, coolly intoning: "Why fear death? It's the greatest adventure of all" (a paraphrase of a line from Peter Pan: “To die would be an awfully big adventure.") For his epitaph Frohman asked that he be remembered as "The man who gave Barrie’s Peter Pan to the world and Rostand’s Chantecler to America."

The date of this newsprint warning by Germany (above) is dated April 22, 1915; the Germans torpedoed the British liner on May 7.

The night of the Lusitania’s sinking, John Ryland, on staff at Frohman’s Empire Theater in New York, was inspecting the building at closing time when he saw Charles Frohman sitting at his desk in his fifth-floor office. The light was on, and Frohman was looking over all of his pictures and theater memorabilia that were laid out on top of his desk. Ryland was perplexed, as he had seen Charles off on the Lusitania only a few days prior. The staffer asked why Frohman was back and if there was anything he could do. Frohman shook his head, saying, “No, you can’t help me, John. Just leave me alone here for a few minutes. Thanks – and goodbye.”

Ryland left the room and quickly returned with the house manager, two box office boys, a press agent, and Frohman’s office boy, Peter Mason, all of them unbelieving. Frohman’s office was dark, empty, and everything was where it was supposed to be. The men laughed at Ryland, although some were unsettled by his insistence of what he saw. After subsequently learning of Frohman’s death, Ryland never entered Frohman’s office again, despite continuing to work at the theater for the next twenty years.

Coinciding with the centennial anniversary of Paramount, the restored and remastered version of the silent film Wings (1927) was released last week on DVD and Blu-Ray. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Picture in an award ceremony at the Hotel Roosevelt, which still welcomes Hollywood guests across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. This film about WW I fighter pilots also features the oldest extant male-male kiss, between actors Richard Arlen and Charles “Buddy” Rogers. Have a look at the restored footage:

February 6

2012-02-06T22:40:00.001-05:00

Post Superbowl Funk:
Brady, Welker and Gronk are in need of some serious consolation, so step up to the plate, guys! Oh wait, that's baseball.

So we can just drown our sorrows in some hot male tan lines. Let's start with our loyal reader/contributor Scott, followed by some of his colleagues:

February 5

2012-02-05T16:42:00.000-05:00

A reminder that the SUPERBOWL is about football:

..but there will be a new post shortly after midnight EST, so check back soon.

Composer/Lyricist Jerry Herman

Jerry Herman (b. 1931) is the only Broadway composer/lyricist in history to have three musicals run more than 1500 performances each: Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles.

Raised in NYC, he spent summers in the Berkshires directing plays and musicals at his parents' camp. After college Herman produced the off-Broadway 1954 revue I Feel Wonderful, forged from material he had written at the University of Miami (the university’s theater, the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, is now named after him). It was his only show his mother was able to see, since she died of cancer at the age of 44, shortly after the revue opened. Her death caused a crippling depression for Herman.

In an attempt to dispel his grief, Herman put together a revue called Nightcap in 1958. It ran for two years. His Broadway debut came in 1960 with From A to Z, a revue that featured contributions from newcomer Fred Ebb. Producer Gerard Oestreicher approached him after seeing his work and asked Herman to compose the score for a show about the founding of the state of Israel. The result was 1961's Milk and Honey, his first full-fledged Broadway musical.

In 1964, famed producer David Merrick hired Herman for a project that was to become his most successful endeavor, Hello, Dolly!, starring Carol Channing. The original production ran 2,844 performances, the longest running musical of its time, and the show fostered three revivals. It won 10 Tony Awards, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years, until The Producers won 12 in 2001.

Herman wrote in his memoir that David Merrick was "a very tough man who loved to intimidate people." After Merrick saw Milk and Honey, he asked to meet with Herman. Merrick was looking for a composer-lyricist to write the songs for Hello Dolly! Herman requested a copy of the script and asked if he could have the weekend to come up with some songs. "Those three days were the turning point of my career. I produced those four songs in two days of the wildest, most intensive writing binge of my life. I was like a crazed person, pacing up and down in the middle of the night, scribbling down lyrics and popping candy in my mouth. But I was young, I was full of energy, and I wanted this happy, brightly colored American musical more than anything in the world. I was determined to get this job. There was a new aggressiveness in me, this desperate need to prove something to myself. I killed myself for this job." On Monday morning, after hearing the songs, Merrick said, "Kid, the show is yours."

The production was an enormous hit and Herman developed a close friendship with its star, Carol Channing. Working on the show, however, was emotionally traumatic because of the difficult personality of Merrick.

In 1966, Herman delivered another smash hit, Mame, starring Angela Lansbury. Both shows introduced a string of Broadway standard tunes. A 1969 movie version of Hello Dolly! starred Barbra Streisand (ouch!), and Lucille Ball (double ouch!) starred in the film version of Mame (1974). For years both Streisand and Ball suffered invidious comparisons to Channing and Lansbury.

Hello Dolly! star Carol Channing (Dolly Levi) and Lee Roy Reams (Cornelius Hackl) flank composer/lyricist Herman in a photo at the time of the show’s 1978 Broadway revival.

Three disappointments followed: Dear World (1969, starring Angela Lansbury), Mack & Mabel (1974, starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters), and The Grand Tour (1979, starring Joel Grey). Interestingly enough, Herman considers the score of Mack & Mabel his personal favorite. The show had a successful revival in London’s West End in 2006.

After the initial failure of Mack & Mabel, Herman became depressed and did not want to write musicals anymore. The financial success of Dolly had allowed Herman to buy a rowhouse from playwright Edward Albee at 50 W. 10th St. (Greenwich Village), NYC, and refurbish it. The structure dated from 1868, when it served as stables. Prior to Albee, it had belonged to renowned Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans. House Beautiful ran an article on Herman's renovation, and a second career was born. During the 1970s, he turned to renovating and decorating houses and reselling them, finding decorating projects therapeutic.

In 1983, Herman struck gold again with La Cage aux Folles, breaking box-office records at the Palace Theatre, and winning another Tony Award for Best Musical.After the phenomenal success of La Cage aux Folles, Herman left the world of Broadway and moved to Bel Air, California, where he mourned the death of his long-term partner and dealt quietly with his own HIV-positive status, which was ungracefully made public in 1992 by New York Post columnist Cindy Adams.

His 1996 memoir, Showtune, relates stories “about that fabulous era when there were 20 musicals a season. Mary Martin in one and Gwen Verdon in another. It was a very heady, exciting time, and I had a little part in it," he says. "I also wanted to tell the story honestly of a gay man in America who was comfortable with that persuasion. But almost more than the stories about Ethel Merman and Pearl Bailey, I wanted to tell people in my situation that there are medications now that can normalize your system.”

Though his shows have raised the spirits of millions, Herman believes his participation in the mid-1990s experimental study of protease inhibitors was more important: "My medical records were sent to the FDA along with hundreds of others to help get the drug approved. I think that's the best thing I've done for this world."

Herman had settled down with partner Marty Finkelstein, whom he met at a Christmas party. They started their own business renovating Victorian houses in Key West, winning numerous architecture and restoration awards. But after five years together, Finkelstein came down with a bronchial infection that wouldn't go away. Two and a half years together, Finkelstein died of AIDS at the age of 36. "When I saw the grief of his mother, that hit me more than my own grief," Herman said.

At the Palm Springs, CA, home he shared with recently retired real estate broker Terry Marler, his partner of a dozen years, there is a 61-foot swimming pool. "That's my exercise," Herman said. "I'm there a great deal of the time; I swim and swim and swim as often as I can. It gets harder every year. You don't like to think of age as being a problem, so swimming keeps me fit. Terry keeps my life going. He's responsible for laughter and companionship. He's just a great, great partner."

The best Jerry Herman song you've never heard of:

TIME HEALS EVERYTHING (Mack & Mabel)
Sung by Bernadette Peters, who created the role on Broadway.

Herman was awarded a 2009 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, at age 79. "It's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, it really is," Herman said. "It doesn't get any better than this. That's an award from the people that I've worked with all my life. It's beautiful." The award was presented to him by Angela Lansbury, the inimitable star of Mame.

In 2010 he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, at age 80. The next year three of his works were staged in Australia: Milk and Honey, Dear World and Hello, Dolly! The PBS 90-minute documentary, Words and Music by Jerry Herman (2007), is available on DVD.

February 4

2012-02-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

Belgian semi-pro soccer player Jonathan De Falco
Turns to alternate career in porn as Stany Falcone

Jonathan De Falco, 27, was a semi-pro soccer player for the Belgian team Racing Mechelen. After an injury he left the sport last year and entered the gay porn business. His porn name is Stany Falcone, and he appears to be successful in his new career.

“For several months I have had a boyfriend,” De Falco said. “Previously I had a girlfriend, but I always felt attracted to men and never hid it. Since I was 20 I have been active in gay circles, but when I played soccer, nobody said anything. If my orientation would have been known to the public, undoubtedly there would have been problems. The soccer world is not ready for openly gay players. There are still too many prejudices and too little tolerance.”

De Falco says he is not ashamed of being gay, and that he is out to his mother and closest friends. He also says he is enjoying being a porn star, appearing in productions in Europe, England and the U.S.

From a review of one of his porn appearances:
Stany is one of those guys who is so incredibly hot, it almost takes your breath away, from his dark smouldering handsome features, to his incredible body, with solid pecs and sculpted chiselled abs, and hairy muscular legs, even his calves are muscular and well built, totally perfect, as are his beautiful feet.

Well, readers, We'll have to take their word on the feet. Back to the tan lines.

February 3

2012-02-03T00:31:00.006-05:00

Arthur C. Clarke

Famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) was a visionary whose works, which blended scientific expertise and imagination, led to tantalizing ideas and possibilities about outer space and our relation to it. When he died in Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956, he was an out gay man, having posted particulars on his own web site (arthurclarke.org) in 2004.

He and film director Stanley Kubrick gave us the classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey; they were jointly credited with the screenplay. Astronomer Carl Sagan, cosmonauts and media producers alike credited Clarke with influencing the public’s attitudes toward space exploration. Gene Roddenberry acknowledged Clarke’s influence for the courage it took to pursue his “Star Trek” project in the face of ridicule from television executives. English-born Clarke is almost universally proclaimed the preeminent science fiction writer of the 20th century. He delighted in confronting his fictional characters with obstacles they could not overcome without help from forces beyond their comprehension.

“I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books,” he admitted. Yet he did not acknowledged his sexual orientation until 2004, even though he was known to host orgies with young Sri Lankan men for nearly fifty years. Many commented that he thus did a disservice to gay writers throughout the world who admired his work. However, it should be noted that the main character of Imperial Earth was bisexual and lived in a futuristic society in which exclusive heterosexuality and homosexuality were not practiced. Also, the main character of his novel Firstborn was gay.

Among his output of nearly 100 books are some, such as Childhood’s End, that have been in print continuously. His works have been translated into 40 languages. In 1962 he suffered an attack of poliomyelitis, which returned in 1984 as post-polio syndrome, a progressive condition characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue, forcing him to spend the last years of his life in a wheelchair. Still, he kept writing, and accolades continued unabated. English born, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998.

In an effort to keep his homosexual proclivities private, he married an American diving enthusiast named Marilyn Mayfield in 1953. They separated after a few months. An important relationship was with male diver Leslie Ekanayake, who lived with him in Sri Lanka; in fact, the two are buried next to each other. As well, many of Clarke’s young male partners were installed as servants in his Sri Lankan household. Although Clarke was likely spooked by the traumatic false accusations of pedophilia by an English tabloid, his efforts to remain closeted were so successful that few acknowledgments of his homosexuality are extant, even after his 2004 self-outing and subsequent death in 2008. Kubrick biographer John Baxter cites Clarke's homosexuality as a reason why he left England, due to more tolerant laws with regard to homosexuality in Sri Lanka. Fellow science fiction writer Michael Moorcock commented, “Everyone knew he was gay. In the 1950s I'd go out drinking with his boyfriend” (Clarke himself was a teetotaler).

February 2

2012-02-02T00:58:00.000-05:00

Scotty Bowers: Full Service
My Adventures in Hollywood & the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars

It all began with middle aged actor Walter Pidgeon. In 1946 he stopped by a Richfield gas station on Hollywood Boulevard and picked up handsome 23-year-old Scotty Bowers, an ex-Marine pump attendant, by offering a $20 tip. Pidgeon drove Bowers to a private home where they joined Jacques Potts. Pidgeon invited Bowers to use the swimming pool: “It's hot Scotty. Hop in for a swim, I'll join you in a minute ... No need for a suit. There's no one else here.” Scotty relates that Pidgeon’s preference was to give Bowers oral sex while masturbating. There were many repeats of this three-way arrangement of three bisexual men, for which Bowers always earned a $20 bill.

For years Bowers ran a sexual referral service from this gas station, engaging in a Hollywood underground sex trade. If not participating in sexual relations with the customers himself, he arranged for his money-starved ex-Marine buddies to pick up some extra cash. Soon enough he expanded his base to provide companionship and sex for people of every sexual orientation and interest. Although not all of his clients were household names, Bowers had sexual relations with Cary Grant, Edith Piaf, Spencer Tracy, Rock Hudson and Vivien Leigh. Sir Laurence Olivier usually asked Scotty to send over a girl and a boy at the same time.

For years there have been references to a prostitution ring run from a Hollywood gas station, specifically in books by/about agent Henry Wilson and Katherine Hepburn. Hollywood blogs also mention him. Scotty Bowers, now 88 years old, has come forward by writing a tell-all book about his prostitution ring that catered to the rich and famous in the Los Angeles area. Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood And the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars opens the doors of the closeted underworld of old Hollywood. This book was reviewed in last Friday’s New York Times, which mentioned a publication date of February 14, so I was surprised to learn that it is already available in e-book formats.

Bowers had three-way sex with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and then provided them with fresh supplies of mostly homosexual partners during their stays in Los Angeles. We learn that Cole Porter was notoriously promiscuous and loved giving head to young Marines. Tyrone Power, also an ex-Marine, was bisexual but preferred male sexual partners. When he was picked up by Orry-Kelly, Bowers did not know that he was one of Hollywood’s most famous costume designers and a former roommate of Cary Grant.

Katherine Hepburn, whom he encountered at Sunday afternoon socials at the home of George Cukor, asked Bowers for young dark-haired girls who wore little make-up. Hepburn did not like repeats, but one of the approximate 150 girls Bowers provided for Hepburn, named Barbara, became a friend and received a $100,000 check from Hepburn’s estate after the star’s death. Vincent Price wanted boys, and Coral Browne, his third wife, wanted girls.

Bowers attributes the success of his operation to the gas station’s being a safer hangout than gay bars, which were often raided. A 2-bedroom trailer parked behind the service station and a small motel across the street provided a haven for satisfying more immediate needs.

Bowers (at right, circa 1944) says that he is now speaking out, because all of his former customers are now deceased, and the truth can’t hurt them anymore. The last thing he would ever do was damage the career of his customers, most of whom became trusted friends. Because of his advanced age, he wanted to get the book published while he was able. Dominick Dunne considered writing about Scotty’s story, but didn’t get around to it. Dunne’s son, actor and director Griffin Dunne, however, offered a quote for the book jacket: “A jaw-dropping firsthand account of closeted life in Hollywood during the ’40s and ’50s.”

“Sometimes police would come around, sure. But I think I never got caught partly because I kept everything in my head. There was no little black book. Whatever folks wanted, I had it. I could make all their fantasies come true. No matter how outrageous or off-beat people's tastes, I was the one who knew how to get them exactly what they were after. Straight, gay, or bi; male or female; young or old – I had something for everyone. Frankly, I knew Hollywood like no one else knew it.”

Eventually Bowers moved his operations from the gas station to a French restaurant on North La Cienega Blvd., where he worked as a bartender. Phyllis Diller worked there as a standup comedienne, and Julie London sang there. After he left the restaurant Bowers, who supported himself as a handyman and bartender for private parties, continued his eyebrow-raising and largely hidden sideline until the onset of AIDS in the 1980s, when it became too unsafe a game to play anymore.

Matt Tyrnauer, a Vanity Fair magazine writer, is making a documentary about Scotty Bowers, who now resides in the Hollywood Hills with his wife of 27 years. Gore Vidal, a former client, recommends the book on his web site: gorevidalnow.com. The book has been libel-checked, and Alan Schwartz, an entertainment lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, says that some readers might be in tears, especially those who idolize their favorite stars from the past.* The book will be published by Grove Press on February 14 and is written in collaboration with Lionel Friedberg, an award-winning producer of documentaries.

*Cary Grant's daughter says she is "amused" by the notion that her father had homosexual relations. Well, she must be smiling all the time, because she has plenty to be "amused" about. Cary Grant's bisexuality was one of Hollywood's most poorly kept secrets.

Well, there you have it. Now on to the tan lines.

February 1

2012-02-01T01:08:00.004-05:00

OK. It's February 1, and the first thing you did this morning was turn the page on your Calendrier, right? If not, here's a reminder.

January 31

2012-01-31T00:15:00.004-05:00

Jack Wrangler a.k.a. John Stillman

When the big-band era singer Margaret Whiting died at the age of 86 last January, I remember reading a few salacious details in her obituary. Whiting certainly raised eyebrows in 1994 when she married John Stillman, better known as gay porn star Jack Wrangler. At the time of their nuptials he was 47 years old and Whiting 69, yet they forged an unconventional 15-year marriage that lasted until Stillman’s death from emphysema in 2009.

Stillman (1946-2009) was a complex character, an out homosexual who starred in both straight and gay porn, inspiring a feature length documentary film, Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon (2008). His career was about more than porn, however. He was also a TV, stage and movie actor, writer, and theatrical producer and director.

Stillman’s father was a Hollywood TV and film producer, and his mother was a dancer in Busby Berkeley musicals. Growing up in Beverly Hills, his acting career began at age nine on a syndicated television religious family show, The Faith of Our Children. Stillman later wrote that he knew he was gay by the age of ten.

After earning a degree in theater from Northwestern University, he found work in LA and NYC as a stage actor, model and dancer. He easily accommodated the on-stage nudity required by some of his early stage roles and eventually settled in NYC, where he also worked as a go-go dancer and bartender. When Stillman made an appearance in a 1970 male strip show, he used the name "Jack Wrangler," a pseudonym inspired by the label on his Wrangler-brand work shirt. He was approached by a gay pornographic film studio and starred in Eyes of a Stranger (1970), one of the first hard-core gay porn films released commercially in the U.S. Stillman never looked back. He appeared in 47 porn films over a sixteen year period, before retiring from the industry at age 40.

Amazingly he maintained a legitimate acting career while making porn films, appearing in stage roles from 1979 through the mid 1980s. He published his autobiography, The Jack Wrangler Story, or What's a Nice Boy Like You Doing?, in 1984. The next year Stillman wrote the book for the musical, I Love You, Jimmy Valentine, starring Margaret Whiting, whom he had met in a nightclub in 1976. Wrangler later recalled: “I was with my manager when I looked over at Margaret, who was surrounded by five guys in a booth. There she was with the hair, the furs and the big gestures. I thought, 'Boy, now that's New York! That's glamour!' I had to meet her.” Within in weeks of first meeting, they began a romance and became the very definition of The Odd Couple.

Urged by Whiting to give up his porn career and live erotic shows, Stillman eventually turned his attention to her cabaret career, plunging headlong into a dizzying number of projects. He became a board member of the Johnny Mercer Foundation and worked to promote Mercer's music, writing and producing a 1985 cabaret show for Whiting which featured Mercer's music. In 1996 Stillman co-wrote and produced Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: The Jazz Concert, inspired by the Mercer music used in the film. He helped conceive the 1997 Broadway revue Dream, which starred Whiting singing Mercer songs. He developed a ballet based on Mercer's 1946 musical, St. Louis Woman, which was performed by the Dance Theater of Harlem in 2003. Stillman also wrote and produced cabaret shows for singer Carol Woods from 1984 to 2001. He wrote, directed, or produced a number of other plays, musicals and revues, including The Valentine Touch, The First Lady and Other Stories of Our Times, and Irina Abroad! In his spare time he penned a column on health and fitness, "Wrangler's Weights and Measures", for the gay-lifestyle magazine Au Contraire.

Many years ago I remember being bored by a cabaret performance by Whiting at the Fairfax Hotel in Washington DC, in which she seemed to be just going through the motions to earn a paycheck. Now I know that all the spark in her life was at home, not on the cabaret stage.

January 30

2012-01-30T04:30:00.002-05:00

David Geffen

I try to avoid posting snarky stuff, but I am possessed of demons this morning.

Billionaires love their flashy toys, and David Geffen (born 1943) is no exception. He has a weakness for heart-stoppingly expensive yachts. He owns Pelorus, a 377-ft. $300 million trinket with two helicopter pads. At 453 feet, the mega-yacht Rising Sun is 76 feet longer, making it the eight largest yacht in the world. It has a basketball court. I’m not making this up. Why settle for one yacht, when you really need two?

I think exactly the same way.

He also collects art, especially paintings by American artists. In 2006 he sold Jackson Pollock's 1948 painting No. 5, 1948 from his collection for $140 million. The sale made No. 5, 1948 the most expensive painting ever sold, outstripping the $134 million paid a month earlier by cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder for Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I**. No. 5, 1948 was originally owned by Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr. and displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC (above).

Geffen’s super hot 28-year old partner Jeremy Lingvall (born 1983), who graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2006 (!), attended the Obama’s first White House state dinner* (in honor of Indian prime minister Singh) on Geffen’s arm – well, not literally. And Lingvall didn’t have to lie about having a college degree. I should point out that Geffen is 68 years old, and if my math is correct, that makes him 40 years older than Lingvall (below, aboard one of Geffen's yachts). Hello? The silence is deafening.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. In spite of Geffen’s over-the-top acquisitions of both metal and flesh varieties, we can’t lose sight of his equally over-the-top philanthropy. He is a major supporter of medical research, AIDS organizations and the arts. In 2002 he gave a staggering $200 million unrestricted endowment to the UCLA School of Medicine. In 1995 he donated $5 million to UCLA's Westwood Playhouse.

Geffen is a self-made billionaire in the music and entertainment industry – by most accounts worth just under $5 billion (that's 5,000 million dollars - think about it). Geffen dropped out of several colleges and started working in the mailroom at the William Morris Talent Agency, where he forged a document in order to prove he had a college degree, a requirement for a promotion he was offered. He went on to found record and movie production companies and sign major talent (Dreamworks SKG, Geffen Records, Asylum Records, etc.). Geffen is an openly gay man named by Out Magazine as one of the 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America, and he is listed by Forbes as one of the top 100 billionaires. And, if we dig down really deep and admit the truth, those of us who smirk and poke fun at Mr. Geffen do so because we’re really envious.

*Also in attendance at the 2009 state dinner were Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes and partner Sean Eldridge, chair of the U.S. Export-Import Bank Fred Hochberg and partner Thomas Healy, as well as activist Urvashi Vaid and her partner Kate Clinton. It is noteworthy that Geffen, a generous and dedicated Democrat, was seated at the Obama table, immediately to Michelle’s left. The times, they are a changin’.

**Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is on permanent display at the Neue Galerie in NYC, on the corner of Fifth Ave. at 86th St. Don’t miss the street level restaurant to the right of the entrance, the Viennese Cafe Sabarsky; it’s my favorite spot in NYC for breakfast (opening at a civilized 9:00 a.m.).

Talking about breakfast makes us all hungry for some male tan lines, so here we go.

January 29

2012-01-29T00:42:00.009-05:00

January 28

2012-01-28T00:36:00.006-05:00

January 27

2012-01-27T00:30:00.013-05:00

Torchwood: Miracle Day
Actors John Barrowman and Dillon Casey as Captain Jack and Brad, a bartender with whom Jack has a steamy one-night stand on the British sci-fi series, Torchwood: Miracle Day. The BBC edited their sex scene, but an alert reader provided a link to the uncut version:

Torchwood - The Full Uncut Gay Scene by scottish1977

Read more about John Barrowman on my other blog (click link):
Gay Influence: John Barrowman

January 26

2012-01-26T00:21:00.008-05:00

January 25

2012-01-25T00:06:00.006-05:00

Pianist Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn, born Harvey Lavan Cliburn Jr. in 1934, is an American pianist who at the age of 23 won the first ever International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958, at the height of the Cold War.

He was a child prodigy, of course, racking up an impressive list of accomplishments, including a debut with the Houston Symphony at age 13 and a Carnegie Hall debut at age 20. But it was his achievement three years later that made him a household name all over the world. The Tchaikovsky Piano Competition was a bit of staged propaganda designed to confirm Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War, following on the heels of Russia’s technological coup with the Sputnik space launch in 1957. However, things did not go as planned. Cliburn's performances of the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff piano concertos resulted in an 8-minute standing ovation, establishing him as the clear audience favorite. His electrifying technique, focus, brilliant octave playing, liberal applications of rubato and youthful charm made for an historic performance. The Soviet puppet judges were compelled to ask Premier Khrushchev for permission to award first prize to an American. Cliburn was handed the gold medal by none other than famed Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovitch.

After his unanimous win, the American media went nuts. “Van” Cliburn (even to this day, few know his given name is Harvey) was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time in history that such an honor was bestowed on a classical musician. He appeared on the cover of TIME magazine with the headline: "The Texan Who Conquered Russia." His subsequent recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical album to sell a million copies and became the best-selling classical album in the world for more than a decade. Cliburn made the rounds of talk shows and demonstrated his patriotism in every concert performance by leading off with “The Star Spangled Banner.” He traveled extensively, playing frequently for heads of state. Tall, with dashing good looks, huge hands and talent to spare, he became the first classical artist to receive a $10,000 fee for a concert.

However, just twenty years later, at the age of 43, when most pianists are at the peak of their careers, he withdrew from concertizing and recording. Most critics agree that he never realized his potential. Although he became the artistic advisor for the eponymous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1962, thus providing an enduring legacy, his recitals lost their freshness as his overwrought style of playing fell out of fashion. His performances became inconsistent, his tone took on a strident edge, he let his repertoire stagnate and his interpretations became trivialized by affectations. He also became a difficult prima donna, often showing up late or cancelling at the last minute. Worse, he became adversely affected by stage fright and was intimidated by his audience’s high expectations.

For decades thereafter he mostly stayed at home in Fort Worth with his mother until her death at age 97, playing and composing on the 15 pianos throughout the mansion. He labored over a piano sonata he never performed, and he made increasingly rare returns to the concert hall. He became obsessed with collecting antique silver. But things got even weirder. In 1996 Thomas Zaremba filed a palimony suit against Cliburn, claiming that because of "an oral and/or implied partnership agreement," he was entitled to a share in Cliburn's assets. Zaremba said that he had assisted in the management of Cliburn's career and finances and performed domestic duties, including helping Cliburn care for his aged mother. Zaremba further alleged a dangerous sexual element to their relationship, claiming that Cliburn may have exposed him to AIDS during their 17-year affair, which ended in 1994 when Zaremba moved to Michigan to work as a mortician. I’m not making this up.

Cliburn had little comment on the charges, remaining closed mouthed during interviews. Although cultural insiders had long been aware of his homosexuality, the press had never linked him romantically to any man, even though he and Zaremba appeared together at public functions in Fort Worth. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed because of lack of a written agreement, which Texas law required.

Nevertheless, Cliburn went on to receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003 by President George W. Bush, and in 2004 was given the Russian Order of Friendship, the highest civilian awards of the two countries.

Now in his late 70s, he participates in a limited number of concerts. Cliburn still resides in Fort Worth, is a staunch Baptist and regular church goer who does not drink or smoke. For much of the American public, their image of Cliburn is frozen in time, conjuring up an exuberant youth stunning the world with his 1958 victory in Moscow.

On a personal note, I think Cliburn’s recording of the Samuel Barber piano sonata is an unsung landmark performance, especially given the fact that Cliburn was not celebrated for this sort of repertoire. As an aside, it should not be lost on us that both Tchaikovsky and Barber were gay men. Also, silver medallist Yeol eum Son (South Korea) from the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has become a favorite; her engaging performances are much to my taste.

Fortunately the historic medal-winning live performance of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto #1 from 1958 (Moscow) is available in its entirety on YouTube:

January 24

2012-01-24T00:57:00.001-05:00

January 23

2012-01-23T00:48:00.007-05:00

January 22

2012-01-22T00:45:00.012-05:00

Richard Weiland, Microsoft Entrepreneur

Richard Weiland (1953-2006) was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corporation. A computer software pioneer and philanthropist extraordinaire, his life came to a tragic end by suicide at age 53. Two years after his death his estate announced that he had made the largest single bequest ever to the LGBT community: $65 million. Ric, as he was known, suffered from clinical depression and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was survived by his partner, Mike Schaefer*.

High school classmates Bill Gates and Weiland were involved with the Computer Center Corporation and worked together to create a payroll program in COBOL and writing scheduling software for a school. After he graduated from Stanford University, Weiland was hired by Bill Gates in 1975, the same year Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque. As one of only five employees, Weiland was a lead programmer and developer for the company's BASIC and COBOL language systems. After a stint at Harvard Business School, he became project leader for Microsoft Works. Weiland was known as a brilliant programmer and a key contributor to the company's success, but in 1988 he left Microsoft to dedicate most of his time to philanthropy.

Ric was a donor to the Pride Foundation, the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, United Way of King County, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Stanford University, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, AMFAR, The Nature Conservancy, and the National Audubon Society. He was influential as an active member of the Northwest gay community. A member of the Pride Foundation's board of directors from 1997 to 2001, he helped win the fight to get General Electric to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy.

Weiland also was a quiet but key second round investor in gay online media company PlanetOut Corp. It is estimated that during his lifetime he contributed $30 million to over 50 organizations. A quiet philanthropist, he was known not to seek publicity for his generosity.

In 2008, Pride Foundation announced that Ric Weiland’s estate had bequeathed $65 million to support gay rights and HIV/AIDS organisations – the largest single bequest ever for the LGBT community. Weiland established a fund at the Pride Foundation that provides $46 million to 10 personally selected national LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations and $19 million directly to Pride Foundation for scholarships and grants supporting the Northwest's LGBT community. The $65 million is among bequests totaling about $160 million – the bulk of Weiland's estate – to various charities and Stanford University.

Weiland and Bill Gates in 1976:

*A quote from Mike Schaefer:

My life partner, Ric Weiland, and I talked a lot about our options for giving away our wealth in our lifetimes. After all, why wait until you’re old and senile – or dead – to give to the causes you believe in? It made sense to have a thoughtful giving plan and the commitment to follow through on it while we had energy and intelligence. But Ric died tragically a good 20+ years sooner than planned: in 2006, at age 53. As one of the founders of Microsoft, Ric had a lot more financial resources than I. But we were clear from the beginning of our relationship that philanthropy was a core value that brought us together. We didn’t need or want a $2 million home. After Ric’s death, our family (which was small, just the two of us and 4 nieces and nephews) is just fine knowing the money has gone to support good causes.

January 21

2012-01-21T00:01:00.009-05:00

January 20

2012-01-20T00:54:00.009-05:00

January 19

2012-01-19T00:46:00.007-05:00

January 18

2012-01-18T00:01:00.009-05:00

January 17

2012-01-17T00:31:00.000-05:00

James Preston as film icon James Dean.

Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean
A full-length trailer for a new film that focuses on screen icon James Dean’s homosexual relationships has been released. The biopic comes from queer director/screenwriter Matthew Mishory, who says, “I did a lot of research, and found sources that were interesting to me. I stepped back and found the elements that inspired me. I found a few literary texts that framed the world and framed the story that inspired James Dean, and I sat down and constructed the story.”

Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean tackles its approach head-on. One scene shows James Dean making love to his male roommate in a corridor. Another shows him indulging in a tryst with another male, this time on top of a mountain.

Dean's first biographer was close friend William Bast, who had a intimate relationship with the actor. Dean was also described as homosexual by screenwriter Gavin Lambert and Nicholas Ray, who directed Rebel Without A Cause. Dean avoided being drafted into the war by registering as a homosexual, which was classified as a mental disorder by the US government.

However, when questioned about being gay, Dean famously stated, “I am not a homosexual. But, I'm also not going to go through life with one hand tied behind my back.” He was known to have sexual relations with both men and women. Dean died in a car crash in 1955, aged 24, one month before the release of Rebel Without A Cause.

Dean is played by actor James Preston, who is most famous for his role as a werewolf in the supernatural ABC TV drama The Gates. Also starring, in the role of a film director, is Robert Gant of Showtime’s Queer as Folk fame. Preston was recommended to Mishory by another actor already cast in a different role; they had taken an acting class together. Preston had been discovered by filmmaker David DeCoteau and subsequently cast in the movie The Brotherhood 6: Initiation (2009), a beyond cheesy grade D horror movie in which the male “stars” appear in only boxer briefs 90% of their on-screen time. Oops. Preston will have huge shoes to fill when the inevitable comparisons to James Franco’s turn in TNT’s TV film, James Dean (2001), come to light.

Cinematographer Michael Marius Pessah shot the black-and-white sequences on Fuji color film, removing the color in the transfer to create the glossy yet contrasted look. Film locations include Joshua Tree National Park, Laguna Beach and Hollywood. IMDB shows a release date of August, 2012.

Iconoclastic Features was co-founded by Matthew Mishory and actor/producer Edward Singletary, Jr. The company launched at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

JOSHUA TREE, 1951 Full-Length Trailer from Iconoclastic Features on Vimeo.

But I digress. On to the tan lines.

January 16

2012-01-16T00:42:00.012-05:00

Add caption

January 15

2012-01-15T00:48:00.006-05:00

January 14

2012-01-14T00:37:00.027-05:00

Matt Bomer Takes It Off

Out actor Matt Bomer is playing a male stripper in the upcoming film Magic Mike, a comedy loosely based on Channing Tatum’s experiences as an exotic dancer when he was a teenager living in Tampa, FL. Joining Tatum and Bomer in the cast are British actor Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey and Joe Manganiello. Magic Mike centers around an up and coming male stripper known as “the Kid” (Pettyfer) who is mentored by a seasoned professional, Mike (Tatum). Seems that McConaughey, Tatum, and Pettyfer, who are not exactly known for their acting chops, have at last found a vehicle to showcase their collective best feature, their buffed bodies (Bomer and Manganiello, who sport plenty of the latter, are classically trained actors). The movie is scheduled to be in theaters June 29, 2012.

Bomer’s role required him to get waxed, a painful procedure usually endured only by women. Said Bomer, “I had never been waxed before. I’m not a very hairy individual to begin with, but it was painful. But let me tell you, Channing's dance to the song 'Pony' is one of the sickest things I've ever seen in my life. Obviously this movie is targeted toward a certain demographic, but I think what people don't understand is it also has, in a roundabout way, an appeal for guys too. It's a coming-of-age story, very Saturday Night Fever/Boogie Nights. ”

"Channing was incredibly supportive," Matt continued, speaking about Tatum’s praise of the guys' dancing in the flick. "This could have been a really awkward experience, just a bunch of guys hanging out in thongs, but Channing was so cool and supportive from the get-go, as well as director Steven Soderbergh. It made it a really fun experience.” Continuing in a tongue-in-cheek vein, Bomer added, “It's one of the tightest ensembles I've ever worked with, for sure. We will have each others' back for a long time to come.”

Channing revealed that cast members did their own dancing. “There is not a bit of substitution, everyone was game to take it off and get crazy.”

A still photo of the cast in action was revealed to be part of the strippers’ Fourth of July dance. “They're giving some spoilers out,” Bomer said. “You’ve got to celebrate the Fourth of July, you've got to. Sometimes you've got to celebrate it in a thong.”

In response to comments that straight women and gay men are the most excited about the movie, Tatum revealed that more guys ask him about his stripper past than ladies. I give Channing Tatum credit for not trying to whitewash a rather sordid moment from his past. Instead, we have a celebrity who actually embraces a less than stellar chapter from his younger years.

"Look, I wouldn't grab all my boys to go see a male stripping movie – I get it – but I can promise you that anytime I've told anyone that I did it for real for eight months when I was 18 and 19, the guys ask more questions than the girls do," Channing said. "That's kind of why we made the movie. We wanted to give a window for people to see what the inner-working and people and characters are – it's a bizarre world.”

Glad he explained it. Now, back to those tan lines.

January 13

2012-01-13T00:28:00.014-05:00

January 12

2012-01-12T00:26:00.009-05:00

Media Mogul Andy Cohen

Cohen, the rare media executive who pulls double-duty as on-air talent, is also a blogger of note, posting daily on "Andy's Blog" at BravoTV.com, where he covers pop culture, television, media and his daily life. He is about to be a published author. Cohen is currently writing a memoir, to be published this coming summer, and says he is writing every word of it himself. Publisher Henry Holt has released a synopsis of the Bravo Executive VP’s forthcoming book:

"Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., Cohen knew two things about himself: that he loved popular culture and that, around the age of 12, he was gay. He suppressed the latter and fed the former. His media diet was a steady stream of 70s shows like 'The Brady Bunch,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' and 'Donny & Marie.' He had a passion too for the medium's stars like Farrah Fawcett, Mary Tyler Moore and Susan Lucci, many of whom he would later meet. By his twenties, he was out of the closet and out of St. Louis. In 1989, his life changed forever when he landed an internship at CBS News in New York. With his irrepressible personality and sky's-the-limit attitude, over time he went from intern to producer, absorbing everything he could about the industry and the guest stars on the network’s morning show. His book will include many hilarious moments of mishaps on the set and while on assignment, and tell of his coming-of-age social life filled with antics and mayhem."

Andy Cohen is the Bravo TV Network's Executive Vice President of Development and Talent and executive producer on the Top Chef and The Real Housewives franchises. In addition, Cohen is the host and executive producer of Watch What Happens: Live, Bravo's late-night, interactive talk show. The sixth season of the show, which started off as a blog that spawned a Web series before migrating to TV as a weekly series, now airs every Sunday through Thursday. It is the only nightly late-night TV show to air live.

Cohen, who started at Bravo in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Original Programming & Development, was previously Vice President of Original Programming for TRIO (pop, culture, TV). Cohen received an Emmy in 2010 for season six of Top Chef in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category.

Last year Cohen was featured in OUT magazine's "Out 100" issue. He has appeared on the cover of The Advocate and was profiled in New York magazine, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Entertainment Weekly.

Cohen is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism. Cohen, who resides in New York City, is currently on the board of directors for the charity Friends In Deed.

January 11

2012-01-11T00:13:00.005-05:00

January 10

2012-01-10T00:06:00.008-05:00

James Beard (1903-1985) was a chef and food writer, generally recognized as the father of American gastronomy. He moved from Portland, Oregon, to NYC in 1937 to study singing and acting. Failing to find a niche in the theatre scene, he and a friend opened a catering company called Hors D'Oeuvre, Inc. He compiled his catering recipes into a cookbook titled Hors D'Oeuvre and Canapés (1940), and by 1946 he was starring in a televised cooking show. His career as an eminent American food authority took off.

Julia Child described Beard succinctly: “Beard was the quintessential American cook. Well-educated and well-traveled, he was familiar with many cuisines but remained fundamentally American. He was a big man, over six feet tall, with a big belly and huge hands. An endearing and always lively teacher, he loved people, loved his work, loved gossip, loved to eat, loved a good time.”

James Beard was also homosexual. In his memoir, he stated, "By the time I was seven, I knew that I was gay, and until I was about forty-five, I had a really violent temper."

He never achieved satisfaction from his awkward homosexual orientation, so food was Beard's consolation. Over the next forty years, Beard operated a cooking school out of his apartment in New York, wrote dozens of books on cooking and food, and hundreds of articles on food for many different magazines.

In 1955, he established The James Beard Cooking School. He generated further income and financed his cooking schools by signing endorsement deals with various food brands, although it was distasteful for him to do so. In 1981, he and Gael Greene founded Citymeals-on-Wheels, which continues to help feed the home-bound elderly in New York City.

Beard died in New York City of heart failure, at the age of 81. After his death in 1985, his friends and former students organized the purchase of his Greenwich Village residence to establish and permanently house the James Beard Foundation. It is North America's only historical culinary centre, a place where all are encouraged to savor the creations of both established and emerging chefs from around the globe. The annual James Beard Foundation Awards are given at the industry's biggest party, part of a fortnight of activities that celebrate fine cuisine and Beard's birthday. The awards ceremony honors the finest chefs, restaurants, journalists, cookbook authors and restaurant designers in the country.

But I digress. Back to the tan lines.

January 9

2012-01-09T00:27:00.010-05:00

January 8

2012-01-08T00:09:00.014-05:00

January 7

2012-01-07T00:01:00.012-05:00

January 6

2012-01-06T00:52:00.019-05:00

I’m just back from a winter break in south Florida, and I visited the Vizcaya mansion on the shores of Miami’s Biscayne Bay last Sunday. Vizcaya was built over a span of two years, 1914-1916, by James Deering (1859-1925), co-founder and vice president of International Harvester. It is an Italian Renaissance-style villa used by Chicago-based Deering as a 70-room winter home, set among ten acres of formal gardens, which were not completed until 1921, because of the outbreak of WWI. During the construction, ten percent of Miami’s population worked at the Vizcaya site. The original 180 acres included a working farm, machine shop, staff residences, garages, greenhouse, and a paint and carpentry workshop.

Portrait inscribed: to Mr James Deering from his friend John S. Sargent*, Miami 1917.

Deering was homosexual, but is referred to only as a “life-long bachelor” in the printed materials available at the site. In addition to making a fortune from agricultural machinery, Deering was a socialite and an antiquities collector. When he was phased out of daily company affairs by J.P. Morgan interests in 1909, Deering decided to go on a buying spree with his partner, designer Paul Chalfin (see portrait c. 1915 below), who made sure that Deering’s winter home did not resemble his brother’s plain-Jane estate a bit farther south.

Together, they sailed to Europe, snapping up fabulous antiquities (including doors, wall panels, mantels and ceilings) that would be incorporated into the creation of an opulent, over-the-top, decadent, and ostentatious fantasy villa in what is today north Coconut Grove. Liberace would have felt completely at home here. Trust me.

There’s a 3-manual pipe organ, tea house, garden theater, statuary walks, courtyards, loggias, bridges, canals, fountains, maze, indoor/outdoor swimming pool, terraces, mangrove swamps, grottos and a room whose entire function was for arranging flowers. Did I mention the stone breakwater barge and yacht landing?

*John Singer Sargent (gay, or at least bisexual), who painted clothed women and naked men, was an intimate friend. While staying at Vizcaya, Sargent painted a series of watercolors of male nudes, using the African-American workers on the premises as models (see watercolor below). A further clue to Deering’s sexual orientation is a statue in the gardens that depicts Ganymede, the mythological gay youth who was the lover of Zeus. A tapestry hung inside the villa depicts a male lion with a raging erection. I’m not making this up. That James, a life-long bachelor, indeed!

I’m just sayin’.

Although most of the original furnishings remain intact, the south Florida climate took its toll. Of late the original open-air central courtyard has been covered with a glass pyramid so that air conditioning could be installed, diminishing further deterioration of fabrics and furnishings. Innovations at the time of construction include a central vacuum system (in 1916!), an automatic electric telephone switchboard and a fire control system. Upon Deering’s death in 1925, while returning from France on an ocean liner, the house was maintained by minimal staff after it was inherited by two nieces. Following hurricane damage and escalating maintenance costs, the women sold Vizcaya much below value to Miami-Dade County in 1952 to operate as a museum. Today the house and gardens are designated a National Historic Landmark.

Several movies (remember Pet Detective?) and documentaries have been shot here. Vizcaya is today a popular backdrop for quinceañera photos/celebrations by Miami’s huge Latina population and the scene of countless fashion photoshoots. During my visit several brides were being photographed in the tea house and gardens. The mansion and gardens can be rented for private functions.

Open daily at 3251 S. Miami Avenue. 305.250.9133.

www.vizcayamuseum.org

From top:
1. Staircase fountain leading up to garden folly/casino
2. Reception room
3. Bayfront (east) loggia
4. Mr. Deering's bathroom with water views
5.Teahouse lattice & garden folly/casino interior

Now,back to the tan lines you came to admire:

January 5

2012-01-05T00:45:00.013-05:00

January 4

2012-01-04T00:14:00.007-05:00

January 3

2012-01-03T00:08:00.009-05:00

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was perhaps the greatest German novelist of the early twentieth century. In 1929 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novels Death in Venice*, Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain (Buddenbrooks had sold more than a million copies in German before the Hitler era). Mann was referred to as the “heir to Goethe” during his lifetime.

Because his wife was Jewish, his family fled to the U.S. after Hitler took power in Germany; the Nazi Party revoked his German citizenship in 1936 in response to Mann’s public denunciations of Nazi politics. After teaching at Princeton in New Jersey, Mann moved west to California. Mann subsequently became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944. From 1941-1953 he lived in Pacific Palisades above Santa Monica, California, a dozen miles west of downtown Los Angeles. A few years ago I tracked down two of his former homes at 740 Amalfi Drive and 1550 San Remo Drive, both in Pacific Palisades. I parked the car and peeped through the shrubbery, like a true stalker. The houses remain private residences, so be cautious if you want to mimic my questionable behavior.

While in California Mann recorded a series of anti-Nazi radio speeches, which were broadcast from Britain, so that they could reach German listeners. Ironically, the FBI kept a file on Mann from the late 1920s until his death in 1955, primarily to track any communist leanings. The last three years of his life were spent in a town close to Zürich, Switzerland.

Homoerotic, often unrequited, love was a significant feature in much of his writing. In Death in Venice (1912), for example, an older man’s hopeless affection for a young boy leads to tragedy. Mann’s personal experience contributed to that story: in the summer of 1911, Mann had been staying at the Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido of Venice with his wife and brother when he became enraptured by the angelic figure of Władysław Moes, an adolescent Polish boy.

Papers that were unsealed twenty years after his death revealed that Mann had been exclusively homosexual through his late twenties, and that Mann remained intensely attracted to men throughout his life. His diaries told of his struggle with his sexual orientation, as when he described his feelings for the young violinist/painter Paul Ehrenberg as “the central experience” of his heart. Shattered by the failure of this homosexual relationship, Mann fled into marriage, repressing for decades his homosexual yearnings. Nevertheless, at the age of 53 Mann fell in love with a 17-year-old boy, Klaus Heuser. At the age of 75 (!), Mann set his sights on a young waiter at a hotel in Zürich, immortalizing him in “Felix Krull.” After Mann’s diaries were unsealed, German reporters tracked down the waiter and found him working at the St. Regis Hotel in NYC. The aging hotel employee became a minor celebrity in Germany and appeared on television numerous times.

Embarrassingly, Mann’s diaries were embellished by sketches of shirtless gardeners, soldiers, and even his own son Klaus, who was a homosexual drug addict who ultimately committed suicide, as did another of his siblings. Mann had three daughters and three sons, all of whom were bisexual or homosexual. Each became an artistic or literary figure, as well.

Thomas Mann achieved a cult status during his lifetime, a status that seemed to intensify after his death. Although there was always a net of latent homosexuality cast over Mann's life, his most ardent heterosexual fans chose to dismiss it as probable gossip or wishful thinking on the part of Mann's gay fans. The publication of his once-sealed diaries put an end to that line of thought.

*Death in Venice was made into both a 1971 film and an opera, the latter written by homosexual composer Benjamin Britten in the early 1970s. Britten's last opera, the work is unusual in that it is written for only three singers: a tenor (Von Aschenbach), a counter-tenor (the voice of Apollo) and a baritone who covers all the other roles; the young Tadzio (the object of Von Aschenbach's lustful obsession) and his family are portrayed by dancers. Excerpts from a production at Teatro La Fenice in Venice are contained in the following video:

The trailer for the 1971 film Death in Venice, directed by Luchino Visconti and starring the great homosexual actor Dirk Bogarde:

Thomas Mann (Quote from Death in Venice):
“Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden.”

The entire novel Death in Venice can be downloaded in English translation for free at:
http://www.ebook3000.com/Death-in-Venice_59705.html
There is a link for a PDF format download as well (Rapidshare), using Adobe Reader software.

January 2

2012-01-02T00:26:00.012-05:00

Steel Magnate Friedrich Alfred Krupp

The multimillionaire German steel industrialist F. A. Krupp (1854-1902) loved the Italian island of Capri, off the coast of Naples, where he resided for several months each year at the Hotel Quisisana*. He kept two yachts there, Maya and Puritan, from which he entertained and pursued his hobby of oceanography.

While on the island Krupp, known all his life as Fritz, indulged his homosexual leanings in a big way. He set up a lavish private pleasure club in a grotto, where he entertained underage Italian boys, mostly the sons of local fishermen. Man on man sex was performed to the accompaniment of a live string quartet, and orgasms were celebrated with bursts of fireworks. Solid gold pins shaped like artillery shells or two crossed forks, both designed by Krupp, were given to the boys if they performed well. I'm not making this up.

When Krupp's wife, back home in Germany, heard rumors of what was going on, she went straight to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who promptly had her committed to an insane asylum in Jena. The thinking was that the Krupp industrialist empire (steel and arms manufacturing) was too vital to German national security to be compromised, even if such lurid stories were deemed true. Besides, Fritz was an important philanthropist who advanced the study of eugenics, which was later to become associated with the Nazis. The company lives on today as ThyssenKrupp AG, the result of a controversial merger completed in 1999. The new company operates worldwide in steel manufacure, capital goods (elevators and industrial equipment) and services (specialty materials, environmental services, mechanical engineering, and scaffolding services).

But I digress. Krupp’s homosexual tastes predated his holidays on Capri. Conrad Uhl, proprietor of the Hotel Bristol in Berlin, related that he was charged with supplying Fritz with young boys when he stayed there. However, the German press eventually found out about Krupp's illicit private affairs, and printed the whole story, complete with damning photographs taken by Krupp himself inside the grotto on Capri. On November 15, 1902, the Social Democratic magazine Vorwärts reported that Friedrich Alfred Krupp was homosexual, that he had a number of liaisons with local boys and men, and that his principal attachment was to Adolfo Schiano, an 18-year-old barber and amateur musician who lived on Capri. A week later, Krupp requested a meeting with his close friend, Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose circle of friends included many prominent gay men. On the day he was to meet the emperor, November 22, 1902, Krupp was found dead in his home. Rather than face disgrace, Krupp had committed suicide; he was 48 years old at the time.

The suicide was covered up, and his body was concealed in a casket with no autopsy, even though law required it. No one, not even close relatives, was allowed to see the body. After three days, Germany had a great memorial ceremony involving the Kaiser, who was closely allied to the family. When Fritz was laid to rest in the Krupp family cemetery in Essen, his tomb was guarded day and night.

Ten years ago, when I first visited Capri**, I looked down in wonder from the Gardens of Augustus to the switchback paved footpath known as the Via Krupp, a scenic walkway constructed by Fritz in 1900. Ostensibly Via Krupp was a connection for Fritz between his rooms at the Hotel Quisisana and Marina Piccola, the small port where his marine biology research ship (ironically named the Puritan) lay at anchor. Secretly, however, this path conveyed him to Grotta di Fra’ Felice, the grotto where sex orgies with local boys took place. When the scandal surfaced, Krupp was asked to leave Italy in 1902, and a week after his return to Germany his life was over.

*The Grand Hotel Quisisana is today a member of Leading Hotels of the World.
www.quisisana.com/en/index

**At the time I had no knowledge of this lurid tale. Today there is a small family-run three star hotel called Villa Krupp on Capri which many people mistakenly believe was built by Fritz Krupp. However, this structure was built as a private villa in 1900 by Eduardo Settanni. By the way, Capri was then known as the gay capital of Europe, hosting hordes of lesbians and gay men, who could pursue their interests unperturbed. Tip: remember to pronounce Capri with the accent on the first syllable (KAH-pree).

The Via Krupp descends 300 feet from the Gardens of Augustus to Marina Piccola, where Fritz hosted all male sex orgies in the nearby Grotta di Fra’ Felice. The iron gate pictured leads to the grotto.

January 1

2012-01-01T00:19:00.016-05:00

King Charles I of Württemberg
I continue one of the most astoundingly lurid tales of European royalty.

It appears that King Karl (shown at left) had developed a taste for handsome young American men, and Jackson alone did not satisfy this hunger. Eight years after the Jackson scandal, the king fell under the spell of two more strapping lads from the U.S. In 1888 the Chicago Tribune newspaper told the story of NYC native Charles Woodcock, a tale of worldly ascent from humble butcher's son to a king's favorite. Returning from a first trip to Germany in 1873, Charles had joined the Church of the Disciples, presided over by the Reverend Dr. George Hepworth (make a mental note of that name). Woodcock graduated from seminary in Maine and was ordained as pastor of the Congregational Church in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Pastor Woodcock resided at the Victoria Hotel and soon became a prominent society man, spending his evenings in “entertainments.” It was whispered among some of the older boys of the town that Woodcock’s chambers in the hotel were often the scene of sordid stag parties. Woodcock was overextended financially, and troubles soon arose over reports of loose living and profligate behavior.

Woodcock spent his mornings at St. John's leading bookstore, and it was there that he met Donald Hendry, a low-born Canadian who became his constant companion. Hendry was known to be where “the fun was best.” Popular, good-looking, affable and agreeable, Hendry was converted by Woodcock from his Baptist background to the Congregational faith. Invited by the Reverend Hepworth (there’s that name again) to make a Continental tour, both Woodcock and Hendry set off for Europe, ending up in Stuttgart. Like Jackson several years earlier, they, too, met the King of Württemberg and developed a profitable intimacy with him. In a repeat of Jackson’s performance, in short order the men found themselves at the highest levels of the court in an all-expenses paid romp with a king. Charles Woodcock, who inexplicably added “Savage” to his name (his mother's maiden name), became the constant companion of Karl. They were inseparable, going so far as to appear together in public dressed identically.

It was all too sordid and familiar. Finally, the naming of Charles Woodcock to Royal Councilor and his elevation to "Baron von Woodcock-Savage" in 1888 brought the resentment of Württemberg's courtiers to a frenzy. The title of Royal Councilor took precedence over that of Colonel, and an American thus passed at one step over the heads of the court officers who had been in the king’s service for twenty years.

Defending his friend, Hendry described Woodcock's relationship with the King as “hard work”: the American had to be always interesting and entertaining; he had to use all his extra time in reading and finding out what was going on in the world. Hendry said that Woodcock was doing the work of three men.

I’m sure we all agree. “Reading and socializing” is back-breaking work. Here's a photo of Woodcock hard at work in Venice, "reading" to the Grand Duchess Olga (left) and two of her ladies in waiting. Woodcock traveled as part of the household, wherever the royal family went.

The citizens of Württemberg thought differently. The courtier class of nobles saw themselves robbed of their traditional, profitable intimacy with the monarch and cheated of lucrative court positions. They observed that the King was completely in the hands of his American friends, with whom he spent hours daily, paying no attention to politics. Woodcock, especially, while holding no official position, had been elevated to leader of the court, and he was thus the most powerful man in Württemberg. The king provided palatial lodgings for the men and took them with him on exotic travels. When the king wintered in Nice, the king set them up in a luxury hotel next door. They were given titles, valuable gifts, royal favor and salaries. The king even gave Woodcock cash to pay off his debts left behind in Canada. Astonishingly, Woodcock ate daily at the king’s table, causing an outrage among the nobles.

From a reporter’s first hand account at the time: “This afternoon I saw Mr. Woodcock and the King start their daily drive. I put Mr. Woodcock first, because it was upon him that the King had to wait, and an outsider would naturally take him for the monarch and the monarch for his domestic. They drove off behind a fine pair of horses in grand style, cheek by jowl, for their daily conference on “spiritual matters.”

Eventually Chancellor Otto von Bismark himself had to intervene, and the Americans were eventually sent packing. Bismark had hired detectives to expose the ruse of the men. Woodcock claimed to have earned a Doctoral Degree from the University of Heidelberg, and he insisted that he be called “Doctor,” but no records could be found that he ever attended the university. Basically, Woodcock and Hendry were exposed as calculating, conniving, self-interested con-artists who had initially insinuated themselves into the king’s favor by posing as “spiritual advisors.” The detectives also exposed a sexual relationship between the American men and the king.

The resulting outcry forced Karl to renounce his favorite. The king was told that if the two Americans were not deported, his entire ministry would resign. The King released a statement on November 18, 1888: "At the command of my people I have sacrificed the noblest friend a monarch ever had." Woodcock returned to America, and King Karl found “private consolation” some years later with a German (at last), a Mr. Wilhelm George, the technical director of the royal theater.

Three years after the American lads were sent packing, Karl died childless at Stuttgart on October 6, 1891, and was succeeded as King of Württemberg by his cousin, his sister's son, William II of Württemberg. Karl rests, together with his wife Olga, in the Old Castle in Stuttgart.

When “Freiherr von Savage, Baron Woodcock,” the favorite of the King of Württemberg, returned to New York City, he moved in with his parents, ostensibly to “mourn his sweetheart,” a certain Miss Belle Carter, who had conveniently died a few months earlier. Claiming a female lover was his way of deflecting further innuendos about his intimacy with King Karl.

Bismarck's investigators had also reported that Dr. George Hepworth (you remembered, right?) had taken an interest in Woodcock's “education” many years ago and had given him the means to afford his studies; the detectives found evidence that Hepworth seemed to have a “special inclination to young men.” Those detectives even dug up dirt about the king himself. They discovered that the king’s sexual and unnatural sickness was shared with the king’s grandfather, King Friedrich I (1797-1816), also known to have had a strong sexual interest in men.

Perhaps you should stop to pour a cup of tea, in order to digest all this in a calm and reasonable manner, thus steadying your nerves.

Charles Woodcock-Savage later established a household with Donald Hendry in NYC, and they vacationed together in nearby Long Beach, New Jersey. During the summer of 1891 Charles and Donald hosted the Reverend George Hepworth (no!) and his wife at their cottage in Long Beach.

So there you have it.

But Woodcock never lost his need for luxury. In 1894, with Donald Hendry as best man (!), Charles married Henrietta Knebel Staples, a very wealthy widow with four children who owned a house on Central Park West and 84th Street, NYC. In 1900 they bought and substantially reconstructed one of the Princeton’s finest nineteenth century houses. All four of Henrietta's children changed their last name to Savage, and one of the sons even changed his first name to Charles. Creepy.

Stranger still: In 1906 Charles Woodcock-Savage published A Lady in Waiting: Being extracts from the diary of Julie de Chesnil, sometime lady-in-waiting to her Majesty, Queen Marie Antoinette (New York: D. Appleton and Company). He dedicated it "To a Noble Soul I Knew and Loved and Mourn." The King had died in 1891, so three guesses as to the identity of the dedicatee. The introduction gives an account of a diary found locked in a drawer of a cabinet sold at auction and bought by the translator's friend, who gives permission to publish the writings. The memoirs offered up are in fact a pseudo-autobiography, with names and gender changed to protect the guilty.

As for Donald Hendry, he inexplicably subtracted three years from his actual age and studied to become a librarian. By 1910 he was employed on the staff of the Pratt Institute Free Library, in Brooklyn, New York, and for twenty-four years headed its Applied Science Reference Department. Hendry retired in 1934, as a bachelor at the age of eighty. When Hendry died a year later, his New York Times obituary said that he had spent "eleven years in Europe as a private secretary," a way of publicly naming his years with Woodcock, who had died in 1923. Today, Hendry's gravestone in Trinity Cemetery (Riverside Dr. at W. 153rd St.), lies between those of Charles Woodcock-Savage and his wife. I’m not making this up.

Oh wait. I’m sure you’re wondering whatever became of Jackson. Well, he survived the exile of Woodcock and Hendry, somehow untouched by scandal. Even after the death of King Karl, in 1891, Jackson maintained his position in Stuttgart society. However, a house servant, Karl Mann, who had worked for Jackson in the 1880s, extorted 1,075 marks from his former employer, threatening to denounce Jackson to the police for engaging him in illicit sexual acts. Jackson, taking a most unusual and courageous step, lodged a blackmail complaint against Mann in 1893, and Mann was found guilty.

This legal case provided ammunition for the newspapers of the German Social Democratic party to attack the immoral behavior of the upper classes. Recalling the King's "generous gifts to Jackson," one item remarked sarcastically that the American "must have been of quite extraordinary service to the person of the deceased king," thereby suggesting sexual relations. Jackson, the paper reported, had for long years practiced an abominable vice, the crime against nature.

The public scandal surrounding Karl Mann’s trial was too much for Jackson, who left Stuttgart for the United States. Returning to Steubenville, Ohio (named for the gay Prussian Baron von Steuben, as you will recall), he ended his days with his sister elsewhere in the state, thus resuming the role of a plain citizen. A life with an unassuming beginning and end, perhaps, but with a prickly spark in the middle.

December 31

2011-12-31T00:12:00.017-05:00

Zach Wahls (whose sexual orientation is unknown to me, so including him on this blog is a wild stretch) appeared in the most-watched political YouTube video of 2011 (18,000,000 views and counting). He spoke before the Iowa legislature, urging them to reject a constitutional amendment that would deny marriage equality to his lesbian mothers. It was one of the most inspiring and influential speeches I’ve heard; he is obviously passionate about his family, so it’s worth taking three minutes to watch it again:

Zach now appears in another video that sends a seasonal greeting with the message: Love Makes a Family. This video is compiled from photos submitted by thousands of families who wished to join Wahl, his mothers and his sister in sending a holiday greeting.

Happy New Year to all!

King Charles I of Württemberg
(in German: Karl I von Württemberg)

If you think of Stuttgart at all, it is most likely as the home of automobile manufacturers Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. However, Stuttgart is also the capital of Baden-Württemberg, a south German state bordering Bavaria to the east and Switzerland to the south. About 125 years ago a gay royal scandal nearly shook Württemberg off its foundations.

Karl Friedrich Alexander was the third King of Württemberg, from 1864 until his death in 1891. He was king at the time of the unification of Germany in 1871 and skillfully led his people in the decision to become part of the new German Empire. Born in Stuttgart in1823, at the age of twenty-three he married the Russian Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, and at the age of 41 Karl acceded to the throne upon his father's death. The couple had no children, because of Karl's homosexuality, so Olga and Karl adopted Olga's niece Vera Konstantinova.

Had an American pianist studying music at the Stuttgart Conservatory of Music not injured his arm, there might have been no scandal at all. Richard Mason Jackson (a pianist known by his middle name as “Mase”), along with Charles Woodcock and Donald Hendry became the objects of obsession by gay King Karl. The king was so smitten that he gave the Americans titles, positions and lavish gifts far beyond their station. They eventually held such sway over the king (and his purse) that the new German Chancellor Otto von Bismark had to intervene in order to sever their sordid influence over Karl. It was a royal soap opera the likes of which had not been seen in those parts, and the royal family was not able to cover it up. All the sordid details appeared in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.

In October 1888, the New York Herald republished a story from its European edition describing three American males who were said to be lavishly disposing of the monarch's money. The article said that an American named “Mase” Jackson was one of the three gentlemen playing “Piers Gaveston” parts in Germany." Gaveston was the male lover of England's King Edward II Taken literally, Americans "playing Piers Gaveston parts" with King Karl meant that they were performing the insertive role in anal intercourse. Although the newspaper chose a euphemism to describe such acts, the reading public at the time would have understood the meaning.

The same article focused on gossip circulating in Germany about King Karl and seances presided over by the “upstart” Baron von Jackson, of Steubenville, Ohio. The rise of Mase from poor, humble origins in Ohio to the aristocratic "Baron von Jackson" in Germany was juicy gossip in its day. Jackson's father, a cousin of General Stonewall Jackson, had died at the very moment of his son's birth in 1846. Raised by his widowed mother on a farm in Ohio, Jackson had moved with her to nearby Steubenville, and there studied the piano, developing an ardent desire to become a musician. At sixteen, unable to finish his courses at Mount Union College, Jackson returned to Steubenville, and taught music at Beatty's Seminary (a school for female teachers). He tuned pianos, became organist in the Methodist Episcopal Church and traveled often to Pittsburgh to enjoy the opera. Jackson formed a friendship with another Steubenville youth, a popular tenor, Will H. MacDonald, and, subsidized by relatives, traveled with MacDonald to Germany, to study at the Stuttgart Conservatory of Music. When Jackson injured his arm and was forced to give up the piano, he took a job in 1876 as assistant to the American Consul in Stuttgart, a position he held for five years. The handsome, young American walked daily through the Stuttgart parks and soon attracted the notice of the King, who was 23 years his senior. The newspaper reported that this “grew into a friendship of the most intimate character.”

In 1881 the homosexual monarch asked Jackson to join his household as a "confidential friend and companion." Jackson accepted, renounced his United States citizenship, and was made a Baron. He added "von" to his last name and become a favorite of the King of Württemberg. A large apartment in the palace was assigned to “Baron von Jackson”, and a private entrance was constructed, connecting directly to the royal apartments. A handsome income and lavish gifts were bestowed upon him. The King had also added the American to his will, so that should his benefactor die, Jackson would still be immensely rich. All of these salacious details appeared in the newspapers.

But Jackson was not yet through exploiting his royal connection. Because of his intimacy with King Karl, honors were showered upon Jackson by the kings of Holland and Saxony, the Emperor of Austria, the Czar of Russia, and even the Pope, with whom he had an audience. After Jackson saved the lives of three men whose boat had overturned, King Karl made him a "Privy Councilor," and Jackson was called “Excellency,” an honor seldom attained by anyone other than royalty, and even then, usually late in life.

Hmmm.

The coat of arms of the Württembergs: Fearless and Faithful.

The American's appointment to court caused a political furor. Next the New York Sun picked up the story and offered even more sordid detail to the controversy. They reported a love triangle, with Jackson seeking intimacies and favors from both the king and the Grand Duchess Vera. The king retaliated by making Jackson promise not to marry “during the king’s lifetime.”

Jackson was described by an American lady living in Stuttgart as the life of the American colony and "the funniest man I ever knew," with a quaint, droll way of talking. She added: "Men and women – and particularly children – liked him."

Jackson had been appointed "Reader to the King," a euphemism for the King's companion, one whom he could meet in ordinary fashion, without formalities. The king bestowed on Jackson rare works of art and gifts of diamonds, and the American was known as the man who had the most influence over the King.

The New York Star cited a response to the controversy by interviewing a nephew of Jackson, a Dr. Morrison of Steubenville: “It has been sneeringly said that the King of Württemberg fell in love with Jackson. Well, I don't see very well how he could help doing that. Mace was of the kindliest disposition that you could imagine, gentle almost as a girl, but so manly in bearing as to claim the admiration of all who came in contact with him. His weakness used to be his love for flowers.”

Well, that explains it!

Dr. Morrison noted that Jackson had saved the king from snowballs thrown by some intoxicated students and that the monarch had then become "perfectly infatuated with Mase." When the King heard Jackson play the piano "his infatuation became complete." The King had then insisted that Jackson consent to assist him in managing the realm. Neither the King's infatuation, nor the Ohio pianist's call to manage a kingdom was considered odd by his trusting relative. Dr. Morrison boasted that Jackson had written home, telling his relatives that the king called Jackson “My dear bosom friend, Jack.” Then things got really interesting when Dr. Morrison mentioned that Jackson blamed another American, Charles Woodcock, for kicking up a scandal. Dr. Morrison was told that Woodcock was jealous of the king’s attention to Jackson. But that wasn't the half.

Tomorrow, the rest of the story.

December 30

2011-12-30T03:06:00.012-05:00

Archduke Ludwig Viktor

The Habsburg dynasty had a wee problem with inbreeding, resulting in a family that, how shall we say, lacked handsome physical attributes (translation: if not downright ugly, they were way weird looking). Archduke Ludwig Viktor was no exception. His only advantage was the fact that his older brother, Franz Josef, was the Emperor of Austria-Hungary.

The archduke (1842-1919) had a face only a mother could love (evidence above). After having produced three male heirs, Ludwig’s mom ignored the fact that he wasn’t the girl she had wanted and dressed him like one. As if not to disappoint her, he grew up gay as a goose. It didn’t help that everyone called him Lutzi-Wutzi (pronounced Loot-see Voot-see). He was an impetuous pleasure-seeker whose life revolved around the theatre and collecting art and antiques. He wore women’s clothing (photo below; thanks, mom!), kvetched and gossiped incessantly and couldn’t be trusted with a secret from anyone. His über-vain sister-in-law Sissi, adored by the Austrians as an antidote to their dull, stuffy emperor, was initially kindly disposed toward Ludwig Viktor, until things she told him in confidence got back to her. It got so bad that she eventually refused to have a conversation with him unless a third party was present to verify what transpired. Incredibly, Sissi’s favorite sister Sophie was singled out as a possible bride for Ludwig Viktor (yeah, right), but she rejected him, only to become engaged to and then dumped by another gay Ludwig, the King of Bavaria, Ludwig II, of Neuschwanstein fame. It appears poor Sophie seemed destined for tragedy; she eventually died in a fire in Paris. I’m not making this stuff up.

Trivia: In related tragic family news, another of Ludwig Viktor’s older brothers, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (emperors seemed to run in the family), was assassinated by firing squad while on assignment in Mexico City in 1867.

Photo at right. Yep. Just who you think it is.

But I digress. At age 21, the archduke needed new digs to host his notorious and extravagant “stag” parties, so he built an Italian Renaissance palace on the new Ringstraße, the grand boulevard encircling central Vienna sited along the path of the recently razed city walls. Built on Schwarenbergplatz just two blocks from the State Opera House, Ludwig Viktor’s city palace, designed by famed architect Heinrich von Ferstel, had a glaring deficiency – it had no swimming pool. This oversight gave the archduke reason to patronize a nearby public establishment, the Centralbad, Vienna's "largest and finest bathhouse." The archduke, a frequent visitor, went there regularly for “Turkish baths.”

Ludwig Viktor’s homosexuality was an open secret. Even his brother Franz Josef joked about it. But in 1906, at the age of 64, the archduke was slapped and knocked to the ground by one of the young Centralbad* patrons, an athletic middle-class man, apparently as the result of an unwanted advance by the archduke. Ludwig Viktor used his family ties to have the young man arrested, but it was determined that the man’s actions were warranted, and he was released from jail. When informed of his brother’s scandalous behavior, Emperor Franz Joseph became extremely angry and banished Ludwig Viktor to the archduke’s summer palace, Schloss Kleßheim, a former residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg, and ordered him not to return to Vienna during his brother's lifetime. Ludwig Viktor was also forced to resign his patronages, and most of his staff was moved to other positions.

*Trivia: the Centralbad is now the Kaiserbründl, one of Europe’s most luxurious gay saunas. Kaiserbründl means "Emperor's Well." Again, I’m not making this up.

At Schloss Kleßheim (above) Ludwig Viktor finally had a grand blue and white pool installed. He invited army officers to use it, but could never seem to find swimsuits for them to wear. In Salzburg the archduke eventually won the hearts of the locals for his charitable efforts, and by an amazing coincidence, outlived the Habsburg empire, dying in 1919 on the first day of the post-WW II conference in Versailles, which would abolish the royal order of which Ludwig Viktor was one of the most “entertaining” representatives.

Both of Ludwig Viktor’s palaces can be visited today. Schloss Kleßheim was used as a dance school in the 1920s, but the Nazis later took it over as a guest house. The scene of a number of meetings between Hitler and Mussolini, the palace was notoriously riddled with listening devices. During the Cold War, the neutral Austrian government used Schloss Kleßheim to hold conferences and host international guests, among them U.S. President Richard Nixon, who met here with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky on his way to Moscow in 1972. It now serves as Salzburg’s main casino.

As for the Vienna palace on Schwarenbergplatz (above), the military used it as an officer’s casino before the First World War. Ludwig Viktor would turn over in his grave if he saw the TGI Friday’s on the ground floor (below), but he’d take more kindly to the fact that today, the palace’s great hall functions both as a rehearsal space for the Burgtheater and alternative venue for the theater’s smaller productions. The restaurant (below) and theater entrances (above) are around the corner from each other. With only two hundreds seats, “Burgtheater im Kasino,” as it is known, offers a small and intimate setting for one of Vienna’s best theater companies.

December 29

2011-12-29T02:01:00.006-05:00

December 28

2011-12-28T02:36:00.011-05:00

Charles XII, King of Sweden

Charles (Swedish: Karl XII) was a dashing, handsome 15-year-old when he became king of Sweden in 1697. During the next 20 years he brought Sweden to its pinnacle of prestige and power through his brilliant military campaigning and victories.

The Great Northern War, as it was called, dominated his life, and he was called “Alexander of the North” by his admirers. He devastated the armies of Denmark, Russia and Poland. In the Battle of Holowczyn, for instance, despite being outnumbered over three to one against the Russian army, Charles pulled out a victory. Other than his military acumen, he was known for two things, his abstinence from alcohol – and a similar abstinence from women.

Charles was also brave to the point of folly. He led his men into battle believing that his example would spur on his men to follow his example. Unfortunately, he was killed on the battlefield at Fredriksheld by a bullet to the head, directly above his right ear. He was 36 years old at the time. Without his leadership, Sweden’s involvement with the Great Northern War ultimately ended in defeat three years after his death.

While his admirers explained away his lack of interest in women by saying he was “married to the military,” Charles had a robust sexual taste for military men. Two of his lovers were military leaders from his army – General Behnsköld and General Stenbock (Count Magnus Gustafsson Stenbock). He also had a serious affair with Prince Maximillian of Württemberg, a younger admirer who had volunteered to serve in his army at the age of 14. Charles called him his “Little Prince” after Maximilian was wounded at age 19 trying to protect Charles from bullets. As well, Charles was involved in a relationship with the much older Swedish field marshal Count Axel Wachtmeister, who had been a close friend of his father.

Voltaire so admired Charles that he wrote a biography in 1731, thirteen years after Charles was killed on the battlefield in 1718, and Samuel Johnson praised Charles in his poem "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (1749).

December 27

2011-12-27T00:30:00.017-05:00

When Clark Gable (at left, circa 1927) first arrived in Hollywood in 1925, he would do anything or use anyone to advance his career. His first two wives were decidedly unglamorous older women who kept Gable in the lifestyle of a star. As soon as Gable touched the limelight, he abandoned his second wife and followed wherever his penis led. He tore through Hollywood’s women with the appetite of a starving teenager, with one notable exception.

Gable had one homosexual encounter that is well documented. The great silent film star Billy Haines, who was the most popular male film star of 1930, was the hub of gay Hollywood. He told all his friends about his sexual hookup with Clark Gable in the late 1920s, which was unusual, since Haines never bragged about such things. Haines knew first hand the damage that could be caused by a public knowledge of homosexuality. Joan Crawford confirmed the story, and her testament holds up under scrutiny because she was the lifelong best friend of both men. She had no reason to lie about either star, and she cherished the friendship of both.

More than ten years later Gable avenged his gay past. Hollywood was awash with both homosexuals and Jews, and Gable let it be known that he held both factions in disdain. By 1939 Gable had come to personify the image of a super macho male star. During filming of Gone with the Wind, Gable seemed uncomfortable by the occasional presence of Billy Haines, who visited the set as a guest of director George Cukor (who was both homosexual and Jewish). When Gable overheard the comment, “George Cukor is directing one of Billy’s old tricks,” Gable walked off the set and vowed not to return until Cukor was replaced.

MGM decided it needed Gable more than Cukor for this particular project, and Victor Fleming was ushered in as replacement director, even though Cukor had already worked for two years on preproduction and filming. Although Gone with the Wind became one of the great films of all time, the incident didn’t harm the career of George Cukor, who immediately began working on The Women and continued to make top grossing films.

Gable, circa 1931, without a moustache (or cigar). Gable died at the age of 59 in 1960, before his last film The Misfits (with costar Marilyn Monroe) was released.

Take one last look at those ears, and we'll move along to some tan lines, which is why you stopped by in the first place.

December 26

2011-12-26T00:24:00.007-05:00

December 25

2011-12-25T01:17:00.011-05:00

Happy Holidays to all my faithful blog readers! Here's some holiday cheer from openly gay jazz saxophonist and radio host Dave Koz. Enjoy.

December 24

2011-12-24T02:07:00.016-05:00

Jingle Bells sung by Quorum, an all-male a cappella group from Lithuania:

December 23

2011-12-23T01:55:00.013-05:00

December 22

2011-12-22T02:14:00.004-05:00

An Open Apology to Amy Koch
on behalf of all gay and lesbian Minnesotans

Dear Ms. Koch,

On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community's successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage. We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an "illicit affair" with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.

We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry. And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.

It is now clear to us that if we were not so self-focused and myopic, we would have been able to see that the time you wasted diligently writing legislation that would forever seal the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, could have been more usefully spent reshaping the legal definition of "adultery."

Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that "gay marriage" is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.

And finally, shame on us for thinking that marriage is a private affair, and that our marriage would have little impact on anyone's family. We now see that marriage is more than that. It is an agreement with society. We should listen to the Minnesota Family Council when it tells us that marriage is about being public, which explains why marriages are public ceremonies. Never did we realize that it is exactly because of this societal agreement that the entire world is looking at you in shame and disappointment instead of minding its own business.

From the bottom of our hearts, we ask that you please accept our apology.

Thank you.
John Medeiros
Minneapolis MN

John Medeiros, a writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is curator of Queer Voices: a GLBT reading series for queer writers.

December 21

2011-12-21T03:08:00.014-05:00

Grant Wood

There are certain paintings that are recognizable by most everyone, true icons of the art world: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's Scream, for instance. American Gothic is among this elite group, but few can recall the name of the artist.

In 1930, painter Grant Wood achieved unexpected fame with American Gothic, his painting of a pitchfork-wielding farmer and a stern, black-clad woman posed before a Victorian farmhouse. It is one of the most reproduced and parodied artworks in history. Even those who know the name of the painter of American Gothic are unlikely to know that the soft-spoken artist who painted it was a deeply-closeted gay man.

Wood’s homosexuality was something of an open secret in his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where an attitude of “don’t ask – don’t tell,’’ allowed a small gay and lesbian subculture to exist in peace, so long as it remained practically invisible. Respected figures in the community, including prominent businesspeople and a local school principal, shielded Wood from scrutiny and encouraged his artistic aspirations. David Turner, owner of the primary funeral home in Cedar Rapids and a member of one of the county’s founding families, acted as Wood’s first patron. Wood and his widowed mother lived for years rent free in the mortuary’s vacant carriage house, formerly a storage facility for horse-drawn hearses.

For a man with a secret, sudden celebrity was a mixed blessing. Major national media outlets hinted all too broadly at the hidden subtext of his life, describing him as “a shy bachelor’’ who maintained “a discreet silence about marriage,’’ while making pointed reference to his high-pitched voice and affinity for the color pink – all too obvious allusions to his homosexuality.

Fear of exposure seems to have led Wood to adopt the down-to-earth public persona of America’s farmer-artist. He routinely donned denim overalls for interviews and once ludicrously proclaimed, “All the really good ideas I’ve ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,’’ even though he hadn’t lived on a farm since he was 10 years old.

In Grant Wood’s Arnold Comes of Age, a painting from 1930 of a slight young man staring into the distance against a fall landscape, the image might be understood as one of Wood’s signature depictions of traditional America, were it not for the nude boys bathing in the corner of the portrait (click image to enlarge). The bathers are so subtly incorporated into the picture and the title so nondescript that the work seems to simultaneously suggest and repress the possibility of same-sex desire.

His mother’s death in 1935 created a crisis. No longer able to justify bachelorhood with the excuse of filial obligation, Wood entered into a disastrous marriage with a woman much his senior. He left Cedar Rapids for Iowa City, where he taught art classes at the University of Iowa. Lacking the extensive network of friends who had previously supported and protected him, he was denounced as a homosexual in a formal departmental complaint lodged by five colleagues. The matter was eventually hushed up, and Wood was allowed to keep his job, but the ordeal wreaked havoc on his health, and he developed a severe drinking problem. One of Wood’s accusers was H.W. Janson, whose “History of Art’’ later became a standard college-level textbook. Janson vindictively omitted Wood from this canonical guide to art history.

Wood died in 1942, at the tender age of 50, as a result of pancreatic and liver cancer.

December 20

2011-12-20T00:35:00.011-05:00

December 19

2011-12-19T00:38:00.008-05:00

December 18

2011-12-18T00:34:00.008-05:00

December 17

2011-12-17T00:26:00.013-05:00

Baron Friedrich von Steuben

I’ve written about gay king Frederick the Great of Prussia. However, I just learned that a former aide of his had to flee Prussia amid allegations of taking familiarities with young boys. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, an experienced military officer, made his way to America with the aid of Benjamin Franklin, who was based in Paris at the time, trying to convince the French to come to our aid in fighting the British. George Washington asked for the Baron’s assistance in bringing order to the tattered Continental troops serving in the Revolutionary War. General Washington sent him to Valley Forge in February, 1778.

The soldiers were unaccustomed to the Baron’s – well, let’s call it "style". Von Steuben showed up in a grandiose sleigh (sporting 24 jingling bells) pulled by black Percheron draft horses. The Baron was wearing a robe of silk trimmed with fur, all the while petting his miniature greyhound, Azor, who was curled up on his lap. Behind him were his retinue of African servants, a French chef, his French aide-de-camp Louis de Pontière and the Baron’s 17-year-old lover/secretary Pierre-Étienne du Ponceau.

Impressive, if not entirely appropriate.

However, von Steuben proved his worth and soon shaped a hundred soldiers into a model company that, in turn, trained others in Prussian military tactics. He was a mere captain, but was so invaluable to Washington, that he was promoted to Major General. In 1781, he served under the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia when the British General Charles Cornwallis invaded. He also served at the siege of Yorktown, where he commanded one of the three divisions of Washington's army.

Steuben spoke little English, and he often yelled to his translator, "Hey! Come over here and swear for me!" Steuben punctuated the screaming of his translator with fierce-sounding shouts in German and French. In an effort to codify training, Steuben wrote a Revolutionary War Drill Manual, which became the standard method for training army troops for over thirty years. It addresses the arms and accoutrements of officers and soldiers, formation and exercise of a company, instruction of recruits, formation and marching, inspection, etc., etc.

Steuben became an American citizen by act of the Pennsylvania legislature in March 1784. In 1790, Congress gave him a pension of $2,500 a year, which he received until his death, and an estate near Utica, NY, granted to him for his military service to our nation.

But wait, that’s not all. Steuben legally adopted two handsome soldiers (one of them, William North, became a U.S. Senator). A third young man, John Mulligan, considered himself a member of the stable of Steuben’s “sons.” Before moving in with Steuben, Mulligan had been living with Charles Adams*, the son of then-Vice President John Adams. Adams was concerned about the intense “closeness” between his son and Mulligan, insisting that they split up, so Mulligan wrote to Von Steuben with his tale of despair. Actually, Von Steuben offered to take both men into his ~~arms~~ home. Charles Adams, the handsomest son of one president and brother of another (John Quincy), resided with Von Steuben and Mulligan for a while. The 19-year-old Mulligan received – how shall we say – a very warm welcome. Von Steuben was a 62-year-old bachelor at the time. Hmmm.

Adams left the cozy love nest after a short while, but Mulligan stayed on for several years, serving as Von Steuben’s “secretary” until the Baron’s death. Mulligan inherited von Steuben’s library, maps and $2,500 cash, a considerable amount at the time, especially considering that the Baron was not a wealthy man.

Every year since 1958 the German-American Steuben Parade has been held in New York City. It is one of the city’s largest parades and is traditionally followed by an Oktoberfest celebration in Central Park. Similar events take place in Chicago and Philadelphia. Chicago’s Steuben Day Parade was featured in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. To further honor von Steuben, the Steuben Society was founded in 1919 as an educational, fraternal, and patriotic organization of American citizens of German background. In the difficult post-WW I years the Society helped the German-American community reorganize.

Steubenville, Ohio, is named in the Baron’s honor. As well, numerous submarines, warships and ocean liners were named after him. A statue of the Baron stands in Lafayette Square opposite the White House in Washington, DC*. Even one of the cadet barracks buildings at Valley Forge Military Academy and College is named after Von Steuben. Really.

Steuben was cited by Randy Shilts in his book, Conduct Unbecoming, as an early example of a valuable homosexual in the military.

*I traipsed over to Lafayette Park yesterday afternoon to inspect the statue of Baron von Steuben. It’s a tall bronze life-size statue placed upon a high stone pedestal. The statue shows von Steuben in military dress uniform surveying the troops at Valley Forge. The monument, which stands opposite the White House, was erected in 1911 and sculpted by Albert Jaegers. At the rear of the pedestal is a medallion with the images of von Steuben's adopted aides-de-camp, William North and Benjamin Walker, facing one another. It says: "Colonel William North - Major Benjamin Walker - Aides and Friends of von Steuben". On each side of the pedestal are bronze Roman soldiers. Above the carved words “military instruction” on one side is a seated, helmeted Roman soldier “instructing” a naked youth (photo at left). Appropriate, no? Check it out the next time you come to Washington DC.

*In 1796 Charles Adams was one of a group of men who frequented the theater in New York City and wrote critiques of what they saw for further distribution. Others in the group, called the Friendly Club, were John Wells, Elias Hicks, Samuel Jones, William Cutting and Peter Irving. This is noted in William Dunlap's "History of the American Theatre," published in 1832 (p. 193). Adams, whose father vowed never to see him again after Charles abandoned his wife and two daughters, drank himself to death in 1800, succumbing to alcoholism at the tender age of 30. Some scholars believe this was caused by his inability to deal with his homosexual leanings. Charles Adams, who streaked naked across the campus of Harvard during his student days, had a reputation as a rogue and renegade, and his family's wall of silence after his death may support that theory. Charles certainly spent much time in the company of men who engaged in homosexual activity. In researching this post, I enjoyed a cheap smile over the fact that the law office of young Adams was located on Little Queen Street (since renamed Cedar St. in NYC's financial district).

But I digress. You came here to view male tan lines.

December 16

2011-12-16T00:17:00.007-05:00