Born On This Day- February 29th... James Mitchell

I always wanted to do a long run, fascinated by the notion of playing a character at different dilemmas & dramas over years or decades. I was happy for the experience & the money the few times I was in a play that lasted a while. I once had a very showy role in a theatre event that ran for 18 months. I would have been deeply grateful for a role in a long-running TV soap operas. James Mitchell was one of them. He enjoyed playing the patriarch- Palmer Cortlandt on All My Children from 1979 to 2008. The role came at the right time in his career. At 59, his dancing days were done & his film acting had not really happened.

From Stars In My Crown with Amanda Blake (who would die from HIV in 1989)

Fans of All My Children were probably not aware that the debonair, silver haired, svelte & handsome, Mitchell had been a leading dancer for many years, particularly associated with the celebrated choreographer Agnes de Mille. De Mille: “Mitchell had probably the strongest arms in the business, & the adagio style developed by him & his partners has become since a valued addition to ballet vocabulary".

Mitchel was born on a fruit farm near Sacramento. He was 3 years old his mother left with his 2 younger siblings. His farmer father, feeling unable to bring up his son alone, gave him up to vaudevillian foster parents. Mitchell appeared on stage as part of their act.

At 17, Mitchell moved to LA, where he studied at City College. At the same time, he was introduced to modern dance at the school of the famed teacher/choreographer Lester Horton. Mitchell soon joined Horton's Dance Theatre of Los Angeles & was one of the Lester Horton Dancers who appeared in a few Hollywood musicals in the early 1940s.

My buddy- Professor Walter Kennedy danced with The Bella Lewizky Company for decades, but 40 years earlier, Mitchell was featured in a South Sea Island dance duet with Bella Lewitzky in White Savage (1943), a camp piece starring Maria Montez.

In 1944, Mitchell began his long partnership with De Mille when she cast him as a dancer in the Broadway musical Bloomer Girlstarring my friend- Celeste Holm. He also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Brigadoon (1947) & Paint Your Wagon (1951), choreographed by De Mille.

Mitchell received non-dancing supporting roles in some good movies: In Raoul Walsh's Colorado Territory (1949), he played outlaw Joel McCrea's nasty sidekick; again with McCrea, he was in Stars in My Crown (1950), & in a pair of Anthony Mann dramas, as an indian in Border Incident (1949), & a Mexican in Devil's Doorway (1950).

Mitchell continued in a small roles in a few film musicals in which he could display his dancing skills: The Toast of New Orleans(1950), he has a zany duet with Rita Moreno, & an erotic dance with Cyd Charisse in Deep in My Heart (1954).  The next year, he was reunited with De Mille on the movie version of Oklahoma! for the 20-minute dream ballet sequence.

Ironically, Mitchell did not dance in the best musical in which he appeared- Vincente Minnelli's The Band Wagon (1953), he has the thankless role of Charisse's manager, boyfriend & choreographer, an experience he disliked so much he refused to see the film. In The Band Wagon he abandons Charisse when she chooses Broadway over ballet. Mitchell himself moved to Broadway with roles in Carnival! (1961), & Mack & Mabel (1974). In 1979, Mitchell settled into the long role of Palmer Cortlandt.

Mitchell's partner for 33+ years was costume designer Albert Wolsky. The couple met on the set of The Turning Point, a film set in the ballet world, in1977. Wolosky: “He adored playing mean”. Wolsky is a 2-time Academy Award winning costume designer, for All That Jazz & Bugsy. Most recently he was nominated for his work on the Julie Taymor film- Across the Universe.

Mitchell’s character on All My Children was one of the first to accept Erica Kane's daughter Bianca when she came out as a lesbian. An earlier story line on the show had Cortlandt befriending a gay teen.

My Buddy- Walter knew Mitchell & may wish to weigh in. Mitchell died in 2010, he would have been 23 today, or 92, depending on how you look at it. He had a good run. Let’s toast him today.

You've Got To Have Friends... Walter Kennedy Turns Somewhere Between 40 & Death Today- June 15th

The University that I attended in L.A. had a junior year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, the only school in the USA to have such a program. The faculty could choose as little or as many students to send to England, as they saw fit.. Another day & another blog post will tell the tale of my NOT going to RADA.

On the 1st day of the autumn term, the Theatre Department held auditions for the fall plays. I was sitting in a large class room with 50+ other theatre majors, waiting for my chance to do my prepared pieces & my song in hopes of being cast in Godspell & not Racine’s Phaedra. Sitting close to me were 2 adorable freshmen, just barely 18 years old (I was a few months shy of my 21st birthday). I watched them watching the “theatre people”. The students from the previous year’s sojourn to RADA were newly returned to campus complete with British accents & a whole new attitude. I had never witnessed so much air kissing & scarf tossing & shrieks of- “I have not seen you since we were in Our Town together", followed by more hugging.

I turned to the newest members of the department- WCK3 & his high school buddy- Little Stevie B & with a dry drop of disgust at the histrionics & mentioned to them- “my, have you ever seen so much drama from a Drama Department?”

I had already started on my life’s journey of loving to perform, but disliking the artifice of "Theatre People". WCK3 & Little Stevie B & I were all cast in Godspell, with WCK3 landing the role of Jesus (on his 1st day of University!). I was given the song- All Good Gifts, which was perfect for me, because I like to show off. WCK3 & I became fast friends & eventually boyfriends. WCK3 was not interested in going steady. He was quite young & wanted to play the field & I was unwilling to give up my adventures as a slut. But we stuck together. I introduced him to cocktails & nasty sex. I was a bit of a mentor in the hedonistic arts. He already had years of dance training by the time we met & I was very impressed with his flexibility. WCK3 is much more conservative then I… & I can still shock him all these decades later.



WCK3 & I transitioned from lovers to friends. We have been very close for more than 35 years. We lived together several times, including a run in the mid-1970s in NYC when WCK3 studied at Julliard & I was at HB Studios. I was always made to feel at home with his parents & siblings. WCK3 is a handsome & remarkably talented man. He can be just a tiny bit opinionated, his recollections can be a bit long-winded, but I would always want him to be in my life.

WCK3 would go on to a life as a professional dancer. At one point he had to choose between an offer from Michael Bennett to tour in A Chorus Line or to join a famed Modern Dance Company- The Lewitzky Dance Company where he was a principal dancer for 20+ years. WCK3 has traveled all over the world with Bella Lewitzky’s dancers. He was trained by Bella Lewitzky to be a master teacher of technique, improvisation, & composition, & was appointed the company's rehearsal director from 1990 until the company's farewell performance in 1997. He has also worked as a dancer for choreographers: Lar Lubovitch, Laura Dean, Joe Goode & Anna Sokolow.

His choreography has been honored at several American College Dance Festivals, & at such venues as Highways Performance Space & the Dance Kaleidoscope Festival in Los Angeles. In the summer of 1998 he was invited as guest choreographer to The Yard, an artist's colony on Martha's Vineyard, & at the University of Arizona. WCK3 has an MFA from University of Illinois where he was also Visiting Assistant Professor, & a BFA, from California State University, Long Beach, where he was also on the faculty.


WCK3 is now on the faculty of the University of Oregon & we have the chance to see each other often. When we do, we toss our scarves over our shoulders, air kiss, squeal & then we list our credits, because we are THEATRE PEOPLE.

Born On This Day- August 8th... Fashion Icon & Gay Rights Pioneer- Rudi Gernreich

WCK3 in Gernreich dance wear.

My most excellent buddy- dancer, choreographer, professor of Dance Studies- WCK3, didn’t just know him, they have history together. I don’t think I even know all the details even now. WCK3 was a senior dancer & rehearsal director  for the modern dance troupe- the Bella Lewitzky Company.

Do I have your attention boys & girls? This story is important. This story is fabulous, & this story is true. A little Viennese gay baby boy- Rudi Gernreich was born on this day in 1922. Jewish Rudi fled Austria at age 16 to escape the Nazis. He migrated to L.A. & became a dancer with the Lester Horton company. In 1974, Gernreich co-starred again with Bella Lewitzky, with whom he had danced in Salome 30 years before, when both were members of Horton's troupe. His remarkable costumes for the Lewitzky presentation of Inscape were part of the set & part of the plot. His "Siamese" twins were joined at the skull in stretchable hoods that kept the dancers connected both literally & figuratively. Gernreich continued to collaborate with Lewitzky, designing sets & costumes for Pas de Bach in 1977, Rituals in 1979, Changes & Choices in 1981, & Confines in 1982, all danced by the beautiful WCK3 in his dancing prime.

60 years ago in L.A., Gernreich, with his lover at the time- Harry Hay & others, formed the Mattachine Society, probably the first gay rights group in the country. Some later criticized the designer for not coming out after taking those amazingly brave early steps, but most of us now could barely imagine how difficult and dangerous it was to do so: you could lose your job, your friends & family, even your life. He did not come out, until after his death, when the estate of he & his partner of 31 years- Oreste Pucciani, provided an endowment for ACLU in their names. Oreste Pucciani, chairman of the U.C.L.A. French department was instrumental in bringing Sartre to the attention of Americans.He was a pivotal figure in the gay rights movement.

 Hay & Gernreich, are the main characters of the play The Temperamentals by Jon Marans, with Thomas Jay Ryan playing Hay and Michael Urie (with whom he shares ths birthday) as Gernreich; after workshop performances in 2009 the play opened to rave reviews off Broadway in spring 2010.

 Rudi Gernreich was the first to use cutouts in clothes. He was the first to use vinyl & plastic in clothes. He Introduced androgyny: men's suits & hats on women. He designed the first see-through clothes. Gernreich designed the first soft transparent bra--the "no bra "bra. He invented body clothes based on leotards & tights. He used hardware such as zippers, & dog leash clasps as decoration. He did the first designer jeans. He designed the 1st thong bathing suit. He was the first to design men's underwear for women.


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Rudi Gernreich spent most of his productive life entirely aware that clothes were ideas in material form. His innovations embraced the new concept of lifestyle & in his soft bathing suits ,thongs, body clothes & tube dresses, in his unisex looks & signature, playful witty look, celebrated the removal of restriction and conformity.


Gernreich seemed to understand that a piece of clothing could embody a larger sense of freedom and liberation.   It had to have something to do with his being gay, & of course being a dancer must have informed his vision of how a dressed body should float with naked ease in & around every situation.

I love 1960s conceptualist fashion. High Art fashion. Its not just fashion; it is a way of life. Life as theatre. Today in the stereotypical gay lifestyle & queer fashion is being appropriated by straight culture. Gay S&M fashion once an underground subculture, has gone mainstream. Slings are a home decor accessory. Rudi Gernreich was cutting edge, but today would he be cutting edge? The real queens of the past: Rudi Gernreich, Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Jean Genet, Truman Capote, Jean Cocteau were so brilliant, they defied fashion convention, they were not subservient to it. I hope that Rudi’s friend WCK3 is lounging around his apartment, enjoying his coffee in a purple thong or one of the famous unitards.

The Temperamentals 2010

The Original Mattachine Society