Born On This Day- August 10th... Gary Beach

He is one of those working actors that I admire so very much. Gary Beach is a talented Tony Award-winning American actor, most noted for his roles in musical theatre, often on Broadway:

Beach has had notable performances on Broadway over the past few decades, including Lumiere in Beauty & The Beast, & as Roger DeBris in The Producers, for which he won a Tony Award in 2001. He returned to Broadway in La Cage aux Folles(playing the role played by Nathan Lane in the film The Birdcage, with whom he worked in The Producers.)

He reprised his role as Roger De Bris on stage in The Producers at the same time that film version was simultaneously released. He became the first person in Broadway history to play the same role on both Broadway & film at the same time.

Beach appeared as Thénardier, the role that he originated in the original LA production, in the recent cast of the revival of Les Misérables on Broadway.

Beach is currently playing the role of King Arthur in the lengthy tour of the Monty Python musical Spamalot.

Beach just completed his second production of Hello, Dolly!, as Horace Vandergelder, one of my own favorite roles, this time at the Jupiter Theater in Florida, formerly Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre. Reynolds owned the dinner theater from 1979 until 1997. In a few weeks, Beach will be playing Horace at the North Shore Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts with Lorna Luft, who I think might be an inspired choice, as Dolly Levi.

Beach lives with his partner, real estate agent- Jeff Barnett, in Palm Beach. They were one of the first same-sex couples to get married in New York. Beach turns 65 years old today.

Born On This Day- August 1st... Lionel Bart

He hosted some of the most famous parties in the Mod London of the 1960s, with guests including Princess Margaret, the Rolling Stones, Noel Coward, Rudolf Nureyev, The Beatles. Joan Collins, Tom Jones, Muhammad Ali & groups of hippies. His London home was known as the ‘Fun Palace’.

Sometimes the host would join his guests, up to 600 of them, as they danced, drank & drugged.  At other times, he preferred to lie in his sound-proofed bedroom behind a 2-way mirror, watching the party. On a table by the front door was a glass bowl stuffed with cash, to which his guests could help themselves. A second bowl contained cocaine, to which they were also welcome.

His generosity knew no bounds, his extravagance no limits. Lionel Bart, the son of an East London tailor, small, Jewish & gay, had made millions from songwriting.

In the 1960s, Bart was the epitome of London cool. His songs, including Little White Bull& Big Time, were at the top of the pop charts &he was responsible for the book, lyrics & music for the hit musical- Oliver!  Yet, Bart ended up an impoverished addict living in shabby obscurity.

Lionel Bart was born to Jewish refugees in London’s East End. Growing up short, skinny, & with sticking out ears & a big nose, he got by entertaining  with his quick wit, making up rude lyrics to well-known songs.

Bart won a scholarship to the prestigious St Martin’s School of Art in the West End of London & became part of the Soho crowd when he was just 16 years old.

In 1948, aged 18, he was called up for National Service with the RAF. On an outing from his airbase, he went to see David Lean’s film of Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist.

Bart discovered, groomed, & wrote #1 hits for Brit rockers- Tommy Steele & Cliff Richard. He could not read or write music; he sang into a tape recorder for someone else to transcribe, & he had no formal musical training. He believed in keeping melodies & lyrics simple. Bart: “I never spent  more than an hour on a tune. Songs should be like sneezes… spontaneous.”

Despite his chart success, Bart dreamed of having his songs performed in the theatre. His break came at the Stratford Theatre in East London, writing songs for a play called Fings Ain’t What They Used T’Be,  a Cockney comedy. The show was an immediate hit, transferring after a year to the West End. The Royal Family attended, despite its risque scenes & dialogue.

In 1959, Lionel began work on the songs and story for what would become his masterpiece, Oliver! But the tale of orphans & poverty was a hard sell to producers. Eventually, one producer agreed to stage it on a tiny budget. On opening night there were 23 curtain calls. The reviews were ecstatic. Oliver! ran for 6 years,  a record for a British musical.

Bart became phenomenally wealthy. He spent his earning on tailored suits, custom shirts, & leather boots. He had his nose fixed. He collected cars: a Mercedes-Benz convertible with a built-in telephone (this was in the Sixties!), Bentley Continental, & a Facel Vega, the fastest, coolest sports car in the world. Bart mixed with the old showbiz: Judy Garland & Noel Coward became good friends, & the new: The Beatles, the Stones, Michael Caine, & Terence Stamp.

Oliver!moved to Broadway in 1963 to tremendous acclaim & terrific box office. He wrote the theme song for the second James Bond film- From Russia With Love.

But personal happiness eluded Bart. He had one steady boyfriend, then a series of casual lovers, but he did not publicly come out until 1971, 4 years after homosexuality was de-criminalized.

In 1962, he wrote another musical, Blitz!, based on his wartime childhood in the East End. It had an 18 month run, but neither Blitz! nor his next musical- Maggie May, came close to the success of Oliver!.

In 1967, Oliver!was made in to a hit film, winning 6 Oscars,  including Best Film & Score. He was invited to Hollywood to write for films movies, but in Hollywood, his inspiration deserted him.

Bart resorted to making ridiculous demands, like having a giant teddy bear travel in the front seat of his chauffeur-driven car. He returned to London, to discover that his 21 year old lover, had stolen his expensive possessions including clocks, paintings,&  antiques. Bart was devastated by the betrayal. He sold the Fun Palace, moving to a small mews house in South Kensington.

He wrote another musical- La Strada, based on the Fellini  film.  It opened on Broadway in December 1969 & closed after one performance.

The 1970s were a downward spiral for Bart. In January 1970, he was arrested for drunk driving. The death of his mother, to whom he was devoted, had a heartbroken Lionel drinking & drugging more heavily.

Broken & bankrupt, Bart sold the rights to his published music & the stage rights to Oliver!. Haunted by failure, Bart & his friend Keith Moon, were downing several bottles of vodka a day & ingested every illegal substance brought to them. In February 1971, he was arrested for possession.

In 1977, the producer Cameron Mackintosh brought Oliver! back to the West End. It was, again, a massive hit & was revived again in 1983. Though Mackintosh paid him as an adviser, it was not enough to save Bart, financially or emotionally. Having sold most of his possessions, he moved to a modest flat in West London, falling further into addiction.

In 1994, Cameron Mackintosh produced another revival of Oliver!, directed by the young director- Sam Mendes, which proved its enduring appeal.It made millions & Mackintosh generously gave Lionel a share of the royalties.

In 1999, however, the years of abuse finally caught up with Bart & he died of liver cancer, leaving the money to his friends & charities, a fraction of the millions he had been worth at his peak in the 1960s.

For Bart, it was never about making the money, as much as he loved spending it. Bart: “It’s the kicks that matter, nothing else. I just want to write musicals. I want to stand up & shout to the biggest audience I can get.”

Your host, far right, as Fagin in 1978

Oliver! was an obsession in my early teens. The role of Fagin was my most coveted part in my youth. I was consumed with a desire to do this role. I already had the part memorized by the time I was 15 years old. By the time I was actually cast, in 1978, at a mere 24 years old, I was ready to give the character my very best. Fagin remains the only true leading role I have ever performed, although he doesn’t appear in the first 35 minutes of the piece & in my production, the little lad who played Oliver received the final curtain call. I am told that I was rather revelatory in the role. Fagin is my favorite character in 55 years of performing. I loved working with the young cast & remain friends on The Facebook with the young actors that played the Artful Dodger & the title role, & with several of the boys, some of whom are now grandparents.

Depression & disappointment drove me to drink & drugs, but I hope I learned a lesson from a skinny little Jewish gay boy from rough East London who couldn’t even read music: money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can help.

Born On This Day- July 12th... Cheyenne Jackson

Cheyenne Jackson is just too much of everything. Is it possible for a man to be so good looking, talented, principled, well liked in the industry & be so easy going about being out & proud?  Have you heard his fabulous 2008 album with Michael Feinstien – The Power of 2,or caught his hilarious turn on 30 Rockas Danny, the irony free Canadian brought on to The Girly Show (the show within a show) to attract Middle-American viewers, or his leading man roles in Broadway runs of Xanadu , Finian’s Rainbow or Damn Yankees on Broadway?

I saw him on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen & I was disarmed by his natural charm & charisma. How funny was it that he came clean as a Bravo watcher & that he was fan of all The Real Housewives Shows?

Jackson had been dating physicist Monte Lapka for 10+ years when the couple exchanged vows in the Hamptons in September 2011, just weeks after same-sex marriage came into force in the state.

Cheyenne Jackson & I might be fated to meet, as it seems that he has been chasing me across the cosmos.

He grew up in a Christian Conservative family, in a small town just outside of my hometown of Spokane, & later moved to that city when he graduated high school. Jackson: “Growing up gay in that town was very hard, but my parents were awesome."

My first professional job, at 17 years old, was doing summer stock in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. I was thrilled with this job. I was making $125 a week, plus room & board. I thought I was rich! I was making a living as an actor! Decades later, Jackson’s first professional show, at age 18, was doing summer theater in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he was making $280 a week. Jackson: “I thought I was so rich!"

In the1980s & 1990s, I worked steadily as an actor in Seattle including featured roles at Seattle Civic Light Opera (Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly! & Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)& at The Village Theatre. Jackson worked from the late 1990s on, in musicals & revues at Seattle Civic Light Opera, & at Village Theatre, playing leads in Grease, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor  Dreamcoat, & West Side Story in 2000 & 2001… just as I was leaving Seattle to move to Portland. Late that year, he was in the ensemble of The Prince & the Pauper at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. In the spring of 2002, he starred in the Fifth Avenue’s production of The Most Happy Fella & the revival of Hair, just as I was starting over in my new city. I can only rest assured that we were NEVER up for the same role.

Jackson had one contact when he moved to NYC- actor Marc Kudisch, for whom he was once an understudy in Seattle. Kudisch set Jackson up with an agent, who signed him on the spot. Within a few weeks, Jackson was cast in his first Broadway show after going to only a single audition. He was just shy of his 27th birthday.

In more crazy parallels in our lives, I moved to NYC with only a single contact, I had one audition for a Broadway show, I once had a 27th birthday, I once had an agent & well… I have seen Broadways shows! I feel with so much in common, we must be fated to meet.

Jackson on being openly gay in Hollywood: “The more it happens, the easier it is for others, although I do understand why some actors choose not to come out. I have several famous friends who are still in the closet.”

On working with Alec Baldwin: “I’ve learned to be totally comfortable around Alec Baldwin, but he used to scare the crap out of me. He’s so alpha male. He’ll move you out of the way if you’re in his light, and one time I thought he was done talking & I started to say something & he put his big beefy hand on my arm to silence me.”

 He has an album of self-penned tunes- Drive, to be released in August. Cheyenne Jackson turns 37 years old today. I was once 37 years old, although I don’t remember anything from that year.

Born On This Day- June 9th... Cole Porter

At a very young age, I was so enamored of the songs of Cole Porter & the story of his life & friendships, that my parents gave me huge “coffee table” book about this great American songwriter for Christmas when I was 11 years old, & then followed it up with another big book of his collected lyrics for my birthday the next week. I still have both books.

Born in Peru, Indiana in 1891, Porter studied music from an early age, & began composing as a teenager. After high school he attended Yale University, where he was voted “most entertaining man.” He went on to law school at Harvard University, but his interest remained in music. At Harvard he continued to write songs, & a some of his pieces were used in Broadway musicals.

In 1916, his first full score was performed. The musical-See America First was a flop & closed after only 15 performances. Bruised by the experience, he began to travel around Europe & got an apartment in Paris. This was the beginning of his lifelong affection for the city, which he would return to in songs- You Don’t Know Paree & I Love Paris. During his time in Europe, Porter contributed to many musicals, but until his song- Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love appeared in the 1928 musical Paris, he had not had a big hit. Paris was a place Cole flourished socially. He attended parties with his pal Noel Coward. The parties of the era were elaborate & fabulous, attended by the upper crust. His own parties were marked by gay & bisexual activity, cross-dressing, international musicians & actors, & a large surplus of recreational drugs. I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era, the very theme of Woody Allen’s 2011 film- Midnight In Paris, my favorite film of the new decade.

Porter started spending time with American divorcee- Linda Thomas, & they became close friends quickly. Their financial status & social status made them prefect as a married couple.The fact that Linda's ex-husband was abusive & Cole was gay made the arrangement even more perfect. Linda was always one of Porter's staunch supporters & being married increased his chance of success. Being married to Porter allowed Linda to keep high status in society for the rest of her life. They married in 1919 & lived in a happy arrangement, a successful public relationship, but a sexless marriage until Linda's death in 1954.

Porter was happy with a life in Hollywood in the 1930s, including a more liberal movie industry where Porter enjoyed more open sexual adventures. At the time, it was somewhat more acceptable to be an eccentric gay artist, but Linda feared for Porter’s reputation & career. Her social standing was threatened by his activities & the rumors in upper-crust social circles.

Despite a horseback riding accident in 1937 that crippled him for life, Porter produced much of his best work in the 1940s &1950s. He wrote 100s of songs for Broadway shows, movie musicals, & TV specials. His most successful musical- Kiss Me Kate opened in 1948 & ran for over a 1000 performances. A recluse in his later years, Porter died in California in 1964.

In 1945 the film Night & Day was made with Cary Grant, allegedly about the life of Cole Porter. This movie has almost nothing to do with the actual life of the songwriter. Night & Day leaves out the important elements of his gay life, & his sexless marriage of convenience.

The 1990 album- Red, Hot, & Blue features Cole Porter songs sung by popular musicians of the 1980s & 1990s. It remains a favorite of mine. The dismal 2004 movie- De-Lovely, with an improbable Kevin Kline as Porter, came a tiny bit closer to the true story & featured beautiful sets, major actors, famous current musicians, & a strong Hollywood marketing campaign for the movie & the soundtrack. But for me, this movie is a miserable mess.

The songs of Cole Porter are very important to me. This is my favorite:

You Have To Be Carefully Taught

You've got to be taught

To hate & fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

& people whose skin is a different shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are 6 or 7 or 8,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

Oscar Hammerstein II

1949

Born On This Day- June 6th... Harvey Fierstein

“If you don't look, you don't know,”

Well, first of all, there is that voice. I always think of my distinctive voice, made possible by decades of pot smoking & whiskey drinking, but Harvey Fierstein brings it all to a whole new level. .. a 300-pound man who sounds like he's been chain-smoking since the age of 3.

Fierstein grew up in Bensonhurst, the son of a handkerchief manufacturer & a school librarian. He attended Pratt & began his career in the mid-1970s performing in drag bars under the name Virginia Hamm. It was Fierstein's collection of interconnected, semi-autobiographical one-act plays in the late '70s- Torch Song Trilogy, that eventually brought him to Broadway. (He also starred in the big screen adaptation.). He has the distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing & playing the lead role in his long-running play, about a gay drag performer & his quest for true love & family.

Fierstein has since effectively become a celebrity spokesperson & champion for gay civil rights. He describes himself as a "first real, live, out-of-the-closet queer on Broadway". He wrote the book for the musical La Cage aux Folles & he has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards (the Tonys are a high Holy Day at my house & will be broacast live next Sunday). Fierstein has been featured in the films Bullets Over Broadway, Mrs. Doubtfire, Death to Smoochy, & Independence Day.

Fierstein's turn as Edna Turnblatt in Hairspray earned him a Tony award in 2003. Fierstein virtually owned the role, but he was ultimately turned down for movie version of Hairspray. Closet case-John Travolta was cast instead. He played Tevye in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway & & then toured the country in the iconic role. His brave, unlikely & open portrayal of a straight father of 3 daughters in the Jewish- The Sound Of Music earned him rave reviews all over the country. My first professional role was as Motel the tailor in Fiddler On The Roof in 1971. I have a soft spot for this show & I think it would  have been nifty to play Grandma Tzeitel in Harvey’s production. He appeared in last season's popular revival of La Cage Aux Folles, replacing Douglas Hodges as Albine/Zaza. Fierstein wrote the book for this season's Broadway hit- Newsies & is working on a musical version of Kinky Boots, a film that I think is just begging to be a stage musical.

I really like & admire Harvey Fierstein. He has been a vocal gay rights activist, speaking out for gay people, queer theater, & AIDS causes. He has been a spokesman for the Services Legal Defense Fund, a group that advocates for the rights of gays & lesbians in the military. Fierstein: "Time will tell us what we did and didn't do. The way that I look at it, the only thing that I will definitely take credit for is that Torch Song & La Cage Aux Folles, 2 of my shows, were the first ever gay themed shows to make money on Broadway. I think that counts more than anything."

Harvey Fierstein Turns 60 years old today. He is nominated for a Tony Award for the book of Newsies. The Tony Awards broadcast is this Sunday. I will be there. Fierstein lives on 7 acres in Connecticut. Harvey... Let's have cocktails & have a chat.

Born On This Day- May 29th... Beatrice Lillie

I feel heavy hearted that the baby queers & even the Gen Xers don't know about, or care about many of the personalities that engaged the gay people that came before them. I recently mentioned Mae West & Raquel Welch in the same sentence & a small group of 20-something gay boys looked at me with totally blank faces. It was as if I had been speaking in Hebrew.

Beatrice Lillie was an incomparable artist: comedienne, actress, & known in the 1920s- 1950s as "the funniest woman in the world. " She was born Constance Sylvia Gladys Munston, in Canada. She began her stage career in London in 1914 & she became famous for her performances in music hall & in intimate revues.

Lillie made her American debut in 1932 where she developed her own TV series during the 1950s. She appeared in films including On Approval (1944) & Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), although she worked primarily on the stage. In 1952, she created her own show; incorporating her greatest bits in An Evening with Beatrice Lillie which opened on Broadway. This show received rave reviews & she toured with it across the globe 3 times. She won a Special Tony Award for her performance in 1953. She starred on Broadway in High Spirits & replaced Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame. Lillie wrote her autobiography Every Other Inch a Lady in 1972 before a suffering stroke in 1974.

After her death, Sir John Gielgud stated: "She was The Mistress of the Absurd, I remember Bea standing dramatically against a pillar dressed in a flowing gown which she lifted suddenly to reveal her feet shod in roller skates on which she gravely skidded across the stage".

With her trademark cropped hair style with a smart hat, holding a long cigarette holder, she was a true original, an enemy of pomposity, & the sentimental. Fortunately, many of her satirical & surrealistic comic songs: There Are Fairies At The Bottom Of My Garden, Weary Of It All, Wind Round My Heart, & my favorite- This Is My First Affair ("so please be kind & please be quick"), are preserved on record.

In the first half of the 20th century, Lillie was one of the most sought after celebrities, the darling of the social set, & the toast of two continents. Cole Porter wrote his "story of a nightmare weekend"- Thank You So Much, Mrs. Lowsborough-Goodby, for her, & Noel Coward wrote the delightfully gossipy I've Been To A Marvellous Party just or her. She gave the first public performance of Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

In 1920 she was married to Sir Robert Peel, making her Lady Peel, a name she used at social affairs. She eventually separated from her husband (but never divorced him). Lillie had love affairs with many women, including actresses: Tallulah Bankhead, Eva Le Gallienne, Gertrude Lawrence & Judith Anderson.



"Did I ever give you a lift after a party at Joan Crawford's?"

Born On This Day- May 17th... Howard Ashman

Despite spending my childhood, adolescence & young adulthood as an A+ berserk Musical Theatre Queen, living & breathing musicals, collecting the original cast albums for the most obscure shows: Something’s Afoot, Allegro, Salad Days, Dear World, Kean, Goldilocks, The Rothschilds, Two By Two, It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superman, Subways Are For Sleeping, The Robber Bridegroom, 70, Girls, 70, Smile, The Golden Apple, The Apple Tree, Juno… I could go on & on.

But, I got off that Musical Theatre ride in the early 1980s. I was less than enchanted with the offerings; I didn’t move well into the Cats & Miss Saigon era.  I found more enjoyment in appearing in a musical than listening to one. My personal listening taste moved towards Elvis Costello, The Police & The Clash & away from Sondheim.

 The big exception to my new frame of mind was Little Shop Of Horrors from 1982. I listened to this show until the LP was worn through. I knew every song from the score & was convinced that I could play any of the roles. I always wanted to do Somewhere That’s Green in my act, but never got the chance to work it up. It remains a favorite musical of mine, certainly in the top 10 of all time.

I honor lyricists on my little spot on the Internet & Howard Ashman is one of the best. Despite having once made a good chunk of my living from doing voice-overs, I am not a fan of animated films. Ashman collaborated with his artistic partner- Alan Menken on several notable animated features for Disney, Ashman writing the lyrics & Menken composing the scores.

Howard Ashman first worked with Alan Menken on a 1979 musical adapted from Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. They next collaborated on Little Shop of Horrors with Ashman as director, lyricist, & librettist. Ashman left the team once, as director, lyricist & bookwriter for the 1986 Broadway musical, Smile with music by Marvin Hamlisch.

 Menken & Ashman would go on to win 2 Grammys, 2 Golden Globes & 2 Oscars for songs from. Just days after he won the Oscar for Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid, Ashman confided in Menken that he had AIDS. His illness was made him weaker every day, but Ashman never stopped writing songs. He wrote the witty & warm lyrics for Beauty & The Beast, & turned out more songs for a 3rd Disney animated musical- Aladdin. Ashman’s last Academy Award in 1992 was awarded posthumously for Best Song. It was accepted by his long time partner, Bill Lauch.

 Ashman died at the age of 40 in NYC, during the making of both Beauty & the Beast & Aladdin.

He was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 2001. Beauty & the Beast was dedicated: “To our Friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice & a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950-1991”. His headstone reads "O that he would have but one more song to sing". Ashman would have been 62 years old today.

Kate Was Great... Considering Katharine Hepburn On Her Birthday- May 12th

Post Apocalyptic Bohemian favorite writer- Gore Vidal vouches for his buddy- Scotty Bowers, who claims that he set Katharine Hepburn up “with over 150 different women” in his dishy, juicy book- Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood & the Secret Sex Lives of Stars, which I read in 2 sittings back in February.

Vidal flew in to L.A. to be part the book’s release event. He wanted to assure attendees that Bowers is totally telling the truth. In a speech, he told partygoers he’s never caught Bowers in a lie in the 60+ years he’s known him, noting that in L.A. “you can meet 1,000 liars a day". I think there is a difference between never catching someone in a lie as opposed someone has never told a lie, but I will take Vidal & Bowers at their word: Katharine Hepburn was a very sexually active lesbian. That closet door is now open.

If you don’t want to go with Bower’s version, try noted film historian- William J. Mann's Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, published in 2004.  Mann tells that the epic romance of Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy was a fable cultivated by Hepburn to hide their bisexuality. The pair of stars were sexually complicated screen legends that had an enduring companionship but were only briefly passionate & never lived together intimately.

Hepburn fostered the belief that she & Tracy could never marry because he was a devout Catholic committed to Louise Treadwell, his wife of 43 years & mother of their deaf child. Mann used documents & interviews with people who wouldn't talk while Hepburn was alive. & 8 years before Bower’s book, Mann insists that it was at gay director George Cukor's estate that he met a Hollywood hustler identified as "Scotty," a mechanic who staffed his gas station with "handsome young bucks, just home from the war" who for $20 were "happy to wash their hands (or not) & take a trip with a client to the back room."

Mann writes that Scotty related: "Tracy would always be drinking when I arrived. He'd get so loaded. He'd sit there at the table drinking from five o'clock in the afternoon until two in the morning, when he'd fall onto the bed & ask me to join him. ... & in the morning he'd act like nothing happened."

According to Mann, Hepburn's notorious relationship with American Express heiress Laura Harding wasn't "lesbian," but it sure was sexual. Mann: "Hepburn admitted as much to friends like James Prideaux, cutting him off with a shrill 'Of course!' when he asked about Harding ... as if the subject were simply too obvious & boring to belabor."

There is a famous story about the making of the film adaptation of Tennessee William's notorious Suddenly, Last Summer that starred Elizabeth Taylor,  the very gay Montgomery Clift & Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn, as Violet Venable was so obsessed with her dead son, Sebastian, that she wants to have her niece, played by Taylor lobotomized rather than have it revealed that he was homosexual. 

Apparently Hepburn was clueless that this was a film about homosexual lust & the director, Joseph Mankiewicz, & screenwriter- the very gay Gore Vidal, had to explain it to her. Meanwhile, she nailed the role as the disturbed, evilly controlling mother. 

This anecdote works against the image of independent, smart Hepburn, the Connecticut feminist Yankee who supposedly seduced Hollywood’s leading men- Spencer Tracy, Gary Grant, Humphrey Bogart & James Stewart.  In her real life, Hepburn followed in the footsteps of her mother who pioneered reproductive freedoms & the right of American women to vote.

  

In the 1930s, where of the strict studio system made & crushed careers, Hepburn challenged studio execs & made it work for her. She grew as a businesswoman, commanding salaries & negotiating roles at a time when it was just not done.  She was a symbol of a true American original who could accomplish anything.

Hepburn's career spanned decades & her range was legendary, even while her roles were always secondary to her own personality.

Was there ever a gayer film than the1937 camp classic- Stagedoor in which Hepburn perfected the screen ingenue, uttering the line: "The calla lillies are in bloom again."  Cast opposite Gay Icons Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, & Ginger Rogers, she played it broadly & autobiographically, as the daughter of a wealthy businessman who wants a career in the theater with no prior training. It remains a favorite Hepburn performance at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia,

Hepburn excelled in screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby with bi-sexual Carey Grant who uttered the famous line: "I’ve turned gay all of the sudden!" For gay audiences, Hepburn inadvertently developed an androgynous image in such roles as the cross-dressing Sylvia Scarlet.

After being victimized by studio mouthpieces & being branded "box office poison" by the press, Hepburn refused to be ignored.  She starred on Broadway in Philip Barry‘s The Philadelphia Story, purchasing the rights to star in the film. More than any other actress of the period, Hepburn controlled her own career. 

In the 1940s & 1950s, Hepburn launched a classical stage & film career, transitioning beautifully, at a time in her career when most stars would retreat to predictable vehicles that would showcase them.  Among other things, she tackled Shakespeare onstage while in her 50s, at the same time becoming the first lady of American cinema, eventually nominated for 12 Best Actress Oscars & winning 4 times, a record.

She bravely stood with her colleagues Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall during the trials of the Hollywood 10, screenwriters, actors & directors called before the Senator Joseph McCarthy's House on Un-American Activities Committee in protest of their unconstitutional Senate investigations, without risk of guilt by association. Hepburn made The African Queen (which is not about Ru-Paul) with Bogart.

 

Hepburn is a Gay Icon. She was a tough-minded authority as a liberal thinker. Gay men & lesbians love her equally, if for different reasons, & even if she didn't acknowledge he won gayness, it is impossible to ignore Hepburn’s impact on Gay culture, Gay minds & Gay hearts. Hepburn was Fierce.

I only saw her live once, in L.A. circa 1971, in a mess of a musical- Coco, playing Coco Chanel, with a book & lyrics by Alan J. Lerner & music by Andre Previn, with sets by the very gay Cecil Beaton, choreographed by  the very gay- Michael Bennett, with a  cast that included: René Auberjonois, George Rose, David Holliday, Bob Avian, Jon Cypher, Suzanne Rogers, Graciela Daniele,& Ann Reinking. To prepare for Coco, Hepburn received singing coaching with MGM’s very gay muscial producer Roger Edens. She was simply brilliant & breathtaking in the role. I loved her & ran out to by the cast album. I do a terrific imitation of Hepburn singing the title song. Ask me sometime.

My favorite Hepburn role was in 1975’s Love Among The Ruins with Lawrence Olivier, although I have studied every moment of The Philadelphia Story. The Husband’s choice is The Lion In Winter. What is your favorite Katherine Hepburn performance?

Born On This Day- April 30th... Eunice M. Quedens

Eve Arden is one of the Husband’s favorite stars, & he introduced me to her most famous role with re-runs on TV. I was just a smidgen too young to have watched the 1st broadcasts of Our Miss Brooks, but watching them with him gave me even more appreciation for her considerable talents. I did have the pleasure of seeing Eve Arden in the title role in Hello, Dolly while I was doing summer stock on Cape Cod in the early 1970s. She was a terrific Dolly Levi.

I never met her, but I wanted to be her, or rather I wanted to receive a review that would claim- “Stephen Rutledge has the charm & the crack top timing of a male Eve Arden.” If my demented memory serves me right, I had a better chance at being compared to Kay Ballard.

Her 50 year career doing supporting & leading roles on stage, in films, radio & TV included an Oscar nomination for Mildred Pierce, but she is best remembered for playing the sardonic high school teacher in the classic Our Miss Brooks on radio & television, & to another generation as the Rydell High School principal in Grease & Grease 2. Ironically. she never finished high school, leaving at 16 to join a stock company.


Eve Arden had an approximately 30 second guest role in a 1955 I Love Lucy episode- L.A. at Last in which she played herself. While awaiting their food at The Brown Derby, Lucy & Ethel argue over whether a certain portrait on the wall is of Shelley Winters or Judy Holliday. Ethel decides to ask a lady sitting in the booth next to them, who replies: "Neither. That's Eve Arden." Ethel suddenly realizes she'd just been talking to Arden herself. As the star is leaving she is gawked by Lucy & Ethel. This same episode also guest starred William Holden.


Desilu Productions, was owned by Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball, & was the production company for the Our Miss Brooks television show, which was filming during the same period as I Love Lucy. Ms. Ball & Ms. Arden were acquaintances, having worked together in Stage Door in 1937; it was Ball, who suggested Arden for the radio & TV versions of Our Miss Brooks.


Arden's comic talent & timing were absolute perfection for her best known role, Madison High School English teacher Connie Brooks in Our Miss Brooks. Arden portrayed the character on radio from 1948 to 1957, & on TV from 1952 to 1956, & in a 1956 feature film. Arden's character clashed with the school's principal, Osgood Conklin (Gale Gordon), & was burdened by an unrequited crush on fellow teacher Philip Boynton (Jeff Chandler, & on TV by Robert Rockwell).


Eve Arden was born Eunice M. Quedens in Mill Valley, California, & she made her Broadway in 1934 in the Ziegfeld Follies , & her last work was in Grease 2 in 1982. She chose her stage name while shopping for cosmetics & spotting the names Evening in Paris &  Elizabeth Arden. She was married to actor Brooks West for 32 years, until his death in 1984. Eve Arden passed away in 1990 at the age of 82. Happy Birthday, Eve!





"I've worked with a lot of great glamorous girls in movies and the theater. And I'll admit, I've often thought it would be wonderful to be a femme fatale. But then I'd always come back to thinking that if they only had what I've had - a family, real love, an anchor - they would have been so much happier during all the hours when the marquees and the floodlights are dark."

I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Sat No

I met her once. It was really rather a thrill because I am true fan, & at the time, a musical queen. I was over the moon to meet the original Ado Annie from Oklahoma!. As a film smart, savvy young gay man my head was simply spinning to be meeting Karen, Margo Channing’s best friend in All About Eve, one of my very favorite films.

The occasion was being received back stage by Betty Garrett, after her one-woman show- Betty Garrett & Other Songs at the Westwood Playhouse in Spring 1976. Betty Garrett had been my acquaintance for a year, & we had recently been at a very informal outdoor dinner thrown by mutual friends. Betty & I had a very special conversation that evening that ended with Betty offering me the house seats to her show the next evening. I took her up on the offer, & the show was splendid, sparkling & sentimental. After her big finish, but before the curtain call, Betty looked into the house with her hands shielding her eyes & announced while pointing : "My dead friend Celeste & Stephen… I want to see you both in my dressing room in a few minutes.” I turned to the person next to me & nudged & whispered- “That’s me… I'm Stephen, I’m not Celeste.”

So, Oscar winner & consummate character actor Celeste Home, & little curly-haired redheaded Stephen hung out in the dressing room while Betty Garrett got out of costume & make up. Celeste Holm & our hero made small talk & loudly praised Ms. Garrett’s show. I heaped praise on Holme's stage performance in Mame, which I had adored in 1968.

I declined an offer from the 2 amazing stars of Hollywood’s golden era to move on to the next party as a team. Instead, I would opt for Studio One in West Hollywood, hoping that some hot man would shove that little brown bottle under my nose, the one that makes me feel so sexy & really connected with the thumping music. I did meet a beefy redhead that took me to his place in Venice Beach, used me for my considerable talents & then made me breakfast. I came to the fork in the road, & I made the wrong decision. I could have partied away the evening with the woman who introduced the world to the showstopper- I Can't Say No (by coincidence, the title of a chapter in my memoir- Jockstraps & Vicodin), instead I took the fork that might have gotten me forked.

Celeste, I was dense, I was callow, I was young. I was thinking with my dick. I apologize. Ask me again, I will devote a date to you & we can remember our friend Betty. Take me up on my offer. Happy 94th birthday! You out lived the entire cast of All About Eve. You are still one hot number!

Celeste Holm tells this story: She was nominated for an Oscar for a film she made with Loretta Young- Come To The Stable, in which they both played nuns! Loretta had become quite pious after having given birth to Clark Gable's love child (talk about virgin birth... she then adopts her own daughter) & Loretta Young announced to the cast & crew that there would no swearing or strong language on the set. Miss Young had set up a penalty box; if someone should slip up & use a Goddamn, fuck or shit, they would need to put a nickle in the box, with the proceeds going to a Vatican charity at the end of the shoot. Holme's good friend Ethel Merman stopped by the set to visit. Ethel took a 10 dollar bill out of her purse & slipped it into the Curse Box & loudly proclaimed- "There you go Loretta. Now you can go fuck yourself". I told this story to a group of 20-35 year olds that I supervise at my job. Not a single one knew of Celeste Holm, Loretta Young, Ethel Merman, or All About Eve, even the gay ones. I hate getting old.

Holmes also relates: "I walked onto the set of All About Eve on the first day & said, 'Good Morning,' to Miss Bette Davis, & do you know her reply? She said, 'Oh shit, good manners'. I never spoke to her again ... ever."

Celeste Holm lives in her native NYC. She married 5 times; she married her current husband, opera singer Frank Basile, on April 29, 2004, her 87th birthday. Celeste turns an astonishing 95 today.

Born On This Day- April 29th, In 1968, The Broadway Production Of HAIR

With unpopular wars still raging and the forces of conformism still oppressing the free spirits in American society, HAIR remains a vital expression of irrepressible & joyous Be-In for all times. It is one of my favorite musicals & the film version is in my Top 10 Films.

I saw the original Broadway production, then in its 4th year, I saw the West End production in 1969 & oddly enough, the Vienna production- Haare. The Original Broadway Cast album sold more than 3 million copies in the first year, at the time a phenomenon.

As far as I am concerned, HAIR was the first Rock Musical. Although it had received generally good critical notices off-Broadway, at the Biltmore Theater it got almost unanimous raves, with Clive Barnes of the NY Times championing it all the way. Barnes: “HAIR is the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic voice of today rather than the day before yesterday.”

6 months after the Broadway opening, a new company was formed in L.A.. L.A. HAIR settled down in the Aquarius Theater there for a 2 year run, the longest run of any show in L.A. Mae West came to the show & exclaimed: "My, you boys certainly have a lot of energy!"

On Broadway, the show ran 4 years at the Biltmore Theatre, & in London 5 years at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End. Eventually there were an unheard of, 9 companies in the USA. The talent was recruited from each city. The show played simultaneously in NYC, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Seattle, Boston, & Baltimore, in addition there were national touring companies.

The Broadway production was directed by Tom O'Horgan, & choreographed by Julie Arenal, with set design by Robin Wagner, costume design by Nancy Potts, & lighting design by Jules Fisher. The original Broadway "tribe"  included authors Rado & Ragni, who played the lead roles of Claude & Berger, respectively, with Lynn Kellogg as Sheila, Lamont Washington as Hud, Sally Eaton & Shelley Plimpton reprising their off-Broadway roles as Jeanie & Crissy, Melba Moore as Dion, Paul Jabara & Diane Keaton (both Moore & Keaton later played Sheila). Among the performers who appeared in Hair during its original Broadway: Ben Vereen, Keith Carradine, Barry McGuire, Ted Lange, Meat Loaf, Kenny Seymour (of Little Anthony & The Imperials), Joe Butler (of the Lovin' Spoonful), Heather MacRae (daughter of Gordon MacRae), Vicki Sue Robinson.

HAIR was nominated for Best Musical & Best Director at the Tony Awards, but lost out to 1776 in both categories.The production ran for 1,750 performances, closing on July 1, 1972, officially the end of the 1960s.

There was a decision to do the show in the local language of each country at a time when for productions of Broadway shows were always done in English. The translations followed the original script closely, & the Broadway staging & choreography were used. Each script contained various local references, such as street names & the names or depictions of local politicians & celebrities. The original international productions included tribes in: France, Germany (with Donna Summer as Dione), Mexico, Italy, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Switzerland, Vienna, Tokyo, Montreal, Sydney ( 6 African-Americans were brought to Australia to provide a racially integrated tribe),Sônia Braga appeared in the 1969 Brazilian production. Yugoslavia was the first HAIR to be produced in a communist country.

By 1970, HAIR was a huge financial success, the various productions of the show were raking in almost $1 million every 10 days, & royalties were being collected for 300 different recordings of the show's songs, making it the most successful score in history as well as the most performed score ever written for the Broadway stage. So much for the counter-culture.

HAIR is a musical celebration of life, a love letter to freedom, & a passionate plea for hope & change. It is the story of a group of friends who struggle to balance their young lives, loves, & the sexual revolution with their rebellion against war, their conservative parents, & society. In the waning days of their adolescence, and on the brink of adulthood, they are angry, hostile, confused, frightened of how the future is going to change them & of not knowing what comes next. They choose to speak up & sing out in celebration of peace, love, freedom, happiness & life.

The first great rock musical, HAIR has  a score I have not tired of in 44 years of listening, with some of the most soulful songs ever written for the stage including: Let the Sunshine In, Easy To Be Hard, Good Morning Starshine, Aquarius,& the hirsute title song. I never was in a production of HAIR, damn it, & now I don’t have any. In fact, with no hair on my head & biting at the ass of 60 years old, I am listening to the Original Broadway Cast of HAIR this very afternoon, while enjoying a joint & hoping for peace & understanding.

Born On This Day- April 18... Broadway's Gavin Creel

Nearly everyone I know in Portland is a hyphenate (lawyer/framer/author), making today’s birthday boy a most certain honorary citizen.

Gavin Creel is an activist/actor/singer/songwriter who is also one of founders of Broadway Impact, an organization fighting for equality for the LBGT community. He came out publicly in a 2009 interview in the Advocate.  Besides the original Broadway cast albums that he appears on has 3 solo vocal albums including- Get Out, released last month.

Creel was in the cast of Hair on both Broadway (2009) & The West End (2010). Creel earned Tony Award nominations for Hair & Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002). He has also appeared on Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles (2004) & the West End production of Mary Poppins. He’s come a long way since his first stage appearance in which he was a high school sophomore cast as Sir Sagamore in Camelot; speaking 2 words: “& mine.”

Creed: “Talking about sexuality, sexual orientation & understanding how sexual identity factors into all of our thinking is a conversation that I believe everyone should fearlessly enter into. It drives me crazy how "gay issues" so often appear to be just for the gays & are therefore relegated to the outside edges of a newspaper or newscast or even election (except when it is conveniently spun into the hot topic to help mobilize people against us for the sake of "morality" (ahem... youarewelcomeforthoseextrafouryearsmisterbush). I love who I am, but I don't see me & my gay friends as a bunch of homos who should be set apart from the rest. I don't agree with those in our community who think that as gay people we are special & should therefore keep ourselves isolated from certain straight-associated thinking or conventions. If I really am special, I don't need to separate myself to stand out (yet another thing I would say to the pimple-faced, show-choir-obsessed, teenage version of me). I hope the words are call to everyone: sexy straights, bi beauties, terrific trannies &, of course, us gorgeous gays.”

“These voices... our voices, & not the whispered gossip of "who is and who isn't" or "oh my god! I always knew they were" or "he/she/that is so gay," must set the real conversation. & then, hopefully someday soon, "I am gay" will not be something someone has to admit but something we will all celebrate.”

Although I appreciate him shirtless in Hair, Gavin Creel is getting ready to wear a white shirt & black tie as Elder Price in the upcoming national tour of The Book of Mormon.

Creel “Fans should follow me across the country and stalk me because I will put out. I will make out with every single one of them!”

The Tony award winning show plays Portland in January 2013 & I am going to collect on that kiss.


Gavin Creel turns 36 years old today.