Portland Pride Day... 25 Gayest Songs Of All Time

25. 9 to 5- Dolly Parton

24. In the Navy- Village People

23. Relax- Frankie Goes To Hollywood

22. Macho Man- Village People

21. Small Town Boy- Bronski  Beat

20. I’m Coming Out- Diana Ross

19. I Am What I Am- Harvey Fierstein

18. I Love The Nightlife- Alicia Bridges

17. Vogue- Madonna

16. Constant Craving- k d lang

15. Xanadu- Olivia Newton-John

14. Go West- Pet Shop Boys

13. No More Tears (Enough is Enough)- Babs & Donna Summer

12. You Make Me Feel Mighty Real- Sylvester

11. Don’t Rain On My Parade- Barbra Streisand

10. Love Shack- B 52s

9. YMCA- Village People

8. Dancing Queen- ABBA

7. Secret Love- Doris Day

6. Faith- George Michael

5. Hot Stuff- Donna Summer

4. We Are Family- Sister Sledge

3. It’s Raining Men- Weather Girls

2. I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

1. Over The Rainbow- Judy Garland

Born On This Day- May 28th... Chris Colfer

At just 19, Christopher Paul Colfer of Clovis, Calif., a small town near Fresno, rose to TV stardom playing Glee's Kurt Hummel, at the time, one of the rare, realistic gay characters in prime time… & he can really sing. With no professional training, Colfer so impressed Glee creator Ryan Murphy during initial auditions that the character was written specifically for him.

A graduate of Clovis East High School, Colfer was a 3 time speech & debate champion, president of the writer’s club, & wrote & directed a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd called “Shirley Todd.” His closest friends in school were the lunch room ladies because he preferred to stay home to write than to go out with friends. He also took care of his sister, Hannah, who suffers from epilepsy that has kept her in and out of hospitals all of her life.

Colfer: “I was made fun of a lot in high school because of the way I sound & the way I was. I was a lone duck in a swan filled pond who criticized everyone. So I think everyone might be going, ‘Oh, he’s playing the gay character. Figures.’ Just because that’s how they perceived me.” Between the ages of 9 &14, Colfer performed in local plays 4 nights a week. He landed a Hollywood agent & began traveling the 8 hours round trip to LA for auditions with his mother. He tried out for about 30 roles before he was cast on Glee.

I have remained fan of Glee through the end of the just concluded 3rd season, & I am encouraged by the range of gay characters portrayed on the show. On TV, at last, gays are not drawn in non-stereotypical fashion as strictly victims, tragedies, predators or sissies. We now have characters that embrace who they are & are in loving, fulfilling relationships In this way, Kurt Hummel is bound to become a role model for teens in the midst of discovering who they are & also for adults who have been in Kurt’s shoes.

On Glee this spring, a transgender character named Unique is competing in a sing-off. On Grey’s Anatomy, a show I have never viewed, a lesbian couple is adjusting to married life, having been pronounced “wife & wife” last season.

The cultural battlefield of TV has changed since the 1980s with the very neutered portrayal of Tony Randall’s Sidney Schorr on NBC’sLove, Sidney or in the 1990s, when the Religious Right objected to Ellen coming out & Will & Grace coming on.

Today, there is very little complaining about shows like Modern Family, the #1 sitcom or Post Apocalyptic Bohemia favorite- Smash, which has 5 openly gay characters, or the refreshing sitcom-Happy Endings, which, against stereotype, has a husky & lazy gay male character, possibly based on me. Mitt Romney is known to be a fan of Modern Family.

Next season NBC has a new show from Glee creator- Ryan Murphy that features a gay couple trying to have a child & their surrogate, titled The New Normal.

Vice President Biden stated that Will & Grace: “probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.” When that sitcom began on NBC, conservatives claimed that would make homosexuality seem desirable. They were correct.

On Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres, came out on the show & in real life in 1997. DeGeneres threatened to quit a year later when ABC preceded an episode that showed her jokingly kissing a friend with a message that warned: “Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised.” Can you imagine such a notice on Modern Family or Glee?

Smash aired a funny & sweet scene of a pair of men in bed, one a Republican, after an evening of bad sex. Now, that is realism.

Steven Levitan, a co-creator of Modern Family: “We thought that when the show started, the inclusion of Cameron & Mitchell would limit our success a bit, because it will perhaps alienate a certain segment of the population.In fact, it’s turned out to be quite the opposite.”

Media watchdogs like the Parents Television Council, one of the most active conservative media groups, do occasionally speak out against TV programming, & the religious fanatics have not been silent & Glee has been scrutinized. The Media Research Center stated: “Glee merely pretends to be a show for young people while actually serving as an assault on our traditional values.”

Colfer: “I don’t personally feel a responsibility to be a role model, but as the actor, I do.” On one of the most the powerful moments to ever air on TV, Glee’s Kurt Hummel came out to his father, played by the always excellent- Mike O’Malley, in a scene that  the show’s creator. Ryan Murphy took verbatim from his life.

Murphy: “The show is about making you feel good in the end. It’s about happy endings & optimism & the power of your personal journey & making you feel that the weird thing about me is the great thing about me. I’ve done other shows with gay characters, & I will say that in many of those cases, the gay characters didn’t have a happy ending, & I thought you know what? Enough.”

Last year Colfer was named to Time Magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential Americans.

This summer, Colfer will star in Struck by Lightning, for which he wrote the screenplay. The plot revolves around a character, who is struck & killed by a bolt of lightning, & looks back on his exploits as he blackmails his fellow senior classmates into contributing to a literary magazine he is publishing.

Colfer turns 22 years old today. Times have really changed, at 22 years old, I would never have dared to be an out & proud actor. Colfer & his creation of the character of Kurt on Glee make him a hero to me.

Remembrances Of Things I Forgot

“If H. G. Wells had been funny & Oscar Wilde obsessed with time travel they might have mated & produced Bob Smith, who has written the funniest & wildest ride imaginable through the recent past & near future.”
Edmund White

 “It’s safe to say your relationship is in trouble if the only way you can imagine solving your problems is by borrowing a time machine.”


How much of my life has been lived with the nagging: “What if”? I have a frequent inner-dialogue filled with “if I could go back & do it again, I would…”

Simply one of the best books I have read in a very long time Bob Smith’s Remembrances Of Things is filled with the full sweep of life’s experiences: love, lust, loggerheads, lenity, levity, lampooning, loathsome evils & legitimate indignation, yet the book is perfectly balanced storytelling from witty start to moving finish.

In 2006, comic book dealer John Sherkston decides to break up with his physicist boyfriend, Taylor. Taylor announces he’s finally perfected a time machine for the government. John is sent back to 1986, where he finds “Junior,” his younger, more innocent self. When Junior starts to flirt, John wonders how to reveal his identity:“I’m you, only with less hair & problems you can’t imagine.” He also meets up with the younger Taylor, & the unlikely trio teams up to plot a course around their future relationship missteps & problems, prevent John’s sister from making a  calamitous choice, & stop George W Bush from becoming the president.

It is a cosmic, comic, cross-country, time-bending course, where John confronts our country’s blunders & his own mistakes with the lesson that a second chance at changing things for the better also brings new chances to fuck it all up.

Edgy & droll, Remembrance Of Things I Forgot ponders dying romance, relationships’ dysfunctions, suicide, NYC, California & recent American history with a smart mix of sly comedy, science fiction, political satire, social scrutiny. The Smith zingers had me laughing out loud on the MAX train. I was so in love with the characters that I forced myself to slow down my reading because I didn’t want the book to end. Buy this book.

Stephen, The Advocate... Again

This really happened. Very early last Saturday morning, I failed to secure my favorite seat on the MAX train: far right front, right behind the operator's cockpit, the only single seat on the train. I was already cantankerous & crusty. I deduced a deepening dread that the day would be demanding of my restraint. Yet, I was just 7 hours away from my weekend. If the world would play by the rules, I might make it to 66 hours of time spent just on me, not solving problems for people, not answering questions & not attempting to appease bosses, customers, staff, or spouse.

A commotion was afoot at the train stop- Old Town, a stirring in our section with a stinging utterance: "Fucking gays... die of AIDS. Fuck!"

Something has happened to me in my old age. I am unbothered with my own security, adding aggrieved ache from the hateful spewing of the Christian Right Wing, gently reminding me that I am less than fully human, I am willing to take on a detractor. I swung around to get a look at the somebody who dared to rant. Lucky for me, the individual was disembarking. I sighed, a battle that would be fought another day.

I shut my book & turned to glance out the window. There, 3 inches on the other side of glass was the most chilling face I have ever confronted, skin tight over bone, & the red eyes of an animal. He froze into my gaze, opened his slit of a mouth & a full load of brown bile & food matter flooded out. Still staring at me, he licked the corners of his cavity & flicked his dreadful tongue, just as the train lurched forward.

I was aware in that moment that his presence would penetrate my subconscious & dwell in my dream life. I considered the encounter during my work day, but figured I would file it under delete from my hard drive.

When I arrived back at my neighborhood MAX station, I began my end of the work week routine: a haircut from Darlene at 7 Bucks A Whack & a beer at the corner straight bar. I didn't need to wait at 7 Bucks A Whack, maybe everything's going my way after all. In Darlene's chair I am listening to a geezer in the next chair conversing with a geezer who was waiting.

Geezer #1 (chuckles): "I grew up in SW Washington on a dairy farm. My first job when I was a kid was placing the caps on the gallon bottles. The caps were red plastic with a wooden dot in the center that said- Homo Milk. Homo Milk! Where the hell do ya get Homo Milk. Not from a teat, that's for sure! Homo Milk. Huh!"

Geezer #2 (slap his sides): "Homo Milk is bad for ya. You will get that AIDS"

Stephen: "I guess you gentleman have not heard... It is the 21st century & homos are not fair game anymore. That is right. I am a homo & I don't appreciate the joke. So, shut the fuck up... you are bringing me down."

Geezers (in harmony): "Yeah?"

Stephen: "Yeah."

It could be The Eagle in any big city, with a motorcycle theme & no sense of design, but it is a decidedly straight spot.  But it is in a direct line from the haircut to home & am intrigued with heterosexual behavior, from a purely empirical point of view.

I always make friends with the help & was already on a first name association with an old broad of a bartender. Mimi poured me a PBR without my asking & she complained about the Mexicans for a moment before checking in with her regulars. Mimi stopped by & inquired about my reading material. "The Mercury", I answered.

Mimi: "Do you like that rag?"

Stephen: "Not really, it is a smidgen snarky, but I like to read & I will peruse most anything (I had been reading Maxim at 7 Bucks a Whack). I like the music reviews & I need to know what the kids are into these days."

Mimi: "Yeah, well the one that really chafes us here is that Just Out. We let 'em deliver it & then we take 'em out back & toss em'. For Jimmy that is not enough... he likes to burn 'em. After all, we are a family business! We sure don't need a newspaper about them queers."

Stephen: "Oh Mimi, The Mercury is far worse than Just Out. The page I was reading, before your ignorant & ungracious little prattle, contained the words: shit, fuck & cunt, plus a photo of a professional "titty girl", & I have not even made it to Dan Savage's column yet. Just Out is about families. All kinds of families. I am a gay man, one of many in this neighborhood. You need to embrace the new age we live in. It is now a different world & there is no stopping that gay agenda you hear about. Gay people don't appreciate being disparaged anymore. I am going to let the publisher of Just Out know about delivering the papers to this place. I am not going to return, which makes me sad... I sort of enjoyed your company. I would have appreciated having my beer, reading a Just Out & leaving you my typical 25% tip. & if 2 geezers come in here complaining about some queer, ask them how they take their Homo Milk."

Garbo Talks

“Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side,

 & don' be stingy, baby.”

A production still of me working with Garbo

I am employed by a well known Portland Gourmet Food Emporium as a wine/beer/chocolate/gift buyer & manager. In this capacity I also do the hiring, training, schedules & upkeep for fifteen 19-34 year olds. I have been at this position for a decade & the kids teach me a great deal…& not so much in a good way.

I provide a daily trivia question for the customers, a free coffee drink & pastry for the first correct answer. The question is placed in a frame at the cash registers. The customers seem to think it is fun & I am trivia trippy, which causes consternation in my circle.

Saturday, early morning, I am pondering possibilities for the challenge & my little gay Puerto Rican staff member pops into the office & offers: “Mr. R, how about a question about movies like something about the silent era; how about something about Greta Garbo?”

Stephen: “None of our customers will have any idea who Greta Garbo was…”

Gay Puerto Rican: “Everyone knows Great Garbo. I love her so much & I am positive that most people find her interesting.”

Stephen: “Hmmm… I stand by my claim, in fact I feel certain that 80% of the American Public would have no idea who Garbo was.”

Gay Puerto Rican: “No! Well, a Bette Davis question then. Everyone knows Bette Davis.”

Stephen: “I am afraid you are mistaken young man. Most customers would not know who Bette Davis was. We best go with a Star Wars question.”

Gay Puerto Rican: “Oh! I love Star Wars, but do a Garbo question, please! Please?”

Stephen (sticking his head out of the office, addressing 5 young staff members): “Hey! Listen Up! Can any of you tell me who Greta Garbo is?”

Staff (looking lost): Who? What? Lady Gaga?

Stephen: Can you name a film with Bette Davis?

Staff: (looking frightened): Huh?

Barista Girl: “My mom loves her. She made watch this movie with her… Beaches?"

Stephen: (to gay Puerto Rican): “My point.”

The customer question of the day was: Greta Garbo was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for this 1930 film. The ad campaign for declared- “Garbo Talks!”, as it was her first talking film. Be the first to name this film & you will win a coffee drink & pastry.

We did 520 transactions that day & not one customer or staff member knew the answer... except the gay Puerto Rican. He enjoyed an Americano & a yummy pain au chocolat. I returned to the office & banged my head against the wall.

June is Busting Out All Over

On this day in 1901, English playwright, director, & screenwriter John van Druten was born. In the early 1930s, he was one of the most successful playwrights in London with star studded West End productions: Diversion, After All, There's Always Juliet, Behold, We Live & Flowers of the Forest. Van Druten moved to the USA where one of his successful plays Bell, Book, & Candle was made into a rather good movie movie in 1950 starring Kim Novak & Jimmy Stewart. The original play was about the gay underground in NYC's Greenwich Village, with witches & their magic substituting for gay & special. Bell, Book & Candle is about witches living in the village. They have special 'witch bars,' & they are always worrying about being outed. He wrote the screenplays for Old Acquaintance,Voice Of The Turtle & Leave Her To Heaven.  His play- I Am A Camera was based on the Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood & was the basis for the musical Cabaret. He was gay & English, a winning combo.

On this day in 1970, Sexology magazine reported that a study shows that gay men have larger penises than heterosexual men.

On this day in1994 - the Pentagon considered a proposal from the Air Force requesting funds to build a "gay bomb" that would turn enemy troops gay. The proposal came to light in 2007 when the Sunshine Project discovered it through a Freedom of Information Act disclosure. As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested: "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior." I like the idea of the Iraqis & the US soldiers in an orgy of lust... the war would have gone much differently.The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon. The called the new weapon- The Poppers.

In the words of Oscar Hammerstein II:

But it's comin' by dawn,
We can feel it come,
You can feel it in your heart
You can see it on the ground
Just because it's June, June, June!

Born On This Day- February 18th... Photographer Duane Michals

"I'm politically against Same Sex Marriage. I want civil unions. I want all the political advantages, but marriage is a tired vestige of the heterosexual world. I don't know why gay people would want to get married. Of all things! It's a failed institution. It just doesn't make sense. Wedding cake? Oh please!"

Duane Michals' photography gives me an Art-On. Very much a favorite at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, Duane Michals is not just an amazing photographer, he is truly an original. We have a coffee table book of his photographs which I will get out & peruse, because today is his birthday. This will make for a lovely evening with a glass of whiskey. Michals also produced the art for The Police album Synchronicity in 1983, so that album can be the soundtrack for my viewing pleasure.

Michals became a photographer as a matter of need. All his best impulses grew out of the need to express something from the intangible. Largely self-taught, his work is noted for its innovation & artistry. His work is well known for its insistent, & often humorous, use of the narrative series. Many of his pieces works actually incorporate handwritten text right onto the images. Michals has a fascination with making tangible the intangible realm of love, death, dreams, & wishes. His works deal with human sexuality, both straight & gay, but always in a dreamy, droll, divine & rather decorous manner.

Michals: “The keyword is having something to express. When you look at my photographs you are looking into my mind.”

Michals: "I am not bothered by those pesky questions dealt with by most photographers- how can I get this model to smile without showing her teeth? Does this house look better with or without the little red wagon in front? So think hard, think deep & ask new questions. As a photographer, how can you present the nature of existence & the drama of the human condition? How will you define beauty & ugliness in visual terms? What is death & why is mankind fixated on rational explanations of the afterlife."

"When people ask me what I am, I tell them I'm the artist formally known as a photographer, I am an expressionist & by that I mean I'm not a photographer or a writer or a painter or a tap dancer, but rather someone who expresses himself according to his needs."

Michals grew up in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. In 1953 he received a BA from the University of Denver. In 1956 he went on to study design at the Parsons School of Design with a plan to becoming a graphic designer. He did not complete his studies

In 1958 while on a trip in the USSR, he discovered his interest in photography. The photographs he made during this trip became his first exhibition held in 1963 at the Underground Gallery in NYC. Michals settled in the city in the late 1950s & became known as a commercial & fashion photographer, working for Esquire & Mademoiselle, & he covered the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Great Gatsby (1974) for Vogue. He worked for Dance Magazine & After Dark. In 1968 Michals was hired by the government of Mexico to photograph the 1968 Olympic Games. In 1970 his works were shown at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.

He does not have a studio. Instead, he takes photographs of people in their environment, which was a contrast to the method of other photographers of his time, Richard Avedon & Irving Penn.

Michals has been in a relationship with his partner, an architect he met at the gym, for 51 years. Though he has not been involved in gay civil rights, his photography has regularly addressed gay themes & quietly added to the pantheon of 20th century gay imagery.

When Our Hearts Were Young & Gay

If you are straight person reading this, you may be excused*. To the others: When you look back, & sometimes you should, when was a moment from your childhood that you think:

 "How could they not have known?"

*I feel I need to clarify.I like straight people, I'm gay, not a douche nozzle!

I don't believe that this is a lifestyle that they chose. I think some people are innately heterosexual. Who care what causes it. I have straight neighbors & they are perfectly nice, not so great on keeping their garden up, but friendly. Having them actually makes me feel good about living on such a diversified block. It just gives me an unhappy face to have to see them kissing right on the sidewalk. I don't want to have to explain to my dogs about a mommy kissing a daddy. Just my 2 cents.

A Gay Guy In A Boy Band? What's Next, Lesbians Forming Folk Duos?

When New Kid on the Block- Jonathan Knight confirmed this week that he is gay, millions of big haired mall babes of a certain age had to deal with some seriously broken hearts.

Knight:"I have lived my life very openly & have never hidden the fact that I am gay! Apparently the prerequisite to being a gay public figure is to appear on the cover of a magazine with the caption 'I am gay.' I apologize for not doing so if this is what was expected!"

That statement was greeted with the magazine headlines- "Jonathan Knight Comes Out of the Closet."

I've Got A Goal Again, I've Got The Drive Again, I'm Gonna Feel My Heart Coming Alive Again, Before The Parade Passes By

It was one of my most favorite musicals growing up. I had the Original Broadway Cast album of Hello, Dolly! with today’s birthday girl, & I augmented my collection with cast recordings with Pearl Bailey, Ethel Merman, & the Japanese & Finnish casts, plus the London cast featuring Mary Martin as Dolly Levi. But nothing was better than the original with Carol Channing.

In 1921, Albert Einstein was explaining his new Theory of Relativity, Charlie Chaplin's movie The Kid was released, Babe Ruth became the home run champ, Turkey made peace with Armenia, President Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie received its premiere on Broadway, & in Seattle, on January 31^st, living legend Carol Channing was born.

Channing is a singing, dancing, acting force of nature & one of our biggest stars, but even with her fabulous talent, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what Channing’s appeal is. Her face & voice are instantly recognizable, yet in her long career, she has worked in only 5 movies including the LSD comedy Skidoo (1968), often cited as one of the worst movie ever. Channing was nominated for an Oscar & won the Golden Globe for her work in Thoroughly Modern Milley. Her triumphs were always been on the Broadway stage.

Channing is a true original. She was never a bombshell, & she is rather demented without being risqué or grotesque. And she's a belter along the like Ethel Merman, but without being brassy. She has been often cast been cast as a gold digger while there is nothing seductive about her persona.


Channing’s contradictions made a little more sense when I read her engaging autobiography- Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sort. She speaks candidly about her messy break up with her husband of 41 years, Charles Lowe. Carol disclosed that she & Lowe had only ever had sex "once or twice in our 41-year marriage & that was 41 years ago.”  She stuck to her wedding vows the whole time & didn't have sex with anyone else. What opportunities did she pass up?  Lowe had spent most of her hard earned fortune, & to make matters more bizarre, the scandal reached its anti-climax when Channing broke the news that the hubby was a homo.  A camp icon with a gay husband isn’t as shocking as the 41 year dry spell.  After 31 years, even the Husband & I manage to knock one out every month or so. The memoir also reveals that her grandfather was African-American.

Even with her resilient image, Channing has had her hardships. She triumphed on Broadway as fortune hunting Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but Hollywood cast Marilyn Monroe in the film version. Monroe saw the show over & over, & borrowed Channing’s best bits. Channing really owned the role of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!, she was the first & most famous in the role on even followed by such talents as Ethel Merman, Phyllis Diller, & Pearl Bailey. But director Gene Kelly thought casting her was too risky & gave the role to Barbra Streisand who was decades too young for the role (Streisand would be perfect now).

I love her so much in Thoroughly Modern Millie, playing a rich, madcap matron Muzzy Van Hossmere, who makes her entrance flying in a biplane, quaffing champagne. She blew my little13 year old gay mind with her 2 big musical numbers- Jazz Baby where she tap dances on a xylophone, & Do It Again which begins with Channing being shot out of a cannon.

Channing has played Dolly Levi in over 4,000 times to packed-houses around the globe without ever missing a performance. Hello, Dolly! was the first Broadway musical to play China.

In May 2003, she married her 4^th husband, Harry Kullijian, her junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir.  They renamed the school's auditorium The Carol Channing Theatre in her honor. The city of San Francisco proclaimed a Carol Channing Day, for her advocacy of gay rights & her appearances as the host of the Gay Pride events around the country.

Kullijian: "Carol & I are looking at all the children in the United States. We often say, ‘Those children are our children. They're all Americans.' They have to be uplifted. They have to experience music, literature, poetry, theater, sculpture & paintings. It's a crime that these things are falling to the wayside. Art is the mainstay of our souls. I believe that Carol Channing is the one person in this country who can say ‘Come on folks, let’s get together with one voice & make this happen because the future of this country is at stake."

Carol Channing turns an astonishing 90 years old today. Happy Birthday!

Born On This Day- January 15th... Gay Icon Ivor Novello

"Lovemaking is an art which must be studied & practiced."





I love this film & after seeing Robert Altman's brilliant Best Picture nominated film- Gosford Park for the 4th time, I had to explain to a friend that the character of Ivor Novello was not from the imagination of screenwriters Bob Balaban & Mr. Altman. Jeremy Northam's portrayal of the matinee idol was so effortless & elegant that it's easy to believe him to be just another one of Altman's brilliant creations. But Ivor Novello was, in fact, a major & important celebrity in the 1st half of the 20th century, the kind Cole Porter & Noel Coward personified & loved to write about: the smoking jacket wearing, martini drinking, man-about-town, & what a big surprise… Ivor Novello was gay!

He was born David Ivor Davies January 15th, 1893 in Cardiff, Wales.

Ivor Novello did it all, working on the stage to the silent screen in D.W. Griffith's The White Rose & the early Hitchcock thriller- The Lodger. He wrote popular plays such as The Rat & movies- Tarzan the Ape Man ("Me Tarzan, you Jane" was the invention of Novello). He gave Vivien Leigh her stage name, & wrote the patriotic song Keep the Home Fires Burning. He was the Andrew Lloyd Webber of the '30s & '40s, composing lush, romantic musicals- like Glamorous Night & Perchance to Dream.

He was as versatile & prolific as his friend & rival Noel Coward. Critics fell all over themselves trying to describe his romantic appeal, which proved to be as powerful to many male theatre & moviegoers as to the legions of Novello's swooning female fans. Coward himself would admit Novello could be "violently glamorous" but also "a little vulgar too”. I think that was the secret of his appeal.

In 1916, Novello met 21 year old actor Robert Andrews. They became lovers & remained together for 35 years. They appeared together in many of Ivor Novello's plays & musicals. Novello bought a house in Jamaica, near Noel Coward’s, where he & Andrews spent time together. They were devoted to each other until Novello’s death & were rarely seen without the other. In 1951, Andrews was with Ivor Novello when he died at their London flat. 10,000+ fans lined the streets of London to say good-bye, & the service was broadcast live. Noel Coward: "Ivor & Bobby are beguiling, but they also ramble on ad nauseam about 1 topic- the month Novello spent in prison in 1944 for misusing wartime petrol coupons. They forever lamented the ‘injustice’ of it all”. On Novello’s passing Coward wrote in his diary: "Another landmark swept away. Poor, poor Bobby…he will be utterly devastated.”

The Ivor Novello Awards have been given annually, since 1956, to British songwriters & music publishers. Past recipients of "Ivors" include Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Sting & Paul McCartney. Last year the fab song The Fear by Lily Allen won for best song.

In an era before there was such a thing as "openly gay," Ivor Novello lived an unapologized for life of authenticity & openness. How great is it that his last play, staged in 1951, would be titled- Gay's the Word?

Because The Original Wasn't Gay Enough

I don't know why I am doing a mind riff on this song, but I just can't shake it. Mad About The Boy deals with the theme of unrequited love for a film star. It was written to be sung by a female, but Coward also wrote a version with lyrics bent to the risqué topic of homosexual love:

Mad about the boy
I know it’s silly
But I’m mad about the boy
& even Dr Freud cannot explain
Those vexing dreams
I’ve had about the boy


When I told my wife
She said “I never heard such nonsense in my life!”
Her lack of sympathy
Embarrassed me
& made me frankly glad about the boy.


My doctor can’t advise me
He’d help me if he could
3 times he’s tried to psychoanalayse me
But it’s just no good


People I employ
Have the impertinence
To call me Myrna Loy
I rise above it
Frankly love it
‘Cos I’m absolutely
Mad about the boy

The song gained new popularity when Dinah Washington's rendition was used in the Levi's television advertisement " The Swimmer", directed by Tarsem Singh. In the commercial, which is homage to the1968 Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer, a young man runs through an American suburban neighborhood stripping down to only his jeans, invades private gardens & dives into a series of swimming pools in order to shrink his jeans. Washington's recording was re-released by Mercury as a tie-in in with the advertising campaign, & the cover art featured a shot of the topless male emerging from a swimming pool & bore the Levi's logo. The single made the Top 50 in the UK singles chart.



Other Notable Cover versions by:
Georgia Brown
Blossom Dearie
Marianne Faithfull
Frances Faye
Helen Forrest
Jackie Gleason
Lena Horne
Cleo Laine
Gertrude Lawrence
Beatrice Lillie
Julie London
Billy May
Carmen McRae
Anita O'Day
Eartha Kitt
Elaine Paige < Tom Robinson
Dinah Shore
Maxine Sullivan
Miss Piggy (as Mad About the Frog)

It Gets Better

My good friend & fellow blogger- Brian over at Caliban’s Revenge challenged me to post abut the It Gets Better campaign. It is my pleasure. I was lucky enough to have positive role models at hand when I was grappling with coming out in my late teens. Working in the theatre world that Brian & I share, may have saved my life.



When I was 17 years old, I did summer stock theatre in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. One of the company members was an openly gay man from San Francisco. Ron was a college graduate, which just seemed impossible mature to me. He was a stunningly handsome & talented man who played King Arthur in Camelot, & roles on 3 other musicals that summer. He took me under his wing & into his bed. Ron’s talent seemed to me to know no bounds. His bounteous life tips & counsel about show biz, sex, & experience made all the difference in my young life. He took my face in his hands, looked me in the eye, & told me that someday I would not have to question about my attraction to men. He said: “Just get through your last year of high school. Don’t be tragic & don’t be sad. When you finish high school, move to a big city. You will fall in love, you will have your heart broken, you will fall in love again, you will make friends, & you will live your life with love & pride.”


Writer & one of my personal heroes- Dan Savage is reaching out to LGBT teenagers to let them know life may be difficult now, but "it gets better."


The "It Gets Better" Project is inspired by the suicide of 15-year-old Indiana teenager Billy Lucas, who hanged himself in his family's barn after enduring bullying from his classmates. After writing about Lucas's death, one commenter expressed a desire to have spoken to him to tell him that things get better.


To help tell the story of how things get better Dan Savage launched a YouTube channel that allows gay adults to upload videos of themselves describing the bullying they might have experienced in high school, but also talking about how much better their lives are now .It is a rare opportunity for gay adults to speak directly to gay youth & explain that while sometimes you may feel isolated, that life gets better. Many celebrities joined in & shared their words of encouragements with the simple message that "it gets better."

I have read the heartbreaking accounts of 5 young people taking their own lives after carrying the burden brought on by bullying & harassment., including 19 year old Raymond Chase, a sophomore culinary arts student in Monticello, NY.


If you are struggling with a difficult time and need someone to talk to I encourage you to call the Trevor Project 24 hour hotline designed specifically for LGBT young people at 1-866-4-U-TREVOR.


I encourage all young people to think about how great your life can be in the future. This can be a powerful way to cope with some of the tough times you might be experiencing right now. It will get better & you can have an amazing life!

How Gay Is My Emmy?

Over the weekend, I was swinging between a rattled repugnance while watching coverage of the Glenn Beck & Tea Baggers Concert at the Lincoln Memorial, & a state of sublime sentimentality & sanguine satisfaction while viewing the most gay-friendly Emmy Awards in history. I think the Emmys are now as gay as the Tony Awards. This country moves a little forward & a big step backwards on the issues surrounding acceptance of gay people & their civil rights. What better way to have a positive presence than in the world of TV, watched by nearly every household in the USA & seen by much of the rest of the world, thanks to the internet. I can’t help but reflect on how much has changed for those of us that chose to open that closet door.




A huge favorite at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, no matter the project, out actor- Jane Lynch won for best supporting actress in a comedy for her role as coach Sue Sylvester on Glee. She kissed her wife upon hearing her name & thanked her & her "lord and creator," openly gay series creator producer Ryan Murphy. Cutie Murphy won for directing Glee, while Paris Barclay ( who’s brother Neil was one of my best friends in college), who is also out, was nominated in the same category. Murphy thanked "my great partner, Dick Miller", & stated: "Glee is about the importance of arts education, so I would like to dedicate this to all of my teachers, who taught me to sing & finger-paint." He also thanked Tom Ford for the tux. I would liked to have been a fly on the wall for that fitting.

Ryan Murphy in a Tom Ford Tux with Leah Michele... now that is gay!

Eric Stonestreet won for best supporting actor in a comedy for portraying half of a gay couple on my favorite new show- Modern Family; openly gay actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson ( the other half of the couple ) & Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother ) were also nominated. (Harris, who was also a presenter, did win an Emmy for his guest-starring role on Glee.) Modern Family went on to win Best Comedy Series for its 1st year run. Mad Men, which to me is the very definition of why TV is better than Film for artful, thoughtful entertainment, deservedly won for Best Drama. Now, if Mad Men could find a place for more storyline about closeted advertising Art Director- Sal, the greatest show on TV could be made even a bit greater.

Glee’s Lynch & Chris Colfer, who is openly gay, were part of the opening sequence featuring funny & cute host Jimmy Fallon & other TV regulars singing & dancing to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. Also, during his tribute to the series that had ended- 24, Law & Order & Lost, Fallon dressed as Sir Elton John & sang his own take of Candle in the Wind for 24.


Sexy Alexander Skarsgard, bisexual-Anna Paquin & Stephen Moyer, the stars of the pansexual True Blood presented an award (Paquin recently married Moyer.)  What a very hot 3some that would be!


This season on TV continues to feature gay story lines, out gay actors, straight actors playing gay, gay actors playing straight, a weekly show packed full of musical numbers, & a weekly dose of Jon Hamm. Progress. Baby Steps. Quality & comedy can help make this a better gay world.


Take a look at my friend- Bob’s fashion wrap up of last night’s awards. He always has an interesting take on all sorts of issues.

I think that Sofía Vergara is the most beautiful woman on TV, & she is wicked funny... a winning combo. After Modern Family won for Best Comedy Series there was one question on everyone's mind: When is Sofia Vergara going to run naked down Sunset Boulevard if her show won, as she promised on the red carpet before the show?

God Only Knows

"God hates faggots. Any sentence that begins 'God hates'… is automatically wrong, isn't it?"
Stephen Fry