Attend The Tale Of Baby Butch

As a gift to each other, we stopped giving each other Christmas presents 20+ years ago. After all, we have the same tastes in clothing, objects, music & books. Now we buy each other gifts throughout the year, often for no reason at all. We do our birthdays & St. Valentine's Day. It just seemed a nice thing to take it easy when most people are at their craziest. Christmas is a very modest holiday at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, but we do have our traditions.

Baby Butch, Christmas 2011

More than 30 years ago, the Husband & I raided my parent’s storage cabinets in the basement of their beautiful Spanish style home in their South Hill neighborhood of Spokane. I knew there were treasures to be had & I was sure that they had not looked at their storage in a decade & they were sitting on some treasures that should be mine.

We took a few choice items that I was sure the folks would never miss, the coolest of which was my father’s doll from his early childhood- Baby Butch. Baby Butch was missing an arm & he was in pieces, but he was a great looking guy from the early 1930s & I loved him because he was my dad’s, & I liked the fact that my very butch father had a doll in his childhood that he loved so much that he carried him around for decades & many moves. It was an unusual choice, I actually abhor dolls, but I was very drawn to Baby Butch. So, he came to live with me & the Husband.

I knew for certain that my parents had not looked at the things in storage for a very long time. I was surprised when the phone call came a few days after the abduction of the doll. My mother wanted to know if I had taken the beloved Baby Butch. I admitted that I had & I was incredulous that they would have taken note of his gone missing, when they hadn’t looked at him for a decade. I also stated that he was living with us now, & that my father could have visitation rights. For 30 Christmases, Baby Butch has played the Baby Jesus in our annual crèche. The set up changes from year to year, but Baby Butch is always the star of our Christmas pageant. I never got to play Baby Jesus, or even Joseph... even a wise man. At church, in the 2nd grade, I did get to play 3rd ass to the left. The Story of My Life.

Baby Butch, Christmas 2010

He's A Grand Old Fag...

The Husband had surgery on Wednesday for Dupuytren's Contracture, a medical condition is a hand deformity that usually develops slowly, over decades. Dupuytren's Contracture affects the connective tissue under the skin of the palm. Knots of tissue form under the skin, eventually forming a thick cord that will pull the fingers into a bent position. Once this occurs, the fingers affected by Dupuytren's contracture can't be straightened completely, which can complicate everyday activities such as placing your hands in your pockets, putting on gloves, shaking hands, or masturbating. In later stages of Dupuytren's contracture, cords of tissue form under the skin on the palm & may extend up to all the fingers. As these cords tighten, the fingers may be pulled toward the palm, sometimes severely.


Indeed the Husband was diagnosed decades ago, but surgery is not performed until the condition is at its worst. The procedure is rather gruesome. It involves the slicing of the tendons & muscle in the palm & bending the fingers back into position. After recovery, the Husband has been in severe pain, unlike anything he has ever experienced. Is now on 2 Morphine based medicines that kill the pain, but make the Husband queasy & he seems to go in & out of consciousness. Amazingly, I have not dipped into his stash.


On one of his visits "to the surface", he reminded me that we had a long history of making fireworks of our own on this holiday. The Husband: "Honey, I am sorry for the low key 4th. We have a long tradition of taking Acid or eating Mushrooms, & then later in life Extacy, as a way to note & celebrate the USA's birthday. I'm sorry I am such a drag now. Me: "Well, not for 15 years have we done hallucinogens., But I do remember. It was such an American thing to do. You are so nostalgic! You are on your very own trip this year, & I am gonna be really wild with some Pinot Grigio. This getting old is for the birds. Bird shit, that is".


We are having a quite day at home, taking comfort in each other's company. One long standing tradition of the 4th of July did stand up to the wave of aging. I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), as I have for many Independence Days.


James Cagney portrays the legendary Broadway songwriter & performer George M. Cohan in this rousing, flag waving classic. This was Cagney’s favorite film role, & it shows; he’s obviously having a blast: singing, dancing & cracking wise. He burns up the screen like a 2-legged firecracker & deservedly won the Best Actor Oscar. The toe tapping score includes the title tune, Give My Regards to Broadway, Over There, & Grand Old Flag. Pay attention to the final scene as Cagney dances down the White House staircase after being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. His dance was completely improvised & is absolutely brilliant. I love this era in show biz & I never get tired of this film.

Also on this day, for your viewing pleasure, the Post Apocalyptic Bohemian offers up:

1776 (1972) This movie version of the Broadway musical depicts the events leading up to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence & our nation’s 1st 4th of July. Ken Howard plays a handsome, stately Thomas Jefferson, Williams Daniels is an irascible John Adams, & Howard da Silva, in a role I was born to play, is the witty Benjamin Franklin. Many of the song lyrics are based on actual correspondence of the time & include The Lees of Virginia, But Mr. Adams, He Plays the Violin, & Molasses to Rum. American history has never been so male & gay.

The Music Man (1962)  One of my favorite musicals & one of my 1st shows as an actor, this movie version of the Broadway hit is a nostalgic slice of Americana, circa 1912. Robert Preston stars as Professor Harold Hill, a slick con man determined to fleece the good people of River City, Iowa with promises to form a boys’ band, while secretly planning to flee with the money for the instruments. Shirley Jones plays Marion the Librarian, who soon finds herself falling for the charming rogue. Highlights include, Trouble,(sung by Preston like a Pentecostal preacher looking to convert the masses), Til There Was You, & the rousing “Seventy-Six Trombones,” performed during the movie’s 4th of July celebration.

The Stars & Stripes Forever (1952) Gay actor- Clifton Webb plays John Philip Sousa in this enjoyable film which focuses mostly on Sousa’s home life & as conductor of the Marine Corps Band. Webb is his typically droll self, & a young Robert Wagner plays Willie Little, a fledging Marine band member & inventor of the Sousaphone. Debra Paget portrays Lilly, a showgirl that Willie wants to marry, but Sousa’s rules forbid married couples from touring with the band. The movie is a wonderful mix of comedy, drama, &, of course, Sousa’s glorious music,

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) I didn't see this movie or read the novel until 2002 & now both are on my favorites lists. The character of Atticus Finch, played by Oscar winner Gregory Peck, was voted cinema’s top hero by the American Film Institute in 2003. Atticus embodies the qualities which with America prides itself: decency, fairness, tolerance, courage & the conviction to always do what is morally right. As a small town lawyer in the Depression era South, Atticus defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. He challenges the jury to put aside its prejudices & judge the accused based on the central principle of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal...That’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!”


All The President’s Men (1976) From Hollywood's 2nd great Golden Era, Robert Redford & Dustin Hoffman star as Washington Post reporters, Woodward & Bernstein, whose investigation into the Watergate cover-up led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. It’s an engrossing mystery that reminds us why the founding fathers placed such great value on freedom of the press. But more importantly, this movie emphasizes the American principle that no one, not even the leader of the free world, is above the law.


Independence Day  (1996) Leave it to Hollywood to produce a film with a title that has nothing to do with history & everything to do with America saving the world from devastating alien invaders.Are the French going to release a thinly veiled remake of War of the Worlds & name it Bastille Day? Only in America. I am a sucker for watching iconic national monuments getting blown. The powerful forces of American ingenuity, American firepower, & a ridiculous American President combine to blow the bad guys, with a little help from The Fresh prince of Bel-Air. While all the other nations of the world are presumably scratching their heads in utter incompetent confusion, the USA saves the day. Plus Harvey Fierstein!



& the most Patriotic Film of all time. It never fails to bring a lump to my throat... plus puppet sex! Team America: World Police (2004)
Popular Broadway actor Gary Johnston is recruited by the elite counter-terrorism organization Team America: World Police. As the world begins to crumble around him, he must battle with terrorists, celebrities & falling in love. Brilliant screenplay. a 1st rate score & unbridled Americanism. I love it! Fuck, yeah!