In the winter of 1895 Irish playwright Oscar Wilde had perhaps his greatest artistic triumph when his comedy The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London to great acclaim. But just three months later, on May 25, 1895, the married father of two was found guilty of "gross indecency" with another man and sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison.
Sadly, he largely brought this misfortune upon himself. He had sued his male lover's father for libel (after referring to Wilde as a "sodomite" on a calling card) but midway through the trial thought it best to withdrawal the charges. However, by then too many incriminating things had been said by Wilde and he was brought up on morals charges.
It's unfortunate that Wilde's hubris blinded him to the fact that Victorian England was far from ready to overlook his licentious behavior, regardless of his fame. After his 2-year sentence was completed he moved to France where he died a few years later at the age of 46, largely penniless and with few friends.
Marilyn Monroe was one of many well-wishers from the entertainment world who paid tribute to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962 on the occasion of his 45th birthday. (His birthday was actually ten days later.) However, because of her slinky "va-va-voom" gown and breathy singing of "Happy Birthday", only Marilyn's appearance is remembered. Curiously, First Lady Jackie Kennedy wasn't among those in attendance that evening. (Ironically, she died on this very date in 1994).
Looking back, this performance was quite audacious for its time. (And it's been a part of every gay man's repertoire ever since.) Back then, however, who knows how long it took for Marilyn's performance to be communicated to the general public. Perhaps her appearance was muted to a degree because she was one of a roster of performers that night, among them Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Maria Callas (pictured).
That evening Marilyn was very late for her appearance and in a creepy bit of foreshadowing, master of ceremonies Peter Lawford (one of the president's brother-in-laws) introduced her as the "late" Marilyn Monroe. Shockingly, less than three months later she would be dead.
In 1985, in the early years of the AIDS crisis, the TV movie An Early Frost aired. Six years later, with AIDS-related deaths over 100,000, and climbing steadily, another AIDS drama, Our Sons, aired on ABC. (Both movies were directed by John Erman.) Starring Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret and Hugh Grant, Our Sons tells the story not only of how AIDS impacted families but how mothers dealt with their children being gay. The movie happened to air the same day as GMHC's annual AIDS Walk in New York.
Andrews portrays Audrey Grant, a buttoned up businesswoman from Southern California. At the behest of her son (Hugh Grant) she travels to Arkansas to deliver the news to Ann-Margret's white-trash character, Luanne Barnes, that her estranged son is dying of AIDS. (Despite both being British, Hugh Grant had an American accent but not Julie.)
Audrey has a strained reltaionship with her son while Luanne wants nothing to do with hers. Their vastly different backgrounds leads the mothers to clash, eventually driving Audrey to scream at uncaring Luanne, in Dynasty-like fashion - "He's dying, you bitch!" Ultimately, there was resolution as Audrey and Luanne bonded over shared feelings about coming to terms with their sons' homosexuality.
Although I wouldn't call the ending "happy", Luanne went to California and was with her son when he died and had him buried in Arkansas. As often happens, movies from different eras seem quaint and outdated when viewed in the present, as is the case with this movie. Nonetheless it was a brave undertaking at that time considering the dearth of open discussion about AIDS.
30 years before Lady Gaga, Grace Jones was making herself known with her striking presence, outrageous fashion sense, distinct singing voice and inventive performance videos.
Born and raised in Jamaica (birth name: Grace Mendoza), she moved with her family to the snowbelt city of Syracuse in New York state when she was in her teens. Before becoming a singer she was a model who became part of Andy Warhol's glam circle. To me she resembled an Amazonian version of Eartha Kitt.
Every year between 1977 and 1982 Grace released an album (and ten overall) but none became big commercial hits. Her highest charting LP, 1981's Nightclubbing, made it to only to #32 on Billboard's album chart. However, songs such as I Need a Man (her first); Do or Die; and Pull up to the Bumper were big club hits. Besides those, favorites of mine include La Vie en Rose;Nipple to the Bottle;Unlimited Capacity for Love; and Slave to the Rhthym. Her music style was hard to categorize - a bit disco, a bit new wave, a bit R&B.
In the 1980's, her Warhol years behind her, she tested her mainstream appeal by appearing in action movies such as Conan the Destroyer and was cast as the villain in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. She also appeared in TV and print ads for Honda scooters.
Disco queen Donna Summer died on May 17, 2012, joining other beloved performers such as Sylvester and Loleatta Holloway on the great dance floor in the sky.
Simply put, Donna Summer = Disco. My coming out in the late 1970's paralleled the beginning of her ascent to superstardom. Her double-LP Once Upon a Time (pictured, right) was the first disco album I owned, bought during the summer of 1977. I remember watching her TV special in November 1979 that coincided with the release of the double LP Live and More which featured MacArthur Park. (Every time I've gone to the Monster on Tuesday's Classic Disco night they always play the entire 17-minute MacArthur Park Suite.)
Interestingly, Summer won a Grammy in the rock category in 1980 for Hot Stuff and received two other nominations in the category in 1982 and 1983. And on the same LP that had the rock song Protection on it she also had a gospel song titled I Believe in Jesus, which I actually liked. Besides these types of songs and her disco smashes she also had quite a few beautiful songs with slower tempos.
Even after her popularity began to wane in the mid-80's I enjoyed these later albums and their treasure trove of tuneful songs that were overlooked by many. In the summer of 1999 I saw her in concert at Jones Beach on a Friday night before heading out to my Fire Island share for the weekend. It was when she had a comeback hit with I Will Go With You (Con te Partiro).
I have 100 of Donna's songs on my iPod. It was quite a challenge to narrow them down, but here are my most favorite songs, most which weren't big hits:
Love to Love You Baby (16:44 12-inch version)
Try Me (18-minute version) - from the LP "A Love Trilogy"
The documentary Truth or Dare followed Madonna on her "Blond Ambition" concert tour as she played Japan, Canada, the U.S. and Europe. It was shot during her dalliance with Warren Beatty (who she starred with in the 1990 movie Dick Tracy). Others who appeared in the doc included gal pal Sandra Bernhard and Antonio Banderas (who co-starred with Madonna in the movie version of Evita six years later). It opened in New York and L.A. the weekend of May 10, 1991.
Memorable scenes included Madonna felating a bottle while playing "Truth or Dare" with her back-up dancers; dissing Kevin Costner when he came backstage and referred to her concert as "neat"; and lying next to the grave of her mother in Michigan.
For whatever reason one piece of dialogue from the movie sticks with me. While relaxing in her hotel room in Madrid, Madonna is joined by Sandra Bernhard and at one point the talk turns to sleeping with people they hate. Bernhard posits that sex is always hot when you can't stand the person.
To promote the movie Madonna made a cameo on the May 11 episode of Saturday Night Live where she appeared in a dream sequence during a "Wayne's World" skit.
The following year Showtime aired comedian Julie Brown's delicious parody of Truth or Dare titled Medusa: Dare to be Truthful. One of the characters in this mockumentary was Kathy Griffin.
Truth or Dare did very well for a documentary film and still ranks among the 10 highest grossing docs of all time. Its $29 million box office take is comparable to about $55 million in today's dollars.
Always one to push the envelope, Madonna was able to cross out "perform on Broadway" from her to-do list on May 3, 1988 when she co-starred with Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver (who won a Tony for Best Actor) in David Mamet's play Speed-the-Plow. It was an early example of a show hiring a popular non-actor to draw an audience. Plow ran thru New Year's Eve.
Madonna played the role of Karen, a temp in a Hollywood studio who turned out to be a smooth operator. At the time she was in between albums, 1986's True Blue and 1989's Like a Prayer.
I saw the play six weeks after it opened, on June 14, with a fellow I dated briefly. (The day was blisteringly hot with an afternoon high of 96.) We had great seats, sixth row center, and were surrounded by other excited teen girls and gay men waiting to see their idol.
Madge's performance was uninspiring, and in my journal I wrote: "It was a wooden performance, her delivery seemed unnatural and it seemed as if she was reading for an audition". Still, it was fun to see her close up. And props to Madonna for going out beyond her comfort zone of music videos.
20 years later the play was revived with Jeremy Piven, Raul Esperaza and Elizabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men). The revival made headlines a few months after it opened when Piven dropped out after claiming he was suffering from mercury poisoning caused by eating nothing but sushi for years. He turned out to be more high-maintenance than Madonna!
During the week of April 7, 1997 TIME Magazine ran its famous "Yep, I'm Gay" cover story in which comedic actress Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian. Then three weeks later, on April 30, art imitated life as DeGeneres' character, Ellen Morgan, did the same on her ABC sitcom Ellen.
Although no puppy appeared in the epiosde, it was referred to as the "puppy episode" due to an inside joke of the show's cast. Ellen's character comes out to a woman she was interested in (played by Laura Dern) and, befitting a sitcom, inadvertently announces it over a microphone in an airport's waiting area (pictured). Besides Dern, other celebrities also made cameo appearances, including Oprah, Demi Moore and k.d. lang.
The episode got a Nielsen household rating of 23.4, which was more than double Ellen's usual rating (and comparable to that season's #1 show, ER). At the time I worked in the media department at ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding and I coordinated a "guess the rating" contest. 40 staff members participated. The winner was announced the following day at a departmental presentation we had on the Gay & Lesbian Market.
After this high-exposure month Ellen and her partner Anne Heche were soon seen everywhere together - replacing Harvey Fierstein as the media's favorite token gay. The show bore a heavy burden the following season as some viewers thought it was too gay, others not gay enough, while others felt it just wasn't funny any longer. Alas, it flamed out and was cancelled at the end of the 1997-98 season. However, six months later the void was filled by Will & Grace, which debuted on NBC (originally on Monday) and had a very successful eight-season run.
Springtime was an important time for Barbra Streisand's early career as her first TV appearance (Jack Paar, 1961); two Broadway shows; two TV specials; and her Oscar for Best Actress (Funny Girl) all occurred in March or April. The first of her TV specials aired on April 28, 1965. Titled "My Name is Barbra", it coincided with the release of her album by the same name.
The special was shot in black & white and featured no guests, just Barbra. Amazingly, the hour-long telecast was jam-packed with 27 songs (actually, less than an hour when taking commericals into account). The special was critically acclaimed, won three Emmy Awards, and was followed in 1966 by her next special "Color Me Barbra" , which would be another tour de force.
Forgive some of our gay elders if they look askance when the younger generation gushes about seeing Cher, Barbra or Madonna in concert. This may be because, in their mind, they saw the concert, i.e. Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall. This wildly acclaimed performance took place on Sunday, April 23, 1961.
Judy's career had been somewhat fallow since the late 1950's. Her last big movie had been 1954's A Star is Born. She and her managers decided 1961 would be the year for a comeback. After all she still had quite a resevoir of goodwill from fans to tap into and she was saddled with debt. Her Carnegie Hall concert was part of a larger tour that went on during April and May. (In addition to the concert tour she also landed a small but pivotal role in the movie Judgment at Nuremberg.) In May she returned to Carnegie Hall for another sold out performance and then in July she performed at the Forest Hills Tennis Club.
Judy's live concert album won five Grammys and was the nation's #1 album for 13 weeks. The following year she starred with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in an acclaimed TV special and the following year CBS gave her own variety show. It lasted just one season largely because it had the misfortune to be scheduled opposite Bonanza. Still, Judy was back!
45 years later out singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who wasn't even born until 1973, gave the very same concert at Carnegie Hall on two nights. He seemed to have much fun as Judy did - and the audience was almost as adoring - but the reviews weren't nearly as glowing. Here, below, is his version of Judy's San Francisco.
