Her Highness: The Queen's Gay Uncle

(left: prince george and his wife, marina;
right: prince george)

The news media is pulling out all the stops to interest us in the impending nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton tomorrow, but as mentioned in the previous post, we just can't muster the same kind of odd excitement Matt Lauer seems to have for Prince William. Hmmm.








We find other royal family members much more interesting than William and Kate. Take for instance the story of Prince George, The Duke of Kent, who was the present Queen Elizabeth's uncle. He was born in 1902, the fourth son of King George V and the younger brother of King George VI, (father of Queen Elizabeth II), who died in a tragic plane crash in 1942. Oh, and he was also gay, gay, gay!

(prince george)

Prince George married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, and had three children, including Prince Edward of Kent, who often shows up at Wimbledon with his wife, Katherine, to hand out the trophies. But it was Prince George's many lovers, men and women, which really made the news.





(left: noel coward;
right: sir henry "chips" cannon)

Among the Prince's many boyfriends were the famous playwright, Noel Coward; Sir Henry "Chips" Cannon, a British politician; art historian Anthony Blunt, who later turned out to be a Soviet spy; and the lovely Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, who was Prince George's distant cousin, (incest is best!).












(anthony blunt with queen elizabeth:

QE: So I understand you're sleeping with my uncle.
AB: Yes, your highness, I am.
QE: How lovely. That explains why you've been spending so much time around the palace. I'm happy for you, just don't get any big ideas, there's only room for one queen around here, and I'm it. Bitch.








(kissing cousins:
louis ferdinand and prince george)

Prince George was also reportedly addicted to cocaine and morphine, and was once blackmailed by a male prostitute to whom he had written love letters. Wow, this guy knew how to get down. What a shame he's not around to attend the wedding tomorrow. We have the feeling he could really liven up the after-party.

Farley Granger 1925-2011

Just as the world was reeling from the loss of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor, came the news of the death of another movie star from the 1940's and 50's, Farley Granger. Granger worked for 58 years in movies and t.v., even achieving "teen idol" status with his good looks, but he was most famous for starring in two Alfred Hitchcock films, "Rope", 1948, and "Strangers on a Train", 1951.

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What most people didn't know about the handsome star was that he was in a 43 year relationship with Emmy-winning soap director, Robert Calhoun, until Calhoun's death in 2008. In Granger's autobiography, "Include Me Out", he described himself as bisexual, relating his affairs with screen legends Ava Gardner and Shelley Winters.


Also in "Include Me Out", Granger tells the story of being a 21 year-old navy recruit in Honolulu, and going ashore to lose his virginity to a prostitute. As he was leaving the woman's abode, he ran into a handsome Navy officer, and Granger was soon in bed again. Granger also writes about his two night fling with Leonard Bernstein and his live-in romance with Arthur Laurents, writer of the stage and movie versions of "West Side Story" and "Gypsy".
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(alfred hitchcock and granger)

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Ironically, Granger's two most famous movies, "Rope" and "Strangers on a Train", dealt heavily with a gay subtext. In "Strangers", the gay vibe between Granger and Robert Walker is palpable, and this movie was made in 1951. Hitchcock must have realized something in his young star that no one else noticed, and America definitely wasn't ready for.

In the 1950's, Granger transitioned into television, appearing in many of the early t.v. "playhouse" series. Later, Granger worked on daytime soaps, even receiving a daytime Emmy nomination in 1977 for his role on "One Life to Live".


Despite his Hollywood star status and success in television, Granger said he was most happy on stage. His noted stage appearances include his 1960 Broadway debut in "First Impressions, a musical version of "Pride and Prejudice", and in 1980, Granger starred in Ira Levin's "Deathtrap". .

(granger with long-time partner, robert calhoun)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! And on this day, while you're stuffing your face, take a few moments to give thanks for how far we've come as a community in this country. Read below to see what happened to two of our brothers a few years ago.

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In 1637, John Alexander and Thomas Roberts were convicted of “lude behavior and unclean carriage one with another, by often spending their seed one upon another, which was proved both by witness and their own confession; the said Alexander found to have been formerly notoriously guilty that way, and seeking to allure others thereunto.” Alexander was given a severe whipping, burned in the shoulder with a hot iron and permanently banished from the Colony. Roberts was sentenced to a severe whipping, but was not banished. He was prohibited from ever owning any land within the Plymouth Colony in the future.

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So let us get this straight. John and Thomas were probably cruising each other for some time; they probably toiled together in the yam field, and on hot days when John took off his muslin shirt with puffy sleeves, he always noticed the stealing glances he got from Thomas and the subsequent bulge which would appear in Thomas' breechcloth pants. John also noticed how when the half-naked Indians would come into the colony to trade, Thomas would stare at Squanto's naked buttocks region which were "formed of partikurlarly large muscle". Finally one day, John could take it no longer, and after inviting Thomas to smoke "foul weed" behind the barn, they had congress. But little did they know that Sarah, a close friend of Thomas', (she was Thomas' fag hag), witnessed the union and reported it to the colony leaders. And it all went down hill from there. John was banished from the colony, which would be the equivelent of having your gym membership stripped today for spending too much "time" in the steam room, and Thomas was allowed to stay, but afterwhich, he no longer spoke to Sarah. But don't worry, we have no doubt that John and Thomas continued to "have unclean carriage" with each other, they just had to go further out of town to do it. Oh man, how well do we know that story?

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So give thanks today that we no longer live in the Plymouth Colony. Not that the Republicans wouldn't like to take us back to those days, but the ketchup's already out of that bottle, and we're not going back. Or as the Pilgrims would understand it, that seed's already been spent.

Mr. Queen... Who Knew?

We've written many times about what it was like for closeted gay men of the 1950's and 60's to try to find their own images in the mainstream culture. We've written about the popularity of the

"gladiator movies" and "physique magazines" of the era and how the images on display in those films and publications were the often the closest things that gay men got to seeing erotic images which interested them. But until now, we've completely forgotten to mention that while there weren't a lot of sexual images available to gay men in decades past, there were certainly a lot of dime store, pulp novels which tried to fill in the gaps, and left little to the imagination.

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It's great fun to read these novels; the writing style and the ingrained notions about homosexuality, even by the writers themselves, are almost laughable by today's standards. But it's also great fun just to see the suggestive, tawdry art work which graced the covers of these cheap novels. Entire theses could be written on the effect of these novels at the time; some would say it was positive because they let closeted gay men know that they weren't alone in the world, while others would say they helped to promote the idea that to be gay was shameful and should be kept secret. But social commentary aside, we just love the art work and cover tag lines. Mr. Queen? Come on, it just doesn't get any better than that.

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(to read more about this era, click on "Gay Issues - Gay History" and "Gay Issues - Gladiator Movies" in the Labels list)

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

Today is National Coming Out Day, and on this day we always think: as hard as it might be for men to "come out" today, it was almost impossible in decades past. But for millions of those men in the 1950's and 60's who were forced to lead secret lives, one straight man, Joe Weider, provided at least some measure of relief.

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You gotta love Joe Weider. With a 7th grade education and $7, he published his first magazine, "Your Physique" in 1936 when he was 17 years old. From there he started a bodybuilding and publishing empire that continues to this day and includes magazines Muscle & Fitness, Shape, Men's Fitness, Senior Golfer and Flex. And he's still around at 90. Wow.

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One of Weider's magazines in the early 1950's was called "Mr. America" and was an attempt to tap into the "men's adventure" movement which was popular at the time. The magazine had a "pulp" look to it, and although it was decidely hetero, appealing to men's interest in sex, adventure, machinery and bodybuilding, the artwork, at times, was decidedly homo, as in homoerotic. But we honestly don't think there was anything sexually subversive going on in the early days of bodybuilding; there's absolutely nothing suspicious about a bunch of straight men obsessing with how one's glistening, sweaty muscles look while posing in a bikini for other men to judge, right? Wait a minute.

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All kidding aside, these images, while providing a roadmap for a nation of straight men for how to be more masculine, for gay men at the time, the images were important for completely different reasons. For gay men, there were no gay magazines where one could see sexualized images of other men, these "physique" magazines provided the only eye-candy for a nation of deeply closeted homosexual men. So, thank you, Joe Weider. Whether you know it or not, you were a hero to millions of gay men.

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(For more on this topic, click on "Gay Issues - Vintage Beefcake" and "Gay Issues - Gladiator Movies" in the Labels list.)

Did You Dance To This at Traxx in D.C.?

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Happy 41st Birthday to Ce Ce Peniston, who had a massive hit in 1992 with "Finally". It's a little depressing to think that the babies born the year we were dancing to this song at Traxx in D.C. are now freshman in college, but hey, that's life!
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At the peak of her popularity, Peniston, the 1989 winner of the Miss Black Arizona title, sang for Pope John Paul II and at Bill Clinton's inauguration. "Finally" peaked at #5 and was prominently featured in the 1994 hit movie, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". The song sold over 3 million copies, making it one of the biggest dance records of all time. Peniston has most recently acted in several stage productions, in two independent films and is working to release a new album.

Only The Good Die Young

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As the economy continues to wreak havoc on American business, news came this week that the retail clothing chain, Abercrombie & Fitch is closing 110 stores across the country.

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A&F was founded in New York City in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie. It became known as an elite store which sold sporting and excursion goods. Think hunting jackets for big game hunters and very expensive wicker picnic baskets. But the store began to struggle financially in the 1960's and was bought by The Limited in 1988. Under new leadership, A&F set out to reinvent itself as a seller of casual sports clothes. But even more importantly for the success of the chain, it began a very savvy campaign to sell the "A&F Lifestyle".

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A&F hired the famous fashion photographer, Bruce Weber, and started to publish its "Quarterly" catalog which featured naked male models with perfect faces, abs and pecs rolling around in the grass or in the surf with equally attractive naked women. The Quarterly was an immediate success, and American youngsters everywhere were drawn to the idea of looking good naked.

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A&F's clothing line, itself, has changed very little over the years. Polo shirts, rugby shirts, tees and knee length shorts became the staple of the store's offering, varying little in color or design over time. A&F's clothing is the equivalant of "comfort food", i.e. nothing challenging or particularly special, but always satisfying.

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But, as mentioned, it wasn't so much the clothing which sold A&F's clothing as it was the lifestyle. Many books will be written in the future on the cultural vein in American youth which A&F tapped so magnificently. For decades, American culture was saturated with the idea that young women wanted to be sex objects, but when it came to young men, they were supposed to be remain in the background of the national cultural sexual identity. Young men, according to popular thought, were not supposed to care about being attractive, or more importantly, not supposed to care about being sexually objectified. But how wrong that thought was.

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Calvin Klein first explored the idea that men could be sexy, too, in his underwear ads which first started appearing in the late 1970's. It took America, and American young men in particular, awhile to catch up with this idea, but once they did, Abercrombie & Fitch was ready to pounce. A&F, through its provocative photography of naked young men, promoted the idea that not only should boys strive for the perfect set of abs and pecs, but they should also want to show off those attributes. The marketing of the perfectly formed male sex object was perfected.

 

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Unfortunately, the more prudish moral arbiters of American society took note of this new trend as well. Many religious and conservative groups protested against the Quarterly catalog, even managing to have it banned at one point. Throughout this period, we often wondered if the outcry would have been quite so loud if the catalog had only featured scantily-clad young women. America wasn't ready then, and in some ways, is still not ready for the idea of young men being overtly sexual. For many, traditional ideas of masculinity are not congruent with the notion of male vanity and preening male physical beauty.

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But whether the older generation of Americans were ready for it or not, young America ate it up with a spoon. Not only did young men begin to pump their pecs and abs, but suddenly the modeling agencies of New York and Los Angeles were flooded with young men who aspired to be "Abercrombie models".

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The company Abercrombie & Fitch quickly became one of the top retailers in American business, rapidly expanding and opening new stores across the country. But now, in late 2010, as A&F struggles financially, we have to wonder if that struggle has more to do with the terrible economy, or more the fact that maybe A&F has finally "jumped the shark". Maybe we've seen enough pecs and abs for awhile, and as a culture, we're looking for something new. American culture never remains stagnent, and selling the same old images and same old sexually exciting lifestyle does start to wear thin after awhile. The question will be whether A&F can reinvent itself in time to keep from going completely under.

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But even if A&F goes out of business, which we doubt will happen, the company will still be noted in the cultural history of this nation. Whether you agree with their brazen marketing strategy or not, one must agree that they pushed boundaries and most decidedly changed the way we view ourselves.

Vintage Beefcake: Richard Dubois 1933-2007

Writing yesterday about bodybuilder Bob Paris made us think about the industry of male beefcake magazines and photos which flourished in the 1950's and 60's. It's easy to laugh, looking at these dated photos today of the models in their "posing straps" and barely disguised homoerotic poses, but it's vital to remember how important these images were to a secret, closeted gay community at that time. (To read more about this world, click on "Actors - Steve Reeves" in the Labels list at the right of this page.)
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Steve Reeves was probably the most successful and well known of the bodybuilders who explored the world of acting and pin-up modeling, but there were many others who made a name for themselves. One of these guys was Richard DuBois.

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.Richard DuBois won the Mr. America title in 1954, which led to dozens of appearances in the muscle magazines of the day. He appeared in the MGM film "Athena", with Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell and fellow bodybuilder, Steve Reeves, in 1954 under the stage name of Richard Sabre. But despite DuBois' good looks and well-discussed charisma, "Athena" was his only movie appearance.

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DuBois continued to compete in bodybuilding competitions, winning the Mr. U.S.A. title in 1957. At one point, DuBois shot with Bob Mizer, who was considered the pioneer of the gay male pin-up industry. Mizer sometimes shot his models completely nude, but more often wearing only "posing straps", which were little more than cloth genital sacks held around the model's waist by a thin string. We can only imagine how life-saving these photos were to the millions of gay men in the 1950's who were starved for images which were of erotic interest to them.
. There were dozens of these bodybuilders-turned-pin-up models in the 1950's, but few were as good looking as Richard DuBois, and many bodybuilding writers of the day commented on his "million dollar smile". It's easy to see why he was so popular; he had that rare photogenic quality, the ability to translate real personality into his photos.. .
In the 1960's Richard DuBois ended up in Mae West's famous stage show. West put together a stage act which featured several half-naked male bodybuilders, a twist on the old vaudeville acts in which scantily-clad women were featured. It was rumored that Mae West fell for DuBois, and that for some time, they were an item.
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Finally Richard DuBois found religion and spent the last nineteen years of his life as a pastor at a church in Los Angeles. DuBois died in 2007.