1924, Photograph via YouTube August 15, 1885- Edna Ferber: "A closed mind is a dying mind." I have enjoyed a long crazy obsession for The Algonquin Round Table, a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Members of "The Vicious Circle," as … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “Fashion is an Expression of the Times. Elegance is Something Else Again.” – Horst P.Horst
Although I take many pictures and receive a bunch of "Likes" on Instagram, I could never be a real photographer because I would never be able to master the nuances and mechanics required for a 35mm camera and darkroom, and that’s because I am an idiot. Thankfully, because of … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Character Actor, Alice Ghostley
In Grease, 1978, via YouTube August 14, 1923 – Alice Ghostley: I have had some real pushback recently over using the term "character actor", with one reader insisting that I was designating it to describe actors that did not possess conventional beauty. There have always … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Sharpshooter, Annie Oakley
Photograph, World Telegraph staff photographer, public domain August 13, 1860 – Annie Oakley: "I ain't afraid to love a man. I ain't afraid to shoot him neither." Annie Get Your Gun is a top-tier musical. After 73 years, it still remains a favorite of high schools, … [Read more...]
#WomenWeLove: Movie Star, Norma Shearer
The Divorcee publicity still by Hurrell, MGM via YouTube August 10, 1902– Norma Shearer In Film History class, way back when I was a youth, all that I could muster for the work of Norma Shearer were cynical comments about her crossed-eyes and unusually … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Writer, Radclyffe Hall
Photo by Troubridge, Wikimedia Commons August 12, 1880– Radclyffe Hall: "For the sake of all the others who are like you, but less strong and less gifted perhaps, many of them, it’s up to you to have the courage to make good." Outside of Rita Mae … [Read more...]
#ArtDept: Sexy Soviet Space Propaganda Posters
"The way for man is open! " 60 years ago, a Space Race was being fought between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The two countries competed for first: first satellite, first man in space, first woman in space, and the first people on the Moon. Today, space … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Musician, Joe Jackson
Photo, 2016, NPR via YouTube August 11, 1954– Joe Jackson: "Everything gives you cancer." I am writing about Joe Jackson, the English singer/songwriter who is the same age as I am, and whom I somewhat resemble; not Joe Jackson, the fabled baseball player; … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “Make a Difference About Something Other Than Yourselves.” – Toni Morrison (R.I.P.)
Photo: public domain We lost Toni Morrison this week. If you don't know Morrison or her work, and you really should, she was the only African American writer and one of the few women to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. In her acceptance speech Morrison emphasized … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Pooped Pope, Julius III
Painter unknown August 9, 1487 - Pope Julius III The Cathedral of Sienna is one of my favorite structures certainly my favorite House of the Holy. A medieval church, the alternating bands of dark and light marble that make the cathedral's façade are so striking and they … [Read more...]
