Comic, successful novelist, film star, television and stage actor, doer of good works, atheist, Gay Rights activist, humanist, excellent friend to The Royals and the famous and not, raconteur and wit, all listed under "special skills" on the resume of Stephen Fry. "An original … [Read more...]
Remembering Witty Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker in the backyard of her residence at 412 West 47th Street, New York City, by Vandamm, NY Public Library Archives Dorothy Parker (1883 - ): "Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye." Dorothy Parker worked as a pianist at a dance studio until she sold her … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Queer Icon, Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp NYC 1992 Ross Bennett Lewis, Wikimedia Commons Christmas Day, 1908 - Quentin Crisp: "If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." Once, while traveling on public transportation, I was called "an old queen" when I accidentally jostled a … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “It is Discouraging How Many People Are Shocked by Honesty and How Few by Deceit.” – Noël Coward
Publicity photograph by Dorothy Wilding, 1932, Wikimedia Commons I don't recall why or how, as a youth, that I came to know and understand that Noël Coward (1899 -1973) was gay. I do know that as I came out to myself at 12 years old, I researched everything I could find about … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “I’m a Product of Hollywood Inbreeding. When Two Celebrities Mate, Something Like Me is the Result” – Carrie Fisher
via YouTube The whole wide world mourned for Fisher's shocking passing in December 2016, but here at World of Wonder, we took it especially hard because she was family. All the way back in 2010, HBO Documentary President Sheila Nevins suggested that World of Wonder … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Ultimate Gay Icon, Oscar Wilde
Photograph by Napoleon Sarony, public domain October 16, 1854– Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde: "Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth." Do we need a #BornThisDay post about the Gay Icon, Oscar Wilde? Is there anything that I could share with all of … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “There’s Nothing Better For a City Than a Dense Population of Angry Homosexuals.” – Fran Lobowitz
Photo by Christopher Macsurak via Wikimedia Commons Here is the entire quote: "One of the reasons people our age came to New York, if you were gay, was because you were gay. Now, you can be gay anywhere. We came here because you couldn't live in those places. That created … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “Not Being Funny Doesn’t Make You a Bad Person. Not Having a Sense of Humor Does.” – David Rakoff
You may not be familiar with his wicked, smart, powerful, funny writing, but I urge you to read at least one of his pieces to get what I am celebrating today. David Rakoff (1964 - 2012) was one of the most original voices of my era. He was anything but prolific, he produced just … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “Do Not Participate in Any Sport with Ambulances at the Bottom of the Hill.” – Erma Bombeck
One of America's favorite humorists, writers and columnists, Erma Louise Fiste was born on February 21, 1927. An upbeat, positive woman, she came from difficult beginnings. She was born to a teenage mother, and her father died when she was 9 years old. I love this: As a … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Tallulah Bankhead
Wikimedia Commons January 31, 1902– Tallulah Brockman Bankhead "I think the Republican party should be placed in drydock and have the barnacles scraped off its bottom." Today we celebrate the birthday of Miss Tallulah Bankhead. I am a gay man of a certain age, and … [Read more...]