Yay! My book Freak Show has a new baby sister! Actor/writer/comedian Jeffrey Self has a Young Adult book Drag Teen coming out this month about a teenage drag queen who’s trying desperately to get out of his boring backwater Florida town. The publisher, Scholastic, describes the book as:

A fantastic, fabulous, funny YA debut from Jeffery Self, one of the gay icons of the YouTube generation, that follows one high school student on a drag race to his future

The plot?

Debut YA author Jeffery Self takes us on a road trip with an insecure high school senior who has one goal: to be the first in his family to leave Clearwater, Florida, and go to college. The problem is, he has zero means of paying for school — until his friends convince him to compete in a drag teen competition for a college scholarship.

Hopefully, we can get him to the WOW studios to have a little tete-a-tete about the inspiration and writing of this soon-to-be classic!

Get your copy here.

The post ConDRAGulations to Jeffrey Self on His New YA Novel “Drag Teen”! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Get caught up on the previous four episodes of Untucked: RuPaul’s Drag Race you may have missed before an ALL-NEW Untucked is released Tuesday morning only on WOWPresents! And of course watch RuPaul’s Drag Race before on Monday night at 9PM on Logo. Make sure you subscribe to WOWPresents so you never miss a thing!

The post Get Caught Up on ‘Untucked: RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Before an ALL-NEW Episode Tuesday Morning appeared first on The WOW Report.

Alaska and her crew of masked henchmen (including her brother Cory) pull off daring daylight home invasion in the music video for “Gimme All Your Money” the fourth video off her Anus album.

Once inside the house, Alaska and pals Laganja Estranja, Lola LeCroix, and Cake Moss proceed to terrorize and sexually humiliate the homeowner by tying him up and doing his makeup (it’s terrible).

Alaska is in top form here, channeling her inner Nicki Minaj in this silly, sexy, meta, and kind of serious video. Check it out below.

And here’s the “Let the Music” Play episode where Alaska talks about the song:

The post Alaska Goes Gangsta Rap in her New Video “Gimme All Your Money (featuring Laganja Estranja)” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Oh yes honey! The time has come for us to announce the winner of the RuPaul’s DragCon Weekend VIP Ticket Giveaway! Is it going to be you?!!

The winning qween is Christy Wasserman! Christy has won herself two fabulous Weekend VIP passes to RuPaul’s DragCon (this does not include travel or accommodations, just as a reminder.)

CONDRAGULATIONS!

The post The Time Has Come! We Have A Winner For The DragCon VIP Ticket Giveaway Contest! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Justin Bieber and I probably don’t have that much in common. But one thing we do seem to find common ground on is our love for Calvin Klein boxer briefs… specifically white ones. And of course, it’s no secret that the Biebs is a true supporter of the classic brand. But in this photo he posted on Instagram, I’m starting to wonder if his devotion is becoming borderline upon unhealthy? He captioned the picture “I’m serious about #mycalvins”…

I’m serious about #mycalvins

A photo posted by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Mar 31, 2016 at 4:51pm PDT

My question, though: how tight to your Calvins have to be to imprint the logo so deep into your skin?! Like, I don’t know what this says about me but I’ve never had that issue. So, I must come to the conclusion… there’s really just no way an underwear band that tight can be comfortable. THERE’S JUST NO WAY! Of course, we still don’t know for sure if wearing tight underwear has any serious health implications. But I just want my Biebs to be safe!

The post Justin Bieber’s Underwear Might Be Too Tight…? appeared first on The WOW Report.

Millennial author/professional provocateur Alex Kazemi is curating “The Advisor” – a monthly digital gallery of handwritten letters by male icons dedicated to young men. His first month contributors include: Richard Kern (underground filmmaker/photographer), Bruce LaBruce (gay icon filmmaker), Rad Hourani (designer), NABIL (music video director), Marcel Castenmiller (model) and Justin Tranter (songwriter).

The letters are published without context, which allows you to read whatever you want into the relationship. It’s all very sexy and random and creepily voyeuristic – I LOVE IT.

Here’s Bruce’s:

Advice to mens:

1) Never trust anyone over thirty   2) Never trust anyone under thirty  3) Don’t listen to unsolicited advice  4) Morality is bourgeois  5) Continuity is bourgeois  6) The grass is never greener on the other side of the fence  7) Consider the possibility of vagina envy  8) Question authority  9) The best things in life are free-based  10) Prostitution is the highest form of class struggle   11) Consider the minority opinion  12) If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything nice  13) A day without a hustler is like a day without sunshine  14) Explore your bisexual potential  15) Don’t dream it, be it   16) Nationalism is the hobgoblin of small minds    17) Try to contradict yourself once a day    18) “What the Hell” is always the right decision to make  19) We are all hustlers  20) Monogamy is monotony  21) You can’t take your dough when you go-go-go  22) Marry someone who can cook  23) Take Fountain!

And here’s Richard’s:

Totally wtf, right? Fabulous. Check out the site here.

The post You Must Read Bruce LaBruce’s Brilliant/ Subversive/ Hysterical Advice to a Young Male Friend appeared first on The WOW Report.

April 1, 2001– Huwelijk tussen personen van gelijk geslacht! The Netherlands was the first country on our pretty spinning blue orb to legalize same-sex marriage.

Back in the mid-1980s, a group of gay rights activists asked the government to allow same sex couples to marry. Dutch Parliament decided in 1995 to create a special commission, which was to investigate the possibility of same-sex marriages. During this era, the Christian Democrats were not part of the ruling coalition for the first time since the introduction of full democracy in 1815. That special commission finished its work in 1997 and concluded that civil marriage should be extended to include same-sex couples. After the election of 1998, the government promised to deal the issue. In September 2000 the final legislation draft was debated in the Parliament.

The marriage bill passed their House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33. The Senate approved the bill on 19 December 2000 by 49 to 26. Only the Christian parties, of course, voted against the bill. Although the Christian parties formed the next government, they decided not repeal the law.

The new marriage law to read simply:

“Een huwelijk kan worden aangegaan door twee personen van verschillend of van gelijk geslacht. (A marriage can be entered into by two persons of opposing or the same sex).”

The law went into effect on this day in 2001, and on that day four same-sex couples were married by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, who became a registrar specifically to officiate at the weddings. 75 percent of the population supported the bill. Dolf Pasker, married his partner of six years, Gert Kasteel. One couple had been living together 36 years. Pink cake & pink Champagne were served to 150 guests.

Children did not wander the picturesque cobble stones streets crying in confusion. Straight couples did not find their own marriages crumbling. The canals did not dry up. Anne Frank’s house did not erupt in flames. Hashish could still be enjoyed in the coffeehouses & the Red Light District still provided some sort of release for heterosexual men from the USA. There were no fingers placed in any dykes. Paintings by Rembrandt & Van Gough did not crash to museum floors.

Today, 21 countries proudly allow people of the same sex to be married. I married my guy on our 25^th anniversary as a couple, October 9, 2004, in Vancouver BC.

The post #OnThisGayDay: Same-Sex Marriage Is Legal For The First Time appeared first on The WOW Report.

Camille Paglia
Adam Rodriguez
Aiden Turner
Ashley Peldon
Christopher Meloni
Clark Gregg
DeeDee Magno
Emmylou Harris
Jesse Plemons
Keren Woodward
Lee DeWyze
Linda Hunt
Michael Fassbender
Reggie Smith
Rodney King
Roselyn Sanchez
Yung Joc

The post April 2: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

April 2, 1945 – For 35 years, I have much admired the work of Lydia Susanna Hunter, who uses the professional name Linda Hunt. I am just zany for small people and Hunt is nothing, if not diminutive at just 4’9”. Like Jessica Lange in American Horror Story, Glenn Close in Damages or Robin Wright in House Of Cards, LHunt lends major acting cred to the cast of a television series. She plays quirky Hetty Lange, an M-type character, on the immensely popular NCIS Los Angeles, a series, I admit, I have never viewed, sorry Ms.Hunt.

Hunt, a lesbian in real life, should be beloved by gay people for playing Billy Kwan in The Year Of Living Dangerously (1982), a very fine film co-starring Sigourney Weaver and a pre-insane, not yet antisemetic, still very hot Mel Gibson. The role won Hunt an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This was the first Oscar won by someone portraying a member of the opposite sex. I’m not talking about a turn like Barbra Streisand’s in Yentl, a girl playing a boy; Hunt actually convincingly portrays a male character. Her performance is complex and deeply touching.

When you think of an Academy Award winning actor who is an out and proud lesbian married to a woman, Jodie Foster is probably the first, or even only name that comes to mind (there is also Melissa Etheridge, as Sam Smith reminded me at this year’s Oscar broadcast). She notably won over Cher, who was up for her portrayal of Meryl Streep‘s lesbian best friend in Silkwood. I like to imagine how different the past Academy Awards might have landed if Hunt had played the Cate Blanchett role in Carol. That would have livened things up a bit.

Hunt studied at the famed Goodman School Of Drama. She had her film debut in Robert Altman‘s zany musical movie, Popeye (1980). Other credits include the school principal in Kindergarten Cop (1990), filmed in Oregon, where I reside, plus the lesbian Alice B. Toklas in the underrated Waiting For The Moon (1987), plus dozens of other films, some excellent and others dreadful. But, Hunt’s contribution is always craft-worthy, original and interesting.

Hunt has received two Obie Awards (a sort of Tony Award for Off-Broadway), plus a Tony nomination for End Of The World (1984). She created the role of Aunt Dan in the terrific Wallace Shawn‘s biting comedy Aunt Dan And Lemon (1985). She portrayed Sister Aloysius in the 2005 Pasadena Playhouse production of Doubt. Hunt also appeared as Pope Joan in Caryl Churchill‘s Top Girls (1982) at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

Television has been kind to Hunt with memorable roles on The Practice (1997-2004) and HBO’s Carnivàle (2003-06) before landing the gig as Henrietta “Hetty” Lange on NCIS: Los Angeles, which recently reached its 150th episode. It’s interesting that she’s been an out of the closet actor for most of her career, but she is rarely on a list of out and proud LGBTQ stars.

Hunt is one of those working actors that I always admire. I wonder if she sings; she would be simply mesmerizing in a Vegas show. Hunt has been with her wife, Karen Klein, for 27 years. They married in 2008. The couple lives in a classic cute 1917 era Craftsman bungalow in Hollywood with their three dogs.

I think Hunt would make for a most interesting guest at a cocktail party.

The post #BornThisDay: Actor, Linda Hunt appeared first on The WOW Report.

Naked activists stormed the London headquarters of HIV drug manufacturer Gilead, protesting what they described as the “extortionate price of medicines”. Five protesters removed all of their clothes to reveal letters spelling out G R E E D painted on their backs.

Around 30 other activists rallied outside, temporarily blockading the traffic, shouting “pharma greed kills”. The protest was part of a “globally coordinated day of action against pharmaceutical greed”, with similar protests taking place in cities around the world.

Gilead Sciences is the manufacturer of Truvada, the antiretroviral drug used widely in the prevention of HIV. Last month NHS England stalled plans to make Truvada available as an HIV prevention drug through pre-exposure prevention (PrEP) treatment. An NHS study showed it can drastically reduce the chance of HIV infection by up to 86 percent.

Alex Craddock, 24, linked this to his decision to join the protest, adding:

“I felt outraged and let down by the decision. It’s not just NHS cuts, but the cost of these drugs. Pharmaceutical greed is blocking my access to PrEP. My health and that of many of my friends shouldn’t be at risk simply because these companies choose to put profit before people.”

Dani Singer of ACT UP London said,

“The public won’t be taken for fools by ‘Big Pharma’ anymore! Globally, more than two billion people do not have regular access to the critical medicines they need. This is one in three of the world’s population.

Every year, 10 million people die from diseases because drug pricing blocks access to effective treatments. One reason for this is the high cost of medicines under patent protection.”

Protester Jake Chambers added,

“We stand here naked, completely vulnerable, a state in which the current system leaves millions around the world. We also stand with bareness and honesty, and we demand that drug companies be exposed in the same way.”

(via Pink News)

The post #LGBTQ: Naked Protestors Occupy Truvada Makers’ Headquarters appeared first on The WOW Report.

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku

Architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs include the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, died Thursday following a heart attack on Thursday in a Miami hospital. She was 65. The tributes to this amazing woman and her work have been pouring in.

She created such an incredible it’s hard to overstate how important she was to the world of architecture. Her first major commission in 1993, was the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein in Germany and her other creations include the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, the Riverside Museum at Glasgow’s Museum of Transport, and Guangzhou Opera House in China.

Hadid was born in Baghad, studied at Beirut University and left for London at the Architectural Association. In 1979 she set up her own company – Zaha Hadid Architects.

Here are just some of her greatest hits.

Vitra Fire Station, Weil Am Rhein, Germany

Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria

London Aquatics Center

London Aquatics Center

Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China

Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China

Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China

Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London

BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany

Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsburg, Germany

Hungerburg Station, Innsbruck, Austria

Collins Park Garage, Miami

Danjiang Bridge, Taiwan

Super-yacht design for Bloom + Voss

Below, her friends and colleagues commented on the sadness and suddenness of her passing.

“The Pritzker Family and the Pritzker Architecture Prize organization are deeply saddened by the passing of Dame Zaha Hadid. She was truly a pioneer in the field of architecture. The 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, she represents the highest aspirations of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She also served on the jury for one year. Zaha Hadid will be remembered for her talent, creativity, commitment, loyalty and friendship.”

“I feel immensely privileged to have known Zaha as a very dear and loyal friend, as a confidante, and one of the most extraordinary talents of our time…. When my son was very young, Zaha showed him how to write his name in Arabic. It was the moment I realised the genesis of her remarkable architectural language. She was an extraordinary role model for women. She was fearless and a trailblazer – her work was brave and radical. Despite sometimes feeling misunderstood, she was widely celebrated and rightly so. I will miss her deeply as will the world of architecture.” –Amanda Levete

“Devastated by the loss of a great architect & colleague today. Her spirit will live on in her work and studio. Our hearts go out.” –Daniel Libeskind

“Dame Zaha Hadid was an inspirational woman, and the kind of architect one can only dream of being. Visionary and highly experimental, her legacy, despite her young age, is formidable… She leaves behind a body of work from buildings to furniture, footwear and cars, that delight and astound people all around the world. The world of architecture has lost a star today.” –Jane Duncan, President of RIBA

“She was a tough architect, which is needed as a woman at the top of her profession and at the height of her career. She will be sadly missed as an iconic leader in architecture and as a role model for women in architecture.” –Angela Brady, former President of RIBA

“So sad to hear of death of Zaha Hadid, she was an inspiration and her legacy lives on in wonderful buildings in Stratford & around the world.” –Mayor of London, Boris Johnson

“Sad news. She was astonishing, a groundbreaker, including as a powerful woman who showed that great architecture is not just a man’s game.” –critic, Michael Kimmelman

“I am so so so shocked, I have no words.” –Paola Antonelli, MoMA’s Senior Curator of Architecture & Design

“Shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news of Zaha Hadid’s death: one of the great architectural figures of our time.” –architecture critic, Paul Goldberger

“She was a great architect, a wonderful woman and wonderful person… Among architects emerging in the last few decades, no one had any more impact than she did. She fought her way through as a woman. She was the first woman to win the Pritzker prize.” –architect, Richard Rogers

“Architecture today lost one of it’s greatest. Zaha Hadid has died. Zaha was the current Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture where she had taught regularly since 2001. She will be greatly, greatly, missed.” –Yale School of Architecture

“Zaha Hadid was, as her name signifies, made of steel. She had a radical vision and a particular sensibility about the world and she fought for its realization with courage against all odds. Her untimely passing makes us wonder what was yet to come. She will be missed.” –architect, Moshe Safdie

“I am devastated by the news of the loss of Zaha Hadid and cannot comprehend the enormity of her passing away. I became very close to her as a friend and colleague in parallel with my deep respect for her as an architect of immense stature and global significance… I think it was Zaha’s triumph to go beyond the beautiful graphic visions of her sculptural approach to architecture into reality that so upset some of her critics. She was an individual of great courage, conviction and tenacity. It is rare to find these qualities tied to a free creative spirit. That is why her loss is so profound and her example so inspirational. And, besides, she was my dear friend.” –architect, Norman Foster

(via Design Boom; ArchDaily)

The post Remembering Architect Zaha Hadid & the Amazing Work She Left Behind appeared first on The WOW Report.

Scooter LaForge, Cynthia Rowley & Jenny Dembrow

I was asked to participate by curator Natalie Kates in a worthy art auction to benefit The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York. The event was Wednesday night at the Highline Loft in Chelsea and all of the proceeds went from the auction support Alphabet City Art School which offers free visual and digital arts programs to girls and young women in NYC’s Lower East Side.

I have to admit I didn’t know a lot of the artists (I know Linda Simpson, but she wasn’t there) but the ones I did know that were, like Scooter LaForge, were fun to hang out with. He was with Patricia Field, who told me April 12th is THE LAST day of her store. Pat just celebrated with an exhibit of a lot artists and designers at Howl Arts last Thursday night and the day after Rock Paper Scissors. A slew of the gang from Wednesday night, including Girl’s Club founder, Jenny Dembrow, and Pat all got to ring the bell at the NASDAQ, along my old pal Jody Morlock, Jody Morlock, who loaned her fab one-of-a-kind coats to DJ Donna D’Cruz.

One of the hosts of the event Cynthia Rowley and I have something in common that I had to share with her. It seems she has a gold baby grand piano and so do I, and not only that, I have a hay bale bench, designed by my friend Gaston Marticorena AND SO DOES SHE. Not only THAT, we both use ours as piano benches too. We decided that we the only members of this VERY small club.

My date Susan Kilkenny also had a bit of coincidence. She’s at the home magazine and website, Domino, and the next day she was set to do a studio visit of artist, Nic Rad. She went to show me his work, and there was the man in person.

My own piece was a chalkboard screened with a color by number line drawing that is mean to be drawn on and erased by the purchaser, so I had to encourage bidding as you’ll see below. It was a fun night that raised lots of much–need dough.

In 2013 the LESGC moved into a permanent Center for Community on Avenue D – a 30,000 sqare foot program space! They are dedicated to the advancement of girls with mentoring, wellness, arts, academic support and career training programs. To find out more, go here.

Patricia Field & Scooter in one of his hand-painted jackets

Scooter LaForge

Donna D’Cruz in Jody Morlock

Jody Morlock coat

Artist Nic Rad & Susan Kilkenny

Debbie Harry by Bob Gruen

Fred Tomaselli

Shepard Fairey

Chairman Trump by Knowledge Bennet

Elizabeth Winnel (my date, Susan, was the high bidder!

Zefrey Throwell

Diana Copperwhite

Wayne White

Swoon

Linda Simpson

Trey Speegle

The post “Rock Paper Scissors” Auction for LES Girl’s Club Brings Out a Flashy Art Crowd appeared first on The WOW Report.

There’s a special two-part Brill of it All this week, with your fairy god-babe Dianne Brill at New York Fashion Week, taking you behind the scenes to meet the designers, the models, and the makeup artists that bring the magic. First up, it’s the super-chic Georgine show. Watch as the ever-effervescant Di interviews the designer about what it takes to conquer the fashion industry.

Next up is The Blonds, always the MUST-SEE spectacle at the top of everyone’s fashion wish lists. The sequins! The beads! The corsets! It’s all BEYOND gorgeous. Dianne gets a sneak-peak at the outfits before they hit the runway, and has a brief chats with makeup artist extraordinaire Kabuki and the designers David and Phillipe Blond. Watch parts 1 and 2 below.

The post #TheBrillOfItAll: Dianne Brill Storms New York Fashion Week appeared first on The WOW Report.

Why you gaggin’, Hector??? You just HAVE to understand how INSANE Lena Dunham is as a director and sociologist! In last weeks episode of Girls, Dunham brought back Christopher Abbott’s character Charlie- the REALLY sweet boyfriend to Marnie, played by Allison Williams. Abbott quit the show at the end of the second season abruptly, without his character’s relationship with Marnie being completely sussed out. Last Sunday, he pops back up, looking like a transracial Latino Fan Club “top”, hanging out on a street corner with a gang, and he apparently has some kind of non-specific accent, a nefarious beard, tattoos, and is later presumed to be a drug addict. It’s kinda like how Madonna co-opted an English accent during her London years with Guy Ritchie. Or how former NAACP president Rachel Dolezal identifies as black, even though both her parents are white. All of this is the complete antithesis of delicate, super caucasian “bottom” Charlie (pic below) we once knew… an apparent tortured, more passive sounding board for the butch antics of Marnie…talk about a re-working of the binary. Charlie basically became a catcalling macho muck about, and the only remnants of his former self are those puppy dog eyes.

This brand new Charlie is super alpha-hot, a gay man’s backdoor fantasy. However, Dunham’s narrative is clever in showing that the fantasy that may seem exciting, dangerous, and freeing, can also be just posturing…ultimately speaking more about ones own self-loathing issues and insecurities… a hopeful checkpoint on the road to self-actualization. Did I forget to mention that none of this really matters ’cause he’s SUPER HOT?!?!

Lena Dunham:

This episode is called the Panic In Central Park. I wrote the episode in kind of a fever dream…something that occasionally happens. I go home and it all flows out of me. When I wrote it, I had recently watched the film The Panic in Needle Park and was very inspired by the entire vision of that movie, which is Al Pacino and Kitty Winn playing a pair of young, heroin addicts in love, navigating their way through New York City. I wanted to tell a contained romantic story that utilized our characters, while stepping outside of the typical realm of the show… It’s one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had!

Girls, Season 5 airs Every Sunday on HBO.

The post “Girls” Lena Dunham Is a Gay Man & Charlie (Christopher Abbott) Is The Reason Why appeared first on The WOW Report.

Luis Camacho
Alec Baldwin
Amanda Bynes
Aries Spears
Catherine McCormack
Cobie Smulders
David Hyde Pierce
Doris Day
Eddie Murphy
Eric Braeden
Jane Goodall
Jennie Garth
Leona Lewis
Matthew Goode
Marsha Mason
Picabo Street
Sebastian Bach
Tony Orlando
Wayne Newton

The post April 3: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Brando in The Men (1950)

April 3, 1924– Marlon Brando:

“Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me.”

Marlon Brando at the height of his powerful career, approached acting in a way that challenged Hollywood’s concept of performance, and the way he lived his life was an affront to the entire film industry. His very being seemed to undulate with energy like a live wire in search of a socket. His physical and emotional persona appeared to burn through the celluloid on which it was printed.

Brando appeared in a series of films that made it impossible for the industry to ignore him. He smoldered, abused, ripped his t-shirt in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), proved he could do Shakespeare as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), popularized the whole butch leather biker look in The Wild One (1953), and he wore the shit out of a longshoreman’s jacket whiling breaking your heart in On The Waterfront (1954).

Brando earned four Oscar nominations in as many years, finally winning for On The Waterfront. Back in the early 1950s, Brando was operating on an entirely different level than any actor around him.

If Brando had just been talented, he would probably have returned to the Broadway stage where he started. Hollywood did many things, but serious, experimental art was not really one of them.

In the 1970s, his The Godfather (1972) and Last Tango In Paris (1972) period, Brando’s work is quieter and more introspective. He disowned Hollywood with his legendary rejection of his second Academy Award. He also became lazier, being paid $14 million dollars for 12 days work on Superman (1978), and even abusive, pushing director Francis Ford Coppola to the brink of a breakdown while filming Apocalypse Now (1979).

Brando, before the weight gain at the end of his career, was spectacularly sexual and ruinously handsome. Off-screen, he presented something new to film fans; he wore dirty jeans, motorcycle boots and t-shirts rolled over his formidable biceps. During the 1950s, the gossip magazines had been doing features about family outings and chaperoned dates. They had no idea how to process Brando. He was so smart, realizing that shunning publicity was publicity itself. He could play the game as suavely as any studio star; he simply played the game by a new set of rules, with no studio contract, dialogue coach, personal trainer, publicity handler or entourage.

Brando was a tough guy who was also a ravishing beauty. He was expelled from his high school for riding a motorcycle through the hallways. He came to the rescue of a skinny kid being bullied by schoolmates, picked him up, threw his arm around him, and stated: “I’m your new best friend”.

Brando’s bisexuality was not a secret in the Broadway community or in Hollywood. His greatest love affair was with fellow actor Wally Cox. Their relationship lasted a lifetime and beyond. After Cox took his final curtain call in 1973, Brando kept his ashes. On Brando’s final bow in 2004, in accordance with his wishes, their ashes were mixed together and scattered in Death Valley.

“If Wally Cox had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after.”

Brando possessed of an insatiable libido, among his main courses: Burt Lancaster, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Clifford Odets, Stephen Rutledge, Tyrone Power, Montgomery Clift, and Rock Hudson.  For dessert:  Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Rita Hayworth, Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner, Gloria Vanderbilt, Hedy Lamarr, Rita Moreno, Elaine Stritch, Tallulah Bankhead, Ingrid Bergman, and Edith Piaf. I guess Brando could have whoever he wanted. A Hollywood insider once insisted to me that when Paul Newman showed up at the stage door to meet him after a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando took the younger actor for a tour of the city on the back of his motorcycle and that they disappeared for three days.

James Dean was one of Brando’s most lasting yet troubled male relationships. Their affair went on for years but it was always turbulent. At one point they had a big stand-up fight at an industry party witnessed by dozens of people in the biz.

Brando had a bit of a fling with Cary Grant, spending a weekend with him in San Francisco. Grant was also having a thing with actor Stewart Granger, who then became another of Brando’s conquests. Brando admired Gielgud while making Julius Caesar but they didn’t exactly have a romance, rather Brando performed sexual favors for Gielgud and told his friends:

“I owed it to him because he really helped me with lines.”

Throughout his life, Brando recorded his thoughts on audio tapes and stashed them away, never imagining that they would one day become a most valuable tool in telling his story. They have been skillfully gathered in an absorbing documentary Listen To Me Marlon by Stevan Riley. You can find it on Netflix or Showtime-To-Go.

Brando was also a political and social activist, most especially for the American Civil Rights Movement and the causes of Native Americans. He actively supported John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. In the summer of 1963, he participated in the March On Washington along with Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, and Sidney Poitier. Along with Paul Newman riding shotgun, Brando participated in several Freedom Rides.

My favorite Brando performance is his droll mafia don, Carmine “Jimmy the Toucan” Sabatini, who bears startling resemblance to a certain cinematic star, in The Freshman (1990) opposite young Matthew Broderick.

“The only reason I’m in Hollywood is that I don’t have the moral courage to refuse the money.”

The post #BornThisDay: Marlon Brando appeared first on The WOW Report.

Her upcoming 92nd birthday on Sunday, April 3 will be a cause to celebrate for her fans, the legendary Doris Day will spend the day surrounded by a few close friends at her home in Carmel, California. People magazine said,

In her honor, the Doris Day Animal Foundation has organized a celebration called “Doris and Me” on April 2 at the Cypress Inn in Carmel.

Although Day surprised friends and fans two years ago by unexpectedly attending her 90th birthday party, her first public appearance in nearly two decades, it’s unlikely she’ll attend this year.

The party will feature performer Scott Dreier, who will sing some of Day’s greatest hits, along with Bernie Kopell from The Love Boat, who also costarred with the actress on The Doris Day Show. Brian Nash and Kym Karath, who played Day’s children in her 1963 comedy The Thrill of It All, are also expected to be at the party.

Day, who’s in good health, spends her days taking long walks in the garden, tending to her dogs and occasionally surprising fans by making an appearance on her terrace, which overlooks the Quail Lodge Golf Course in Carmel.

Her manager Bob Bashara says,

“She’s in remarkably good health. She’s in good spirits, and she’s remarkably resilient.“

She told People in 2014 that she enjoys occasionally indulging in ice cream or a glass of wine,

“Just one glass.

I feel young and I enjoy good and healthy things.“

(via People)

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The decorating Novogratz family used to live around the corner from me in New York, and we have several friends in common. They bought my painting Make Your Mark for the W Hotel, and have been really supportive of my work and are just as nice as they seem. Last year they made a big move to L.A. and bought yet another house to redo. This time, it’s a castle!

Robert and Cortney have been blogging for People about the process —renovating a 1926 castle in the Hollywood Hills. Now we get to see the results in a new web series, The Castle Next Door: The Novogratz Family Take Hollywood.

The design duo is famous for their decorating shows on HGTV that featured their 7 kids; Wolfgang, 18, Tallulah & Bellamy, 17, Breaker, 15, Five & Holleder, 10, & Major. Cortney says,

“It took us about eight months start to finish and the kids were involved a lot more than they have ever been because they’re older now.”

Throughout the series, the family shares their tricks for updating their home with a fresh, modern look. You can see all ten episodes here on People.com. Here are Episodes 1 and 10, the big reveal, below. Watch.

(Photos, Matthew Williams; via People)

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Million Dollar Listing Season 5 is less than three weeks away and in the past, most of Frederik Eklund‘s multi-million dollar listings seem to be in Manhattan, where $15 million will get you a condo, albeit a VERY nice one. But in Brooklyn that amount gets you 19th century old-world style merged with 21st century luxury. Remington House in the borough’s Park Slope might just be the priciest listing ever in this neighborhood. Built in 1887 by C. P. H. Gilbert for James H. Remington, whose father was a founder of the Republican Party (boo) it became a New York City landmark in 1973. The meticulously restored home is an exceptional 32 feet wide. (I once owned a brownstone which was the standard 20 feet wide and my good pals still have one considered much fancier at 25 feet wide.) This house features 13 wood-burning fireplaces and lots of original details, like plasterwork ceilings, moldings, and inlaid oak floors. You get a formal dining room, a sitting room, a family room, a den, and a library. Upstairs, the third-floor master suite also has its own sitting room plus a luxurious, spa-like bath clad in Calacutta gold marble and with a fireplace and a soaking tub. Outside is a manicured garden with a cedar-paneled fence that is spacious enough to have a full outdoor kitchen with a separate garden apartment. 8 bedrooms, 4 baths + 4 half baths over 5 floors and 8,200 sq. ft. The only drawback that I can attest to having lived in a 4-story brownstone for a decade is that there is a LOT of up and down. Wherever you are, there’s something on another floor that you need. I know, sounds like a problem you might like to have.

Million Dollar Listing, Season 5 premieres on April 21 on Bravo.

(Photos, Douglas Elliman; via Architectural Digest)

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The firehouse as it looked circa ’63

OK, not $10 million. $9,975,000.

The UES former firehouse that was Andy Warhol‘s first studio is on the market. 159 East 87th Street, just east of Lexington, is a two-story building that dates from 1910. Art critic Blake Gopnik, who is working on a biography of the artist, told ArtNet News,

“As a successful commercial illustrator, Andy Warhol had spent the previous 13 years working out of his various homes. In 1963, he was only just becoming known as a fine artist, so it’s no wonder he didn’t invest in a fancier studio.“

Warhol was becoming a celebrity himself, both praised and reviled, just six months before debuting his now infamous Campbell’s Soup Can series. Gopnik said,

“The fire house only cost $150 a month, but it was a wreck, with leaks in the roof and holes in the floors, but it was better than trying to make serious paintings in the wood-paneled living-room of his Victorian townhouse, as he’d done for the previous couple of years. Andy moved into the firehouse on January 1, 1963, and his lease on it was terminated the following May —leaving a gap of more than half a year before he moves into the famous Silver Factory.“

Andy & Gerard Malanga on Gerard’s first day of work at Warhol’s studio at the firehouse, June 11, 1963. (Photo: Edward Wallowitch)

“offers a developer a blank canvas to create boutique condominiums, a mixed-use rental or a luxury townhouse.”

For rent 50+ years ago for $150 a month; for sale in 2016 for $10 million. An early silkscreen of Warhol’s, like this Triple Elvis maybe a couple thousand in ’63. It sold at auction for almost $82 million. As an artist I’m asking, what’s a better return on your money?

This Triple Elvis (Ferus Type), 1963, sold at Christie’s in New York $81.9 million in 2014

(via Artnet News)

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