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DJ Bob the Drag Queen Gets Scarlett Johansson Dirty Dancing in the Upcoming Movie “Rough Night”

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He may only have two weeks left of his official reign, but Bob the Drag Queen is RULING the movie theaters this summer, starring in the upcoming Rough Night. Condragulations, girl! The big-budget comedy from the writers of Broad City, also stars Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Zoë Kravitz… but it’s BOB that we’re most excited for! He plays a club DJ who gets the girls up onstage to perform a routine of the raunchy classic “My Neck, My Back.”

Watch below. (via NewNowNext)

Also of interest: Queer icon Colton Haynes plays a cop in the flick and teased that viewers might be getting an eyeful when they go see the movie.

“I’m nervous because I may or may not have a lot of clothes on in this movie and I don’t know what made the trailer or not,” the out actor told fans on Snapchat. “So you guys might be seeing something soon.”

Hubba hubba! Oh baby! BRING IT ON!

The post DJ Bob the Drag Queen Gets Scarlett Johansson Dirty Dancing in the Upcoming Movie “Rough Night” appeared first on The WOW Report.


June 3rd: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Silent Film Star, Alla Nazimova

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June 3, 1879Alla Nazimova

She wasn’t in therapy, didn’t wear a fanny pack, had never sang along with the Indigo Girls, she didn’t even play on a softball league, but Alla Nazimova was one luscious lesbian.

Nazimova was born Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon, in the Ukraine. She studied with the famous Konstantin Stanislavsky at the Moscow Arts Theatre. Nazimova was a major star in Moscow, Berlin and London by the time she arrived in NYC in 1905. She became an acclaimed actor in America, the toast of Broadway in the first decade of the 20th Century with solid success performing in the works of Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev and Henrik Ibsen. She became extremely popular, so popular that a theater was named after her.

In 1917, she was discovered Lewis Selznick who summoned her to Hollywood where she became the prototype for the exotic screen vamp. She had two husbands, both gay, and she converted her West Hollywood compound into a playground for the rich, the famous, and the promiscuous. Nazimova began producing, writing, and starring in film versions of her stage triumphs. Her film adaptations, her own filmmaking techniques, and her acting style were considered daring during her era.

Nazimova with Rudolph Valentino in Camille (1921)

 

In 1920s Hollywood, she counted as her many lovers: actors Eva Le Gallienne, Patsy Ruth Miller, and Anna Mae Wong; both of Rudolph Valentino’s former wives: Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova, film director Dorothy Azner, and writer Mercedes de Acosta. She coined the term “sewing circle” as a code word for her secret lesbian group of gal pals.

When her career started to wane and audiences began to lose interest, she became bolder about her gayness in her films and she made them more provocative. She produced, wrote, and starred in the film Salomé (1923) which was directed by her gay husband Charles Bryant. It was one of the first art films in Hollywood with its insane costumes, empty sets, and outlandish over-the-top acting. Based on Oscar’s Wilde’s play, Nazimova demanded an all-gay cast for the film. It was critically panned and a commercial failure at the time, it has become a film festival favorite for years.

Salomé ran only 70 minutes in length and had no real action, but it cost over $350,000 to make. It was shot to match the illustrations done by Aubrey Beardsley in the printed edition of Wilde’s play. The costumes were designed by her girlfriend Natacha Rambova, made from material from Maison Lewis Of Paris, such as the real silver lamé loincloths worn by the guards, played to be obviously gay. The female courtiers were played by men in drag.

No major studio would have anything to do with Salomé, and it went two years after its completion before it was released, by a minor independent distributor. I caught it at a LGBTQ film festival in the 1980s. It is worth seeing for its considerable weirdness and it is really something to watch Nazimova move while balancing her Christmas-tree headdress.

Her private lifestyle was the topic of widespread rumors of decadent and debauched parties at her mansion on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood known as The Garden Of Alla. It was originally a 3.5 acre estate called Hayvenhurst that was built in 1913 by Los Angeles real estate developer William H. Hay as his private residence. Nazimova had the Moorish style rebuilt to her specs in 1919, the height of her fame. Nazimova jokingly called her new home “The Garden Of Alla”, a reference to her own name and the bestselling novel The Garden Of Allah (1905) by British writer Robert S. Hichens. The novel was adapted in to three films, one of which starred Marlene Dietrich, who once lived on the property.

In 1925, her screen career tanked and she was faced with financial ruin, so the inventive Nazimova put her property to work generating an income by building a complex of 25 rental “villas” around the original house. The opening party for The Garden of Alla Hotel was held on January 9, 1927.

Nazimova had converted the place into a semi-tropical trysting resort. She retained her own private apartment upstairs in her former mansion, while the bottom story was converted into a swank café and bar. The property became a complicated colorful collection of Spanish style bungalows and detached apartments.  Those 25 villas were constructed around the pool, designed with drama and dash, the pool was shaped like the Black Sea.

Among those who chose to live at The Garden Of Alla: Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Clara Bow, Buster Keaton, Ramon Navarro, Harpo Marx, Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Ernest Hemingway, Lillian Hellman, Joe E. Lewis, Artie Shaw, George Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Laurence Olivier.

Nazimova found that she was not cut out for her role as a hotel manager and it was revealed that her unscrupulous business partners had absconded with her money, so in 1928, she sold out her remaining interest in the hotel, auctioned off her belongings, and returned to the Broadway stage. In 1930, the new owners normalized the spelling in the hotel’s name back to “Allah”.

F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there in 1937-38 at the beginning of his final stay in Hollywood. He wrote himself a postcard while there: “Dear Scott… How are you? Have been meaning to come in and see you. I am living at the Garden Of Allah. Yours, Scott Fitzgerald.” Fitzgerald’s biographer and lover Sheilah Graham later wrote a book about the place, titled simply The Garden Of Allah (1970).

Nazimova’s renewed Broadway success was cut short by illness in 1938, and she returned to Hollywood and rented Villa 24, where she lived with her very patient, long-time companion Glesca Marshall until her final credits rolled in 1945.

In 1959, Bart Lytton, president of Lytton Savings And Loan, purchased the Garden Of Allah Hotel for $755,000. He decided to tear it down to make way for a new main branch for his bank. Lytton hosted a farewell party on the grounds of the hotel. Among the guests was silent film star Francis X. Bushman, who had been at the opening party in 1927. Guests came costumed as silent film stars. Salomé was shown on a large poolside screen.

Sham marriages, fights, feuds, egos, illegal liquor, spoiled celebrities, recreational sex, drugs, drunken rages, forbidden liaisons, writer’s block, orgies, money problems, sudden changes of plans, the Garden Of Allah was just my sort of spot. I would have liked to have lived there, I’m sure. In the 1970s, I sometimes spent time misbehaving at the nearby Chateau Marmont Hotel.

At the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights, The Garden Of Allah is now a strip mall. Joni Mitchell’s song, Big Yellow Taxi is about the destruction of the famous place.

Nazimova was 66-years-old, taken by hard living. She is buried at Forest Lawn.

In the film Valentino (1977), she was portrayed by Leslie Caron opposite Rudolf Nureyev in the title role. But, her own story deserves to be made into a fabulous bio-pic. How about Jennifer Lawrence directed by Wes Anderson?

The post #BornThisDay: Silent Film Star, Alla Nazimova appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Nontroversy: Taco Bell Introduces “Breakfast Salsa” & the Internet Asks PLEASE GOD, WHY?!

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Taco Bell has introduced some innovative (and unnecessary) foodstuffs like the Naked Chicken Chalupa and the Cheetos Burrito. But none of late seem to have garnered the head scratching reactions like its simple new “Breakfast Salsa”.

The Bell’s latest condiment is described as being a less spicy salsa

“created specifically for the most important meal of the day.”

The Internet seems truly perplexed as to what makes it “breakfast salsa”? Seventeen magazine’s article on the dilemma wonders,

“We didn’t know we needed a separate salsa to eat with [Taco Bell’s] morning staples.”

Even Food & Wine got in on it by posing the question,

“How many times have you sat down to enjoy an omelet in the morning, only to pop open a jar of salsa and think to yourself, ‘This is really more of a lunchtime condiment’?”

Refinery 29 can’t cope either.

“We’re just a tad confused about what makes Breakfast Salsa different from plain old salsa, and we’re not the only ones.”

As Taco Bell would want you to, all of this confusion can be answered by emptying packet of on their morning only fare like Breakfast Quesadillas, Grilled Breakfast Burritos or AM Crunchwraps. Hint: they probably want you to eat breakfast at Taco Bell.

So, what’s the big deal? It’s only salsa, kids. Trump is still POTUS, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Speaking of which, WHY doesn’t Taco Bell have fish tacos?! COME ON!

(via NY Post)

The post #Nontroversy: Taco Bell Introduces “Breakfast Salsa” & the Internet Asks PLEASE GOD, WHY?! appeared first on The WOW Report.

35th Anniversary: “Fame” Benefit Concert at The Troubadour in Hollywood, July 13

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Debbie Allen

You’ve got big dreams. You want fame. Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying… in sweat.

That’s how it all started. In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the hit TV series Fame, the cast is reuniting for a one-night-only concert to benefit The Actors Fund, the national human services organization that helps people in entertainment in times of need, crisis or transition.

Relive the music and the memories from the Emmy and Golden Globe winning series with eight of the show’s beloved stars plus some special surprise guests!

Scheduled to appear: Debbie Allen (“Lydia Grant”), Jesse Borrego (“Jesse Valesquez”), Cynthia Gibb (“Holly Laird”), Erica Gimpel (“Coco Hernandez”), Billy Hufsey (“Christopher Donlon”), Carlo Imperato (“Danny Amatullo”), Valerie Landsburg (“Doris Schwartz”) and P.R. Paul (“Montgomery MacNeil”).

Thursday, July 13, 2017, 8:00 PM

The Troubadour. Tickets are $55 General Admission, $100 General Admission + After Party, $250 VIP Balcony Seating + After Party

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Kim K. “READS” Caitlyn’s New Book – “She Started 3 Families with 3 Different People & F*cked EVERYONE Over!” Watch.

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Caitlyn Jenner‘s tell-all memoir has been ratcheting up the tension on the new season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

A sneak peek at Sunday’s episode shows Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West discussing Caitlyn’s memoir, The Secrets of My Life, which was released in April. Kim says,

She has her thoughts and you have your thoughts and that’s fine, but I do feel like there’s a way to tell your side of the story without being so negative. Like, everything is always your fault.”

They then get into it about Caitlyn’s claims that Kris had been “hoarding” money for years. Kris says,

“She never paid a bill from 1972. She didn’t know how much a gardener was, and in the book writes:

‘Well, Kris didn’t need me anymore. All the checks for Keeping Up with the Kardashians, they all went to Kris.’

Went to Kris?! How about it went to the mortgage, and the insurance, and education?

You start talking about how I was hoarding money when we didn’t even have it?”

Kris also brings up Caitlyn’s marriage to her second wife Linda Thompson, claiming Caitlyn, 67, wasn’t truthful about why they split.

“I said to Cate: ‘You were married before, how did you and your last wife break up?’ And she weaves this elaborate story about how she and Linda broke up. Cate could have told me the story that she writes about in the book, which is:

‘Gee, Linda got so angry and nasty that Cate had to tell her about her gender dysphoria.’

Like, why wouldn’t you have just told me what happened with Linda so at least I could make my own decision if I wanted to get married to someone who really wanted to be a woman?”

Kim then says Bruce who was previously married to Chrystie Crownover, from 1972-81,

“She just literally started three families with three different people and fucked everyone over.”

Kris agrees,

“One hundred percent. But [she] can’t handle that negative publicity, so I’m going to be the scapegoat. She’s going to throw me under the bus.”

In another peek at the upcoming episode, Kendall Jenner also expresses her outrage at the memoir during a conversation with her mother. Says the 21-year-old supermodel,

“The weird part is, I don’t think it’s purposeful lying — I think she really just thinks that’s what happened.

She goes around dissing the Kardashians, but those are the kids that you raised! If you have a problem with them, you raised them. That makes no sense to me, that she would go around bashing us for no reason. It’s insane, Mom — that’s insane.”

Kardashian West addressed the current status of the relationship between the exes on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, saying Kris was so hurt by Caitlyn’s claims about her in the memoir that the two aren’t speaking. When asked by Cohen if there’s a chance her momager would ever speak to Caitlyn again, Kardashian West responded

“Zero. No, one. No, I would say two percent. And those are Kendall and Kylie. That’s their percentage. All fair, I think.”

Watch.

(via People)

The post Kim K. “READS” Caitlyn’s New Book – “She Started 3 Families with 3 Different People & F*cked EVERYONE Over!” Watch. appeared first on The WOW Report.

#BirkinStocks: Guess How Much Someone Just Paid For This Purse? (Making It THE Most Expensive Handbag in the World!)

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This matte white Himalaya Niloticus crocodile diamond Birkin handbag was sold at auction Wednesday in Hong Kong. How much?

$379,261

Christie’s said the Hermes bag, which boasts 18 karat white gold and diamond hardware, was purchased by an unidentified buyer after 15 minutes of “intense” bidding.

It’s not the first Birkin 30 to get mega-bucks. Christie’s auctioned a similar bag in Hong Kong last year for $300,000 –a record at the time. The bags look identical, but they have subtle differences: The bag sold Wednesday supposedly is encrusted with higher grade diamonds and features more gold.

Hermes doesn’t say how many Diamond Himalaya bags it produces, but Christie’s estimates that only one or two are made each year. Even if you’ve got the cash, buying one isn’t easy. There is a six-year waiting list to buy a new one.

The first Birkin bag was inspired by Brit Jane Birkin, nearly 30 years ago. In 2015, she asked Hermes to remove her name from the bags, saying she was troubled by the “cruel practices” used to kill the crocodiles for the bags. She later said she was satisfied by Hermes commitment to the ethical treatment of animals. (Bet they paid her some big bucks. Ka-ching!)

I’m not satisfied that they treat these animals ethically. They still kill them. This is just as tacky and as cruel. One stupid animal carrying a bag made from another less fortunate one, if you ask me. You could have art, or even an entire house for that price…

Hey, who are you calling a bag?

OR you could have gotten this Ed Ruscha painting for $336,500 at Sotheby’s

Or for $20K more, you could buy this Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in Detroit for $399,900.

Or you could have a dead animal purse.

(Photo, Christies; via CNN)

The post #BirkinStocks: Guess How Much Someone Just Paid For This Purse? (Making It THE Most Expensive Handbag in the World!) appeared first on The WOW Report.

#HistoricalHottie: Poet, Rupert Brooke

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“You gave me the key of your heart, my love;
Then why did you make me knock?”

Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during WW I, most famously, The Soldier. He was also noted for being especially good-looking. Irish poet W. B. Yeats described him as “the handsomest young man in England”.

Brooke made friends with members of The Bloomsbury Group who appreciated his talent, but appreciated his good-looks even more. He even went skinny-dipping with Virginia Woolf (where did she keep those rocks?).

In 1912, he had a nervous breakdown over his gayness. As part of his recuperation, Brooke toured North America to write a travel column for the Westminster Gazette. He took the long way home, sailing across the Pacific and staying for half a year in the South Pacific, the island group, not the Rodgers And Hammerstein musical. He had a series of sexual conquests along the way, being especially bisexual and versatile.

Brooke’s beautiful poetry gained him many fans, including young Winston Churchill, who took quite a shine to him (there was gossip of an affair). Brooke was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve shortly after his 27th birthday. In 1915, he developed Sepsis from an infected mosquito bite. He died on a French hospital ship moored in a bay off the Greek island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea, while on his way to the Battle Of Gallipoli. Brooke is buried in an olive grove on Skyros. The site was chosen by his boyfriend, composer William Denis Browne, who didn’t come home from Gallipoli.

In 1985, Brooke was among 16 WW I poets commemorated in a monument unveiled in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. The inscription on the stone was written by a fellow gay war poet, Wilfred Owen. It reads:

 “My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.”

The post #HistoricalHottie: Poet, Rupert Brooke appeared first on The WOW Report.


Sing Along To Randy Rainbow’s Tony-Ready “Covfefe” Medley. Watch

#Update: Car Plows Into Crowd on London Bridge; Two People Stabbed in Restaurant Nearby

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UPDATE: CNN is reporting that two men entered a restaurant at Borough Market, just south of London Bridge, and stabbed two people inside. The patrons sheltered in the basement and police have arrived at the scene, the witness said.

According to the BBC,

Will Orton was at a pub nearby when the incident happened.

The 25-year-old said: “Lots of people came running inside, we didn’t really know what was going on.

“We thought maybe there was a fight or something outside. And then there were almost hundreds of people coming inside.

“The bouncers did a really good job, they shut the doors and locked everyone in,” he added.

“There was panic – it seemed like it was literally outside the door.

“People were coming inside and saying they had witnessed people being stabbed.

“It seemed like it was happening immediately outside the entrance.”

A car also plowed into a crowd of people on the London Bridge tonight, injuring dozens of people.

Joe Dillon, 23, who was near London Bridge when the incident occurred,

“I heard many gunshots and I heard people running away, Police officers were shouting: ‘Get out of here, you need to go!’ I heard at least eight rounds of gunshots, but I’m not sure who was shooting. When I arrived a second after I had heard the screams and the shots, I saw five or six officers running toward the van.”

A witness at the scene described bodies being “strewn over the pavement.” Witnesses told the Associated Press that a white van struck as many as six people.

Authorities have closed the bridge and traffic has been diverted. London’s Metropolitan Police said they are investigating the incident, but did not provide more immediate details.

Video taken by a bystander shows a large police presence where there are “bodies everywhere,” according to witnesses.

This is a developing story.

(via Huffington Post)

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London Terror Attack: 7 Dead, 48 Injured –PM Theresa May Says, “Enough Is Enough”

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Seven people have been killed and 48 injured in a terror attack in central London, with police shooting three suspected assailants dead within 8 minutes of the first incident.

British Prime Minister Theresa May says there is “too much tolerance” of Islamist extremism in the UK as she vowed a clampdown in the wake of the third terror attack to hit the UK this year.

Speaking in Downing Street five days before the UK general election, May described the latest attack as “brutal” and said extremism had to be defeated.

“We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are… Enough is enough.”

Latest developments according to CNN

• Metropolitan Police statement: Seven people have died across two locations, in addition to the three attackers shot dead by police. A reported third incident at Vauxhall, a few miles west, was not connected.

• London Ambulance Service statement: 48 victims have been taken to five hospitals across London. A number of others were treated for less serious injuries at the scene. More than 80 medics have responded to the incident, including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, specialist response teams and an advanced trauma team from London’s air ambulance.

• Vehicle attack on London Bridge: Eyewitnesses said a van drove at speed across London Bridge from the north side, knocking over several pedestrians. London’s Metropolitan Police said they first responded to the bridge at 10:08 p.m. (5:08 p.m. EST).

• Stabbings at Borough Market: A man with a knife entered two restaurants at nearby Borough Market, just south of the bridge, stabbing two people in one restaurant and one person in the other, other eyewitnesses told CNN.

• British Prime Minister Theresa May returns to Downing Street: In a statement, she said a “terrible incident” in London was being treated as “potential act of terrorism.” She planned to chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee Sunday.

Metropolitan police assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Mark Rowley, says the attack began late Saturday night, when a white van stuck pedestrians on London Bridge. Suspects then left the vehicle and “a number of people were stabbed, including an on-duty British Transport Police officer who was responding to the incident at London Bridge,” said Rowley. The officer received serious but not life-threatening injuries. Rowley says,

“Armed officers responded very quickly and bravely, confronting three male suspects who were shot and killed in Borough Market. The suspects had been confronted and shot by the police within eight minutes of the first call. The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes.”

Witnesses reported panic as the incidents unfolded in the vicinity of a major transport hub and in an area packed with restaurants and bars. At least 48 people were taken to five hospitals, with many more treated at the scene.

Just days before a general election and two weeks after 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, the attacks wreaked havoc. It’s the third terrorist attack to strike the UK this year, after a man drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in March.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “deliberate and cowardly attack” on Londoners enjoying a Saturday night out. Some of the injured are in critical condition.

(Photo, YouTube; via CNN)

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June 4th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Actor, Rosalind Russell (Auntie Mame!)

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June 4, 1907Rosalind Russell:

“Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.”

Along with most gay guys my age, I simply must adore her, at the very least, for bringing all of us: Sylvia Fowler, Ruth Sherwood, Mame Dennis, Momma Rose and my favorite Mother Superior in film history.

Rosalind Russell was stylish, expressive, versatile, witty and smart. She was one of the best and busiest actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Her career stretched from the 1930s to the 1970s and it encompassed all genres, but I especially appreciated her special talent for comedy, sophisticated or slapstick.

My favorite of her film roles was as Cary Grant’s foil, the fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in Howard Hawks’ classic rat-a-tat screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940). The very best of the six different film adaptations of the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur Broadway hit Front Page (1928), this one with Russell playing a role specifically written to be played by a man. What other female actor could pull-off this character with such authority and abandon, playing an ace reporter who can trade wisecracks with the best of the boys in the newsroom?

But, most LGBTQ people hold Russell on the highest of Gay Icon pedestals for her definitive portrayal of Mame Dennis in what may be the gayest film of all time, Auntie Mame (1958). I caught it for the umpteenth time just last month. I always think I don’t need to watch the classic film one more time and then I come upon it while channel surfing and I get sucked right back into the madcap mayhem.

Russell won five Golden Globe Awards, a record at the time. She won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Ruth in the scrumptious Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green musical Wonderful Town (1953) on Broadway. Unbelievable, Russell never won an Academy Award, but she was nominated for My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946), Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) and Auntie Mame. She was given the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy for her work raising funds and awareness for research and treatment of Rheuamatoid Arthritis from which she suffered so terribly.

Russell was born into a big Catholic Connecticut family. She studied at Marymount College in NYC, and at the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts.

After finding work as a fashion model she started her stage career in the 1920s and she appeared in summer stock productions and minor roles in Broadway plays before Hollywood coaxed her, first with a contract with Universal Pictures, and then moving over to the number one studio, MGM.

Photograph by George Hurrell, 1932

 

She made her first film in 1934 with a prestige role in Evelyn Prentice opposite William Powell and Myrna Loy. During the 1930s, Russell worked really hard, appearing in films of all kinds and sometimes dubious quality, until the studio brass finally realized that she was clearly made for comedy, with her expressive eyes and limber body. She often seemed to give performances that threatened to go way too over the top, but she would skillfully rein it all in, coming off as original, charming and very, very funny. Still, for most of her first decade as a film actor, Russell was mostly given the projects that Myrna Loy tossed aside.

With Joan Crawford in The Women (1939)

 

Her first truly great role was as Sylvia Fowler, the bitchiest of the bitches in The Women (1939), directed by gay George Cukor, a role she had to fight vigorously to win from the reticent director. In her memoir Life Is A Banquet (1977), Russell claims that Cukor kept asking for a bigger and more caustic performance, but she was afraid of making her all-female co-stars unhappy. She did manage to take the focus away from professional scene stealers Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Paulette Goddard, sometimes simultaneously. The film was a critical and box-office success. It boosted Russell’s career and brought her a reputation as one of the best comic actors in the biz.

The 1940’s were her most prolific period for film work, but as roles for older females grew fewer (she was only in her 40s) Russell returned to the Broadway stage in the 1950s and she found unexpected success in musicals, reprising her earlier film role in My Sister Eileen in a new musical version of the same story, now titled Wonderful Town. She continued doing stage work, the occasional television appearance, or sometimes a supporting role in a film such as the prim school teacher in Picnic (1955), adapted from the play by gay writer William Inge.

With Jan Handzlik in Auntie Mame

 

Then along came that role to end all roles in the long running Broadway hit Auntie Mame adapted by gay writer Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.Lee from the popular novel by gay writer Patrick Dennis. In a rare smart move by Hollywood executives, she was allowed her to repeat the role in the film version in 1958, directed by gay Morton DaCosta who directed the Broadway play.  And I don’t care what you queers say, Russell’s Auntie Mame is the definitive Auntie Mame.

Russell returned to films during the 1960’s, giving spry, smart performances as a lady of a certain age in A Majority Of One (1961) and especially in the musical Gypsy (1962), royally pissing off Ethel Merman who originated the role on stage. Raising the ire of Merman was a frightful thing. There has been a great deal of discussion among hard core musical theatre types (like me) about the casting of Russell in the film version of Gypsy, long considered Merman’s greatest triumph. But for me, Merman’s special gifts never came across well onscreen and Russell’s Mama Rose has the wit, bite and emotional range that work well on film, although she is no Barbra Streisand.

With Natalie Wood in Gypsy

 

Russell wrapped up her long career in one of my favorite nun flicks (and I am a sucker for stories about the holy sisters), The Trouble With Angels (1966), along with its sequel Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968). Catholic educated Russell gave good nun.

Unusual for a figure in showbiz, Russell married just once, to Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson, whom she met through their mutual pal Cary Grant. Merman referred to Brisson as “The Lizard Of Roz”. Their marriage lasted 35 years, ending with her final bow in 1976, taken by that damn cancer. She was 69-years-old when she went. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, with of view of the former MGM lot.

“Flops are a part of life’s menu and I’ve never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses.”

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Britney’s Sweet Letter To Her LGBTQ Fans –”It’s Actually You That Lifts Me Up”

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For Gay Pride Month, Billboard magazine asked asked gay icons and pop culture stars to write ‘love letters’ to the LGBTQ community. Below, pop music icon Britney Spears shares her handwritten note.

“This is my letter of love to all my LGBTQ fans. Continuously throughout my career, you’ve always been so vocal about what a positive impact I’ve had on you — that I’ve instilled joy, hope and love in you at times when there was none. That my music is an inspiration. That my story gives you hope.

But I have a secret to share with you. You see, it’s actually you that lifts me up. The unwavering loyalty. the lack of judgment. The unapologetic truth. Acceptance! Your stories are what inspire me, bring me joy and make me and my sons strive to be better people.

I love you.

Britney”

(via Billboard)

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#ArtDepartment: “Narcissus”

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Narcissus (1868)

Ernest-Eugène Hiolle (1834-1886)

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

 

You kids all know the story of Narcissus, right?

He was a youth from the city of Thespiae, which was noted for its after-hours clubs and its abundance of world-class hair stylists.

Narcissus was the son of the River God Cephissus and a nymph named Liriope. That couldn’t have been easy growing up.

Well, a young man named Ameinias fell in love with Narcissus, who had already spurned his other male suitors. No man, no matter the time put in at the gym, could hold his attention. Narcissus rejected Ameinias’ private messages, but gave him a sword as a consolation prize. Ameinias committed suicide at Narcissus’s doorstep. He had prayed to the Gods to give Narcissus a lesson for all the pain he brought to a long line of guys that had fallen for his profile on various hook-up apps.

Not long after, Narcissus was walking by a lovely pool of water and decided to help himself to a drink. He saw his reflection, but didn’t realize it was his own image because Narcissus was beautiful, but a little dim. The Gods didn’t spread their gifts out equally.

Anyway, Narcissus feel deeply in love with his own reflection and became entranced by it. But, he realized that his love could not be reciprocated, and unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus lost his will to live. He stared at his reflection until he died. You know the feeling.

In 1898, Havelock Ellis, an English sexologist, used the term “Narcissus-Like” to describe excessive masturbation, whereby the person becomes his own sex object, or as I call it “Saturday night”.

Painting by Gerard van Kuijll (1635)

 

Тhe tale of Narcissus has inspired artists for more than three thousand years. The gay Roman poet Ovid featured a version in his graphic novel Metamorphoses (8 AD).  Painters as diverse as Caravaggio, Nicolas Poussin, J. M. W. Turner, and Salvador Dalí have painted him. Ernest-Eugène Hiolle immortalized him in marble.

Photograph by Cecil Beaton (1939)

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Paul Rudnick: “Trump Feeds on Hatred. It’s What Got Him Elected”

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Madame Tussauds wax work of Trump

You know Paul Rudnick from his work on movies like Addams Family Values, The First Wives Club, In & Out, and the screen version of his play Jeffrey. He’s written many other things, all of them funny and smart but I’ve been following his posts on Facebook lately and his astute observations have turned to politics and Trump’s influence on America.

“Trump has made hatred, on both sides of the divide, the American way of life. During President Obama’s two terms there was constant class animosity and racism, but here’s the crucial difference: Obama didn’t encourage or embody the ugliness. Trump feeds on it; hatred is what got him elected.

Cheerleading hatred, on every issue, is what Trump’s team refers to as “maintaining his base.” Whether it’s abandoning the Paris Accord, restricting all forms of birth control to a frightening degree, or turning immigration issues into a pitched battle, every move Trump makes forces Americans to turn on each other, with an unprecedented viciousness.

A president, above all else, is the face of our nation; he or she sculpts our national character. Trump still seems surprised when he comes under attack, when hundreds of thousands march against him almost every day. He appoints bigots, insults the rest of the world, and declares that only selfishness will make America great again, and then he wonders why his family has become a symbol of privileged evil.

The majority of Americans, red and blue, don’t like retreating to armed camps, which is exhausting, but Trump prevents any other choice. Liberals can’t reach out to people who refuse to question an ignorant tyrant, and that tyrant forces his fans to hate everyone who hasn’t signed a loyalty pledge. Trump has set this war in motion, and he’s destroying the nation.

When Ivanka tweets her support for women or the LGBTQ community, her family’s hypocrisy deservedly turns her into a target. When Betsy DeVos struggles to understand anything about public education, her status as Trump’s stooge is enraging. When Sean Spicer tries to repeat Trump’s incoherent lies, the media is completely justified in laughing at him, or throwing rotten vegetables.

Every incident, whether it involves Kathy Griffin or Melania’s private life or any diplomatic handshake, becomes magnified by Trump’s sneering thuggishness, and it’s only getting worse.

President Obama represented the best of us, all of us. He stood for hope, and the possibility of unity or at least respectful argument. He made us proud, which made us into better people.

Trump makes us ashamed, and he turns everyone into enemies.”

Paul Rudnick

(Photos, Pacific Coast News)

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Dame Maggie Smith Interviewed on Acting & the Public, “I Led a Perfectly Normal Life Until Downton Abbey.” Watch

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Dame Maggie Smith, who has played many amazing roles in her long career including the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, talks to interviewer Mark Lawson about why she never watches herself on screen, among other things. It’s a lively interview where talks about the joy (or lack of it) in acting and says things like,

I led a perfectly normal life until Down Abbey.

Dame Maggie Smith in Conversation, was part of the BFI + Radio Times TV festival, and took place this past April.

She also spoke to Graham Norton on his show about the same subject. And below that is a clip of some of Smith’s best moments as Lady Grantham. You can see why she can’t go out in public anymore.

Watch.

(T/Y Kevin)

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#Charmed: 7 Leading Lady Artists Created This Bracelet (It Can Be Yours for Just $68,000!)

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Mother’s Day has come and gone but had I known ahead of time, I might have snatched one of these up for my sweet mom. (Yeah, sure…) Gagosian Gallery is offering this limited edition charm bracelet by 7 women artists, called Charmed

IPPOLITA Senso Hero bracelet featuring 7 individual artist-designed charms in 18k green gold.

Laurie Simmons charm
18K green gold, diamond, and sapphire

Shirin Neshat charm
18K green gold, rock crystal, and emeralds

Barbara Kruger charm
18K white gold, and red enamel

Cindy Sherman charm
18K green gold, photogragh printed on ceramic, and steel magnet hidden clasp

Rachel Feinstein charm
18K white gold, diamond, and hand-painted enamel

Mickalene Thomas charm
18K Green gold, multicolored blue sapphires

Wangechi Mutu charm
18K green gold, rock crystal, and printed resin

Edition of 50, $68,000. You can order one here.

The post #Charmed: 7 Leading Lady Artists Created This Bracelet (It Can Be Yours for Just $68,000!) appeared first on The WOW Report.

#BornThisDay: Filmmaker, Tony Richardson

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Photograph from Universal

 

June 5, 1928Tony Richardson

Academy Award winning film director, screenwriter and producer Tony Richardson was brimming with talent and led a life both complex and tumultuous. Richardson had  romantic relationships with many famous women including Vanessa Redgrave and Jeanne Moreau, but with plenty of men too, guys like Alan Bates, Laurence Harvey and Rudolf Nureyev. His films were nearly as complicated as his personal life. But, his movies are inspiring, plus his direction often brought Oscars and other awards to his actors.

Richardson attended Oxford, where his classmates included RupertMurdoch, Margaret Thatcher, Kenneth Tynan, and filmmakers Lindsay Anderson and Gavin Lambert.

He worked in the theatre, directing John Osborne’s play Look Back InAnger (1956) at the Royal Court Theatre, and in the same period he directed Shakespeare plays in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1957 he directed Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice in Osborne’s next play The Entertainer, a production that changed Olivier’s career.

In 1962, Richardson married Vanessa Redgrave, whose famous family make up one of the greatest acting dynasties of all time. The Redgraves were  already plenty famous when Richardson became a family member: Vanessa, of course; Lynn who in the early 1960s was just starting out in the biz but would go on to earn Oscar and Tony Award nominations, Corin, an actor and activist; the matriarch Rachel Kempson, a stage and screen actor whose credits include Out Of Africa (1985); and Sir Michael, the Oscar nominated patriarch, one of the most important British stars of stage and screen in the 20th century, and  who like his son-in-law, enjoyed having sex with other men. That’s right, in the great show biz tradition of Judy Garland and her famous daughter Liza Minnelli,  both Vanessa Redgrave and her mother married guys who dug other guys.

With Vanessa Redgrave

 

Richardson was only married to Vanessa Redgrave for five  years, but they managed to have two famous children: Natasha Richardson, who won a 1998 Tony Award for a Broadway revival of Cabaret and starred in films like The Handmaid’s Tale (1995)  and Nell (1994);  plus Joely Richardson, whose television credits include Nip/Tuck and The Tudors. Even after his death, Richardson seems to always be associated with that famous Redgrave acting clan.

Richardson directed Michael Redgrave in The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner (1962). His masterpiece is Tom Jones (1963), starring Albert Finney, and featuring sister-in-law Lynn and mother-in-law Rachel. The film still stands up today, and Richardson won two Academy Awards for it, Best Picture and Best Direction. For its time, it is a really randy romp.

The success of Tom Jones led him immediately to the wonderful, wacky The Loved One (1965), adapted from the novel by gay writer Evelyn Waugh, and starring John Gielgud, Rod Steiger and Robert Morse working in Hollywood both on location and on the sound stage.

Richardson and Redgrave were divorced by the time he made The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968), but he still used his ex in the film and he featured Natasha, just four-years-old, along with little Joely, a year younger. Joely also had a role in my favorite Richardson flick The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), alongside Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe, written and directed by her father, and just as sexy a film as Tom Jones.

Richardson’s astounding filmography includes several movies with gay themes and associations: Look Back In Anger (1959), The Entertainer (1960), A Taste Of Honey (1961), The Loved One,  A Delicate Balance (1973), and Joseph Andrews (1977).

Among his actors that worked with Richardson, many who gained awards for their work: Jeanne Moreau, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, David Hemmings, Marianne Faithfull, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Mick Jagger, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield and Judi Dench. His screenwriters included gay writers Jean Genet, Christopher Isherwood, and Edward Albee.

He directed Vanessa Redgrave one more time, as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz who survives by playing in the camp orchestra in the harrowing and heartbreaking Playing For Time (1982).

Richardson’s final film was Blue Sky (1990). No Redgraves were in that one, but Jessica Lange won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Richardson came out of the closet as bisexual when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1990. He was taken by the plague within a year.

After her father’s death, Natasha Richardson worked tirelessly for AIDS research, serving on the board of amfAR and God’s Love We Deliver. She organized the amfAR‘s hugely successful auction of Oscar dresses each year after the award ceremony. She died tragically, shockingly, from a head injury sustained in a ski accident in spring 2009. She was survived by her husband Liam Neeson, who she met while appearing together on Broadway in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie in 1994. The evening of her funeral the lights on Broadway were dimmed in her honor.

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Pro-Trump Country Store Offers “$50,000 Reward for Kathy Griffin’s Head Delivered”

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The Lewis Country Store in Tennessee has gained attention for their signs with messages like

“Never forget Benghazi”

and

“Trump that Bitch.”

Their latest offensive signage reads out in red letters,

“$50,000 Reward for Kathy Griffin’s head delivered.”

This was obviously in response to the explosive photo shoot where Griffin brandished a fake, bloodied, head of Trump. She has since apologized and said that Trump and family are trying to ruin her life.

According to local media, an attorney with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville Department of Law said the digital sign is on private property and

does not appear to be an obvious violation of the Metropolitan Code of Laws.

“Generally, the First Amendment protects even speech that may be construed as offensive.“

The store owner, Bradford Lewis, has refused to speak to the media as the controversy gains national attention. But the sign was changed sometime before Friday afternoon to read,

“America first, screw the rest of y’all”

The digital signs has also criticized Shell Oil, who refused to do business with the convenience store after their recent controversial sign.

So, Mr. Lewis is just making friends all over. Who needs Twitter when you’re an asshole with a giant sign? (Photo, submitted; via MS News Now)

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