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#TwitterStorm: Trump Makes Things Worse By Tweeting About Puerto Rico 18 TIMES in 11 Hours!

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Yulin Cruz speaking to Anderson Cooper

Yes, in an 11-hour period starting yesterday at 7:19 a.m. and ending at 6:46 p.m., Trump tweeted –yes, 18!– times about the dire situation in Puerto Rico following the devastation brought by Hurricane Maria.

The tone of those tweets, according to CNN: Negative, defensive and dark.

Trump’s began attacking San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. He responded to Yulin Cruz by saying,

The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.

Had Trump just sent those three tweets hitting Yulin Cruz, it would have been a bad enough. But did he stop there…?

Nope. Trump spent the next eight(!) hours tweeting a series of attacks against the so-called “fake news” media for allegedly misrepresenting the actions of his administration in Puerto Rico.

Fake News CNN and NBC are going out of their way to disparage our great First Responders as a way to ‘get Trump.

Not fair to FR or effort!

The Fake News Networks are working overtime in Puerto Rico doing their best to take the spirit away from our soldiers and first R’s. Shame!.“

Today’s NY Daily News

None of that comes even close to Trump’s claim that the news networks are working to

disparage our great First Responders” or that the media is “doing their best to take the spirit away from our soldiers.

As CNN’s Cris Cillizza said,

Trump is trying to divide the country as a way to deflect blame for his administration’s performance.

Trump’s willingness to divide, to turn every situation in which he is questioned or criticized into an “us” vs “them” is well documented by now. The 2016 election was an 18-month master class in how to divide the country for your own political gain. Trump’s handling of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his deliberate decision to pick a fight with (mostly black) NFL players over the national anthem illustrate that same perpetual need to divide.

That default divisiveness makes Trump different than every person who has held the office before him. For the 43 previous presidents, their ultimate goal was to find ways to remind people in the country of our common humanity, to take the high road, to appeal to our better angels. Many of them missed that mark — often badly — but it was always their North Star.

18 tweets. 11 hours. And Americans suffer.

(Illustration, CNN; via CNN)

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#WhatTheWorldNeedsNow: A New Atlanta Exhibit Illustrates Where We Are Today…

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Ruben Natal-San Miguel

New York photographer and WOWlebrity Ruben Natal-San Miguel just shot amazing pics of DragCon NYC that you might have seen here on The Wow Report. He invited me to contribute to this new exhibit curated by himself and artist Anita Arliss

What the World Needs Now

It runs through October 7, Thursdays through Saturdays: noon-5 PM. Or by appointment: 404-821-2585. B Complex Gallery, 1272 Murphy Ave. SW, Atlanta.

If your aren’t in Atlanta, here are some of the artists exhibiting and images from the opening.

Aline Smithson

Alli Royce Soble

Amy Elkins

Andi Schreiber

Anita Arliss

Declan Schoen

Di Biase

Jill Waterman

Keris Salmon

Lauren Welles

Nina Weinberg Doran

Susan Carr

Susan Keiser

Susan Rosenberg Jones

Trey Speegle

My print of the image above is available on TWYLA.com.

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#ArtDept: “Saint Sébastien” by Nicholas Régnie

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Saint Sébastien by Nicholas Régnier (1588- 1667)

There is nothing particularly unusual about a Gay Icon who is young, beautiful, and shirtless. But what if this icon came from the history and teachings of Christianity?

Saint Sebastian was martyred in 287, but even today he continues to beg the question of what makes for a Gay Idol, including the appropriation from Catholic Church history and its martyrs to the visual, literary, film and stage works of many LGBTQ artists.

He has had various images throughout history: “The Plague Saint” during the Middle Ages; the shimmering loin-clothed beauty of The Renaissance, writhing in the ecstasy of the arrows that pierce him; a decadent androgynous figure in the late 19th century; Sebastian has long been known as the gay people’s saint.

According to the Church, Sebastian was a young nobleman from Milan, serving under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, who came to the rescue of two Christian soldiers, Marcellinus and Mark, and thereby came out of the closet about his own Christianity. Diocletian insisted that Sebastian be shot to death by his fellow archers, leaving him for dead.

Sebastian survived after having been nursed back to health by Saint Irene. Diocletian ordered a second execution, and this time Sebastian was beaten to death by soldiers in The Hippodrome.

Sebastian’s success as a saint is his ability to be all things to all people. Along with the famous arrows, the symbol of his martyrdom is the rope that binds his hands; yet Sebastian just won’t be tied down. His face never reveals the agonies of his body. His beauty and his pain are eternally separated from each other. This made him proof against plague in the 1300s, and, in these terrible times, it still does.

Régnier was a Flemish painter who studied in Antwerp, but was one of the few painters from Northern Europe to have lived and painted in Rome during another Gay Saint, Caravaggio’s lifetime. Not a whole lot is known about Régnier’s life, but records show that he was in Rome in the roaring 1620s.

He later relocated to Venice, which is where things were really happening. In Venice, he moved away from Caravaggism, developing his own highly decorative style. Régnier’s work in Venice was affected by the paintings of the German painter Johan Lys, who was also working in Venice. His influence is particularly evident in Régnier’s newly painterly depiction of naked male flesh. Régnier, or Nicki Renieri, as he was known in Italy, remained in Venice for the rest of his life. In addition to painting, he began collecting and selling antiques, which must have been super old considering this was already the Baroque Period. He had an important collection of art by other artists, cookie jars, and assorted ephemera.

Saint Sébastien, the painting, now lives in the Musée Des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.  Sebastian’s poor, pierced body is at San Sebastiano Fuori Le Mura in Rome, although bits and pieces of him can be found in other holy places including Saint Medard Abbey in Soissons, which houses his cranium.

Régnier’s other work, and he was prolific, can been seen at Galleria Uffizi, Musée du Louvre, Muzeum Narodowe in Warsaw, Museum Of Fine Arts in Budapest, The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, The Detroit Institute Of Arts, The Hermitage Museum, and The Fogg at Harvard University.

Self portrait, 1623

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#Breaking: Shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, At Least 20 Dead, 100+ Wounded

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A gunman opened fire at a concert outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas last night, sending people fleeing.

The music stopped, and concertgoers ducked for cover.

According to The New York Times, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County told reporters that 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured. He did not identify the dead gunman, but he said the police were seeking “a companion” named Marilou Danley, a woman he described as Asian and 4-foot-11.

Sherriff Lombardo told reporters at a news conference,

Now as far as number of victims I cannot give you an accurate number at this point. We have well in excess of a hundred plus injured and excess of 20 plus that have died.

A video posted online shows Jason Aldean performing outside the hotel at Route 91 Harvest, a country music festival, interrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire as concertgoers ducked for cover.

Shortly before midnight the Las Vegas Police Metropolitan Police Department reported that “one suspect is down,” and soon thereafter the police said they did not believe there were any more active gunmen.

Twenty-six people were admitted to the hospital, Danita Cohen, a spokeswoman for University Medical Center, told The Associated Press. At least two have died, and 12 are in critical condition.

One officer reported that civilians were “trying to take patrol cars,” but it was not clear why. One officer is in critical condition.

A concertgoer, Robyn Webb, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal,

It just kept coming. It was relentless.

The police reported closing off about a mile of Las Vegas Boulevard and asked the public to steer clear of the area. The gunman, who has been killed, was reportedly shooting from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

This is a developing story.

(Photo, Twitter; via NY Times)

The post #Breaking: Shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, At Least 20 Dead, 100+ Wounded appeared first on The WOW Report.

Watch: Octogenarian Drag Queen Adrian Answers “Why RuPaul’s DragCon” is Important, w/ Sasha Velour, Peppermint, Laila McQueen & More!!!

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NYC-based queer writer/performer Donald C Shorter Jr., who spearheaded the multimedia, theatrical drag transformation experience Genderosity, has a new production project called GLITTERAZZI–  a boutique video production company specializing in The Other, where they shine a light on those who are different and are making a beautiful impact in the world. Their latest upload is a super cool mini-film shot at RuPaul’s DragCon NYC, where they interviewed tons of groovy queens, asking the question, Why DragCon?. Check it out below, featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 9 winner Sasha VelourPeppermintHaus of Aja members Kandy MuseMoMo Shade and Dahlia SinPaige TurnerLaila McQueenShangelaMerrie CherryPerfidiaRuby RooMr.He WhatMarti Gould Cummings, über sexxxy porn star Boomer Banks…and an introspective octogenarian drag queen Adrian, aka Henry Arango, who performed in the 1950s and 60s, at the legendary East Village drag venue Club 82 in NYC, marched in the first gay rights parade in NYC, and was a firsthand witness to the Stonewall Riots. (screen grabs via the video)

The post Watch: Octogenarian Drag Queen Adrian Answers “Why RuPaul’s DragCon” is Important, w/ Sasha Velour, Peppermint, Laila McQueen & More!!! appeared first on The WOW Report.

#GaysAgainstGuns: LGBT Groups Calling For Gun Control Now, After Vegas Massacre (GAG Rally in NYC Tonight!)

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In response to Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, LGBT groups are calling for additional gun control. So far 58 killed and more than 500 injured at the Mandalay Bay resort.

A statement released by Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said.

After Newtown, our nation called for action. After Tucson, Virginia Tech, Aurora, San Bernardino, Charleston, and Alexandria, we called for action. After the shooting at Pulse Nightclub a little more than a year ago, we called for action. Yet, in the face of these mounting tragedies, many of our lawmakers have refused to act on meaningful gun safety legislation. As these politicians fail to act, at least 58 people in Las Vegas were killed last night, while hundreds more have been injured. It’s time for Congress and the White House to act. We need leadership now, and we must continue to demand it until our lawmakers either hear us — or we have new lawmakers.

Little information has been released about the kind of weapon the Vegas shooter used, the scope and lethality of the attack show that it was a semiautomatic weapon (possibly even a fully automatic one) both of which qualify as assault rifles.

Gays Against Guns formed in response to the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year. The group has been going to gun shows to talk with participants about the effects of gun violence and confronting politicians who resist further gun restrictions. GAG‘s website said,

Thoughts and prayers without action are meaningless.

Earlier yesterday, while all the victims of last night’s shooting were looking forward to a day of fun in Las Vegas, members of Gays Against Guns boarded a van and drove to a Pennsylvania Gun Show. This is the third Gun Show visit we’d done and, as far as we know, we’re the only gun violence organization to have gone to these shows to speak with people who are strong supporters of the Second Amendment. We’re not confrontational, but we engage with people and ask them to consider the facts. It can be uncomfortable at times, but this is what must happen if we want to change minds and save lives.”

GAG will hold a rally tonight from 6 to 8PM at Union Square in New York City, and it has a meeting scheduled for 7PM this Thursday at the New York LGBT Community Center.

The Las Vegas attack surpassed the Pulse shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

(Photos, Twitter; via The Advocate)

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#OnThisDay: 1950, The First “Peanuts” Cartoon is Published

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Photography by Roger Higgins, World Telegram, Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

 

October 2, 1950- The First Peanuts cartoon is published.

In 1947, the Saint Paul Pioneer, Charles Schulz’s local newspaper, began publishing a weekly comic panel he’d created called Li’l Folks. It was a flop. In 1950, Schulz sold Li’l Folks to the United Features Syndicate after being turned down by every other syndication company. Because of potential copyright infringement, United Features renamed Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts. Even after Peanuts was a big hit, Schulz claimed he never liked the name and always wanted to call the strip Good Old Charlie Brown.

Leave it to the guy who came up with Charlie Brown to experience disappointment with success. Schulz:

“I wanted a strip with dignity and significance. Peanuts made it sound too insignificant.”

The first Peanuts strip was published on this day, October 2 in 1950. It appeared in seven newspapers. In the strip, Charlie Brown walks by two friends, one of whom remarks, “Well! Here comes ‘ol Charlie Brown! Good ‘ol Charlie Brown … yes, sir! Good ‘ol Charlie Brown… how I hate him!” By the end of the decade, Peanuts was picked up by hundreds of newspapers and it won Schulz the Reuben Award, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonists Society.

from United Features Syndicate

 

Peanuts became even more popular during the 1960s. Charlie Brown and the gang even made the cover of Time Magazine in 1965. After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, Schulz was pressed to include a black character. African-American Franklin made his debut later that year. Woodstock, Snoopy’s yellow, avian friend, got his name in 1970. When asked why he named the bird after the famous music festival, Schulz answered: “Why not?”

In 1966, Peppermint Patty, a sports-loving girl living in a single-parent household, made her entrance. She has long been speculated to be a lesbian, with her tomboy personality and her special relationship with Marcie, and despite an unrequited love for Charlie Brown. But, you know, they are only kids. Who knows? Schulz identified as a secular humanist, and he was good friends with Billy Jean King.

Peppermint Patty was still rather extraordinary for 1966; a character who was a proud and unapologetic tomboy, who wears pants and sandals instead of a dress, and who is apparently the biggest jock in town, male or female. And, the best thing about her, none of her friends seems to care or even notice as Peppermint Patty’s blows away accepted gender roles.

In 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on CBS, beginning a string of television specials. Network executives expected the Christmas show to be aired once and then disappear. The producers had cast children to do the voices of the characters, and most of them had not professional acting experience. The CBS brass thought the lack of a laugh track was a mistake and the show’s jazz infused soundtrack slowed down the storytelling. But, when the program premiered it drew big ratings and went on to win an Emmy Award.

50 more Peanuts specials followed, plus five films, and three television series. In 1967, the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown opened Off-Broadway and ran for four years. It was revived on Broadway in 1999 with openly gay Anthony Rapp as Charlie Brown. Kristin Chenoweth and Roger Bart as Sally and Snoopy, both won Tony Awards. It remains one of the most performed American musicals in history. A sequel, Snoopy: The Musical, was produced in 1975 and was also a hit.

In 1969, Charlie Brown and Snoopy went to the Moon. The Apollo 10 crew named their command and lunar modules after them.

By the 1990s, Schulz had acquired a massive personal fortune. He gave millions away to charity. He was often listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the highest-paid entertainers, in a league with Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson. He remains the best-paid and most widely read cartoonist of all time. Peanuts made the Guinness World Records after being syndicated in 2,000 newspapers. It was read by 400 million people daily, plus there was book compilations, merchandising and endorsements.

In the late 1990s, Shulz’s hands developed a tremor that was noticeable in his drawings. He suffered a stroke in November 1999 that impaired his vision, memory and desire to draw. He retired at the end of 1999. On January 3, 2000, the last original Peanuts daily strip was published. Schulz was taken by cancer a few weeks later, just one day before his final Sunday strip was published. He was 78-years-old. Schulz had stipulated in his syndicate contract that no one else could take over the comic strip he’d drawn for half a century. Schulz had produced 17,897 Peanuts strips.

“A cartoonist is someone who draws the same thing day after day without repeating himself.”

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Not Yet Dead Poet’s Society

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LA Poet helps LGBT Seniors Find Their Voice Through Poetry

Friend of WOW Steven Reigns conceptualized and created My Life is
Poetry, an autobiographically poetry writing workshop for Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender seniors 11 years ago. It
brings critical education, emotional expression to a chronically under served population. The workshop was the first of its kind in the country. The annual workshops and culminating public readings have been thriving.
The workshops and readings have ignited discussions, helped normalize the LGBT aging process and experience, bridged a gap between communities and generations, and helped connect isolated LGBT seniors with peers, and connected GLBT elders with the pleasure of writing poetry. Reigns states, “Autobiographical poetry is a great tool to examine the themes, emotions, and moments in one’s complex life. By exploring the depth of one’s life experience, universals are revealed, giving a writer and reader a sense of interconnection and not being alone.”
The sense of not being alone is an important one for LGBT seniors.
Participants have crafted enjoyable, perplexing, humorous,
shameful, and sometimes troubling life experiences in these works. These elder LGBT students will share their work at a reading tomorrow:

Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 7:00 PM

The Village at Ed Gould Plaza

1125 N. McCadden Place

Los Angeles, CA

90038

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#UPDATE: Tom Petty on Life Support, Daughter Says HE’S NOT DEAD as Many Had Reported

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UPDATE:

On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty. He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends….

Earlier today we, and many other sources including TMZ, CBS and Rolling Stone, among others, reported that rocker Tom Petty, frontman for The Heartbreakers, had died today.

He was found at his home unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home last night and was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. EMTs were able to find a pulse when they found him, but TMZ reported that the hospital found no brain activity when he arrived. A decision was made to pull life support. CBS confirmed Petty’s death.

But it wasn’t true. CBS News reported information obtained officially from the LAPD about Tom Petty. The LAPD later said it was not in a position to confirm information about the singer and that

initial information was inadvertently provided to some media sources.

In that statement, the LAPD also apologized for “any inconvenience in this reporting.”

Petty’s friend and Traveling Wilburys bandmate Bob Dylan had told Rolling Stone in a statement,

“It’s shocking, crushing news. I thought the world of Tom. He was great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

His daughter took to Instagram to set the record straight and slam Rolling Stone. Annakim Violette posted a searing attack on Rolling Stone today amid widespread reports of the legendary rockers death. Violette has been posting tributes to her father all day, and one such post is one of his old Rolling Stone covers, where she goes off on the magazine for its “tabloid” nature, and for reporting his death when it has not been confirmed.

“my dad is not dead yet but your fucking magazine is ⚡️⚡️⚡️your slime😵 has been pieces of tabloid dog shit. You put the worst artists on your covers do zero research. How dare you report that my father has died just to get press because your articles and photos are so dated. I will fucking shit down your throat and your family’s . Try not being a trump vibe. This is my father not a celebrity. An artist and human being. Fuck u”

But Rolling Stone was far from the only outlet to run with a report from the LAPD that Petty had indeed passed after initial reports of his heart attack.

Even Courtney Love and Annie Lennox were mourning the loss earlier.

96 tears was the first song my dad taught me to play thank you for all the love this has been the longest day of my life💜

A post shared by Ilovemyfamily (@dadlivesmatteronelove) on

(Photo, Instagram; via Uproxx)

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#RIP: Rocker, Tom Petty

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Singer-songwriter Tom Petty, famed for his songs about love and Los Angeles, has died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Malibu home.

Petty was taken off of life support at a L.A. hospital, following a heart attack.

TMZ wrote that life support had been pulled for Petty due to a lack of brain activity, and Rolling Stone later reported that his death had been confirmed through longtime Heartbreakers manager Tony Dimitriades:

On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty. He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends….

Some confusion about Petty’s condition followed news of his collapse. After initial reports of his death were published by news outlets, the LAPD announced via Twitter that

initial information was inadvertantly provided to some media sources.

adding that the LAPD was not investigating Petty’s hospitalization.

His daughter took to Instagram to set the record straight and slam Rolling Stone. Annakim Violette posted a searing attack on Rolling Stone today amid widespread reports of the legendary rockers death.

Petty told author Paul Zollo in the 2005 book Conversations With Tom Petty,

We fell in love with L.A. within an hour of being there.. We just thought this is heaven. We said, ‘Look — everywhere there’s people making a living playing music. This is the place.‘”

In ’76, the first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album hit, and aside from touring with the band, he’s never left town. His songs are indelibly linked with the cityscape, sometimes explicitly but more often in hints — that rare ability of a gifted lyricist to generalize the intimate.

He also embarked on a successful solo career and was a founding member of the rock supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.

Petty won a Grammy during each of those phases of his career, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside the Heartbreakers in 2002. He also moonlighted as an actor, playing himself in some projects but also appearing on the animated show King of the Hill for several seasons, where he provided the voice of Elroy “Lucky” Kleinschmidt.

Petty was hospitalized on October 2, a week after he and the Heartbreakers played their last show in Hollywood on 25 September 2017, the final of the band’s 40th anniversary tour, after he was found unconscious in full cardiac arrest in his Malibu home.

Tom Petty was 66.

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October 3rd: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

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#BornThisDay: Writer, Gore Vidal

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Photograph by Susmart via Wikimedia Commons

 

October 3, 1924– Gore Vidal:

“I was born a writer. When that happens, you have no choice in the matter.”

I played him once. Well, not exactly, but I based a character that I portrayed, a theatre critic, in Tom Stoppard‘s brilliant comedy The Real Inspector Hound, on Gore Vidal, taken from his appearances on television talk shows.

Born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal at West Point, NY, the brilliant, erudite, perceptive and sarcastic Vidal could be my own single writer library. He is the author of 23 novels, five plays, three volumes of memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, plus over 400 essays. With his special pedigree (his grandfather was a U.S. Senator and his father was a member of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Cabinet), good-looks, good-luck and talent, Vidal was a witness to almost a century of American political and social life.

Vidal was a tried and true progressive promoter of gay visibility. He was a brave man at a time when he had everything to lose. His third novel, The City And The Pillar (1948), was the first mainstream novel to deal openly with male homosexuality. Vidal lacked support from his own editor, who forced him to make the already dark ending less compelling by having the gay main character become a murderer, killing his straight lifelong crush. When the novel was released, The NY Times reviewer was so outraged by the depravity that the newspaper refused to review Vidal’s next five books. Time and Newsweek vowed never to review another book by him.

Abrams Books

 

Forthcoming with gay themes and characters in his fiction, along with lending strong support to Sexual Freedom and Equal Rights, Vidal still famously believed in gay sex acts, but not gay people. He claimed to be bisexual, but his close relationships with women like actors Joanne Woodward and Claire Bloom were strictly platonic. Vidal claimed that he and his partner of 50+ years, Howard Austen, only had sex at the start of their relationship. Vidal never officially came out of the closet; the very idea of coming out was abhorrent to him.

Vidal:

“‘Homoerotic’ means to lust for one’s own sex, which I certainly did a lot of in my youth, ‘Homosexual’ implies really an organization of one’s life around it, and I never did that, but always kept my options open. Needless to say I was immediately categorized with The City And The Pillar when I need not have been, and never regretted it for one minute. I always thought it was my opinion of others which mattered, not their opinion of me. I was less distressed than you might think for being so categorized but always hesitated to categorize anyone else unless they insisted on it.”

Writers like Vidal, Paddy Chayefsky, Norman Mailer and Rod Serling were public figures in the 1950s and 1960s, and Vidal was asked to appear on talk shows like The Tonight Show. His mellifluous voice, ready wit, gift for mimicry, and unexpected candor about sex, politics and every other subject made him a sought-after guest. When ABC News hired Vidal and conservative pundit William F. Buckley to cover the political conventions in summer 1968, the rancor and resentment came to a head when Vidal called Buckley a “pro-crypto Nazi”.  Buckley ranted in his upper-class Atlantic accent:”

“Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto Nazi, or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”

Buckley continued to attack Vidal in Esquire Magazine just months after The Stonewall Riots, claiming that Vidal: “was proclaiming the normalcy of his affliction”, comparing him to a drug pusher for promoting his gayness.

This little fascinating and entertaining slice of history is the subject of Best Of Enemies (2015), a documentary film directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville about the famed televised debates.

Vidals most famous series of novels: Burr (1973), Lincoln (1984), 1876 (1976), Empire (1987), Hollywood (1990), Washington DC (1967), and The Golden Age (2000) are fictional histories of the USA from the American Revolution to the recent past.

“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”

He eviscerated anyone challenging his position as a preeminent American novelist. Of Truman Capote: “He has a peculiar interior decorator’s way of constructing a Saks Fifth Avenue window and calling it a novel“; on Norman Mailer: “There has been from Henry Miller to Norman Mailer to Charles Manson a logical progression. The Miller-Mailer-Manson man has been conditioned to think of women as, at best, breeders of sons”; John Updike: “He is forever stuck in a psychic Shillington-Ipswich-New York world where everything outside his familiar round is unreal”. When British actor Claire Bloom said she was going to marry Philip Roth after her second divorce, Vidal told her: “You already have had Portnoy’s complaint. Do not involve yourself with Portnoy”.

Vidal ran as a Democrat for the U.S. House Of Representatives from New York. From his opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960s to his opposition to the Iraq war in the 21st century, Vidal was one of the country’s most outspoken social critics. During the Vietnam War, he helped found the short-lived People’s Party, a revival of the 19th century Populist movement in which his grandfather had been a young leader. In 1972, the People’s Party nominated Dr. Benjamin Spock for President. Spock promised that, if elected, he would appoint Vidal Secretary of State. Vidal made a more serious foray into electoral politics in 1982, when he ran for the United States Senate in California, where he had long maintained a home. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by then-Governor Jerry Brown, who lost to San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson in the general election.

After losing two elections, Vidal turned his political genius into literature, chronicling the decline and fall of the American Empire in a series of essays, United States: Essays 1952-1992, which won the 1993 National Book Award. Vidal’s best essays are collected in The Selected Essays Of Gore Vidal (2008).

Vidal’s Point To Point Navigation (2006) is a memoir about dealing with the loss of his partner, Austen, who left this world in 2003. As always, Vidal’s personal drama reflects the larger political and historical picture of the USA, in this case George W.’s legacy of war, torture, and autocratic rule. The book’s title refers to Vidal’s flight service during WW II, a method of visual navigation in which one flies from one landmark to the next. It is a very readable follow-up to one of my favorite books of all time, his memoir Palimpsest (1995).

I love this moment from Point To Point Navigation: Austen asks from his deathbed: “Didn’t it go by awfully fast?” Vidal answers:

“Of course it had. We had been too happy and the gods cannot bear the happiness of mortals.”

Always a conundrum, Vidal actually begins a paragraph in his final memoir Gore Vidal: Snapshots In History’s Glare (2009): “Despite never having been very social…”, but then immediately proceeds to tell of asking Andy WarholMick and Bianca Jagger to visit him and Austen at their villa outside Ravello, Italy. Vidal:

“Our old friends the Newmans (Paul and Joanne Woodward) used to drop by. So did Lauren HuttonSusan SarandonRudolf NureyevHillary ClintonStingJames TaylorLeonard BernsteinJohnny CarsonBruce Springsteen and many others.”

I have seen photographs of young Vidal setting off to war and later frolicking with Tennessee Williams; and of a middle-aged Vidal running for Congress and hobnobbing with John F. Kennedy (Vidal shared a stepfather with Jackie Kennedy). Williams told Vidal that JFK had “a nice ass”; Vidal told Kennedy, who answered: “Why, that’s very exciting.”

Vidal left us with a treasury of quips, bon mots and his vast knowledge of literature and history, particularly American History. He is a smart observer and his sharp insights cut down the powerful, and he does it with aplomb:

 “I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television.”

“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”

“A Narcissist is someone better looking than you are.”

Vidal left this world in summer 2012. Austen and Vidal are buried together at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington DC. Vidal continues to fascinate me with his wit and insight. He is a true American Treasure and a Gay Icon. Can you even imagine what he would have to say about this terrible administration and the president’s followers?

“As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.”

The post #BornThisDay: Writer, Gore Vidal appeared first on The WOW Report.

Botched Eyeball Tattoo Causes Woman to Cry Purple Tears

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Cringe-worthy story on Oddity Central today:

Catt Gallinger of Ottawa, Canada, decided to get an eyeball tattoo so that she would “feel more at home in my body.” Unfortunately, after coloring the white of her left eyeball purple, she began noticing an unnerving purple discharge oozing out of it. Doctors prescribed antibiotics but that didn’t help. Things went from bad to worse as her eye became swollen shut, and the tattoo became congealed around her cornea, affecting her vision and causing severe discomfort.

The young woman recently told reporters that she has had to spend hundreds of dollars on prescriptions so far, and while the swelling and pain have subsided, her sight in the tattooed eye still isn’t as good as before. She claims that the coloring of the eyeball appears to be lighter than before, but that could be just the paint swirling around in the eyeball.

Doctors have told Gallinger that her eye has been permanently affected and have to “go completely or stay a blurry mess.” However, she remains hopeful that surgery will prevent her condition from becoming even worse, and maybe even repair the damage. She started posting photos and videos of herself during various stages of her condition, cautioning people to look into the tattoo artist’s work and reputation before undergoing the procedure.

“Just please be cautious who you get your mods from and do your research. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” she wrote on Facebook.

Catt said that she believes complications were caused by “undiluted ink, over injection, not enough/smaller injections sights”. She also says that she did nothing wrong during the recovery period.

“There are multiple people who can attest that my aftercare was good and any other part of what I am saying,” Catt wrote. “I have been to the hospital three times, I had no furry pets to cause any dander, and I wash my hands every time I do anything with my eye, both before and afterwards.”

Pictures below, because that’s the most important part of the story, of course. (Pics: Facebook;  via Oddity Central)

The post Botched Eyeball Tattoo Causes Woman to Cry Purple Tears appeared first on The WOW Report.

The USA Votes No on a UN Ban on Death Penalty for Homosexuality

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Photo by Tom Page via Wikimedia Commons

 

Today, the USA voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the Death Penalty for having gay sex. The vote did pass, but America joined 12 other countries in voting NO:  Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, India, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

The UN Human Rights Council resolution condemned: “The imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations”.

It also called for an end to executions against those with “Mental or intellectual disabilities, persons under 18-years-old at the time of the commission of the crime, and pregnant women”, and included: “Serious concern that the application of the death penalty for adultery is disproportionately imposed on women”.

The USA also abstained on a “Sovereignty Amendment” from Saudi Arabia, that stated: “The right of all countries to develop their own laws and penalties”. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) called the amendment an attempt to “dilute its impact”.

Despite USA’s opposition, the vote passed 27 to 20 in favor.

There are currently 11 countries where the death penalty can be used for people in same-sex relationships: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Somalia. This number rises to 12 if we count the Isis-occupied territories of Iraq and Syria.

Extreme fundamentalist religiosity, Muslim and Christian, is the driving force keeping the “Kill The Gay” laws. Methods include firing squad, stoning, beheading, and being buried alive.

Shockingly, 40 countries retain a “Gay Panic” clause which allows people to use as a defense for committing crimes such as assault or murder that they claim was provoked because the person was LGBTQ.

Russia’s attitude about same-sex relationships has been well established. It is not illegal to be LGBTQ, but couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They can be actively discriminated against because of a 2013 law criminalizing LGBTQ Propaganda.

The USA had laws that allowed the death penalty for “Those who commit the detestable and abominable vice of buggery with mankind or beast” until 1873. The USA allowed prison terms for sodomy until 2003 with Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark decision by the Supreme Court. The Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas in a 6-3 decision and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws for the entire country.

Of today’s vote at the UN, Renato Sabbadini the ILGA Executive Director, said:

“It is unconscionable to think that there are hundreds of millions of people living in states where somebody may be executed simply because of whom they love. This is a monumental moment where the international community has publicly highlighted that these horrific laws simply must end.”

The resolution was introduced by eight countries: Belgium, Benin, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia and Switzerland, and supported by countries around our pretty planet including The UK, Congo, Kyrgyzstan and Bolivia.

The UN Human Rights Council meets at the Palace Of Nations (United Nations Office) in Geneva.

Secretary of State Rex Tillison and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley made no comment.

The post The USA Votes No on a UN Ban on Death Penalty for Homosexuality appeared first on The WOW Report.

Trans Teen Kylie Perez on High School Hallway Attack: “I’m Not Going to Let It Fade Away”

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Fourteen-year-old trans student Kylie Perez was beaten last week in the hallway of her high school by kids she heard say, “Oh, there’s the tr***y!”

The altercation, caught on video below, makes her mother Lillian Richards sick to watch. Since uploading it, though, she and her daughter have gained new friends, resources and networks of support, although they still fear for the teen’s safety.

via NJ:

Kylie said she plans to address those concerns in a speech to her fellow students at East Side High School in a series of assemblies that will address tolerance.

“I’m not going let it fade away,” Kylie said Monday. “I’m going to make sure that people know that trans lives, every life, matters.”

She said she’ll speak directly to the “haters.”

“You can have your opinion and I’ll have mine, too,” Kylie said. “You don’t have to bring me down.”

She said also she’ll tell fellow students the truth about what happened, after rumors about the motive for the attack spread through the school. Kylie said she put a video on Snapchat of a boy who was showing her attention.

Hours after Kylie and her mom met with Newark’s mayor and school administrators to discuss the incident, there was a rally outside of East Side High School in support of her.

“We’re here to make sure the community knows, that Kylie knows, and the quiet students around her know, that they can live their true selves,” Newark Gay Pride President Sharronda “Love” Wheeler said.

The rally was swarmed by students who had just gotten out of school. Members of different facets of the LGBTQ community began to speak, before Kylie and her mom ultimately arrived. They all embraced, prayed and posed for photographs.

Still, her mother worries. She said will take her to school Tuesday and pick her up at the end of the day. She wants to be near her daughter entering and leaving school to try to prevent another attack, she said.

“I’m not going to let anyone come and hurt her again,” Richards said.

Seven students have so far been suspended.

Watch Kylie speak about the incident below.

(via BoyCulture)

The post Trans Teen Kylie Perez on High School Hallway Attack: “I’m Not Going to Let It Fade Away” appeared first on The WOW Report.


Kim Cattrall Slams SJP For Blaming Her For SATC 3 Movie Cancellation –“I Don’t Know What Her Issue Is? I Never Have.”

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The third and final Sex and the City is never gonna see a movie screen. Plans for a third film in the franchise were scrapped this month, according to Sarah Jessica Parker. She said,

“It’s over… we’re not doing it. I’m disappointed. We had this beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, joyful, very relatable script and story. It’s not just disappointing that we don’t get to tell the story and have that experience, but more so for that audience that has been so vocal in wanting another movie.

We reported that Kim Cattrall was responsible for the delay because of her production demands. (Read the story here.)

A source close to the production said:

The only reason this movie isn’t being made is because of Kim Cattrall. Everyone was looking forward to making this movie but Kim made it all about her, always playing the victim.

Kim had the audacity to tell Warner Bros that she would only do this if they made other movies she had in development. Ridiculous. Who does she think she is – George Clooney?“

According to The Daily Mail, Cattrall told Piers Morgan’s show Life Stories her side of the story,

At this very moment it’s quite extraordinary to get any kind of negative press about something that I’ve been saying for almost a year of ‘no’ that I’m demanding or a diva. And this is really where I take to task the people from ‘Sex and the City’ and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker, in that I think she could have been nicer.

I really think she could have been nicer. I don’t know what her issue is. I never have.”

Parker has said of the rumors she didn’t get along with Cattrall,

It used to really confound me and really upset me. Was everyday perfect? Were people always desperately hopelessly in love with each other? No. But this was a family of people who needed each other, relied on each other and loved each other.

Cattrall says she was approached last December about making a third Sex and the City movie, but immediately knew she had no interest in appearing in the project, despite the producers insistence.

I remember so clearly making that decision, and last December I got a phone call and it was concerning that and I knew exactly, I could feel it, and the answer was simply, ‘thank you, but no, I’m good.’

This isn’t about more money, this is not about more scenes, it’s not about any of those things. This is about a clear decision, an empowered decision in my life to end one chapter and start another. I’m 61. It’s now.

They all have children and I am 10 years older, and since specifically the series ended I have been spending most of my time outside of New York so I don’t see them. The common ground that we had was the series, and the series is over.”

Guess that’s that then. Anything to add Carrie?

(Photo, HBO; via Huffington Post)

The post Kim Cattrall Slams SJP For Blaming Her For SATC 3 Movie Cancellation –“I Don’t Know What Her Issue Is? I Never Have.” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Amanda Lepore, Michael Musto, James St James, and John Simone Talk NYC Nightlife Then & Now at DragCon NYC

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The Diva panel at RuPaul’s DragCon NYC was THE place to be, with nightlife ICONS Amanda Lepore, Michael Musto, myself, and downtown photographer John Simone dishing the dirt on the greatest parties of ’80s, ’90s and today. Topics range from how to maintain a 30+ year career in nightlife, the cyclical nature of drag, and what the ’80s legends were really like. Include: John Simone’s slideshow of RuPaul, Leigh Bowery, Quentin Crisp, Sister Dimension, the It Twins and MORE.

Watch it below.

Oh, but FIRST here’s a quickie primer of who’s who on the panel!

The post Amanda Lepore, Michael Musto, James St James, and John Simone Talk NYC Nightlife Then & Now at DragCon NYC appeared first on The WOW Report.

From the WOW Vault: Gore Vidal on Being “Gay,” Sex in the Military, and the Politics of AIDS

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It’s a brand new feature we’re doing here at the WOW Report – an EXCLUSIVE daily peek into the WOW vault and the extensive library of interviews we’ve conducted over the last three decades. First up, curmudgeonly mid-century novelist/historian/essayist Gore Vidal discusses a number of subjects – including his groundbreaking gay novel The Pillar & the Salt, whether or not being “gay” is even a thing, and a little known story about a Pacific island during World War II where all the male soldiers thrillingly paired up into couples. WHAAAAAT? OH MY! It’s your must-watch video of the day!

The interview was conducted in 2003 by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey for Imagine Entertainment’s Inside Deep Throat.

Watch below.

For further reading about Gore, on the occasion of what would be his 93rd birthday, check out Stephen Rutledge’s post on him from earlier today.

The post From the WOW Vault: Gore Vidal on Being “Gay,” Sex in the Military, and the Politics of AIDS appeared first on The WOW Report.

#QueerQuote: Robin Williams

#BornThisDay: Actor, Buster Keaton

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From Metro Pictures Corp. Archives (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons

 

October 4, 1895– Buster Keaton

Referring to her friend Natalie Talmadge‘s marriage to Buster Keaton, screenwriter Anita Loos wrote:

“I used to think that looking across a pillow into the fabulous face of Buster Keaton would be a more thrilling destiny than any screen career.”

In his trademark rumpled suit and porkpie hat, Keaton downplayed his beauty and kept his flawless body under wraps. He was called “The Great Stone Face”, and chaos would whirl all around him while his expression showed no emotion, except through the depth of his gorgeous eyes.

He stood only 5 ft. 5 in. and his characters were often bullied by bigger, more masculine men. His defense was to keep his physicality and emotions protected under the persona of a sad-sack. It is not that difficult to think of his characters as something close to gay men before they come out, keeping their feelings and true selves hidden from the peril of a society willing to hurt them.

Keaton’s films can be taken as an allegory of the coming out process. His victory is in finally making his place in the world, not through brute strength or traditional ideas of masculinity, but through talent, tenacity, and especially, grace. He was balletic and poetic instead of strapping and coarse, his triumph is that of every little guy who ever felt powerless, disparaged, and bullied.

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MGM, via YouTube

Did I mention that he is absolutely gorgeous? For a look at Keaton beefcake, try Battling Butler (1926), an MGM silent film with an interesting take on being tormented, albeit cloaked in comedy.

At the start of the film, Keaton is the ultimate fop. His idea of camping involves a tent with a brass bed, bearskin rug, and butler. When he tries to impress a woman by claiming to be prizefighter Battling Butler, a series of episodes trips him up in his lie, and he ends up in an actual fight against the real Battling Butler.

In the boxing ring, Battling Butler is brutal. Buster begs, ducks, cowers, and tries to escape while Battling Butler pursues him, finally cornering him and looking as if he is actually screwing Keaton against the wall.

buster_cowers2_adj

MGM, via YouTube

At last, Keaton snaps with the rage of a victim turning against his abuser, and knocks out his opponent. When he realizes what has happened, Keaton is shocked at his own accomplishment. However, his victory doesn’t turn him into a bruiser; it exposes his lie to the girl, who says she prefers he not be a prizefighter anyway. Happy ending.

The closing shot is absolutely kinky. Escorting the girl through the evening crowd, Keaton is wearing nothing but a top hat, shoes, boxing trunks and gloves. He is still the dandy, but now has a proud physicality.

He was born to the stage. His parents were appearing in a show with the great magician Harry Houdini, when Keaton arrived in this world while the show was playing in Kansas. Houdini gave him his nickname. Houdini is supposed to have exclaimed: “What a buster!” when the six month old Keaton fell down a flight of stairs.

Keaton perfected his stoic look while still a child performer. Hit on the face with a broom, he would wait five or six seconds without moving a facial muscle, and then say “Ouch”. This bit always brought down the house.

In 30 films, mostly shorts, Keaton established an unforgettable character: a sad, silent, solitary little man who stood stoically against a mechanized world. Unlike Charlie Chaplin, he was never sentimental and he never resorted to anything maudlin. His strength was in his ability to survive. He displayed that perseverance not only in his comic characterizations but also in his private life, with periods of artistic triumph and frustration, from wealth to a descent into poverty and alcoholism, and near the end, a return to recognition and audience love.

In 1924, Keaton directed and starred in his first masterpiece, Sherlock Jr., where he plays a film projectionist who falls asleep at work and dreams about the world on screen. The crazy logic of Sherlock Jr. allowed Keaton to use a stream of surreal situations, where he performs his own amazing stunts. His ability to take a dramatic fall without breaking a bone is astonishing.

Just a half year later, Keaton released the film that would become his biggest box-office hit, The Navigator, a comedy about innocents caught up in war and people dwarfed by machines, beating Chaplin to the themes of some of his greatest films by several years. The Navigator has that unforgettable scene of Keaton when he launches a ship: he stands at attention on deck, resplendent in admiral’s uniform, never wavering as it sinks slowly out of sight.

Keaton’s second truly great film is The General (1926), a satire about a train engineer during the Civil War. Keaton spent nearly a million dollars on extras, battle scenes, period costumes, and dizzying stunts. It has one of the great chases in cinema history where he chases a train as it crosses a burning bridge, which collapses, plunging the locomotive and Keaton into a river.

Keaton’s films from the 1920s are visual wonders of uncommon comic scenes that anticipate surrealism before that art movement really began and his work certainly had an influence on Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel as they began making films. Keaton’s use of comic action and the chances to fool the eye into seeing the impossible was what made his films unique. The average full length silent film used 240 subtitles. The most Keaton ever used was 56. He was the best at conveying action through imagery.

In 1924, he spent $33,000 building a house in Beverly Hills for his new wife. But when the house was completed, Natalie, whose sisters Norma and Constance were big stars, decided that the new house was too small. So Keaton built a bigger house, with 20 rooms, including a screening room and a billiards room, and a massive outdoor staircase that lead to a gigantic swimming pool. Keaton called it the Italian Villa. It cost him $300,000. It sold last summer for $17 million.

In 1928, on the advice of his producer, Keaton signed with MGM for $33,000 a week and a percentage of the gross. In a week, he made twice what the average American made in a year. Keaton was one of the first great indie filmmakers, but his way of making films was not a good fit at the new studio. Keaton usually wrote a beginning and ending for his stories and improvised everything in the middle. He hated the films he made at MGM, they earned money, but they made him doubt his own talent and taste. That’s when he started drinking. Later, he would say that signing with MGM was the biggest mistake of his career, even titling a chapter in his memoir: The Worst Mistake of My Life.

MGM billed itself as the home to the greatest stars, but most of the actors had no power over their work, public personas, or their look. Chaplin had warned Keaton:

“They’ll ruin you helping you.”

MGM was paying Keaton the big bucks and yet seemed afraid to let him open his mouth. Talking pictures began and Keaton dropped out of sight. After 11 years of marriage, and two sons, he and Talmadge divorced in 1932. A second marriage ended in divorce in 1935. Keaton lost everything: his house, his kids, and his contract at MGM. He drank a lot. He filed for bankruptcy. The great comic star of the silent era became a wash-up.

British television rescued him from obscurity in the early 1950’s. It brought him new younger fans. He appeared on British shows and was paid handsomely.

In 1956, Paramount Pictures paid him $50,000 for the rights to The Keaton Story, a film tracing his rise from Vaudeville to Hollywood stardom, with Donald O’Connor playing the title role. He was also making $100,000 a year from doing television commercials.

Keaton used the money to buy a ranch in the San Fernando Valley. He started to get work on television series. But, it was his old silent films that put him back on top. Keaton had had his own producing company in the 1920s and he retained ownership of his old movies. He oversaw the films restoration and added musical soundtracks, but kept the original subtitles.

Keaton’s renaissance reached an artistic peak in 1966 when Film, a 22 minute silent movie he made in 1964, received a five minute standing ovation at The Venice Film Festival. An emotional Keaton wept. Film was Samuel Beckett‘s first screenplay, a story of an old, obsessed man who shuts himself up in a room to thwart fate.

Keaton left this world a few months later, taken by that damn cancer at his ranch. He was 70-years-old.

“I can’t feel sorry for myself. It all goes to show that if you stay on the merry-go-round long enough you’ll get another chance at the brass ring. Luckily, I stayed on.”

 

The post #BornThisDay: Actor, Buster Keaton appeared first on The WOW Report.

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