Amanda LePore – The WOW Report

January 9, 1939– Sal Mineo:

“I’ll never be mistaken for Pat Boone”

I remember seeing Sal Mineo the evening of my 17th birthday in 1971. He was on an episode of the television comedy My Three Sons. His character tries to convince college-age Robbie Douglas (played by Don Grady) to run away with him to live a life of freedom and adventure. I knew in my heart that Robbie liked boys, not girls, despite his marriage to Katie (Tina Cole), and I understood that Robbie might leave behind a life of being “normal” and give into the wild, passionate love of men for other men. What I didn’t realize was that Mineo was gay in real life, or that Grady knew it and didn’t care.

Born in The Bronx in 1939, Salvatore Mineo, Jr. was just 16-years-old when he played Plato, the kid who develops a crush on James Dean’s Jim Stark in Nicholas Ray’s classic film Rebel Without A Cause (1955). He appeared in many films, usually playing ethnic and troubled youths, but Mineo’s career was dominated by that one role that eventually achieved mythic status. Mineo’s gayness was a fairly open secret even at the height of his Hollywood success. He had love affairs with Peter Lawford, JamesDean, and with Ray while they were making their most famous film.

Natalie Wood, James Dean and Mineo from their 1954 screen test for “Rebel Without A Cause”, Warner Bros via YouTube

When James Dean died two weeks before the premiere of Rebel Without ACause in 1955, he became a myth, leaving Mineo to negotiate the tricky terrain of being gay and a teen idol in the 1950s.

Mineo was twice nominated for an Academy Award. He enjoyed success as a stage director and a recording artist, but he is mostly remembered for his performance in a single film and for the brutal murder that ended his life just as he was on the verge of reinventing himself and his career.

Except for his role as the aggressively girl-crazy Angelo Barrato in Rock, Pretty Baby (1957) opposite John Saxon, Mineo covertly chose homoerotic projects: His character mooned over a teen gang leader played by John Cassavetes in Crime In The Streets (1956), and fell head-over-heels for an ex-con played by James Whitmore in The Young Don’t Cry (1957). In the Disney Studio’s Western Tonka (1958), he portrayed a Native American boy who bonded with a horse, but not the girl.

In 1957, he began a musical career, but he didn’t have a hit, even with teen magazine attention. He was a good singer, and especially good-looking in a business where looks counted for a lot. He might have had a hit making career as a musician, except for those pesky gay rumors.

To prove that he was straight, he had to be seen at the Hollywood hot spots with pretty starlets, and he began showing off his gym body in his screen appearances. His characters became more heterosexual, even when the films had a gay element.

In The Gene Krupa Story (1959), Mineo plays real life drummer GeneKrupa who goes to NYC with his best buddy, Eddie, played by teen idol James Darren, hoping to make it big in the Roaring Twenties Jazz scene. He gets a girlfriend, then a wife, but Eddie does not; he is content to be the third wheel, making do with an occasional dreamy look. When Krupa becomes the boy-toy of a sultry jazz club singer, it is the buddy, not the wife, who feels betrayed. As Krupa, Mineo exclaims: “Girls don’t mean anything to me!” Both Eddie and the wife grow weary of Krupa’s self-destructive drinking and partying, and leave, then return for a reconciliation. But, it seems obvious that Krupa has the more passionate relationship with Eddie.

“Who Killed Teddy Bear?” via YouTube

In the 1960s, Mineo put himself out there as a serious dramatic actor in films like Exodus (1960), The Longest Day (1962), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), but those rumors about his gayness kept him from getting the major starring roles, unless he played aggressively heterosexual characters and displayed his hot body in multiple shirtless, underwear, and nude shots, like he did in the demented Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965). His muscles eased the suspicion of audiences who thought that gay men were wispy little things. I am a fan of his career and the notion of Mineo as an early out-of-the-closet actor. I have a soft spot for Who Killed Teddy Bear?, one of the nuttiest films I have ever watched. In it, Mineo plays the love interest of both Juliet Prowse and Elaine Stritch! It’s so weird, I hardly know how to describe it, but if you can find it, you simply must indulge in the film’s strangeness.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

After the Stonewall Riots and the rise of Gay Pride in the late 1960s, Mineo became increasingly comfortable with his own gayness, and he began to drop his straight façade. He came out of the closet, sort of, and he began looking for romance. He dated civilians and celebrities, before settling down with After Dark Magazine model Courtney Burr.

As he got older and matured in his acting, Mineo sought to explore his gayness in his life and his art. Although he appeared in several television productions and films, his last was Planet Of The Apes (1968), he found the theater world more supportive of his artistic aspirations and new sensibilities.

In 1969, he directed the Broadway and West Coast productions of Fortune And Men’s Eyes, John Herbert’s dramatic play about power roles and homosexuality at a prison. Mineo’s production was controversial for its use of male nudity and simulated sex.

In 1976, he was cast as a bisexual burglar in a Los Angeles production of James Kirkwood’s comedy P. S. Your Cat Is Dead. As he returned to his West Hollywood apartment from a rehearsal on February 12, 1976, he was stabbed to death. The murder remains cloaked in mystery. One suspect who initially confessed later recanted, but was nevertheless convicted. Over the years, Mineo’s friends and relatives have claimed that the authorities, eager to solve a high-profile murder case, charged the wrong man. Mineo was just 37-years-old when he was murdered.

I have a very odd connection to Mineo and his demise. In 1976, I sort of knew of the man charged with his murder. This man had been pursuing one of my best friends. I was concerned for my buddy because this mystery man seemed especially troubling to be around. Mineo’s murder was major news in L.A. that February morning in 1976. I had the chills when this creepy guy, who had been aggressively working on insinuating himself into the life of my pal, was charged with the young star’s killing.

My friend Michael Michaud is an expert on Mineo and his life and career, and the author of the terrific, highly readable Sal Mineo, ABiography (2010).

James Dean:

“Sal had the look of the angels…”

About:

“I started doing drag as an accident, while I was a waiter, back in 2013. I was pissed at serving homophobes at a really cool bar and started going in a wig and trashy makeup as a response to that. Nor did I know I was gonna be invited to host one of the best parties in Rio, V de Viadão, and live off of it for almost four years now!

Since then, I host and DJ at many parties, travel around Brasil and am part of a YouTube channel called Drag-se, in which I focus my anger on communicating about queer topics, such as sexuality and politics, in a very fun and light way.”

Are you ready, squirrel friends?

For what, you may ask? For RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3? Well, duh yes, of course you’re ready for that… I’m asking if you’re ready for the RuPaul interview of a lifetime!

Mama Ru sat down with Oprah freakin’ Winfrey for the February issue of O Magazine to talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of fabulous! Can we get an AMEN?

A-FREAKIN-MEN, hennies!

The only problem with this? Is that we have to wait until the magazine hits the stands to read the whole interview! RUDE!

RuPaul is worth the wait, of course! Peep the cover below and join us over in the corner as we anxiously wait to devour this whole interview!

Photograph via YouTube

“I had no improper contacts.”

The third most powerful man in the world turns 36-years-old today. Jared Kushner was very busy in 2017 solving the planet’s problems. He must be exhausted. He looks so gaunt these days; I am worried. Kushner has more on his plate than birthday cake. He has vowed to find the solutions to some of the world’s most complicated issues, all while navigating an investigation into his family’s real-estate company as well Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling during the 2016 election. What is a boy to do?

Here are some fun tid-bits about the birthday boy:

In his hot bestselling book Fire And Fury, Michael Wolff recounts POTUS telling “multiple people” that “the Kushners knew all the crooks in Israel”.

Before taking his role in The White House, Kushner failed to disclose his role as a director of the Charles and Seryl Kushner Foundation, which funded Israeli settlement construction considered illegal under international law.

Kushner was hit with a lawsuit last month alleging illegal omissions on his public financial disclosure forms. The suit alleges that Kushner failed to identify the assets owned by 30 investment funds that he has stakes in. The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington DC also claims he should have declared the value of income he derived from his investments, but he did not.

Kushner’s NYC buildings are mostly owned by other people, except for the portentously named 666 Fifth Avenue, a building Kurshner purchased in 2007 for $1.8 billion. At the time, it was the most anyone had paid for a building in NYC. One-fourth of its offices now sit empty, lease revenue does not cover monthly interest payments. A $1.2 billion mortgage, with escalating interest rates, comes due next year.

Kushner registered to vote as a woman for eight years. This is according to his publicly accessible New York State voter information.

Roger Stone, the charming former Richard Nixon hatchet-man and friend of POTUS, alleges that POTUS’s conservative agenda has been sabotaged by Kushner.

His sister Nicole Kushner’s name was in noted pedophile and POTUS pal Jeffrey Epstein’s “Little Black Book”. His brother Joshua Kushner was spotted taking part in the massive Women’s March held in DC the day after the inauguration.

Kushner is close friends with Henry Kissinger and Rupert Murdoch. A former associate of Murdoch’s said:

“I think Jared has been the key in getting Rupert to come around to the idea of a Trump Presidency.”

Jared Speaks! When Kushner gave a rare public speech last summer about how the administration is working to modernize the federal government’s antiquated technology system, instantly, his voice became a topic of derision and mockery. From Twitter:

“Hearing his voice is a reminder that masculinity is dying.”

“Somebody fucked up that circumcision”.

“As expected, he sounds as if he’s months into hormone replacement therapy.”

Both Kushner and Ivanka, the prettiest of the White Nationalists, have been using their personal email addresses for official White House business. Lock them up!

Charles Kushner, created Kushner Companies, one of the largest private landlords on the East Coast. One former Kushner Companies executive said of the senior Kushner:

“If you pissed him off, it was like somebody gave him drugs. He was like an animal, cursing and foaming at the mouth.”

Charles Kushner, like POTUS, has a tendency to withhold payment from contractors, cleaners, and architects. These people are then forced to accept a fraction of the money owed them.

In the late 1990s, Charles Kushner met closet case James McGreevey. You remember McGreevey, the guy who resigned as Governor of New Jersey after admitting that his “truth” was that he was a “gay American”? As Governor, he nominated Charles Kushner to be the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Kushner would have been in charge of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, controlling billions of dollars in state contracts. However, there were questions about donations and charitable contributions. Chris Christie, then the U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey, looked into Charles Kushner’s campaign donations. The elder Kushner believed that his sister, Esther Schulder, was cooperating with Christie, so he set a trap for Esther’s husband, Billy Schulder by getting a prostitute to have sex with him and filming the assignation. The film somehow reached the federal authorities.

Eventually, Charles Kushner was jailed for 14 months after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign donations. The issue of prison reform hits close to home for Jared Kushner. His new prison reform initiative is at odds with Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s prison-happy Justice Department.

Kushner avenged his father with nerve racking force. Christie was being considered as his father-in-law’s running mate, but Kushner pushed for LGBTQ hating Mike Pence instead. Christie was later put in charge of the transition team, but Kushner was behind Christie’s eventual departure from that role too. Poor Christie ended up with nothing.

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Daniel Golden, Jared benefited from the incredible advantage of being his father’s son. Though he was a poor student, Jared was accepted to Harvard after his father gave $2.5 million to the university. While at Harvard, Jared reportedly drove a Range Rover, even though he has said that he “didn’t have a car” in college. About driving that Range Rover, a college classmate told The New Yorker:

“He didn’t do it with a sense of humor. He did it, like, ‘I’m fucking rich.'”

Kusher was studying to get an MBA at NYU, his father’s alma mater and the recipient of another notable donation of $3 million, when his father was sent to prison. He had to drop out to take over the family business.

The Kushners had been top political donors, giving large sums to mostly Democratic candidates, including the Clintons. Jared and Ivanka Trump used to hang with Chelsea Clinton and her husband Mark Mezvinsky.

An Orthodox Jew, Kushner did make an exception to not working on the Sabbath, when in early October 2016, he joined a team of advisers on a Saturday to deal with the fallout of the Access Hollywood “Garb ‘Em By The Pussy” tape. He and Ivanka also received a special exemption during Inauguration weekend so that they could party.

Via YouTube

In July 2016, when that Orange Blob tweeted, then deleted, an image from a White Nationalist website of Hillary Clinton that featured the Star of David and the phrase “most corrupt candidate ever”, Kushner defended his father-in-law:

“It’s simple, really. Donald Trump is not anti-Semitic and he’s not a racist.”

Kushner then revealed the story of his grandparents, Holocaust survivors from Poland who emigrated to the USA in 1949. His family members called him out for it. His cousin Jacob Schulder wrote:

“That my grandparents have been dragged into this is a shame. Thank you Jared for using something sacred and special to the descendants of Joe and Rae Kushner to validate the sloppy manner in which you’ve handled this campaign.”

Jared bought the NY Observer, a NYC weekly. Yet, he hates reporters and the press. He blames the media for damaging his family’s reputation. He even said that he didn’t like reading the Observer before he purchased it. Kushner also doesn’t think the mainstream media had any bearing on the campaign. Still, he was the one that wanted to start the Trump Television Network, when it was assumed his father-in-law would lose the election.

So, here’s to you Jared! Enjoy your cake. Have several pieces, you look too thin. You might not get cake in prison.