Wild Things: The Gay Art of Maurice Sendak

Adults like to think of childhood as a blissful Eden, a period of endless joy, unblemished by anxieties over money or sex or death.  But they're wrong.  Childhood is terrifying and painful, crowded with anxieties over money, sex, and death, dismemberment, abandonment, anger, friendship,  and desire.  Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) inhabited this world better than any other writer.

He was gay, so several of his books can be read as the struggle of a gay child to make sense of the world, and two are about gay couples.

1. Where the Wild Things Are (1963): Max threatens to eat his mother, and while being punished, runs away to the world of the Wild Things.  He stares them down, becomes their king, and decrees that a Wild Rumpus begin. But he gets homesick and goes home. The 2009 movie added some hetero-romance, among the Wild Things, not Max (Max Records).  There have also been stage plays and a ballet.

2. In the Night Kitchen (1970). An amazingly vivid, scary story of Mickey, who sneaks out of his bed to a surreal night kitchen, where three chefs (all of whom look like Oliver Hardy) are making the breakfast "cake."  He helps them, meanwhile wondering about where his body ends and the natural world begins: "I'm in the milk and the milk's in me."

It has been banned in many schools because the toddler is naked -- don't want five-year olds knowing that five-year olds sometimes have a penis.

Sendak's art for adults often contains penises as well, but never to be salacious, to depict vulnerability rather than desirability.

3. We are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (1993) is a traditional nursery rhyme with a gay family twist.  Gay partners Jack and Guy find a little boy with "one black eye," a victim of bullying or abuse.  Jack wants to "knock him on the head," continuing the abuse, but Guy suggests that they buy him some bread instead, and "We'll bring him up as other folks do."

4. My Brother's Book (2012). Two brothers are torn apart when a falling star crashes to the earth.  It's a love letter to his partner of fifty years, psychiatrist Eugene Glynn, who died in 2007.  With beautiful watercolors inspired by William Blake.

Don't Cry Now: David and Andy Williams

Born in 1960, twins David and Andy Williams (the latter named after their famous crooner uncle) began their teen idol career performing on Uncle Andy's variety show -- true, no kids watched, but that's how the Osmonds got their start.

Two albums followed.; Meet David and Andy Williams (1973) and One More Time (1973).  They consisted mostly of covers of old r&b classics, like "Baby Love" (The Supremes), "Going Out of my Head" (Little Anthony & the Imperials), and "I Won't Last a Day Without You" (The Carpenters).  Their vocal range and expression rivaled anything that David Cassidy could do.

Unfortunately, I didn't know it at the time.  I didn't buy their albums -- no one I know did.  And their singles weren't playing on the radio.  "I Don't Know Why" did the best, hitting #37 in March 1973.  Maybe their music was just a little to mature for kid audiences, like Craig Huxley's a few years before.

I only knew them from the teen magazines, which were predictably ecstatic, published dozens of pictures of the duo -- not a lot of shirtless or swimsuit shots, usually in soft, fluffy sweaters, with captions that might or might not be suggestive: "Come snuggle with us!"; "Check us out, top to toe!"  But who wanted to see such slim, soft, fragile-looking boys with their shirts off?  They probably didn't have any muscles at all..

They thought their career would jump-start with a January 1974 guest shot on the wildly popular Partridge Family: they had a crush on Laurie Partridge, and sang "Say It Again."

It turned out to be their swan song.  After another album and a few more guest appearances, the duo vanished.

But not really.  They opened for Roy Orbison and Susan Vega, played back-up, toured with T-Bone Burnett's band, and studied music.  They shifted their emphasis from bubble gum pop to a gutsy, hard-driving country rock, and released new albums -- Two Stories, Harmony Hotel, The Williams Brothers.

 David recognized that he was gay in 1979, and their music began to reflect the anger of facing homophobic bigotry and injustice every day, as well as other themes that can resonate with gay and heterosexual fans:

"Secretly" reveals the heartache of not being able to tell anyone about your love.

"Don't Cry Now" is a tribute to friends who died of AIDS.

"People are People": we're all the same inside, regardless of "religion, sexuality, color, or nationality."

They don't look soft and fragile anymore.

Zephyr Benson: The Son of the Most Beautiful Teen Idol of the 1980s

What is it like to grow up with a father who was the most beautiful teen idol in the world, the source of gushing romantic fantasies for millions of gay boys and straight girls?

Of course, I'm talking about Robby Benson, teen idol of the late 1970s and 1980s.  He appeared in some movies, but really, he was too beautiful to be a major star -- everyone was so busy swooning and sighing to pay attention to the plot.

He had a physique and a basket, too, but who noticed?  We were busy imagining what it would be like to walk hand-in-hand with Robby through the rain, and share a brief, chaste kiss.

Oh, I hear laughter in the rain,
Walking hand in hand with the one I love

Sorry, I had a Neil Sedaka moment.What was I writing about, again?

Right, Robby's kids.  It seems that Robby managed to find someone strong enough to come within five feet of him without swooning (Karla DeVito), so he married her...um...sorry, just imagining their wedding...kissing Robby Benson! ...and they had two kids, a girl named Lyric (born 1983), and a boy named Zephyr (born 1992).

Zephyr lacks the drop-dead gorgeousness of his father: his long, oval face is rather a turn-off.  But he does have dreamy blue eyes. 

He has the same slim, tight physique as his father, but not so tightly muscled.

He's an aspiring actor with 7 credits listed on the imdb, including more than one gay character.

His magnum opus to date is Straight Outta Tomkins (2015), which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in.  It's about a teenager who falls in with a drug dealer, and mistakes the mercenary attention for a real emotional connection.

Plus he tweets his support of marriage equality.  What else could you want in the son of the most beautiful teen idol in the world?

The Culkin Brothers: Always Mistaken for Gay

Quick -- which of the Culkin brothers is this?

Hard to tell, isn't it?

The Culkin Dynasty began with Home Alone (1990), a Christmas movie about a young boy (10-year old Macaulay Culkin) accidentally left at home when his family goes away for the holidays.  The top film of the year, and the top-grossing live comedy of all time, it propelled Macaulay into child superstardom.

He grew up thin, pretty, and androgynous -- everyone assumed that he was gay -- with a heavy-lidded, world-weary, knowing expression that actors often use to denote depravity.

Who knew that there was a whole family of Culkins back home, including four boys who would all grow up thin, pretty, and androgynous, with the trademark world-weary, knowing expression.  I keep assuming that they're gay, and going to their movies, expecting them to play gay characters.  But they almost never do.

 1. Macaulay (born 1980).  No gay characters, but his Michael Alig identifies as gay in Party Monster (#6 on my list of the 10 Gay Movies I Hated).  He's more of a pansexual, anything-for-a-thrill decadent who almost Finds True Love with a girl.  Macaulay also played a handicapped decadent youth in Saved (2004), which has a gay character.

There's a sausage sighting story about Mac on Tales of West Hollywood.

2. Kieran (born 1982).   After a small part in Home Alone, he established himself as a talented actor, specializing in quirky indie movies like The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (which sounds like it is gay-themed, but isn't) and Igby Goes Down (which sounds gay themed, but isn't; I walked out after seeing the homophobic portrayal of a bi drug dealer).  Kieran also played the world-weary, knowing gay roommate in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).

3. Shane, born 1986.  Not into acting.

4. Christian, born 1987.  Not into acting, though he played Kieran's brother in It Runs in the Family (1994).

5. Rory, born 1989. He's grabbing up all of the quirky indie movies that Kieran turns down, such as Mean Creek (which is about bullying but has no gay characters) and Chumscrubber (which I keep getting mixed up with the gay-themed Borstal Boy).  In The Night Listener (2006), his character, who bonds with gay radio host Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), should be gay but isn't.

Answer: Rory.

Hi, Guy!: Cruising in a 1970s TV Commercial

Between 1969 and 1972, and then again in 1978, Right Guard deodorant aired a series of commercials in which an unsuspecting apartment dweller (Bill Fiore) opens his medicine chest, only to discover he's sharing it with the apartment next door.

The other occupant (Chuck McCann) opens his side of medicine chest.  He's big, brash, leering, apparently high.  I remember them both being shirtless, but I guess they weren't.

"Hi, guy!" McCann says, obviously cruising the uncomfortable Fiore, before extolling the wonders of Right Guard (which seems unnecessary, since Fiore already uses it).

By the way, the medicine chests contain nothing but two cans sticks of Right Guard deodorant, facing with the labels out regardless of which side they're on.

"Hi, guy!" became a catchphrase.  Everyone at Denkmann Elementary School tried to match Chuck McCann's intonation and leer, without realizing that we were imitating a gay pick-up line.

Bill Fiore was a cute, unassuming comedian of the 1970s.  He appeared on The Corner Bar, which had the first ongoing gay character on tv, Love, American Style, Mary Tyler Moore, Laverne and Shirley, Three's Company, and Alice.  

As this photo suggests, he had quite a nice physique.

Former children's show host Chuck McCann was also a comedy staple of the 1970s.  One of his more interesting roles was W.C. Fields in the 1982 biopic Mae West. He's played Santa Claus several times, notably in an ongoing role on the soap Santa Barbara (1987-88).

No indication that he was gay, or intended a gay reading to his leering "Hi, guy!"

But it's impossible to say without an innuendo.  Try it.

See also: The Eastwood Insurance Cowboy

Yakutsk Beefcake

This post has been moved to Small Town Beefcake

The Death of Pup Danny

I met Danny on an online dating app about six months ago.  His nude photo showed a long handsome face with blue eyes, a smooth chest, nice abs.  25 years old, working for a cell phone company.

His profile said: "Confront your demons" and "With nobody in your bed, the night's hard to get through."

Can't argue with that.

We chatted online.  The first thing he said is "Your profile photo makes you look like a creepy old guy."

I changed it.

Chatting with Danny was like trying to attract a shy squirrel. He would respond, then immediately log off.

"I'm too ugly to get a date," he complained.  "And my cock is too small."

"I'll be the judge of that," I said.

It took three months of chatting, mostly about how difficult it is to find nice guys on the Plains, to get Danny to agree to a 1-1 meeting.

When I opened the door, the guy standing there looked nothing like his profile picture.  A tall, thin blond, pale face with acne scars and horn rimmed glasses with very thick lenses.  Sort of geeky.  I could see how he didn't get many dates.

Still cute, though.

When I saw him the next day online, he said "Why didn't you want to top me?  Am I too ugly for you?"

"Not at all.  I'm just not into anal.  I'd love to see you again."

"Sure, when I get the time."

I know a blow-off when I see one.

We continued to chat online.  I invited him to the M4M parties, and he said he would come, but never did.

About a month later, Danny moved to Minneapolis.  The gay mecca of the Midwest!

Not surprising -- every guy on the Plains is planning to move.  Still, I was upset over the missed opportunity.  And I was jealous.

We became Facebook friends so I could hear about Danny's whirlwind of gay activities.

The North Country Bears
The Movie Bears
The Atons Motorcycle Club
Minneapolis Leather Pride
Underwear night at the Eagle Bolt Bar
Parties, camping trips, dinners at cool restaurants, movies, friends, dates. Gay heaven!

He also posted humorous stories, weird memes, and reviews of movies and tv shows.  With all the posting, it was easy to miss the occasional oddity:

"This morning when I was showering I felt the skull beneath my skin."

"Why is it so dark outside?"

"Nobody exists on purpose.  Nobody belongs anywhere.  Everybody is going to die. Let's all stay home and watch tv."

But I didn't think anything of it.

Then one day he announced: "I've made a discovery about my sexual orientation.   I'm a puppy.  In fact, could you call me Pup Danny from now on?"

Ok, that's not a sexual orientation.  Pup play is a fetish related to BDSM and the furry fetish, where the submissive guy acts like a dog: sits on all fours, gets petted, nuzzles your crotch, whines for attention, gets led around on a leash.  They usually stay puppies in the bedroom.

You can buy puppy-masks with ears and a snout, and a puppy tail.

Personally, I can't see the attraction, but to each his own.

"Are you into regular BDSM?" I asked.  "I'll be happy to tie you up, when you come home to visit."

"I'm never coming home," he responded.

Ok, he must like Minneapolis a lot.

I was glad that he had found a niche, a place where he belonged.

I've been looking his recent facebook posts, memes about pizza, outrage over the President's cruelty with DACA, dinner at a Thai restaurant, a night in a leather bar, a response to a guy wanting to get together later.  26 new friends in the last 2 months.

Only a few oddities:

"I want people to be afraid of how much they like me."

"If I can live through this, I can live through anything."

And his last post: "My watch won't turn on.  Sad day."

He had been in Minneapolis for 11 weeks  and 2 day when he left us.

Leaving me with two questions:

1. How does the flurry of gay activities with dozens of new friends, dates, and hookups mesh with the darkness Danny felt?  It seems impossible to despair amid the glittering activity of Gay Heaven.  Or does the glitter only make the darkness worse?  Do the 26 new friends only intensify the loneliness?

2. We were Facebook friends.  I saw him in person only once.  Why will I miss him so much?

The uncensored post is on Tales of West Hollywood.