Tyler Johnston: Go to Canada for Gay Subtexts

If you want to see gay subtexts in juvenile tv, go to Canada.  And especially look up Canadian actor Tyler Johnston.

Born in 1987, Tyler's first major role was in the juvenile sci-fi series Zixx (2005)  He played "a shapeshifter who works for the Hargokk Empire," friends with Riley but eventually flattened.  He reappears at the Boegarian chess set but is cast out.

I don't know what it means, either, but it sounds interesting.

Next came recurring roles on the gay-themed L-Word (2005-2006) and Godiva's (2006), about young Canadians in the restaurant industry, and guest spots on V, Flashpoint, and Running Wilde.  

And a starring role as Danny Lube on the Canadian teencom Less than Kind (2010-2012), about a dysfunctional Jewish family in Winnipeg.  Danny is a "feral student," a bad boy who becomes the hefty Sheldon's best friend and partner in Cooperstowne.  He also dates Miriam, but, in at least the episodes I've seen, there's a nicely unexpected gay subtext.  When he goes missing, Sheldon becomes a hero, investigating, interrogating, and rescuing his bff.

The Odds (2011) is another gay-subtext movie, about two high school gamblers.  When Desson (Tyler) finds his friend Barry murdered, he must seek out the killer by getting more deeply embroiled in the world of competitive gambling.  Barry (right) is played by the pro-gay actor Calum Worthy, #5 on my list of Unexpected Disney Teen Hunks.













Tyler has also played a hired killer on The Killing, an angel masquerading as a teen working in fast food on Supernatural, and a teenage drug dealer on Saving Hope.

No word on whether he's gay in real life.

Santo: Luchador, Vampire Hunter, and Domestic Partner

In Mexico,  lucha libre, or free-style wrestling,  is the national pastime, with roots going all the way back to Aztec rituals.  The wrestlers wear masks to hide their identities and give them cosmic significance.

The most famous of the luchadores, El Santo (Rodolpho Guzman Huerta, 1917-1984), became a movie icon.  He always wore a mask and a bulgeworthy wrestling singlet.  Wrestling exploits were interspliced with superheroic fights against evil, usually supernatural powers.

Between 1958 and 1982, Santo made over 80 films, fighting Dracula, Frankenstein, Zombies, lady vampires, Satanists, Baron Brakola, La Llorona (the famous "crying woman" of Mexican folklore), mad scientists, ghosts, aliens, Nazis, a killer who uses television, and resurrected Aztec demigods.

Sometimes he had the help of his ring opponents, El Blue Demonio (shouldn't that be El Demonio Azul?) and Mil Mascaras, or other sidekicks (here the comedian Capulina).

He sometimes had a girlfriend, Virginia, or rescued a scientist's daughter, or fought a sexy female adversary, but there were often gay subtexts as well.

Most of the movies are available with English subtitles. I recommend:

1. Santo v. The Martian Invasion (1967). Santo wrestles with Martian invaders who threaten to destroy the Earth unless everyone starts speaking the same language.

2. Operation 67 (1967). Santo becomes a James Bond-style secret agent out to thwart counterfeiters, paired up with bodybuilder Jorge Rivero (right).

3. The Treasure of Montezuma (1968). Secret agents Santo and Jorge Rivero battle thieves who want to steal the treasure of Montezuma, but only Santo has the magic ring that can translate ancient Aztec writing.

4. Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolfman (1970): Not only the two wrestlers domestic partners, they have to fight a whole army of werewolves.

5. Santo and Blue Demon in Atlantis (1970).  Lost Atlantis, Nazis, a nuclear bomb, a drug that makes you evil.  Plus Santo keeps saving Blue Demon's life, and they walk off into the sunset together.

6. Santo and the Blue Demon in the Land of the Dead (1970). The Dynamic Duo square off against a witch with a grudge against Santo's ancestor.

Charlie Williams: Happily Bisexual on Broadway

Charlie Williams (right) is a actor/dancer who has strutted his stuff in Pajama Game, South Pacific, Joseph, anything requiring him to take his shirt off.

He has appeared in two Broadway shows:

1.Memphis, about forbidden love in the dance clubs of 1950s Memphis.  It's interracial heterosexual love.  No gay content.

2. How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, about a conniving junior exec who gets ahead with the help of The Girl.  Not a lot of gay content, though the show-stopping "Brotherhood of Man" has potential.

So why does Charlie Williams deserve a post?

1. His coworkers call him "Charity Charlie" for all of his work on gay and AIDS causes, like the AIDS Walk and the Equality March.

2. He was named "Mr. Broadway" at the Broadway Beauty Pageant, a benefit for homeless LGBT youth.

3. He took it all off at Broadway Bares XX, a fully-nude review to benefit Broadway Cares, one of the biggest AIDS charities in the world.

4. He's happily, unapologetically bisexual.  And single.

It Happened in Athens: The End of 1950s Gay Hollywood

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a fad of movies set in modern Greece, where people (reputedly) spent their time dancing, drinking ouzo, breaking plates, and having colorful sexual adventures: Zorba the Greek, The Island of Love, Boy on a Dolphin, The Moon Spinners.  And with the summer Olympics coming up, the executives at 20th Century Fox got an idea for a sure-fire hit: a movie set during the first modern Olympics, in Athens in 1896!

It was titled It Happened in Athens to sound like a sequel to It Happened in Rome (1957).

They got the Hungarian Laszlo Vadnay to write a script about the poor shepherd Spiridon, who falls in love with the famous actress Eleni while competing in the 26-mile marathon.  Script tweaking added Christina, a poor girl for Spiridon to choose in the end, and Lt. Vinardos, a wealthy competitor in both the race and the love affair.  It was all very convoluted -- audiences would love it!

Greek hunk Nico Minardos would play Vinardos (get it?), and Eleni would be played by Jayne Mansfield, a big box office draw due primarily to her cleavage.  For the star, Spiridon, they cast Trax Colton, a new contract player discovered by Henry Willson.

Henry Willson discovered and nurtured dozens of beefcake stars during the 1950s, everyone from Rock Hudson to John Saxon.  But he fell on hard times after being outed -- he was gay, so his discoveries must be gay, too, anathema in 1950s Hollywood!  Old clients abandoned him, and he had a hard time getting new clients -- even those who were gay or bisexual didn't want the negative association.  He had to make do with the most eager or the most clueless -- like 30-year old used car salesman Louis Morelli.

Trax had no previous film credits, but studio execs felt that his good looks were enough to make the movie a success and catapult him to stardom as the next Rock Hudson.

Then someone made the Henry Willson connection.  The last thing they needed was another decade of paying off tabloids and arranging fake dates to keep a gay star in the closet.

Besides, he couldn't act.  And the film: overblown, convoluted, with a significant gay subtext between the two competitors.

 It sat on the shelf for two years and was finally released in 1962.  Trax Colton played a small part in the sex comedy The Marriage Go Round (1961) before being released from his contract and disappearing from Hollywood.

Ironically, he was probably heterosexual in real life -- he and Jayne Mansfield had an affair during the filming.  And probably too out-of-the-loop to be aware that signing on with Henry Willson would label him gay.

By the way, he has the smallest personal website I've ever seen, consisting of 6 photos and a 1-paragraph bio.

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