Brian Ferrari's Blog

Artist’s Muse: Chuck Howard (part 2)

In 2022, the ever-popular Chuck Howard was one of the first profiles in our Artist’s Muse series. While romantically involved with artists Bernard Perlin and then George Platt Lynes, Howard was a frequent subject of the art they created, along with their fellow artist friends and cohorts. He later went on to a successful career in the fashion industry as well as a restaurateur. The original post was updated as new photos and info became available. However, the volume of recently discovered photos and articles about dear Chuck warranted a new post highlighting this work, primarily by George Platt Lynes and the PaJaMa collective.

Charles Frank “Chuck” Howard was born in Cochran, Georgia on March 4, 1927. While in his teens, the family relocated to Leesburg, Florida where Chuck attended the local high school. A popular student, Chuck took part in many activities including theater, band, and Youth Council. An honor society member, Chuck was voted “Most Intellectual” when he graduated in 1944. He then joined the Naval Air Force and was a tail gunner through the end of World War II.

While stationed in Miami Beach, Chuck met New York artist Bernard Perlin through a mutual friend. Perlin would later recall, “He turned up one day in his little white uniform. He was the cutest thing you ever saw, and he was just, golly, he was sculpted. He was also one of those very rare people who had a thousand best friends. Everyone loved Chuck, and Chuck loved everybody.”

After being discharged in 1946, Howard attended Rollins College before studying fashion in France on the G.I. Bill. He then relocated to New York City to live with Perlin. “Our fling was charming and sweet, because Chuck was sweet and funny,” Perlin said, “It was very gratifying.”

In 1948, Perlin was offered a residency in Rome and threw himself a farewell party. It was there that Chuck was introduced to George Platt Lynes.

Four sketches of Chuck Howard by Bernard Perlin

*George Platt Lynes self portrait with Chuck Howard, ca 1948*

*Chuck Howard and George Platt Lynes, ca 1950*

“Another twenty-one-year-old has moved in on me bag and baggage, almost without being invited…” Lynes wrote in a letter to his friend, author Katherine Anne Porter.

Howard was viewed favorably by Lynes’ friends and was said to have a grounding effect on the photographer. The relationship lasted for just over two years.

Chuck Howard with Lynes’ dog, Bozo

*Wilbur Pippin & Chuck Howard, (ca. 1950)*

*Chuck Howard with Jared French in his studio at 55 St. Luke’s Pl., NYC (ca. 1949)*

Although Howard had previously posed as a model for several Bernard Perlin sketches, it was after his introduction to Lynes and his circle of friends that he became a favorite several artists. He posed for George Tooker, sculptor John LaFarge, Paul Cadmus, and Jared French, with whom he also had a physical relationship.

When Lynes’ nude photography became more widely exhibited decades after his death, photos of Chuck Howard were among the most celebrated. Howard downplayed the photos, describing his work modeling for Lynes as “primarily lighting tests.” Collectors disagree.

Chuck Howard also had a film career of sorts when he participated in Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s famous studies, performing sexual acts with poet Glenway Wescott in front of the researchers’ movie camera. Howard later remarked; “It wasn’t Hollywood.”

Lynes and Howard parted ways in January, 1951. “Chuck has decided to go off and live by himself;” Lynes wrote to his mother. “I shall miss him but I don’t disapprove… I’m afraid that my influence is too often all-pervading, all-inclusive.”

Chuck subsequently embarked on a “tempestuous affair” with hustler / model Ted Starkowski, as mentioned in his own Artist’s Muse profile. The couple posed for a series of photographs credited to The PaJaMa collective in the summer of 1951. Taken in and around Carrington House on Fire Island, these photos capture a level of intimacy seldom seen among gay couples at that time. An increasing number of these photographs have surfaced in recent years and are among the most popular credited to PaJaMa.

Act II: Chuck Howard’s career in the fashion industry began to flourish in the late 1950’s when he sketched for several designers, including Bill Blass. He worked for David Crystal before moving on to Anne Klein’s Junior Sophisticates. In 1965, he joined Townley, working his way up to become chief designer and head of business operations. The company was then renamed Chuck Howard, Inc. His design style was noted for its sense of humor with sporty, colorful coats, tunics, pants, and jersey shirts.

Around this time, a Parsons student named Donna Karan began working for Howard and he eventually introduced her to Anne Klein.

After Klein’s death in 1974, Donna Karan succeeded her as designer for the Anne Klein studio. Chuck Howard then closed his company and became a designer and creative coordinator there, where he was responsible for several of its collections. He departed with fellow designer Peter Wrigley in 1976 to form their own company.

Howard and Wrigley operated their business out of Chuck’s townhouse at 412 W 47th street – formerly the infamous party house of New Yorker editor Harold Ross and Alexander Woolcott.

*Chuck Howard (r) with his partner Ed Vaughan in their restaurant (1981)*

Act III: In 1980, after his departure from the fashion industry, Chuck Howard opened his self-named restaurant on Restaurant Row. Assisting him in this next chapter was his partner Edward Vaughan. The couple rented a three story townhouse at 355 W 46th St and lived on the third floor above the restaurant.

Soon after opening, twenty-two-year-old Anthony Bourdain took over running the back of the house. He later recounted his time at the restaurant in the “Chef of The Future!” chapter of Kitchen Confidential, with Chuck and Edward referred to as “Tom and Fred.” He writes, “They were genuinely lovely, intelligent, warm-hearted and funny older guys who cooked well, had impeccable taste and were considered (rightly) to be wonderful, charming and entertaining hosts – naturals, it had been said, for the restaurant business, especially a restaurant in the heart of the theater district where they knew and were liked by so many.”

The restaurant was initially successful, although the Daily News review suggested that it wasn’t destined to last. Bourdain further describes the restaurant’s decline, with mounting costs and dwindling guests. “What I learned… was a sad lesson that has served me well in decades since: I learned to recognize failure. I saw, for the first time, how two beloved, funny and popular guys can end up less beloved, not so funny and much less popular after trying to do nothing more than what their friends told them they were good at.” Bourdain moved on to another restaurant, and by the end of 1982, Chuck Howard’s had closed.

The couple retired to the island of Saba in the Netherlands Antilles where they lived for several years before settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

On October 5, 2002, Chuck Howard died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 75 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was survived by his partner Edward Vaughan.

Chuck Howard, ca 1950 / 1997

Chuck Howard’s life had a similar trajectory as fellow Lynes paramour Randy Jack: A WWII military man who became an artists’ muse before moving on to the world of fashion and finally ending up as a restaurateur. In their twilight years, both also enjoyed a bit of recognition for the work they inspired in some of the great American artists of the 20th century.

Maybe.

Part I – The Early 1970’s

*With my* Susan Sings Sesame Street LP (1971)

When I was two years old, my mother wrote in my baby book that I liked to listen to records. That’s how far back that goes. Among my Disneyland and Sesame Street records were all of my parents’ discarded 45s from their formative years. This was now the 1970’s and albums were what they were purchasing.

Even before I could read, I could tell by looking at the record label which songs I liked. The blue ones with the map on them were good (it was Motown). The ones with the orange and yellow swirl were The Beatles and The Beach Boys. (Capitol records – fun to watch spin on the turntable). My favorite record, though, was the only one with little doggies on the label: “Maybe” by the Chantels, on End records.

“Candy” – my mother’s name – was written on the label in neat pre-teen cursive. She told me many times that she used to listen to this record every day when she came home from school.

By this time, she was no longer quite so fond if it. She didn’t care for any of the old records, really. Not anymore. There wasn’t a lot of nostalgia in our house. The old-fashioned “ba-da-dum-dum dum” piano intro of “Maybe” would start and she’d roll her eyes, asking why I insisted on playing those old songs. But sometimes while doing housework, she would loudly sing along, complete with dramatic gestures that made me laugh.

Part II: 1979

My mom, her boyfriend, and I are sitting around listening to music. They met working at the Pizza Hut. He’s 20 years old and listens to Kiss and Foghat. She’s 33, divorced with three kids and likes Billy Joel and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

I don’t recall how “Maybe” came up, but I went and fished it out of my pile of 45s. Like me, he wasn’t born yet when this record came out. The song intro starts, and he jumps on it. “What the hell is that?” It is decades away from current popular music, and he’s making fun of it. Poking fun at her, really. Not in a mean way. Everyone is laughing.

He keeps starting the record over – playing that creaky piano intro over and over again until she’s laughing so hard, she has tears in her eyes.

Part III: July, 2011

July 30, 2011, I’m at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park for She’s Got The Power! A Girl Group Extravaganza. This is an all-day concert celebrating the girl groups of the 1950’s and 60’s. Former Chantels lead singer Arlene Smith is one of the performers.

By this point, “Maybe” is considered to be one of the greatest records of the 1950’s, paving the way for the girl group era and making a place at the table for female R&B vocal groups. Singers like Darlene Love and The Supremes cite the recording as an early influence.

Arlene Smith takes to the stage draped in glittery fabric, seated in an electric wheelchair that she expertly maneuvers around the stage as she sings the song. 54 years have passed since she recorded this, but her voice is still strong. I decide to call my mother, tell her where I am and hold up the phone for her to hear.

“Oh my god. I haven’t heard that song in years!” she says. She gets a little choked up, and I tell her I’ll call her later when I get home.

In the documentary Girl Groups – Story Of A Sound, Arlene Smith recalled that she had just turned 16 years old when the Chantels recorded “Maybe.” “I was singing about the kind of love that I didn’t know… I loved my parents.”

Part IV: July, 2026

We are enjoying a summer evening in my sister’s back yard, as best we can. A year and a half of cancer treatments has reduced my mother to 90 lbs, but it’s the Alzheimer’s that has now taken the lead in this battle. Earlier in the afternoon, we had her try to draw a clock – a cognitive test used to detect the disease. She couldn’t do it, although she can still tell the time on her watch. It’s a tricky thing to navigate.

I suddenly have an idea. I pick up my sister’s phone and hijack her Summer BBQ Spotify playlist. I tell my mother I want her to listen to something and see if she remembers it.

The piano begins “ba-da-dum-dum dum” …” Her brow is slightly furrowed. When the vocals start, she mouths the words, but she doesn’t sing. I don’t remember the last time I heard her sing.

My stepfather is dozing next to her. Without opening his eyes, he says “What year was that?”

“1958. Do you remember this song?,” I ask.

“Sounds familiar,” he says.

I tell my mother; “This was your favorite record when you were a kid. You said you used to listen to it every day when you came home from school.”

She nods and softly says, “I was heartbroken.”

“Over who?”

“I don’t remember.”

She may not have remembered, but later that night, I did. His name was Jackie. I grew up in the same house that my mother did and sometimes I would find little hearts drawn in hidden places: on the wall inside the linen closet, on the underside of the coffee table. In these hearts she had written “Candy loves Jackie.” I remember asking her about him back then. She told me about the first boy she was in love with, and how crushed she was when it didn’t work out.

Would I have mentioned his name if I had thought of it in the back yard? Are painful memories better left forgotten? Or is it important to keep trying to remember simply as a brain exercise?

Maybe if I play this record for her next weekend, it will trigger a different memory. Maybe she will remember singing around the house, or the Pizza Hut guy. Maybe the memory of my phone call from Lincoln Center will come back to her. Or maybe next time, the song won’t sound familiar to her at all.

The record fades out as Arlene repeatedly pleads “Maybe…” Her fellow teenage Chantels, forever frozen in time, sing back to her; “Maybe maybe maybe…”

Al Parker: In His Own Words

Legendary gay porn star Al Parker holds the #1 spot in Boyculture’s totally unbiased, science-driven list of the top (ahem) 250 Greatest Gay Porn Stars In The History Of Civilization. We only know many of these performers through their film oeuvre and photo layouts, but Al Parker always had a lot to say. In interviews, he seemed to enjoy recounting his sexual exploits as a teenager attending Woodstock, his win on the game show Name That Tune, working behind the scenes on the film Can’t Stop The Music, and running Surge studios with his partner Steve Taylor.

Featured below are three interviews conducted through the 1980’s. The first is from New Years Eve, 1979 and appeared in Skinflicks magazine. At the time, Parker was three years into his adult film career and at the top of his game. Steve Taylor is on hand to offer comments as well. The second interview appeared in the October, 1984 issue of Mandate. Interview #3 is from the November, 1988 issue of Manshots, two years after Taylor had died of AIDS complications.

“Some people meet me, and seeing I’m completely different from my screen image,
they may hate me, because I’m not what they want me to be. But I am what I am,
and I hope we can have a satisfying moment based on that.”

“… the day Can’t Stop The Music started shooting in New York was also
the day Inches opened here, and my face was on a poster
that was plastered on every lampost in the city. No one on the crew,
Nancy Walker or anyone, had any idea about the film or my being in it…”

“Steve and I are partners… lovers… everything… he’s just so wonderful.
We’re starting this business very slowly, making sure we do everything right.”

“My father… happened to see my face on the cover of a gay magazine…
needless to say he was quite surprised. He not only learned that I was a star,
but he learned at the same time that I’m gay. It didn’t bother him in the least.”

“I see myself as a cult hero – which means an insolvent movie star.
I think that everybody is responsible for his own orgasm – that is, his own destiny.”

*Al Parker with long-term life partner (and sometime costar) Steve Taylor. Together they founded Surge Studios.*

Al Parker was 40 years old when he died of complications from AIDS on August 17, 1992. A biography written by Roger Edmonson, Clone: The Life and Legacy of Al Parker Gay Superstar was published in 2000.

She Knew Something About Love: Brenda Reid (1945-2026)

Brenda Reid, the lead singer and last surviving member of the original Exciters, passed away on April 29, 2026. She was 80 years old.

In the liner notes for The Exciters’ Something To Shout About! CD compilation, Malcolm Baumgart and Mick Patrick wrote, “If Brenda Reid was a foodstuff, she’d be jalapeño peppers. If she was a chemical compound, she’d be nitro-glycerin. A color? Why, flame red! That woman’s voice was the distilled essence of heat. Never was a group fronted by such a torrid vocalist, and never was a group more aptly named than The Exciters.”

It was a voice that stopped a young Dusty Springfield in her tracks on Broadway one night in 1962, when she heard “Tell Him” blasting out of Colony Records. On her way to Nashville to record a country album with her group The Springfields, Brenda’s vocal hit Dusty at such a visceral level that she was forced to rethink her career trajectory. Legendary songwriter/producer Ellie Greenwich was quoted as saying; “Brenda has one of the best voices I’ve heard. As far as I was concerned, she could do no wrong – she would only add to the song, make it greater.”

The Exciters were a trio of Queens schoolgirls (Brenda with Carol Johnson and Lillian Walker) harmonizing with sole male group member Herb Rooney. Although technically not a girl group, Brenda is widely regarded as one of the signature voices of the girl group era. On the strength of their recordings of “Tell Him,” “He’s Got The Power,” and the original version of “Do Wah Diddy,” the group was chosen for the Beatles 1964 American tour. They went on to release a string of excellent records through the 1960’s and 1970’s that have become staples of the Northern Soul scene.

I got to know Brenda through Words With Friends. We were connected on social media – or rather, I had fanboy friend-requested her in 2011 after the group performed at Lincoln Center for She’s Got The Power! A Girl Group Extravaganza . But the WWF algorithm paired us up – possibly because we both seemed to suffer from insomnia and played the game at all hours of the night.

One day as I was listening to my recently acquired copy of The Exciters rare 1971 Black Beauty LP, the app pinged that Brenda had played a word. I sent her a message to tell her that I was listening to her album and that I was very much enjoying it. She responded that she didn’t have a copy of it anymore, so I volunteered to burn a CD and send it to her. I added some rare bonus tracks to the disc that I mailed off, including the sole single by her first group The Masterettes, which morphed into The Exciters.

She later said “When I heard that Masterettes song that you put on there, I said ‘Ok. This guy knows his stuff.'”

One night, after a few servings of liquid courage, I sent a message asking if she would be interested in doing an interview for my East Village Radio show, 60 Degrees. This was in the fall of 2012 – just in time for the 50th anniversary of the release of “Tell Him.” She agreed and invited me to have lunch and conduct the interview at her home in Huntington, Long Island.

I packed up my laptop and microphones and borrowed my mother’s car to head over. Her daughter Trisha cooked a spaghetti lunch and we had a great afternoon talking about music.

During the interview, when we were discussing The Exciters recording of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s weepy 1972 ballad “Alone Again (Naturally),” I mentioned that I had never been able to find a copy, to which Brenda says with a laugh “I will give you a copy to-DAY.” After the interview was finished, she played the recording on her computer and began to sing along. We were sitting at her desk in her home office, but vocally this turned into a full-blown performance, matching the recording she had done 40 years before. I thought I might just die right there.

On paper, the idea of the Exciters recording a song like “Alone Again (Naturally) or a disco version of “I (Who Have Nothing)” sound like terrible ideas. But with Herb’s arrangements and Brenda’s voice, they always knocked it out of the park. In his book Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked The World, John Clemente writes, “Two important facts are a testament to the Exciter’s musical integrity; that they lasted longer than most vocal groups, especially when chart success was not always forthcoming; and that they were able to weather stylistic changes in popular music, never once sounding awkward or stale in the mix.”

*Sheet music for “Reaching For The Best”, a Northern Soul hit co-written by Herb Rooney with Ian Levine. (1975)*

One of the lyrics of “Reaching For The Best”, their 1975 UK hit was “I want an evening gown… I can’t afford a house dress… All my life I’ve been reaching for the best…” I am reminded of a story that Brenda shared before we started recording the interview that afternoon. The Masterettes has scored their first gig at the Hillside Theatre in Queens. They were at the bottom of the bill with a half dozen other artists, including Baby Washington. Brenda idolized Baby – she was her biggest musical influence, along with Frankie Lymon. She recalled that Baby arrived backstage at the theater making a star’s entrance: elegant but aloof and beautifully dressed.

Brenda was quite intimidated and upset about her own inexperience and her group’s simple costumes. She was crying in a corner backstage when Baby came over to ask her what was wrong. She told her that she was embarrassed at her own appearance, that Baby looked so beautiful and she wished that she could have a career like hers. Baby comforted her and assured her that one day, she would achieve it.

*A Family Affair: The 1980’s Exciters featured Brenda and Herb with their children: Tracy & Cory, and Herb’s son Jeffrey.*

When I knew that we had recorded plenty of material to fill a 2-hour program, I ended the interview. I had decided beforehand that I would not pry into the later years, when she had to get a retail job after she and Herb split. Brenda looked surprised that the interview was over. She later conveyed to me that she WANTED to talk about the lean years. She wanted to talk more about the ups and downs of their relationship, and also the loss of their daughter Tracy to leukemia. She was inspired by Tina Turner’s memoir and wanted to tell her own story in her own way. She had been working on a book for quite some time – speaking on tape to get her thoughts recorded. Her son Cory, now a very successful producer and record executive, had put her in touch with a writer to assist. Nothing ever came of it and she was still without a publisher. We agreed to meet again for another interview, which would hopefully coincide with the book coming out.

And then what happened? Life went on. We both moved on from our late night Words With Friends habit. 60 Degrees went off the air the following spring when East Village Radio shuttered. We stayed in touch on Facebook and were reunited at events for the Piece Of My Heart Off-Broadway musical and a Bert Berns documentary screening in New York City. Brenda eventually moved to California to be near Cory and his family.

*Opening night party for the Off-Broadway musical* Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story. (July 14, 2014)

On some level I felt like I had failed her – she never got to tell the rest of her story. There was much more she wanted to say. “I really need help with it but I’m not going to give up,” she wrote in an email. I felt some responsibility to help her do that, even though she had other people in her life that felt the same way. And that’s how it was left.

After I heard that she had passed away, I listened back to a voicemail that she left me after our interview had aired in 2012. She said “I just wanted to thank you for such a wonderful interview. You made me feel very special today… you made me feel very proud of myself and I just wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your life to want to come over and interview me and let the world hear what I had to say… Thank you so much. God bless.”

Thinking back to our conversations about the book, I don’t recall the title she had chosen. In my mind, it could only be one thing: I Know Something About Love. The opening line of the song that introduced the world to that flame red nitro-glycerin voice, bursting from a 17 year-old school girl from Queens. It was a declaration so strong and memorable that you can sing that line to people of any age and they will recognize it from someplace in their pop culture memories. They may not know her name or The Exciters, but they understand this: she knew what she was talking about.

The Exciters performed at Lincoln Center, NYC for She’s Got The Power! A Girl Group Extravaganza on July 30, 2011. Alongside original members Brenda Reid and Lillian Walker were Beverly Warren and Brenda & Herb Rooney’s son Cory Rooney. Backing them up (as The Boyfriends) were Jeremy Chatzky and members of Yo La Tengo. Among the backing singers: Barbara Harris (of The Toys), Delron Nanette Licari, Susan Collins, Mikie Harris, Jean Thomas, Lesley Miller, Toni Wine and Ula Hedwig.

East Village Radio re-broadcast the 2012 60 Degrees show with Brenda Reid on Sunday, 5/17/2026. You can listen to it here:

Madame Spivy: I Love Town

“This is my answer to a man who tried to induce me to live on a farm…”

Ladies and Gentleman, it is time once again to revisit that late great lady of song, Madame Spivy LeVoe (1906-1971), also known simply as Spivy. A lesbian entertainer, nightclub owner and character actress, Spivy has been described as “The Female Noel Coward” – to which I add “…. if he had been born in Brooklyn as Bertha Levine.”

*Spivy photographed by Max Ewing (1932)*

This is our 9th in a series of posts focusing on individual songs recorded by Spivy. Previously, we featured:
T he Alley Cat
The Tarantella
Auntie’s Face
100% American Girls
A Tropical Fish
I Brought Culture to Buffalo In The 90’s
I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night
Why Don’t You?

“I Love Town” is an ode to urban living, specifically New York City. Decades before Alicia Keys and Madonna sang of their love of The Big Apple, long before Liza started spreadin’ the news, before Judy happened to like New York, Spivy loved town. The song appeared on her 78 rpm album Seven Gay Sophisticated Songs, first released in 1939 on the Exclusive label. Later reissues on Commodore and General Records switched out the original cover photo for a Carl Van Vechten portrait.

Of the15 songs Spivy is known to have recorded, 5 of them were written or co-written by John LaTouche. This is one of two that he co-wrote with Goetz Eyck, a German-born musician who would go on to a film career as Peter van Eyck.

Songwriters John LaTouche & Goetz Eyck, aka Peter Van Eyck

*Spivy photo by Carl Van Vechten (1944)*

I Love Town

I Love Town
Take your old hound dogs with their yelping litters
Give me Pekingeses that have the jitters
Take your old oaked buckets, I’ll have gin and bitters
I Love Town

I feel down
in woodlands lousy with deer and squirrels
Where the women get coy and the men get virile
Mother Nature’s a dirty old girl:
Think of rabbit’s habits

In the sacred portals of New York, the footmen stand in livery
There are no traveling salesmen offering Rural Free Deliveries

I want to live in town
where you hunt in Jaekal’s when you want a fox hide
And you see fair hair of purest peroxide
And you breathe fresh air of carbon monoxide
I Love Town

I hate farms
where the food is freshest and the life the crudest
Give me nightclub life though it seems denudest
Where a gal gets paid for going nudist
I Love Town

I love garbage
give me grapefruit rinds with coffee grounds in ‘em
As for athletics, I’m all again’em
Though I drink at bars, I never chin ‘em
Muscle gives you a bustle

I can’t sleep in lonely country rooms, I rush and buy a ticket
Yet I snore through the traffic’s boom without a goddamn cricket

I Love Town
Where Carnation cows have contented faces
And you get your tan in a jar at Macy’s
And sand doesn’t get into awful places
I Love Town!

_________________________________

I highly recommend Ana Matronic’s Good Time Sallies podcast, which featured two episodes profiling Madame Spivy, with commentary by yours truly.

The Colorful World Of Carl Van Vechten

Carl Van Vechten wore several hats throughout his life: writer, literary executor of Gertrude Stein, patron of the Harlem Renaissance, and photographer. His portraits captured the most prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance as well as New York’s top entertainers and literary elite.

L-R: Carl Van Vechten with Ethel Waters (1939), Langston Hughes (1939), Josephine Baker (1949), James Baldwin (1955)

While his images were not as meticulously lit or technically proficient as contemporary George Platt Lynes, his distinct style of low contrast, soft-focused images was consistent throughout his photographic career. Pictures snapped by Van Vechten in 1932 have the same tone as those taken shortly before his death in 1964.

L-R: Paul Robeson (1932), Truman Capote (1947), Marlon Brando (1948), Keir Dullea (1960)

His photographs have occasionally been featured here in posts about Madame Spivy and several Artist’s Muses.

L-R: Madame Spivy (1944), John LaTouche (1944), Sandy Campbell & Donald Windham (1955), Ted Starkowski (1956)

Given the level of continuity in his black and white photographs, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he also utilized color slide film. Starting in 1940, he primarily used it for photo shoots with dancers from the American Ballet and later the New York City Ballet. The color slides beautifully captured their eye-catching stage costumes. He would sometimes use two cameras in these photo sessions, shooting with color as well as black and white film. The striking contrast of these photos provides further proof of just how vibrant the color images remain, 80 years later.

With certain male subjects – some of whom were part of Van Vechten’s bohemian social circle – the costumes would come off after the ballerinas had left the studio. Other photos have what are described as “improvised costumes” – sparkling fabrics and accessories paired with culturally appropriated props and patterned backdrops to further enhance these colorful images.

Alvin Ailey (1955)

Hernan Baldrich (1962)

Charles Blackwell (1955)

Robert Cohan (1955)

Robert Curtis (1955)

Anton Dolin (1940-41)

William Earl (1960)

Geoffrey Holder (1954)

Harald Horn (1956)

Hugh Laing (1940-41)

John Kriza (1949)

Claude Marchant (1947)

Arthur Mitchell (1955)

Francisco Moncion (1944)

Lenwood Morris (1940)

Donald Saddler (1941-1948)

Archie Savage (1942)

Paul Taylor (1960)

Claude Thompson (1959)

Allen Meadows & Hugh Laing (1940)

Van Vechten’s photos are now part of the New York Public Library Digital Collection and can be viewed online here.

Marianne Faithfull After Dark (1980)

“Like an apparition of decadence and dissipation, she is an all too appropriate picture of innocence fallen prey to the evils and excesses of that most glamorous unholy trinity – drugs, sex and rock-and-roll.”

Depending on your calculations, Marianne Faithfull was entering the second or third act of her career when she was featured in the March, 1980 issue of After Dark magazine. The willowy chanteuse first achieved fame as part of the British Invasion with her 1964 hit “As Tears Go By,” a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. She worked her way through the Rolling Stones – first with Brian Jones, then Richards and finally Jagger, to whom she was linked romantically through rest of the 1960’s.

Faithfull’s singing career waned as she transitioned into acting roles. She was a poster child for the swinging London set, and then a cautionary tale of its excesses. By the early 1970’s, her career had been eclipsed by a series of scandalous headlines detailing drug use, breakdowns, arrests, and then homelessness. She eventually kicked her heroin habit, although complete sobriety continued to be elusive. A foray into country music in 1976 was not well received.

In the beginning… Marianne Faithfull sings “As Tears Go By” (1964)

Then came the critical and commercial success of Broken English – her 1979 LP proved to be her definitive album. She emerged like a phoenix from the ashes of the 1970’s with a punk-infused declaration that she still had something to say. How she chose to say it – with explicit lyrics that got the album banned in several countries – certainly didn’t hurt her reputation as a rock and roll survivor.

The Guardian revisited the album in a 2013 review, with Alexis Petridis writing “…her husking vocals on Broken English seemed not merely ravaged, but imperious and defiant with it, a sensation heightened by the arrangements her rasp was set against… she sounded like she was telling someone to go fuck themselves even when she wasn’t.”

It doesn’t bode well that writer Brant Mewborn begins the After Dark feature with the observation, “Marianne Faithfull is nodding out.” She’s recovering from a car accident and exhausted from a European publicity tour. “Marianne seems overworked and over-sedated. She’s obviously not ready for an interview, and I’m definitely not ready to play interrogating nursemaid to a strung-out girl who may need to publicize her reemerging career but could use a bed even more.”

One can’t help but wonder if the reporter would have been as forthcoming if he was describing Mick Jagger or Keith Richards in such a state. But that holds true for most of the judgement hurled at Faithfull throughout her career.

She does pull it together though, and Mewborn later describes her as “surprisingly candid and coherent.”

It’s interesting to note that one of the quotes highlighted in the article is “I’m not a dyke, but I like to make love with young beautiful people. Whether they are boys or girls doesn’t make an awful lot of difference.” This is actually attributed to Faithfull in the lurid tell-all Up And Down With The Rolling Stones, a book purportedly written by the band’s drug dealer Tony Sanchez but ghost written by British music journalist John Blake. In any case, she does not confirm or deny the quote here.

Reporter Brant Mewborn went on to become a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine. He was just 38 years old when he died in 1990. Marianne Faithfull passed away at age 78 in January, 2025.

Broken English is also the title of a new documentary about Marianne Faithfull. The film screened at the Venice Film Festival and will have a theatrical release in the UK later this month. Read more about it here.

Two other singers featured elsewhere in this issue of After Dark: Cindy Bullens and France Joli.

Although Bullens put out a dozen LPs throughout her career, she is probably best known for her contributions to the 1978 Grease motion picture soundtrack, singing “It’s Raining On Prom Night” and “Freddie My Love.”

Bullens came out as transgender in 2012 and is now known as Cidney. See a recent interview posted below:

A 2023 interview with Cidney Bullens:

France Joli had just turned 17 years old when this issue of After Dark hit the stands. She was still riding high on the strength of her debut LP and the disco hit “Come To Me.” Her performance the previous summer in the Fire Island Pines is the stuff of legend and previously covered here in New York City In Touch (1979).

Heated Rivalry’s Scott and Kip: A Game Changer Epilogue

I have a confession to make: I am a loon.

This is the term used to describe fans of the Heated Rivalry television show and Rachel Reid’s book series that it is based on.

The first book of the series, Game Changer (2019) focused on NHL captain Scott Hunter and barista Kip Grady. Their story is the subject of episode 3 of the Heated Rivalry television show. Because the whole book was condensed into a single episode, there is little about Kip’s home life in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. His mother and sister are not mentioned in the show, although his father, as played by Matt Gordon, is one of my favorite peripheral characters in the series.

*Kip & his dad as played by Robbie G.K. & Matt Gordon.*

Author Rachel Reid has always been very connected with her audience and generous about posting additional content online for free: sharing scenes and chapters trimmed from the books as well as short stories not featured elsewhere. You can find these on her website.

One piece that is a little harder to find is an epilogue to Game Changer that was posted as an epub file. I’m posting it below for those who want to easily read it online, or as a downloadable .pdf.

Dusting Off The Holiday Favorites (2025)

*Volunteer Santas, NYC (1977) photo: Susan Meiselas*

I know I am not alone when I say that I take comfort in the annual repetition of the holidays: revisiting holiday-themed music, films, television shows… and now internet posts. Dave Holmes’ account of Patti LaBelle’s disastrous performance at the 1996 National Christmas Tree lighting is worth an annual revisit. Trust me.

Not to get meta or anything, but the post you are currently reading has been reworked and updated each year since 2020.

While we’re mining the past and dusting off our chestnuts, here’s the intro to the 1999 holiday episode of Bri-Guy’s Media Surf, an NYC Public Access show that featured yours truly lip-syncing a little Esquivel:

Whenever the song pops up on my holiday playlist, I still do this.

I find it interesting that we immerse ourselves in certain pop culture favorites for exactly 6 weeks of the year and then pack them up in mothballs with the ornaments until next year. I mean, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” is currently at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Burl Ives, Bobby Helms and Andy Williams are also in the top 10. Are any of them on your 4th of July playlist? They aren’t on mine.

*Gabe Pressman (left) with Marilyn Monroe (1956)*

I used to look forward to the annual Christmas Eve tradition on NBC New York’s evening news when reporter Gabe Pressman would read “Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.” I taped it in 2011, knowing that the tradition wouldn’t last forever. The self-described “little Jewish kid from the Bronx” was 87 years old at the time and continued to work at NBC until his death at age 93.

NBC New York reporter Gabe Pressman’s annual segment on Virginia O’Hanlon’s 1897 letter to the New York Sun Newspaper.

But wait! There’s more: My other blog posts of Christmas past are back to haunt you like A Christmas Carol, Mr. Scrooge.

I recently updated Your Guide To Gay Disposable Holiday Movies, highlighting 16 of the gayest Lifetime/Hallmark/Netflix movies of the past few years:

We now have four 60 Degrees Girl Group Christmas playlists! These have been running each week this month on East Village Radio. Click here for streaming:

11/30/2025 Christmas Show #1: Holiday 60’s chicks and girl groups featuring lots of songs about snow and snowmen, winters warm and cold, blue holidays and Christmas trees.

12/7/2025 Christmas Show #2: The Classic Christmas Episode – our first holiday show from 2008. Featuring Darlene Love, Carla Thomas, The Supremes, Honey & The Bees and more.

12/14/2025 Christmas Show #3: British singers, obscure soul Christmas tracks, favorites from the Spector stable of artists, Motown and more!

12/21/2025 – Christmas Show #4: Featuring soul divas, duets, a boogie woogie Christmas, country ladies, Chess gospel soul and some ladies that really want a Beatle for Christmas.

I recently posted about Truman Capote’s classic short story A Christmas Memory, which includes the entire text, Capote’s 1959 reading of the story, and a link to watch the Emmy Award-winning 1966 television version starring Geraldine Page. Highly Recommended.

There’s a new Motown Christmas Special this year that has already aired in prime time this month, featuring Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Martha Reeves and The Temptations. Here is my take on the 1987 Motown Christmas Special – which featured very few Motown acts.

Here are 10 Things You May Not Know About March of The Wooden Soldiers, the Laurel & Hardy classic holiday film.

My Canine Christmas Tail is a true story about my dog Sunshine, a basset hound with an appetite for tinsel.

Have you watched Christmas In Connecticut yet this year? How about that delivery woman? After years of speculation, last year I was able to identify the actress as Daisy Bufford.

The original version of “¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?” is featured in “Llamacita,” a 2024 Amazon Prime holiday commercial. Here’s a little backstory on the song & Augie Rios, who sang the original version.

Also – would you like to hear my Spotify holiday playlist?

Way back in 2002, when Limewire was a thing and people listened to music on silvery discs, I started creating Christmas CD mixes that I would mail out or give to people. These were received with a heartwarming combination of feigned delight, veiled indifference and deafening silence. None of these CDs had a pressing of more than 20 copies. I’d like to call them “much sought after” – but no, that’s not really the case, although every once in a while, someone really got into them and would ask for copies of other volumes.

And so, I’m offering this simple playlist…. for kids from 1 to 92. Unfortunately some of the tracks on these dozen CDs are not on Spotify, but I keep adding songs that would be on the current CD volume… if there was one. And now the playlist is over 18 hours of holiday tunes. I recommend listening on shuffle – there’s something to irritate everyone. Enjoy!

Here’s one more nugget to stuff in your stocking: This vid went viral in 2011. Choreographed and performed by Alex Karigan & Zac Hammer of the Amy Marshall Dance Company, it was filmed in one continuous take at the New 42nd St. Dance Studios. There’s something infectious about it: the joy, the corniness, the celebratory queerness of it all. It makes me want to dust off my jazz shoes. Once a year.

Truman Capote’s Christmas Memory

“It’s fruitcake weather…”

A recent rerun of This American Life featured Truman Capote reading an edited version of his short story A Christmas Memory. Originally published in Mademoiselle magazine in December 1956, Capote’s reading was released on a 1959 LP:

The largely autobiographical story is set in early 1930’s Monroeville, Alabama and describes a holiday season in the lives of the seven-year-old narrator and an elderly woman who is his distant cousin and best friend. This classic holiday story has been broadcast, recorded, filmed, and staged multiple times.

You can find the entire text here.

A 1966 television version won the Peabody Award as well as Emmy awards for the teleplay and lead actress Geraldine Page. You can watch the entire 48 minute film on YouTube:

Biopics and the recent television series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans have focused on Capote’s later life and the mess that he became. It’s nice to revisit one of his finest early pieces of writing and remember what a brilliant talent he was.

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