Hollywood – Brian Ferrari's Blog

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.

Your Guide To Disposable Gay Holiday Movies (2025)

Since 2020, a few gay holiday films have dribbled out each December – not just on The Hallmark Channel but also on Lifetime, Netflix and elsewhere. I’m not here to crap on the genre, but there is a conveyor belt feel to these films. With the similar actors, sets, and plots, it can be difficult to remember which one had which fading star of yesteryear playing the mom. Obviously, if I didn’t get some enjoyment out of watching them, I wouldn’t tune in. But I don’t go all in for them, either. Please give me a combination of humor, wit, romantic chemistry, decent acting and/or a plot twist and I’ll stick with it. Check off more than a couple of those boxes and I might watch it again next year… if I can remember the title and what channel it was on.

In 2022, I put together a list of these movies to try and keep them straight, so to speak. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the following years would bring less, not more entries in the genre.

In December 2023, Queerty posted an article proclaiming, “The Hallmark Channel is gayer than ever this year!” As evidence, they had a massive list of exactly THREE movies that they considered gay. The first one, Catch Me If You Claus starred Luke Macfarlane in his 16^th movie for the network. Yes, the Bros co-star is gay in real life, but the character in the film is not. Kudos to him for continuing to be cast in straight roles, but… do we then count this as a gay film?

As a reminder: The Hallmark Channel premiered 42 – FORTY-TWO – new Hallmark Christmas movies that season. And we’re supposed to kvell because TWO of them are gay-ish? Honey, please.

The 2024 holiday season garnered even less results: A sequel to an ensemble film from 2023 with Hallmark’s resident gay Jonathan Bennett in the cast. He must have an ironclad contract.

In retrospect, 2020-2022 is beginning to look like the lavender age of inane gay holiday movies. Let the nostalgia begin!

Fortunately, with so many different streaming services, you can now find some of these movies on multiple outlets, giving evidence that maybe they weren’t quite so disposable after all.

1) The Christmas Setup (2020) – Lifetime, Hulu, Sling TV

Older star playing a parent: Fran Drescher
Romantic chemistry? Yes – this real-life couple generate a believable amount of TV movie warmth.

The Christmas Setup follows the story of New York lawyer Hugo (Ben Lewis) who heads to Milwaukee with his best friend Madelyn (Ellen Wong) to spend the holidays with his mom Kate (Fran Drescher). Kate arranges for Hugo to run into Patrick (Blake Lee), his high school friend and secret crush, who has recently returned after a successful stint in Silicon Valley. Hijinks begin.

2) Dashing In December (2020) – Amazon Prime

Older star playing a parent: Andie McDowell
Romantic chemistry? Some. I guess. It’s an enjoyable movie but I don’t see these boys staying together.

After Wyatt (Peter Porte) comes home for the holidays to try to convince his mother (Andie MacDowell) to sell the family’s Colorado ranch, he finds romance with the dashing new ranch hand (Juan Pablo Di Pace) who dreams of saving the property and its magical Winter Wonderland attraction.

It’s a nice surprise to see Andie McDowell here, but I am reminded of when comedienne Paula Poundstone described her face as “an egg with a smile drawn on it.”

3) Happiest Season (2020) – Hulu

Older stars playing the parents: Mary Steenburgen & Victor Garber
Sapphic chemistry? Yes, but not between the two that we’re supposed to root for.

This is the one with Kristen Stewart, Aubrey Plaza & Dan Levy. Stewart’s girlfriend invites her home for Christmas but fails to mention that she’s not out to her family and they must pretend to be friends. Hilarity ensues. A cut above Lifetime/Hallmark movies but I’m including it because it satisfies the same itch. Same genre, but overall higher quality thanks to the cast and Clea Duvall’s writing & direction. One caveat: I wanted Kristen Stewart’s character to end up with Aubrey Plaza. But that doesn’t fit the formula, does it?

Bonus points: Jinkx Monsoon & BenDeLaCreme are on hand for a couple of holiday songs.

4) The Christmas House (2020) – Hallmark+, Amazon Prime & Others

Older stars playing the parents: Treat Williams & Sharon Lawrence
Romantic chemistry? The gay married couple is peripheral here, so it’s not required. They’re fine.

This was the first Hallmark movie to feature a gay couple, even if they are supporting players. Jonathan Bennett is the gay son with Brad Harder as the devoted husband. They want to adopt kids – that’s their side plot. The straight brother has the romantic interest storyline, while the parents have decided to give up their traditional grand ole “Christmas House” which, like all the other houses in these movies, looks like a realtor’s model home with decorations recently purchased at Kohl’s.

5) The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls (2021) – Hallmark+, Amazon Prime & others

Older stars playing the parents: Same as above. R.I.P. Treat Williams. ☹
Romantic chemistry? Maybe I’m being a sap, but this couple grew on me.

The sequel to the above film. This time the brothers are competing on a reality show to create the best Christmas House. It’s harmless fun.

6) Clusterfünke Christmas (2021) – Paramount+, Roku, Amazon Prime

“A no-nonsense hotel exec buys a family inn in northern Maine, but the town’s Christmas spirit clashes with her cosmopolitan values.” This one’s actually a spoof of the genre written by and co-starring Rachel Dratch & Ana Gasteyer as the innkeepers. Out actor Cheyenne Jackson plays the straight romantic lead. If Queerty can claim the Luke Macfarlane movie as gay, then we get this one, if not for Jackson, then just for pure camp value.

7) Under The Christmas Tree (2021) – Lifetime Movie Club, Amazon Prime, Roku

Older stars playing the parents: Wendy Crewson & Enrico Colantoni. Ricki Lake is also on hand.
Sapphic Chemistry? Yes

As described in Vulture: Lifetime’s new and first-ever lesbian Christmas movie is a legitimately good queer film in which the main character, Alma (Elise Bauman), is not only accepted by her Maine-based, small-Christmas-business-owner parents for being a lesbian but encouraged to fall in love with out-of-town stranger Charlie (Tattiawna Jones). Cheesy as it is, the premise is as sweet as it is predictable with plenty of fun, memorable scenes and unexpected moments thrown in.”

8) Single All The Way (2021) – Netflix

Older stars playing the parents: Kathy Najimy & Barry Bostwick with Jennifer Coolidge as the diva aunt.
Romantic chemistry? Yes

Peter (Michael Urie) finds out his boyfriend is married. They break up and he invites his best friend home with him for Christmas to pretend they’re a couple. His mom tries to set him up with Luke Macfarlane anyway. You’ll never guess who he ends up with. This one beat out Under The Christmas Tree to win the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie. Probably the best of the bunch, and not just for this monologue:

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9) The Holiday Sitter (2022) – Hallmark+, Roku, Amazon Prime & others

Older stars playing the parents: NONE
Romantic chemistry? Not that I recall.

Another Hallmark movie with resident gay Jonathan Bennett. Now he’s a workaholic from the big city who gets stuck watching his sister’s kids because of a snowstorm and she’s pregnant and going into labor or something. He recruits hunky neighbor Jason (George Krissa) to shepherd the precocious children through an endless list of absolutely necessary holiday activities. Bennett’s first major role years ago was in the movie Mean Girls. He also co-wrote this script, in which he actually tells the family dog “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.” I have nothing more to say.

10) A Christmas To Treasure (2022) – Lifetime, Hulu

Older stars playing the parents: Nobody I recognize. Maybe they’re big in Canada?
Romantic chemistry? NONE.

A real-life gay couple with no chemistry try to find a hidden treasure… before it’s too late! 33-year-old Tyler Frey and 41-year-old Kyle Dean Massey are supposed to be high school sweethearts reunited with each other and their friends: two racially diverse straight couples. Everyone’s on an elaborate treasure hunt somehow engineered by a beloved frail old neighbor just before she croaked. However, nobody really needs the money except Frey, who wants to save the grand ole Marley house (again, a model home decorated at Kohl’s.) Someone actually says “I don’t need the money. I’m here for the cocoa.”

This one broke me. Who are these people? This movie is a painful reminder that a film can be racially diverse, but it certainly isn’t class-wise. If everyone’s so damn rich, why don’t they just give Frey the money to save the house? This one caused me to take a long break from viewing these movies. But now it’s a new season, and here we are.

11) Holiday Exchange (2024) – Tubi, Roku, Amazon Prime

Older stars playing the parents: Real Housewife Kyle Richards plays Mom.
Romantic chemistry? Varying between the two couples.

The aforementioned Tyler Frey wrote the screenplay and stars in this gay version of the Kate Winslet/Cameron Diaz rom-com The Holiday. There are two budding romances, with Frey’s real-life husband Kyle Dean Massey left to play his ex-boyfriend. Rick Cosnett plays the Winslet role – a Brit transplanted in L.A. Maybe it’s the wine, but I found this one rather enjoyable.

12 & 13) Christmas on Cherry Lane / Season’s Greetings From Cherry Lane (2023/2024) – Hallmark +

There are actually four of these Cherry Lane Christmas movies – all are centered on the same house is different eras. Omnipresent Jonathan Bennett plays opposite Vincent Rodriguez III in two of them.

14) Friends and Family Christmas (2023) – Hallmark+ and others.

This one centers on lesbian friends (Humberly Gonzalez & Ali Liebert) who must pose as a couple for the holidays… and you’ll never guess what happens!

15) A Keller Christmas Vacation (2025) – Hallmark+

This ensemble piece stars (surprise!) Jonathan Bennett as one of three adult siblings who reluctantly join their parents on a Danube river cruise for Christmas, leading to family bonding, unexpected romance, and resolving old issues amidst European Christmas backdrops. The movie focuses more on family dynamics than typical Hallmark romance.

16) The Christmas Baby (2025) – Hallmark+

Hallmark’s singular gay-centric movie of 2025 is set to premiere on December 21st. Ali Liebert and Katherine Barrell play a lesbian couple who find a baby left on their doorstep. This leads them to explore fostering and adoption during the holidays.

Happy Holigays!

March of the Wooden Soldiers: 10 Things You May Not Know About The Classic Film

It’s hard to believe that the Laurel & Hardy holiday classic March of the Wooden Soldiers debuted 91 years ago. Originally released as Babes In Toyland on Nov. 30, 1934, the holiday perennial was based on Victor Herbert’s popular 1903 operetta. The film came out of Hal Roach studios and was co-directed by Gus Meins and Charles Rogers.

Here’s the trailer:

I originally posted this celebration of the film on the 85th Anniversary. Here is an updated and expanded version:

10 Things You May Not Know About March of The Wooden Soldiers

1) In addition to Babes In Toyland, the film was also re-released under several different titles, including Laurel and Hardy in Toyland and Revenge Is Sweet. This was sometimes due to the estate of Victor Herbert withholding rights to the original title. In the book March of the Wooden Soldiers: The Amazing Story of Laurel & Hardy’s Babes In Toyland, Randy Skretvedt writes; “Ella Herbert Bartlett detested the film and didn’t want the name Babes In Toyland to be further besmirched by its association with Laurel and Hardy.”

2) Although the 1934 film includes many of the characters in the original operetta, the plot is almost completely different. Six musical numbers from the original stage score are featured: “Toyland”, “Never Mind Bo-Peep”, “Castle in Spain”, “Go to Sleep (Slumber Deep)” and the instrumental “March of the Toys”. Additionally, an instrumental version of “I Can’t Do The Sum” is used to underscore many scenes.

3) The villainous Silas Barnaby was played by 22-year-old Henry Kleinbach. He later changed his name to Henry Brandon and appeared in over 100 films throughout his 60 year career.

Brandon played essentially the same character as an opera impresario who torments poor, poor Alfalfa in Our Gang Follies of 1938.

20 years later he played Acacious Page in film Auntie Mame.

Another fun fact: Brandon’s partner for the last 25+ years of his life was Mark Herron, who was briefly the 4th husband of Judy Garland.

In 2018, Bill Cassara and Richard S. Greene published Henry Brandon: King Of The Bogeymen.

You can also find out more about Henry Brandon here

4) Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) also filmed at Hal Roach studios. Several of the kids appear as schoolchildren in Toyland, although not dressed in their Our Gang costumes as in this photo atop Mother Peep’s Shoe-house.

Laurel & Hardy introduce Spanky to “pee wees” in this promotional photo shoot.

One of the most popular Our Gang / Little Rascals shorts, Mama’s Little Pirate was filmed the same year and has an extended sequence shot in the caves of Bogeyland. Gus Meins directed both films.

Another Our Gang connection: two graduates of the silent era, Johnny Downs and Jean Darling appear as Little Boy Blue and Curly Locks:

*Johnny Downs and Jean Darling as Little Boy Blue and Curly Locks*

*Queen of Hearts Alice Moore with a couple of Little Rascals.*

5) Felix Knight played romantic lead Tom Tom and fell in love with co-star Alice Moore, who played the Queen of Hearts. They were married the following year.

Behind the scenes, l-r: Alice Moore (Queen Of Hearts) Charley Rodgers (Simple Simon and the film’s co-director), Felix Knight (Tom Tom), Charlotte Henry (Bo-Peep) and Henry Brandon (Barnaby). Note the Three Little Pigs masks and padding hanging in the background.

Knight also appeared with Laurel and Hardy in their 1936 film – The Bohemian Girl:

6) Marie Wilson makes an early film appearance as Mary Quite Contrary. Her later work in film, radio and television (most notably My Friend Irma) garnered her three stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

“NO, I haven’t seen them!” Marie Wilson as Mary Quite Contrary

7) Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? An instrumental version of this song is used to underscore scenes with the Three Little Pigs. However, the song is not from the Babes In Toyland operetta – it was originally featured in the 1933 Disney short Three Little Pigs and has been covered by everyone (surprisingly) from Barbra Streisand to LL Cool J.

8) About those pigs…. Elmer, the kidnapped pig was played by a little person – 2′ 11″ Angelo Rossito. He appeared in 70 films spanning from the silent film era to his role as “The Master” in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985).

*Angelo Rossitto in* Freaks (1932) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome *(1985)*

The two other pigs were played by child actors:

Payne B. Johnson has said that he was cast as Jiggs because, unlike the other children auditioning, he didn’t complain about the heavy mask and padding. Although only four years old, this was his eleventh film credit. He would later appear in a handful of Our Gang shorts, including Our Gang Follies of 1938 with Henry Brandon.

The last surviving major player from the film, Payne B. Johnson passed away at the age of 94 on June 30, 2024.

*Edward Earle Marsh toured as a child prodigy pianist/composer.*

And THIS little piggy…. was a porn star! Willie was played by Edward Earle Marsh, a child prodigy pianist/composer who later performed on Broadway with the stage name Edward Earle. In 1969, he reinvented himself as Zebedy Colt, a gay cabaret singer. He kept the name as he directed and performed in both straight and gay adult films through the 1970’s & 80’s.

Someone needs to write a book about this guy.

9) The film became a broadcast television staple on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day in the early 1960’s. I grew up watching the film on NYC’s WPIX Channel 11, which continues to air the film to this day. In 1990 they switched to the colorized version, and in 2018, due to viewer requests, they began airing restored black and white and colorized versions at different times during the day.

Some may remember a shorter version of the film airing on television years ago. This 73-minute edit was trimmed for theatrical re-release in 1950. Due to the objections of Victor Herbert’s estate mentioned above, the title of the film was changed and the opening sequence shortened to omit “Babes In Toyland” from Mother Goose’s book.

Motion picture censors in 1950 objected to the unmarried Tom Tom and Bo Peep snoozing together at the end of the song “Go to Sleep (Slumber Deep).” The whole sequence was cut.

This edited version of the film had fallen into public domain and was broadcast on television in the 1980’s. Any susequent restored prints or colorized versions of the film run at the original 79 minute length.

If it isn’t broadcast in your area, you can watch the full movie here:

10) Bearing in mind that the source material is the original operetta and not this film, there have been numerous wildly different versions of Babes In Toyland:

Between 1950 and 1960, there were three television productions broadcast during Christmas seasons, including one featuring Barbara Cook and Dennis Day in 1955.

Walt Disney’s Technicolor™ 1961 film version starred Annette Funicello and Ray Bolger.

A 1986 made-for-television version featured Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves and “a royal legion of tacky trolls” with only two songs from the Victor Herbert score, a new plot, and new songs by Leslie Bricusse.

Click the link to see the full movie on Youtube:

An 1997 animated film version, with a new plot and only one of the original songs, featured the voices of Christopher Plummer and Lacey Chabert.

These other versions come and go, but none feature Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee… a gay wedding… nightmare-inducing pig masks … a monkey inside a knockoff Mickey Mouse costume… or carpet-clad Bogeymen with visible zippers and padding.

Join me in wishing a happy 91st birthday to a Hollywood holiday classic!

For more information, I highly recommend the book March of the Wooden Soldiers: The Amazing Story of Laurel & Hardy’s Babes In Toyland by Randy Skretvedt.

Good Time Sallies and Madame Spivy Radio

Madame Spivy is having quite a renaissance in 2025, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Ana Matronic and her newly launched Good Time Sallies podcast. As previously mentioned, Madame Spivy is the subject of the first two episodes. I joined Ms. Matronic to discuss the dynamic lady of song, stage and screen. You can find those here.

The subject of episodes #3 & 4 is singer/nightclub owner Ada “Bricktop” Smith, who we covered briefly in our post about Neeka Shaw, The Forgotten Showgirl.

And if that’s not enough for you… Ms. Matronic has created Good Time Sallies: Radio Spivy on Mixcloud, so you can hear many of the songs discussed on the podcast. Besides a generous serving of Madame Spivy’s stylings, you can also hear recordings by Spivy’s friends, influences and artists who appeared at Spivy’s Roof. Included on the playlist are Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Liberace, Martha Raye, Thelma Carpenter, Rae Bourbon, The Three Flames, Bea Lillie and many more!

Click here for Radio Spivy and hear some fine examples of classic diseuse delivering sophisticated songs.

From the website:
Good Time Sallies tells the stories of impactful people who have been left in the shadows as footnotes or minor characters in somebody else’s story, but each of whom made waves, broke molds, and dared to live life as they pleased.

With every episode, Ana Matronic centers these remarkable people and shares their inspiration with the world. From people of letters to ladies of leisure, from bawdy babes and badass boozehounds to Queens on the scene to queens of the obscene, this vibrant historical podcast is all about celebrating the Good Time Sally in us all who is here to take a shot and make her mark.

As you already know, Spivy is one of our favorite subjects here on the blog. Be sure to check out the latest post, which covers her film and television appearances.

Madame Spivy on the Good Time Sallies Podcast

I have been an admirer of Ana Matronic since the days when her band, Scissor Sisters was a local group playing around my East Village neighborhood. Her presence, her voice, her connection with the audience as “Mistress of Ceremonies” were a major factor in why I went on to see the band perform live 20 times before their hiatus in 2012. There’s an unconfirmed rumor that I have the band logo tattooed on my ankle.

*With Ms. Matronic at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove, Fire Island (7/2024)*

I have enjoyed Ms. Matronic’s various endeavors in the intervening years, which includes her DJ work from the BBC to Fire Island and her 2015 book Robot Universe: Legendary Automatons and Androids from the Ancient World to the Distant Future.

I couldn’t imagine a Scissor Sisters reunion without her. When a UK tour was announced late last year, Ms. Matronic issued a statement explaining why she would not be taking part, teasing an upcoming podcast series that prevented her from participating.

As someone who embraces my own inner Nerd, I was fully on board with her choice to focus on her current passion project. What I did not know at the time was that I would get to be a part of this next chapter.

And now it is time for the big reveal: Good Time Sallies is here!

Click here to have a listen to both episodes the Spivy Story.

https://embed.acast.com/$/67c5ca6cb48a8f157c1ae0b6/queen-of-clubs-part-1?

Photos: Krys Fox @krysfoxphoto

Of course, telling the stories of notable people who have been left in the shadows is one of the reasons this blog exists. On the first two episodes of Good Time Sallies, I join Ms. Matronic to reintroduce that dynamic lady of song, stage and screen, Madame Spivy LeVoe. As you already know, Spivy is one of our favorite subjects here on the blog. Be sure to check out the latest post, which covers her film and television appearances.

I hope you enjoy the podcast as much as I did recording it. Thanks again to Ms. Matronic and Lucy Winter for inviting me to take part.

Also: Click here for Radio Spivy on Mixcloud and hear some fine examples of classic diseuse delivering sophisticated songs.

Madame Spivy: Movies & Television

Ladies and Gentleman, it is time once again to revisit that dynamic lady of song, stage and screen, Madame Spivy LeVoe (1906-1971), also known simply as Spivy. While previous posts have focused on specific songs recorded by the lesbian entertainer, nightclub owner, and character actress, this time around we have an overview of her work in film and television from 1959-1967.

“The Roof is closed – gone forever, and my heart is broken.” Spivy wrote to a friend in August, 1951 after her nightclub had shuttered. The once popular top floor venue at 139 East 57th street had fallen into decline after a decade as one of the top Manhattan night spots. The demise of Spivy’s Roof was in part due to Spivy’s increasing stage fright, which in turn escalated her drinking. The combination often prevented her from delivering the two scheduled nightly performances audiences expected. Paul Lynde would later discuss this on The Tonight Show in 1976.

Spivy spent the next 6 years performing throughout Europe, where she opened and closed clubs in Paris and Rome. In London she appeared at the prestigious Café de Paris. These ventures eventually proved unsuccessful and she landed back in New York by 1957. An engagement at the Blue Angel would be her final New York City cabaret run.

Spivy explained her inability to conquer the fear of nightclub audiences. “I have tried everything but psychiatry – even hypnosis – but I couldn’t lick it.

“Funny thing, I have absolutely no stage fright in front of a camera, no matter how many people are on the set. So I guess this is what I’ll be doing from now on.”

It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to piece together that her insecurities performing in front of a live nightclub audience proved insurmountable as her popularity waned. She had entertained audiences since the 1920’s, but 30 years later her style of sophisticated songs had become a relic of a bygone era. Acting roles in front of a camera proved to be a less vulnerable alternative.

Charlie Chaplin reportedly sought to have Spivy play a character based on Elsa Maxwell in his 1957 film A King In New York. Newspaper columns at the time reported that the production company was unable to secure a work permit for her to travel to the UK for filming.

Her first film was The Fugitive Kind in a scene with Marlon Brando and Joanne Woodward, which was not a bad place to start.

*“You come back alone some time, ya hear?” Spivy with Marlon Brando and Joanne Woodward in* The Fugitive Kind. (1959)

This led to her being cast in the most memorable television role of her career opposite Robert Morley in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled “Specialty of the House.” Spivy plays “Spirro,” the piano-playing proprietress of an exclusive restaurant with a dubious main course.

*“Bourbon breeds togetherness…” Flo (Spivy) tips off Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens). (1960)*

There is a sameness to the majority of Spivy’s film and television acting roles. She’s typically the barkeep or bouncer at a downstairs dive bar in a sketchy part of town. She usually has just one scene where she kicks someone out of the bar, or delivers a key piece of information to move the plot along. Or both. She is always smoking. She may be shady or morally ambiguous, but mostly she just don’t want no trouble, ya hear?

*“Have you lost your feeble mind? He’s still got his baby teeth!” Spivy with Brandon DeWilde & Evans Evans in* All Fall Down *(1962).*

Spivy’s most significant film role was as Ma Greeny in 1962’s Requiem For A Heavyweight with Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason. Her tough, androgynous mob boss made an indelible impression on viewers.

“Take a good look in the mirror and then say goodbye to what you see.”

*Spivy as The Axe Lady,* The Wild Wild West (1966)

One of Spivy’s atypical performances was a 1966 appearance on The Wild Wild West with Robert Conrad. Spivy plays The Axe Lady, a member of a serial killer tribunal who meets her demise at dinner with a steak knife in the back.

*Spivy as Tatama with William Smith as her son Catoga in the* Daniel Boone *episode “A Matter Of Blood.” (1967)*

Spivy’s final television role was her biggest since Alfred Hitchcock Presents: a 1967 Daniel Boone episode in which she plays Tatama, an Indian tribe elder. As with the rest of the actors playing indigenous characters at the time, the brown-face makeup doesn’t age well, but she delivers a good performance, in my humble opinion.

Spivy was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1960’s, eventually moving into a series of hospitals and nursing homes that she kept getting kicked out of. Angry and bitter at her waning independence, she would lash out at staff. Her old friend Patsy Kelley arranged to have her placed at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California where she died on January 8, 1971, aged 64. She is interred at Valhalla Memorial Park in West Hollywood.

Dusting Off The Holiday Favorites (2024)

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

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 #1 on 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.

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

In keeping with this revisit, my other blog posts of Christmas past are back to haunt you like A Christmas Carol, Mr. Scrooge:

Last year I posted Your Guide To Gay Disposable Holiday Movies, highlighting the 10 gayest Lifetime/Hallmark/Netflix movies of the past few years:

Copyright issues kept my 60 Degrees Girl Group Christmas playlists out of commission but now they are back! They have been running each week on the resurrected East Village Radio all month. Click here for streaming:
12/1/2024 – from 2008
12/8/2024 – from 2009
12/15/2024 – from 2012

And here’s a new one:

There’s a new Motown Christmas Special this year that has already aired in prime time several times 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? This year I was able to update my 2019 post, identifying Daisy Bufford as the actress who played the unbilled role.

The original version of “¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?” is featured in “Llamacita,” this year’s 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?

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 17 hours of holiday tunes. I recommend listening on shuffle – there’s something to irritate everyone. Enjoy!

The Boys In The Band Press Book (1970)

Whenever I see posts on social media that mention the 1970 film The Boys In The Band, there are always strongly opposing viewpoints. Whether you love or hate the film, everyone can agree that it is a cultural touchstone. Like the Stonewall uprising itself, The Boys In The Band serves as a landmark, with every other gay-themed film described as either preceding or following it.

I recently acquired the original press book for the film, which you can see below. Also included is the Playbill from the original West End production with the same cast as well as some revealing photos of “Cowboy” Robert La Tourneaux. During the New York run of the play, he was photographed in and out of clothes by Jack Mitchell for After Dark magazine. Years later, La Tourneaux would appear in photo layouts for Mandate, Honcho, and Zeus, which were the names of gay publications and not a queer law firm.

The Boys In The Band poster (l-r) Leonard Frey, Robert La Tourneaux (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Madame Spivy: Why Don’t You?

Ladies and Gentleman, it is time once again to revisit that late great dynamic 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 Carl Van Vechten (1932)*

In case you missed them, here are the previous Madame Spivy posts:
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
Madame Spivy: Movies & Television
Madame Spivy on the Good Time Sallies Podcast

“Why Don’t You?” is the fifth side profiled here from her 1939 album Seven Gay Sophisticated Songs. Spivy is credited with composing the music, with lyrics by Everett Marcy, who also penned “I Brought Culture to Buffalo In The 90’s”.

Marcy had a few Broadway writing credits including New Faces of 1936. It was Marcy who wrote the oft-repeated line introduced in the show by Imogene Coca: “I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.”

The song “Why Don’t You?” refers to Diana Vreeland’s column of the same name in Harper’s Bazaar magazine. It was full of random “imaginative” suggestions such as “Why don’t you wash your blond child’s hair in dead champagne, as they do in France?”

Some of the notables of the day that are referenced in the song:

Vera Zorina – a ballerina, actress, and the second wife of George Balanchine.

Cecil Beaton – photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer, and an Oscar-winning costume designer.

Elsa Maxwell – a gossip columnist, radio personality, and professional hostess renowned for her high society parties.

“The Zerbes and Bebees” refers to the original paparazzi photographer Jerome Zerbe (1904-88) and syndicated society columnist Lucius Beebe (1902-1966). The two were a couple through the 1930’s.

Peggy Hopkins Joyce – an actress and socialite, notorious for her flamboyant lifestyle with numerous affairs, engagements and six marriages.

Clifton Webb – a character actor best known for his thinly veiled “sissy” supporting roles.

Why Don’t You?

Today when all the headlines full of red lines and bread lines confuse you
And the world seems bleak, don’t be blue.
In Harper’s they have a column, very smart and very solemn that will amuse you.
It asks you little questions to give you smart suggestions how you, too can reek with chic
like the most ultra-clique, and they call it “Why Don’t You?” It asks you…

Why don’t you have your ermine muff wired for sound and use it weekends as a concertina?
Why don’t you give a charity ball for the Princeton Club and raffle off Vera Zorina?

Why don’t you throw your mother an occasional bone?
Why don’t you try sleeping alone?
Why don’t you take the pretty blue check you won at bridge and kite it?
Why don’t you dip your head in brandy and light it?

Why don’t you try wearing gold sandals backwards just for the sheer agony of it?
Why don’t you send last year’s negligée to Cecil Beaton? He’d love it.
So they want you to try decorating your flat with bundles of hay…
Well they know what they can do with Harper’s, why don’t they?

Why don’t you try going to Elsa Maxwell’s parties as yourself for a change?
Why don’t you try wearing a hat that won’t make your husband look strange?
Why don’t you develop a bright smile by putting an electric bulb behind each tooth?
Why don’t you give a testimonial dinner for Hitler in a telephone booth?

Why don’t you get out of town before you come down with a compound case of heebie jeebies?
Why don’t you listen to the birds and bees instead of the Zerbes and Bebees?
So they want you to roll up your rugs and cover your floors with broccoli on the first warm day.
Well they know what they can do with Vogue too…. Why don’t they?

Why don’t you have a stag line composed of the ex-husbands of Peggy Hopkins Joyce?
Why don’t you cross breed carrier pigeons with parrots so they can deliver messages by voice?
Why don’t you try throwing Clifton Webb over your left shoulder and making a wish?
Why don’t you fill your guest’s finger bowls with invisible tropical fish?

Why don’t you try opening your eyes in the middle of a kiss?
Why don’t you cancel your subscriptions to magazines like this?
Why don’t you tear everything off your hat and stamp on it?
Why don’t you take out a homestead in Montana and go “camp” on it?

So they want you to promise to slap your own face two hundred times a day?
Well tell them you’ll have none of it.
Tell them you’re through with their “Things To Do” and they can all take their Harper’s and… love it.

Truman Capote in Mandate (1985)

Truman Capote is the subject of this article from the February, 1986 Mandate magazine. The piece was written by Boze Hadleigh just over a year after Capote's death.

Continuing with our theme from the last post, Truman Capote is the subject of this article from the February, 1985 issue of Mandate magazine. The piece was written by Boze Hadleigh just 6 months after Capote’s death.

The infamous book jacket photo of Truman Capote from Other Voices, Other Rooms. One critic commented, “He looks as if he were dreamily contemplating some outrage against conventional morality.” (1948)

Category: Hollywood