LGBTQIA+ History – Page 4 – Brian Ferrari's Blog

Artist’s Muse: William Weslow

Hard to believe but it has been a year since the last Artist’s Muse profile – these are men who inspired and were subjects of 20th Century painters, photographers, and other artists. It was last January that we cast the spotlight on Jose “Pete” Martinez. Chuck Howard was profiled in September, 2022 and is currently being featured in George Platt Lynes photographs on exhibition at Childs Gallery in Boston. If you read our post and then take a look at their press release, you might surmise the primary source of their biographical material.

Our latest Artist’s Muse is William Weslow, a ballet dancer with an extraordinarily long career who was also a Broadway performer, artist, and masseur. He posed for George Platt Lynes’ camera during their brief relationship, and was later involved with choreographer Jerome Robbins. He posed nude for dance photographer Kenn Duncan when he was in his 50’s, looking as fit as in photos from 25 years earlier.

William Edward Weslow was born on March 20, 1925 in Seattle, Washington. His mother had been a Ziegfeld dancer, and he soon followed her lead. As a teen, Weslow studied with famed dance instructor Mary Ann Wells. His 1943 draft registration card lists him as a student at Broadway High School in Seattle. Later that year, he joined the Navy Coast Guard and was stationed in the Alaska.

*Annie Get Your Gun (1946) Ethel Merman with Weslow on the right (Photo: Eileen Darby)*

After his stint in the Navy, Weslow headed to New York to continue his ballet study. He joined the Ballet Theatre, but soon turned his attention to the Broadway stage. He was in the original Broadway casts of two Ethel Merman vehicles: Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam, the latter choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Besides touring companies, he also appeared on Broadway in the original casts of The Girl In Pink Tights and Wonderful Town with Rosalind Russell.

*Weslow photographed by George Platt Lynes (1951)*

It was around 1951 that Weslow had his brief relationship with photographer George Platt Lynes. The affair was so fleeting that it did not garner a mention in Allen Ellenzweig’s recent Lynes biography. In David Leddick’s Intimate Companions, it is summed up in a single anecdote:

Dancer William Weslow, who had a transitory but more serious than usual romance with George Platt Lynes in the early 1950’s, evidently treated the photographer to the kind of temperament Platt Lynes had displayed to his admirers in the past. Dining at Platt Lynes’s apartment before a performance, Weslow had requested a steak because of the demanding dancing that was to be done that evening. Instead, Platt Lynes served him an elaborate veal dish, which the young dancer flung against the wall before leaving in search of a steak.

Lynes’s photographs of Weslow are also rare, due in part to the paper negative process that the photographer was experimenting with at the time. This cost-cutting technique gave the photos a quality that have been described as either “ethereal” or “muddy.”

When he wasn’t on stage, Weslow enjoyed painting and sketching, with an affinity for exotic birds, both real and imagined. His work garnered several gallery showings through the years.

Buffalo Courier Express (4/1/51) & New York Post Star (7/9/71)

New York Daily News (1/1/54) & (11/6/54)

*Weslow* *was a soloist at Radio City Music Hall, New York Daily News (6/20/56)*

In 1955, he originated the role of Levi Stolzfuss in the Amish musical Plain and Fancy. After nearly 10 years in musicals, he felt the need for a change. When the show closed the following year, he rejoined the Ballet Theatre for a brief stint before settling in at the New York City Ballet for the rest of his dance career.

Like his relationship with Lynes, Weslow’s dalliance with choreographer Jerome Robbins was so fleeting that most biographers fail to mention it. It is worth noting as it caused friction between the two while they continued to work together. Weslow is not alone in saying that Robbins could be vindictive, manipulating his dancers because of personal grudges, often pitting them against each other.

Weslow also caught the eye of New York City Ballet Director Lincoln Kirstein. He rebuffed his advances, stating “I don’t find you attractive, Mr. Kirstein.” “Who asked you to find me attractive?” Kirstein snapped, “I was just asking you to come over to the house for a few drinks and stay over.”

Later, the two had a chance meeting at a gay bathhouse. Weslow greeted him loudly with “Why Lincoln, hello! Come here often?” The married Kirstein did not respond and left the establishment.

*1963: Weslow & Suki Schorer in Variations from Don Sebastian (photo: Martha Swope)*

*1964: Weslow & Sara Leland in La Valse (photo: Martha Swope)*

1964: William Weslow & Carol Sumner are the dancers in the first of 4 Temperaments – NYCB filmed for Canadian Television

*1965: New York City Ballet rehearsal for Don Quixote (l-r) Nicholas Magallanes, George Balanchine, Richard Rapp, Jillana, William Weslow (photo: Martha Swope)*

Camden Courier Post, New Jersey (3/8/66)

*1966: Weslow & Marnee Morris in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (photo: Martha Swope)*

*1967: Weslow & Leslie Ruchala in Don Quixote (photo: Martha Swope)*

In the mid 1960’s, Weslow began cultivating a side career as a masseur, working on fellow ballet dancers including Alicia Alonso and Edward Villella, who credited Weslow’s massages with extending his career by several years. Weslow makes a brief appearance as his masseur in the 1968 documentary Man Who Dances: Edward Villella.

In 1972, Weslow was dismissed from the New York City Ballet. He was 47 years-old and had been with the company for 14 years. In the book I Remember Balanchine, he recounts Balanchine telling him, “You’re too old. You have to leave company. We only want young, pretty dancers here. Old dancers – you see, when they get old they should just go away and die. This is what they should do, die. Because you’re not pretty. No youth… Besides, dear, you’re not going to commit suicide, are you?”

He replied; “To please you, no, I wouldn’t, Mr. Balanchine.”

“And that was that,” Weslow writes; “He didn’t say ‘You have been a good dancer’ or anything. It was just ‘Go away. Go away.’ I was close to tears. It was a terrible blow because I adored the company.”

Weslow’s massage work helped him to keep a connection to the dance world while easing into the next phase of his life, as he became known as “masseur to the stars.”

*1976: Weslow was 51 years old when he was photographed by Kenn Duncan*

*When former ballet dancer Anne Byrne (aka Mrs. Dustin Hoffman) was profiled in the New York Daily News, her masseur William Weslow was there to lend a hand or two. (1/22/78)*

When interviewed later in life, a reporter recalled “He seemed to love Maria Tallchief and had a poster of her on the wall. He also had kind words for Allegra Kent. He could be quite sarcastic, compassionate, cranky and deeply moving remembering certain people and other things.”

Allegra Kent called him “the funniest comedian ever” while also noting his empathy for others. He could also be quite brutal in his assessment of those he had worked with. Of Kirstein he said, “There was cruelty in Lincoln.” Jerome Robbins, he told a biographer “should have been cut up in small pieces and burned in a microwave somewhere because he was so horrible to me.”

While photographing male nudes for his 2011 book Shades of Love, photographer Demitris Yeros recounts how a naked octogenarian William Weslow would repeatedly interrupt the photo shoot, arms waving to chase the pigeons from his veranda.

William Weslow passed away at age 87 on January 29, 2013 in New York City. He was remembered in a Dance Magazine article as “A flamboyant personality with a sassy comeback for any remark directed his way…. (he) was as colorful off stage as on.”

Gay Porn Stars We Lost in 2023

In August of 2020, porn star Koldo Goran tweeted about three fellow performers who had recently died. Goran’s tweet was the only public notice that one of them, Dani Rivera, had been murdered. “I realize nobody talks about it, we are unprotected and forgotten;” Goran tweeted “We are humans, people, enough of contempt.”

Most gay news outlets choose to ignore the passing of all but the biggest names in the adult film industry. Porn companies also seem reluctant to broadcast the death of a performer who is still on their roster, forever young and willing in their website content. An obit is a real boner killer, ya know? Why jeopardize the profit margin?

Additionally, performers who abandon their porn personas and return to life under their real names often pass away unnoticed by former employers and scene partners.

This year’s list contains no people of color. Why? Is it that none have passed on or that they haven’t been reported yet? For this reason – and due to continued interest from fans – there are ongoing updates to the lists of porn star passings in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

We remember those that were lost in 2023 to prove Koldo Goran wrong – they have not been forgotten.

1) Ed Fury was not a gay porn star per se, but he was as close as the 1950’s would allow. The bodybuilder began his career posing nude for photographers Bob Mizer and Bruce of LA and appearing in posing strap film loops for AMG and Apollo studios. While his photos graced the covers of many physique magazines, major Hollywood film roles remained elusive. Most of his film and television appearances in the 1950’s were uncredited bit parts.

It was in the Italian “sword and sandal” films of the 1960’s that he found his greatest mainstream success, starring in Colossus And The Amazon Queen and as the title character in three Ursus films, among others. Back in the US, he continued to work primarily on television until his retirement in the late 1970’s.

Fury passed away at age 94 on February 24, 2023.

2) Johnny Harden, aka Johnny Hardin aka Gene Carrier was born in Bellevue, Washington on January 30, 1956. He appeared in both gay and straight adult films from 1977-1984, although it was his work as a print model that best displayed his charms. He modeled for Colt and Falcon and appeared in Playgirl and most of the gay publications of the day. After a rumor circulated that he died in a car crash, he resurfaced as a fashion and catalogue model.

In his later years, he was a professional poker player under the names Gene O’Leary or Howard Oleary. Harden died of “accidental cocaine toxicity” in Los Angeles at age 67 on February 27, 2023. For more of his story, check out the Boyculture Substack.

3) Pike Young, aka Sean Hensley was 29 years old when he passed away on February 25, 2023 in Florida. In 2013, the North Carolina native appeared in a half dozen scenes as “Sean” for FratX and also worked for BaitBus, Reality Kings and Pride Studios.

4) Eric Manchester, aka Ronald Liter was one of the top names in gay porn during the second half of the 1980’s. He was featured in dozens of films for the top studios of the day: Falcon, Vivid, HIS, Catalina and others. He appeared in Head of the Class and John Travis’s Powerline, both profiled here.

The Boyculture blog recently noted that Manchester passed away in San Francisco at age 58 on March 12, 2023. He was interred in his native Oklahoma.

5) Kaden Porter and his brother Kyle were identical twins from Kansas who began filming scenes at Broke Straight Boys when they were 19 years old. Kaden’s distinctive chest tattoo helped to differentiate the two. Although Kyle seemed to be more comfortable on camera, it was Kayden who appeared in more scenes, logging over a dozen titles from 2015-2017. Kayden later became a holistic health consultant, according to his online profile. He was living in Austin, Texas when he passed away at 27 years old on March 24, 2023.

6) Derek Sketer was also known as Derek Sky at Gay Castings, Paul at Sean Cody, and James at Corbin Fisher. He was born September 10, 1990 in Houston, Texas and made his first Sean Cody appearance in 2011. He filmed a dozen scenes over the next four years, also working for Gayroom and Man Royale. In October, 2025 the Men Of Porn blog posted that he passed away in March, 2023 at age 32.

7) Trevor Laster, aka Ethan Ewers passed away at age 31 on March 30, 2023. Photographer James Franklin posted on Twitter: “My dear sweet friend @thetrevorlaster committed suicide yesterday in Eugene, Oregon. His family is devastated. ” Trevor started doing porn at Helix Studios in 2010. Over the next 12 years, he worked for Raging Stallion, Broke Straight Boys, Chaos Men, Kink, Next Door Studios, Southern Strokes, Men and others. In 2019 he shifted his focus to more fan-based platforms like Onlyfans while still making occasional studio appearances.

Laster was passionate about fitness and worked as a personal trainer. He also garnered modeling work with brands like Andrew Christian and photographers Michael Stokes and James Franklin.

8) Marco Blaze, aka Juan Jose Garay was born in Argentina on June 10th, 1982. He was a performer on cruise ships before venturing into gay adult films in 2008. Appearances in titles for Kristen Bjorn, Cazzo, Alphamale, and several other studios led to an exclusive with Titan Media, where he was one of their most popular models in a dozen films from 2009-2014.

Social media posts announced his overdose at his home in Buenos Aires on April 6, 2023 after struggling with addiction for several years. He was 40 years old.

9) David Hurles first appeared in Guild Press gay porn magazines of the late 1960’s before moving behind the camera at the company. He went on to create Old Reliable Studios, an iconic record of “rough trade” through the 1970’s & 80’s. Originally from Cincinnati, Hurles made his way to California, where AMG’s Bob Mizer became his mentor. While Mizer focused on the more conventional prototype of beefcake, Hurles, as the Boyculture blog pointed out “fetishized the masculine and dangerous aspects… His work is identifiable from a mile away, a collection of seedy, weedy men who looked like they arrived for their shoots fresh from prison — or on their way there.”

Although the studio was very lucrative at the time, mismanagement and internet services were its downfall, and Hurles fell upon hard times. In 2008, he was permanently disabled by a stroke just as his back catalogue was getting rediscovered.

In 2010, a glossy book highlighting the best of Old Reliable was published. Outcast: David Hurles Old Reliable In Living Color featured Hurles’ best photography. A gallery showing of his photos was curated by his friend Dian Hansen and John Waters at New York City’s Marianne Boesky Gallery. The following year, Hurles was one of the subjects of John Waters’ book Role Models. He was reportedly delighted by the belated appreciation of his work.

After years of failing health, Hurles died in a California nursing home on April 11, 2023, aged 78.

Factory Video owner Scott Morris sometimes took a turn in front of the camera, including a scene from Scent Of A Fetish with Sam Ritter (aka Stephen Geoffreys).

10) Scott Morris, aka Robert Todd Fulton was a founder and sometime performer at Factory Video. He passed away on April 14, 2023 in his Cathedral City, CA home after a year long-battle with cancer of the tongue, head, and neck. He was 68 years old.

In 1998, Morris founded San Francisco Fetish Factory, an online fetish wear website that prompted an expansion into a gay male adult video company, Factory Video Productions, in the early 2000’s.

His work as an activist dated back to his teen years in post-Stonewall New York. Morris continued his work as a gay community activist, DJ and promoter in NY, Ft. Lauderdale, LA, Palm Springs and San Francisco. He was survived by his partner of 31 years, Gordon Fulton (aka Gord Reece).

11) Casey Tanner, aka Slade passed away on April 15, 2023 in San Diego at the age of 28. His partner confirmed that Casey had been suffering from health problems for years. His organs began failing after he contracted pneumonia a month prior. Originally from Ohio, he worked with Helix Studios between 2013-2016 before retiring from the adult industry and moving to San Diego with his partner around 2017.

Helix model Liam Riley posted on social media: “Casey Tanner was my best friend. He was one of the funniest, sweetest, caring humans. He was sweet enough to help me move all the way across the country — if that says anything for the person he was. He was always down for an adventure! I hope he knows he was loved by so many people. Thank you for being there when I needed you. I’ll keep a piece of this friendship with me for life. Fly high.”

12) Kyle Ross, aka Aaron Cumbey was 29 years old when he died in a single car accident in Florida on April 24, 2023. The tragic series of events preceding his death played out on social media.

One of the biggest stars at Helix, the Texas native won many awards and appeared in over 100 scenes before retiring in 2020. He then worked behind the scenes at Helix until earlier this year.

13) The porn world was shocked by the brutal murder of 52-year-old William Futral, owner of The Guy Site. Model Ludvig (aka Richard Lam) was arrested and charged with the murder several days later. Lam and Futral had been living together for several months. They reportedly had an extremely volatile relationship that began after Lam started working for The Guy Site in 2020.

Just for Fans owner Dominic Ford posted on social media, “I am absolutely gutted to hear of the murder of Bill… one of the kindest, gentlest people in our industry. He was always humble, appreciative, and soft-spoken. I’ve known him for 13 years. There was never a nicer man.”

None of the news stories have carried a single photo of the victim, choosing instead to focus on the muscular (alleged) assailant. The Guy Site is now shuttered.

14) Bryan Knight, the 6’6″ 300lb “gentle giant” died of a heart attack in his sleep on September 3, 2023. He was 39 years old. Although he had a complete physical two weeks before, his family had a history of heart ailments and his enlarged heart went undetected, according to Snake, his partner of 20 years.

Robby Lewis of Luxxxe Studios shared the news online a few days later: “Adult film actor and generally good human being Bryan Knight went to bed on Sunday, September 3rd and did not wake up. Everyone at Luxxxe Studios is saddened by this loss, especially JD Daniels, who was a close personal friend of Bryan’s.”

Knight began his adult film career in 2012 with Bear Films. He worked with various studios over the next decade, including Maverick Men, Pride Studios, Nasty Daddy, and RawFuckClub.

Knight was also a talented comic book artist. In The Velvet Collar, he drew on real-life experiences to create something that celebrated him and the people he loved in the adult film world.

15) Jason Nikas was 51 years old when he died on September 19, 2023 in Las Vegas after a long battle with cancer. The Arcadia, California native performed in gay and bi films under many different names – Johnny Guetar and Jason Wikes were just two of them. In trans roles, he was Ann Drogeny (get it?). For his work behind the scenes in porn productions, he used his real name: Patryk Strait, believe it or not. Nikas racked up more than 120 titles between 1992 and 2012.

Every once in a while there’s a performer whose face betrays them with glimpses of underlying… what? Sorrow? Pain? Something that reveals the scars of a life that has led them to sex work. Their time in the biz is usually short. The first time I ever remember seeing this was in the early 90’s with Jason Nikas. There was something in his facial expressions that evoked the word “shattered.” But unlike others, he stuck around for nearly two decades, going through the motions in scene after scene, never elevating any of them beyond the B-grade companies he worked for, which included Vivid, Leisure Time, and Robert Prion’s Galaxy Studios. Mickey Skee’s tribute to his friend and coworker gives a more well-rounded picture of someone who seems to have had a happier life than the one he exuded on screen.

16) Shane Erickson, aka Eric Anthony Crew was 38 years old when he died on September 26, 2023. His boyfriend Michael posted on a GoFundMe page “after searching for him for two days I finally found him… unresponsive and long beyond aid on the floor of a hotel room… I don’t even know what to say, he had been struggling for a long time with demons from his past. I did everything I could to be there for him and I couldn’t save him…”

The San Diego native made his first film appearance in 2005 and over the next 8 years worked for Falcon, Jet Set, College Dudes, Next Door, Kink, SX and other outlets.

17) Hank Hightower was mainstream gay porn’s quintessential leather bear in the 1990’s. The versatile performer made his debut in 1993 and worked with Stallion, Rawhide, Catalina, Vivid, Zeus, Brush Creek, Jet Set and other studios over a 15 year period.

His friend Jeff Yarbrough announced on Facebook: “Henry Robert Hightower passed away today, Nov. 1, 2023, at 3:30am. As per his wishes, he died at home surrounded by his two pups. He passed peacefully.” The California native was 57 years old and had been battling cancer.

18) Colt Man Luke Garrett, (aka Steve Rudig) passed away on November 4th, 2023 “after a difficult year of numerous illnesses,” according to his obituary. The Visalia, California native was 53 years old. During his years as a Colt model, his boyfriend was fellow performer Gage Weston. Although his film career was short – just three years with less than 10 films to his credit – Garrett made a lasting impression on fans. His status as an iconic Colt model kept them hoping that he would return to the business one day.

Dusting Off The Holiday Favorites (2023)

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-synching 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 #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.

*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.

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

Last week 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 playlist out of commission but now it’s back! I plan to post other episodes of my old radio show in the new year.

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?

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 17 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.

The Lost Madonna ’80s Megamix Video

Back in the dinosaur days of VHS tapes, there were various companies that offered music video subscription services to commercial businesses. Every month a new videocassette with the latest music videos would arrive in the mail, just for viewing in their establishment. These tapes were not for sale to the general public.

One of the most popular companies in the U.S. and Canada was Telegenics, a New York-based operation that produced monthly tapes over an 11 year span, from 1983-1994. They offered a variety of music styles to choose from: Top 40, Progressive, Urban, and Pop Rock with some occasional specialty releases of 12″ Remix, Dance Classics, and Christmas, to name a few.

In the late 1990’s I used to buy these tapes in second hand stores and then later on eBay. In the days before YouTube, this was often the only way to see music videos that didn’t get airplay on MTV or VH1. I had my NYC public access show Bri-Guy’s Media Surf at that time and would air obscure music videos from artist like Kirsty MacColl, Alison Moyet and others that the music video channels paid little attention to.

But the Madonna MegaMix was something else: A 7-song, 11 minute remix of hits up to the summer of 1988 when it was released. The medley features “La Isla Bonita,” “Who’s That Girl,” “Open Your Heart,” “Into The Groove,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Where’s The Party,” and “Dress You Up.”

“Where’s The Party” is of particular interest, as there was never a music video for this album track, but one is created here using clips from many of Madonna’s other music videos.

I aired the video on Media Surf a couple of times during the show’s 10-year run. In 2012, I digitized the clip and uploaded it to YouTube to share. It was immediately flagged for copyright infringement and blocked from viewing worldwide. Although it was not visible to the public, I left it uploaded to my channel and promptly did nothing with it for 11 years.

And now, as Madge has come around and is embracing her legacy with a 40th anniversary tour, YouTube (or Warner Music, or the lady herself) have decided to allow for such things to be viewed by the general public. Enjoy it while you can! It may be gone tomorrow.

Kenn Duncan After Dark

Kenn Duncan is widely considered to be one of the foremost dance photographers of the late 20th Century. In addition to his work as principal photographer for After Dark and Dance Magazine, his photos also appeared in Vogue, Time, Life, Newsweek and Harper’s Bazaar. From the mid-1960’s through the early 1980’s, he photographed nearly every major dance company in the world as well as many Broadway shows.

Born in New Jersey on September 22, 1928, Duncan began his career as a figure skater and then segued into dance. His career took another turn when he was sidelined with a broken foot and signed up for a six-week photography course at the local YMCA. Naturally he gravitated back to the dance world for photographic inspiration.

In addition to his dance photography, Duncan was well regarded for his nude photographs, with an emphasis on male subjects. His first two books, Nudes (1970) and More Nudes (1971) were favorably received for his “discreet and artistic arrangements of his subjects.”

After Dark was an edgy entertainment and culture-based magazine that sprang from the waning Ballroom Dance Magazine in 1968. In The Rise And Fall Of Gay Culture, Daniel Harris writes; “One of the strangest reincarnations in journalistic history… it was out of the ashes of a periodical devoted to such topics as waltzes, rumbas, and turkey trots that After Dark, an audacious mass-market experiment in gay eroticism, arose like a phoenix in all of its subversive splendor.”

Although After Dark was not officially a gay magazine, the publishers were certainly willing to cater to that audience, pushing the envelope on male nudity to a degree that is still not seen in mainstream US publications 50 years later.

Richard Thomas (1969)

Sal Mineo (1971)

Duncan photographed Bette Midler numerous times through the years, including three After Dark cover photos and the cover shot for her 1976 Live At Last LP.

Rudolph Nureyev (1971)

Mikhail Baryshnikov

In 1971, Kenn Duncan photographed singer Lou Christie for his Paint America Love LP.

Harvey Evans was photographed in the buff for the October, 1971 cover of After Dark to promote the television adaption of the musical Dames At Sea.

LaBelle (l-r) Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, Patti LaBelle photographed in 1972 shortly before their intergalactic makeover.

Tony award-winning Welsh actor/director Roger Rees in several undated photos.

Brad Davis (1981)

Maxwell Caulfield (1981)

After Dark shuttered in early 1983. The following year, Duncan published The Red Shoes, a photo book featuring celebrities wearing red shoes in a nod to both the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale as well as the ruby slippers of The Wizard of Oz. Among those featured were many familiar subjects of his earlier work, including (pictured below) Brad Davis, Bette Midler, Maxwell Caulfield, Eartha Kitt, Dick Cavett, Mikhail Baryshnikov, John Curry, Richard Thomas, Gregory Hines, and Treat Williams.

Duncan began work on a second Red Shoes book, but it remained unfinished, along with several other projects. He was just 57 years old when he died of AIDS complications at New York Hospital on July 27, 1986. In 2003, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts acquired 600,000 photos from Kenn Duncan’s estate. Many of these photos have been digitized and are now available for viewing online for free.

Provincetown PaJaMa Party

During vacations from the 1930’s through the mid-1950’s, artists Paul Cadmus, Jared French and his wife Margaret Hoening French photographed each other on the beaches of New York’s Fire Island as well as Nantucket and Cape Cod, Massachusettes.

Last summer we focused on their early years on Fire Island. The photos in this post are primarily from Nantucket, Provincetown and other locations on Cape Cod during the summer months of 1946-1948.

Usually nude or donning simple costumes, the artists also used found objects as props to create stark, surreal and/or erotic images. They passed Margaret’s Leica camera around, taking turns as subject and auteur. This collaborative authorship was reflected in the umbrella name they chose for this work, utilizing the first two letters of their first names: PaJaMa.

Years later Cadmus explained, “After we’d been working most of the day, we’d go out late afternoons and take photographs when the light was best. They were just playthings. We would hand out these little photographs when we went to dinner parties, like playing cards.”

The dynamic amongst the trio was complicated: Jared French and Paul Cadmus were lovers – a relationship that continued during his marriage to Margaret. All three lived and worked in a townhouse at 5 St. Lukes Place in Greenwich Village.

The PaJaMa collective expanded in 1945 with the inclusion of Cadmus’ boyfriend, George Tooker, an artist 16 years his junior. Cadmus would later explain “I had Jerry (Jared) in the daytime and George at night.” Although his name was not added to the PaJaMa moniker, Tooker was an active participant in the collective from 1944-49.

George Tooker with Paul Cadmus in Nantucket and Provincetown PaJaMa photos, (1946-48)

A 2015 New York Times review of a PaJaMa exhibition noted that their photos “breathed eroticism.” While some of the hundreds of photos are masterpieces of magical realism, others appear to be figure studies for their painting.

*Tooker, Cadmus & French, Wauwinet, Nantucket (1946)*

As when they vacationed on Fire Island, the collective were joined on Cape Cod by various friends and lovers, fellow artists and writers that were part of their New York social circle.

Dancer/choreographer Todd Bolender was the subject of a series of PaJaMa photos taken in Provincetown (1947)

Museum curator/publisher Monroe Wheeler is seen in 1947 Provincetown photos with French, Tooker & Cadmus. His lifelong partner Glenway Wescott was more prominent in the Fire Island PaJaMa photos of the early 1940’s.

Writer Christopher Isherwood with his then-boyfriend, photographer Bill Caskey, Provincetown (1947)

*Photographer George Platt Lynes (left, wi/ Monroe Wheeler) joined them on Fire Island and later in Provincetown with his own camera.*

*PaJaMa photos are part of this tribute to playwright Tennessee Williams, displayed at Provincetown’s Atlantic House, one of the oldest gay bars in the U.S.*

*Provincetown, 1947 (l-r): George Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler, Paul Cadmus and George Tooker*

On Cape Cod, the collective occasionally experimented with color film, which gave their work a different texture.

The quartet toured Europe in 1949 and by the end of the trip, Tooker had split from Cadmus. He later said “I was looking for a relationship and my relationship with Paul always included Jared and Margaret French.” Tooker would soon find a partner in painter Bill Christopher, with whom he remained until Christopher’s death in 1973.

Back to a trio, the PaJaMa collective would return to Fire Island for their summer getaway in 1950.

*Paul Cadmus & Margaret French, Jenny Lind Tower, North Truro* (1947)

As with George Platt Lynes’ male nude photographs, the PaJaMa photographs did not receive much notice or recognition until the 1990’s. They are now frequently exhibited in galleries and selections are a part of the MOMA collection.

Luke Combs’ Cover Of “Fast Car” Is The Perfect Song For Our Times

In case you missed it, Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song “Fast Car” has been covered by country artist Luke Combs. It has now topped the country charts and has out-performed the pop chart standing of the original. Chapman is now the first female African-American songwriter to have a #1 country song.

Chapman released a statement to Billboard: “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’”

I hate to be a wet blanket on the festivities, but I can’t be the only person that thinks a white male country artist covering this song is a little tone deaf. Especially right now.

I believe Combs’ heart was in the right place when he recorded the song, but in the hands of his listeners – and the country music crowd is overwhelmingly conservative – it becomes another example of how we’re supposed to believe that race and gender do not make a difference as to who gets ahead in the world.

At a time when teaching African-American history is being treated as an act of aggression and the “critical race theory” boogeyman is being used to rile up the right wing mob, a caucasian male country singer covering “Fast Car” makes perfect sense. Because we’re all the same, right? A poor white male and a poor black woman are interchangeable, right? It’s a level playing field. Right?

I do appreciate that Combs is faithful to the original. As a songwriter, he did not want to change a word of Chapman’s song. By the 5th verse, he’s working in the market as a checkout girl. “You’ll get a job and I’ll get promoted…” the lyric goes. Tell me: who is more likely to get that promotion – Chapman’s protagonist or Combs?

“Starting from zero got nothing to prove…” Yes, but “zero” is not the same for everyone. We are all programmed to believe that we live in the land of equal opportunity. If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. If you don’t succeed, well, you just weren’t good enough, or you didn’t try hard enough. But really… we don’t all start in the same place, do we? Most people get a boost in one way or another, whether it’s financial support or nepotism or a legacy admission into a university. Unfortunately, boosts both big and small are often forgotten or underplayed when people recount their path to success.

Dustin Rowles writes on Pajiba.com that he found a strong resonance with “Fast Car” when it was first released back in 1988. I did as well. I was the child of a single parent home – a B student attending a B+ university, dependent on many grants and loans. The song began to climb the charts as I headed home at the end of my freshman year. Unlike many of my classmates, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to take a $50-a-week summer stock job – a rite of passage for theater students. This would be one of those “little boost” moments that many experience and forget about. Instead, I was expected to live at home and work full-time so I could contribute towards my next year of school. This meant returning to a $4.25-an-hour retail spot at Record World, which wasn’t exactly going to make me financially solvent.

Here was my boost: When family members kept forgetting to pick me up from work, my mother bought me my first car. It wasn’t a fast one. The 1982 Plymouth Horizon cost a few hundred dollars and gradually slowed down whenever it got too hot. But it had a cassette player, and Tracy Chapman’s debut record was on heavy rotation that summer.

Rowles writes that he harbored some resentment for the song, which he perceived as predicting that he would not be able to break the cycle of poverty and dysfunction that he had grown up with. I didn’t feel that way. The song effected me deeply, as did her whole album. But I knew that I was better off than the song’s protagonist. I did not have a false equivalence. My previous job had been at a supermarket where I worked with single black women trying to support their kids on minimum wage. I knew they would not have been hired at the record store making that extra .90 cents an hour.

Ultimately, Rowles concludes that “…there is a way out. Unfortunately, it’s not a fast car, which only allows you to outrun your problems for so long. The easiest way to break the cycle is through education.” He concedes that, as a white male, he had a boost: access to an education that minorities often did not.

And now, 35 years later, “Fast Car” is topping the charts in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down a couple of very important boosts: affirmative action in college admissions, and Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The latter should be of concern to people of all persuasions who are staring down a lifetime of loan interest payments. But that is assuming every person has the equal opportunity to be accepted into an institution of higher education. Without affirmative action, that is not the case.

As a high school student in Cleveland, Ohio, Tracy Chapman was accepted into A Better Chance, a non-profit program that placed high-achieving minority students in prep schools. She graduated from Wooster School in Connecticut and went on to attend Tufts University, where she was discovered by fellow student/future filmmaker Brian Koppelman. Koppelman’s father was a record executive and signed her to SBK Publishing, which led to a deal with Elektra Records.

Billboard estimates the recent global publishing royalties of “Fast Car” exceed $500,000. Unlike so many other artists, Chapman still owns both the writers’ and publisher’s share of the song, so that money is hers. Additionally, the success of Combs’ version has brought attention to her original, increasing activity 44% since his version was released, according to Luminate. Her song, in its original form, is speaking to a whole new generation. It just needed a boost.

Madame Spivy: I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night

*Madame Spivy photographed by Carl Van Vechten (1932)*

“This song is dedicated to a friend who suffers terribly from hangovers. It’s very sad and we must be very quiet, please…”

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.”

In case you missed them, these are our 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
Why Don’t You?
Madame Spivy: Movies & Television
Madame Spivy on the Good Time Sallies Podcast

In the Spring/Summer of 2020 with the pandemic in full swing, cabaret performer extraordinaire Justin Vivian Bond was livestreaming weekly shows from The House of Whimsy, aka their home in upstate New York. Imagine my delight when Mx. Viv covered Mme. Spivy’s “I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night” – one of my favorite of her recordings.

*Justin Vivian Bond as Auntie Glam, belting one out in The House Of Whimsy (2020)*

As with “Auntie’s Face“, Spivy uses her familiar spoken intro for “I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night”: A solemn pronouncement that “This is VERY sad and we must be VERY quiet, please.” One can imagine that it was a playful way to get the attention of a noisy nightclub audience.

Spivy wrote the song with John La Touche providing the lyrics. Today, La Touche is best remembered for his Broadway musical The Golden Apple and for his lyrical contributions to Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. He also collaborated with Duke Ellington on the musicals Cabin In The Sky & Beggar’s Holiday.

Spivy and LaTouche met in the mid-1930’s and had a tumultuous lifelong friendship. At one point Spivy paid him fifty dollars a week to supply her with songs. During one falling out in 1938, LaTouche referred to her as his “enemy.” “Poor Spivy,” he wrote, “hysterical, glandular, ugly, charming, and so talented.” After another disagreement later that year, he wrote to her; “I’m sorry; you can hardly afford to lose a staunch friend and neither can I. But both of us are always doing things we can’t afford.”

Of the 15 songs Spivy is known to have recorded, 5 of them were written or co-written by LaTouche: One was a solo credit, two were written with Spivy herself, and two were in collaboration with Goetz Eyck, a German-born musician who would go on to a film career as Peter van Eyck.

One LaTouche composition that Spivy did not preserve on record was a highlight of her live performances: “I’m Going On A Binge With A Dinge.” She often concluded her set with this racy little tune detailing a biracial protagonist going uptown for a tryst. “White people / Don’t be offended … ” the song begins. Other lyrics: “Gonna end up in Harlem / With my end up in Harlem”

Unfortunately, LaTouche’s work for and with Mme. Spivy has generally been forgotten or dismissed. In Howard Pollack’s 2017 biography The Ballad Of John LaTouche, the author spends several pages analyzing the lyrics and structure of these compositions before concluding that “the literary attractions of these songs, heavy on irony, outweigh their musical interests.”

Is that so?

Like Spivy, LaTouche was a heavy drinker, which ultimately led to both of their premature passings. He was just 41 years old when he died of a heart attack at his home in Calais, Vermont in 1956. Spivy was 64 years old when she died in January, 1971.

I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night

Doctor dear, come over with a stretcher – I’ve never in my life felt quite so rotten.
My brain has snapped in two and my face is turning blue,
and everything I eat tastes just like cotton.

Oh yes I did everything you told me – I practically never left my room.
I observed your special diet, had lots of peace and quiet.
So why do I feel like something in Grant’s Tomb?
Lord knows why I don’t feel well – I didn’t do a thing last night.

I had a few friends in to play bridge with me,
And I sipped a little gin, just to keep them company.
Then a pal of mine named Rhoda came in with such a crew,
I gave them scotch and soda and I had a teeny one, too.

Then Vero P.T. Roth brought me some chicken broth,
which is insipid, doctor, don’t you think?
So someone in the party added a soupçon of Bacardi
it really makes a very nourishing drink.

At nine my cousin Andy made such insulting cracks,
that I had a little brandy just to help me to relax.
He tried to grab the bottle and dragged me out of bed.
When I saw that it was empty, I broke it on his head.

He’s still lying on the carpet and my maid insists he’s dead.
Oh doctor dear, why do I feel queer?
I didn’t do a thing last night.

At ten, Princess O’Ravivovich said; “Today is Pushkin’s birthday.”
So I had a little Slivovitz just to help her celebrate.
Then that fool Tessie Zackary upset my Dubonnet,
so they shook me up a daquiri to chase my blues away.

Those pills of yours were dry, so I washed them down with rye,
And I thought some exercise might help me rest.
I dashed down the avenue ’til somebody yelled “Woo!”
Good heavens – I’d forgotten to get dressed!

By then I felt so dizzy, to tell the honest truth,
They made me something fizzy out of vodka and vermouth.
At one, Rear Admiral Nipper, the old man of the sea,
arrived with his battalion, they had to sail at three.

But doctor, I just noticed: They’re still in bed with me!
It’s all so mad and I feel so bad,
and I didn’t do a thing last night.

At five, my old friend Tony said that doctors were baloney.
He said “Yoga exercises cured all pain.”
Doctor dear, I was a wreck with my legs around my neck,
and it took four hours to get them down again.

They sent for rubbing alcohol to rub away the aches,
but they couldn’t find the stuff at all – I’d drunk it by mistake.
Oh yes, I slept just like a baby, ’til I woke up right now.
No, the drinks did not affect me, I’m as flaccid as a cow.
Except I have a tendency to suddenly go “WOW!”

Why in hell don’t I feel well? I didn’t do a thing last night!

John La Touche songs recorded by Spivy
Fool In the Moonlight (music: Goetz Eyck)
I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night (music: Spivy)
I Love Town (music: Goetz Eyck)
Last of the Fleur De Levy
Surrealist (music: Spivy)

Unrecorded La Touche songs performed by Spivy
I’m Going On A Binge With A Dinge
Moonlight

David on The Robin Byrd Show

The recent brouhaha over exposing Michelangelo’s David to impressionable Florida public school children reminded me of the classic sculpture’s 1998 appearance on Robin Byrd‘s Men For Men. For those outside of Manhattan, this was a late night cable TV show featuring strippers and adult film entertainers that aired nearly every night of the week. Apparently, poor Dave had fallen on hard times and was shaking his marbles for cash on 8th Avenue. At least that was the way it appeared on my public access show, Bri-Guy’s Media Surf.

I have written about Media Surf in the past – it ran on Manhattan Neighborhood Network from 1997-2007. In the early years, I created short segments using stop-motion with my video camera. Most featured a portly salt shaker named Maria. After a while I grew tired of the time consuming technique. David’s striptease was one of the last that I created.

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I wanted to utilize my set of David refrigerator magnets on a red metal background. It had to be metal for the magnetic properties, and the red would emulate the lurid background on Robin’s show. I was still trying to figure out how to execute this when I came home one day to find that the apartment doors in my building had been re-painted glossy red. Perfect! I propped my door open, set up my camera tripod and went about creating the frame-by-frame striptease. Luckily I lived on the top floor and was uninterrupted by puzzled neighbors wondering what the hell I was doing.

In the version that aired 25 years ago, David was dancing to Madonna’s “Erotica” – a song that every third performer on Robin Byrd’s show seemed to use at the time. Unfortunately, Madge and Warner Brothers Music are most intolerant of the unauthorized use of their recordings. Rather than risk having the video removed from social media platforms, I switched it out. David now shimmies to Man Parrish / Man 2 Man’s “Male Stripper,” a much better choice of song that I wish I had used in the first place.

I was planning to use a clip of Robin’s generic “Lie back, get comfortable” guest introduction and then cut to David’s performance. It was pure luck that I happened to be recording her show one night when she introduced a guest named “David.” Sometimes the stars align to help create a classic piece of work. 😉

Artist’s Muse: José “Pete” Martinez

In last summer’s post about the PaJaMa Collective – artists Paul Cadmus, Jared French and his wife Margaret – the focus was on their Fire Island photos of the late 1930’s. One of the friends who cavorted with the trio during that time was José “Pete” Martinez, a dancer from New York City who was involved with their friend, arts patron and ballet impresario Lincoln Kirstein.

*Paul Cadmus’s 1937 sketch of José Martinez appears in Charles Kaiser’s book* The Gay Metropolis.

In David Leddick’s book Intimate Companions, Martinez is described as “a droll and witty young man… Those who knew the two men in the 1930’s said he was capable of endlessly amusing his lover, and that of all the men in his life, Martinez was the man that Kirstein most likely loved the most. Kirstein loved gossip and other men’s tales of their sexual exploits, and this love of storytelling drew him to Martinez. In addition, Martinez was handsome, and many artists painted, drew and photographed him. “

Fire Island PaJaMa photos featuring José Martinez with Paul Cadmus, Jared and Margaret French, ca 1938-39

Besides The PaJaMa Collective, those artists included Paul Cadmus’ sister Fidelma and photographers William Caskey and George Platt Lynes.

The most memorable Lynes photo of Martinez is a studio shot with the dancer perched in a window frame wearing nothing but a wide brimmed sun hat.

George Platt Lynes photographs of José Martinez.

Pete Martinez (who sometimes used the stage name Pete Stefan) was born José Antonio Martinez-Berlanga in Mexico on March 13, 1913. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was quite young. Mama Martinez had been a folk dancer back in Mexico and one of Jose’s sisters dreamed of following in her footsteps. Little José was drafted as her dance partner. The scenario is familiar to many boys who begin to study dance as children: the sister loses interest and drops out, but he continues on. It’s a page torn out of A Chorus Line. Later an uncle took him to see Ballet Russe, which further strengthened his resolve to dance. “I was going to set the world on fire,” he would later recount.

After graduating high school, much to the chagrin of his parents, José moved to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet, where he eventually gained a full scholarship. Upon graduation, he was invited to join the company.

*José Martinez photographed by Paul Cadmus, ca 1938*

Martinez caught the eye of Lincoln Kirstein, and the relationship progressed to the point that they moved in together.

The PaJaMa photo “After The Hurricane” features (l-r) Jared French, Lincoln Kirstein, José Martinez, Forrest Thayer and probably Paul Cadmus. Tragically, costume designer Forrest Thayer was killed in a Southampton single car accident in 1951.

Martinez became a member of The Ballet Caravan, a touring company founded by Kirstein to provide off-season summer employment to American ballet dancers. Here Martinez began to get more involved in the creative process: conceiving the ideas and librettos for ballets, if not choreographing them. He is most associated with the ballet Pastorela, although his exact contribution to its creation varies depending on the source.

As noted in the New York Times article below, Martinez also had several engagements at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room with different dance partners.

Jose Martinez photographed by William Caskey

*Lincoln Kirstein & his wife Fidelma Cadmus*

Martinez eventually found himself in a triangular romantic situation similar to his friends in The PaJaMa Collective: Paul Cadmus and Jared French had a sexual relationship that continued after French married Margaret Hoening. The three all lived and worked together in a Greenwich Village townhouse at 5 St. Luke’s Place. When Lincoln Kirstein married Paul’s sister Fidelma, she moved into the apartment he shared with Martinez, who continued to live with them for the first year of the marriage.

Martinez was also photographed in the summer of 1938 sunbathing with Jared French and Paul Cadmus on the roof of their home/studios at 5 St. Luke’s Place.

The Ballet Caravan were on a South American tour through 1941 as the U.S. entered World War II. The troupe returned to a very different New York City than the one they had left. When Martinez was denied entry to the Army, he went to work at a hostel for Jewish refugees in Haverford, Pennsylvania where writer Christopher Isherwood was already working. The two were acquaintances through Kirstein but developed a close friendship that would sometimes turn physical, as detailed in Isherwood’s diaries.

*For My Brother: A True Story By José Martinez As Told To Lincoln Kirstein original jacket designed by William Chappell.*

Paul Cadmus photographed sketching José Martinez at 5 St. Luke’s Place.

In 1943, a book was published in the UK with the rather unwieldy title For My Brother: A True Story By José Martinez As Told To Lincoln Kirstein.

From the original dust jacket: “It is the life story of a young American of Mexican origin whose family has settled in a small town in Texas. It is at the same time a study in the contrast between two worlds, two ways of life: industrial, polyglot America, and the more primitive civilization of Mexico just over the border, where many of the hero’s relations still live. The story is told with great poetic feeling and a rare delicacy of perception in human relationships…”

The chronology on Kirstein’s website makes no mention of Martinez and lists For My Brother as fiction “based on a Mexican sojourn.”

The book jacket was designed by fellow dancer-turned-ballet designer William Chappell. For My Brother… is quite rare, as most of the 2,000 printed copies were said to have been destroyed in a warehouse bombed by the Nazis. A Canadian edition was later published by MacMillan.

Martinez was finally able to join the military in 1943 and remained in service until the end of the war.

Back in New York, he resumed his dance career with Ballet Society where he danced in the original 1946 productions of George Balanchine’s Four Temperaments and William Dollar’s Highland Fling.

And then…. to invoke A Chorus Line once again: “What do you do when you can no longer dance?”

A knee injury hastened the end of his performance career. A June 4, 1950 article in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot chronicled his coming to terms with the transition. He drifted for a year before settling into the next chapter of his life as a dance teacher in Norfolk, Virginia.