LGBTQIA+ – Brian Ferrari's Blog

Artist’s Muse: Chuck Howard (part 2)

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

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

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

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

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

Four sketches of Chuck Howard by Bernard Perlin

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

*Chuck Howard and George Platt Lynes, ca 1950*

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

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

Chuck Howard with Lynes’ dog, Bozo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chuck Howard, ca 1950 / 1997

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

Al Parker: In His Own Words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Madame Spivy: I Love Town

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

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

*Spivy photographed by Max Ewing (1932)*

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

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

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

Songwriters John LaTouche & Goetz Eyck, aka Peter Van Eyck

*Spivy photo by Carl Van Vechten (1944)*

I Love Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_________________________________

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

The Colorful World Of Carl Van Vechten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alvin Ailey (1955)

Hernan Baldrich (1962)

Charles Blackwell (1955)

Robert Cohan (1955)

Robert Curtis (1955)

Anton Dolin (1940-41)

William Earl (1960)

Geoffrey Holder (1954)

Harald Horn (1956)

Hugh Laing (1940-41)

John Kriza (1949)

Claude Marchant (1947)

Arthur Mitchell (1955)

Francisco Moncion (1944)

Lenwood Morris (1940)

Donald Saddler (1941-1948)

Archie Savage (1942)

Paul Taylor (1960)

Claude Thompson (1959)

Allen Meadows & Hugh Laing (1940)

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

Marianne Faithfull After Dark (1980)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A 2023 interview with Cidney Bullens:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Mandate 1988: New York Redefines Drag

I recently happened upon a very special and atypical issue of Mandate. The June 1988 edition of this skin magazine is the “N.Y. Gender F..k” issue. Although it contains 6 regular photo layouts of masculine models – including 3 Brazilian Kristen Bjorn models and the burly bear on the cover – there are also several articles devoted to drag performers such as Charles Busch and John Epperson. Elsewhere in the issue is an editorial on “Nellyphobia” (or “Nelliphobia,” depending on whether you go with the spelling on the cover or in the article). It’s not a scientific study, really.

As a whole, the drag/genderfuck theme was not quite the regular magazine filler one would expect. I am curious as to the reaction that it received at the time.

Today, the article “New York Redefines Drag” serves as a history lesson on the late 1980’s drag scene.

I was unfamiliar with Cutter Sharp / Razor Sharp / Ultra Sharp, so I asked a fellow lifetime queer New Yorker of a certain age. He recalled; “(Cutter) was out and about NYC in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He was on (local public access game show) Be My Guest with Sybil Bruncheon… and he appeared at Night Of A Thousand Gowns with the Imperial Court as Empress Razor Sharp. He held a seminar at the Gay & Lesbian Center on Drag Queen Enlightenment. He also did reports on GCN (Gay Cable Network) from The Monster, The Saint, The Pyramid, and other clubs.” I also learned that Cutter Sharp was known as a professional hair stylist and that his name appears on a 1994 panel of the AIDS quilt.

John Burke, aka Sybil Bruncheon, Charles Busch, and David Drake are interviewed in the article as well. The three are still active, all these years later. If you don’t know their work, Google ’em.

Next up is an interview with John Epperson – the legendary Lypsinka. Epperson is still going strong, 40 years into his career.

Mike Varady coined the term “Nelliphobia” and challenges it in an editorial piece about the shaming of feminine men. “We are supposed to avoid being a stereotype, which is any person who happens to have at least a glimmer of truth as far as being a gentle person, a nonfighter – something to be proud of – is concerned.”

While some of Varady’s conclusions and/or choices of phrase now seem dated, he was certainly hitting upon an issue not often discussed in gay skin magazines at that time: a push-back against gender conformity. “The notion that ‘We’re just like everyone else, except for…’ is foolish… and quite damaging to us.”

In his closing paragraphs, Varady admits that the piece is bound to be unpopular with readers, that he has created “a headache for the editors” with anticipated angry response letters. But he goes one step further:

“Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll even read an erotic story or have nude photos in Mandate in which a willowy queen is the sex object! Now that would really be destroying a stereotype!”

Even the music section of this issue is planted firmly in downtown genderfuck. The music documentary Mondo New York is featured with performances by Joey Arias, Dean Johnson and John Sex.

Remembering Bob Harrington

While doing research for my previous post about a 1990 tour of gay Greenwich Village, I found a December 1991 clipping from Bob Harrington’s “Bistro Bits” column tucked into my journal. Harrington’s column was a regular feature in the performing arts publication Back Stage. In pre-internet days, performers would buy this print weekly for the audition listings. “Bistro Bits” was a column highlighting the cabaret scene. It was here that the annual Bistro Awards began in 1985 – created by Harrington to honor excellence in cabaret .

Another prominent feature in Back Stage at the time were the obituaries. Every week there would be death notices for entertainment industry professionals – usually young men dying far too young of “undisclosed causes.” This was at the height of the AIDS crisis and the stigma surrounding it may be lost on those too young to remember. “AIDS complications” were seldom cited in obituaries and listing it as a cause of death could be considered slander. That said, some men began to request its inclusion in their eventual obit: a final act of defiance in a world that was dragging its feet to find a cure.

I mention this to give some context to the level of courage it took for Harrington to write this column.

Robert William Harrington was born on October 2, 1950 in Richmond Hill, Queens and grew up in East Meadow on Long Island. Harrington graduated from East Meadow High School in 1968. He was just a couple of years younger than both of my parents, who graduated from W.T. Clarke, East Meadow district’s other high school. He then went on to study at SUNY Oneonta, where he graduated in 1972.

Harrington honed his writing skills while working as a bartender and became known as an expert on the cabaret scene. In 1982, he began writing a column for the Long Island monthly magazine NightLife. He continued writing for the publication when they moved to New York City in 1984 and also launched his “Bistro Bits” column in Back Stage. In 1986, he began contributing reviews for the New York Post, and was an occasional guest on Joe Franklin’s local television talk show.

Harrington was a driving force behind the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs and also very active with Hearts & Voices, an organization that brought music to AIDS patients.

A few months after his announcement in Back Stage, Harrington was quoted as saying; “I’ve gotten tons of letters from people who have survived five, ten years with AIDS. This is the ’90s. We don’t have to die, we’re gonna make it.”

Bob Harrington died on October 19, 1992. He was 42 years old and was survived by his mother and three brothers.

A tribute was held at Caroline’s on November 12, 1992. The show was hosted by Jamie deRoy with performances by Julie Halston, Nancy Lamott, Jim Caruso, Margaret Whiting and Karen Saunders. All proceeds went to Hearts & Voices.

Another tribute took place the following month:

The following year, The Bistro Awards named Rosemary Clooney as the first recipient of their highest honor: The Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award.

Back Stage editor-in-chief Sherry Eaker spent several years compiling Harrington’s “Bistro Bits” columns into a book. The Cabaret Artist’s Handbook: Creating Your Own Act in Today’s Liveliest Theater Setting was published in 2000.

In Touch For Men: A Tour of Gay Greenwich Village (1990)

I recently found myself perusing (as one does) the January, 1990 issue of In Touch For Men. An article titled Touring Around The Village caught my eye. Wesley Allen took a walking tour around Greenwich Village, writing about the gay bars, shops, and restaurants.

This was the New York City that I fell in love with – the one I would visit on day trips from Long Island and was finally able to move to the following year. (See The Lion In The Emerald City and 1991: Homo Alone for more on that. ) These were the shops I frequented and a couple of the bars, too.

Of the 26 businesses mentioned here, four of them still exist at the same locations: The Monster, Ty’s, Marie’s Crisis, and Julius. Around the time that this magazine hit the stands, The Duplex, which originally opened in 1951 at 55 Grove Street, moved to its current spot at 61 Christopher Street.

In 1991, I moved into a 5th floor walkup on East 6th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. Tunnel Bar was my neighborhood spot, just around the corner on First Avenue at 7th Street. On slow nights, the bespectacled bald barback would sit cross-legged on the far end of the bar, absentmindedly clicking his tongue ring on his teeth like some sort of queer lizard. I couldn’t decide if it was creepy or adorable.

A few years after Tunnel Bar went out of business, Saifee, the hardware store next door expanded into the space. I would reminisce about what it used to be whenever I would go in to buy plant dirt and screws.

I used to joke that the bar I frequented the most was Uncle Charlie’s, but it was just so I could hold my friends’ coats while they cruised the preppy boys. I was invisible there – never quite handsome or stylish enough for the clientele.

*Postcard for the 56 Greenwich Avenue location of Uncle Charlie’s, which closed in September, 1997.*

The Bar on Second Avenue was another neighborhood spot that I frequented, followed by The Boiler Room, which opened right around the corner on East 4th street in 1994. The Bar went straight a few years later, undergoing many hetero iterations and name changes in the ensuing years. The Boiler Room remained its gay seedy self until the Fall of 2024, when it moved to 45 Second Avenue.

Another item of interest in this issue of In Touch: A very nice photo of Madonna paramour / model Tony Ward.

Category: LGBTQIA+