Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Sep 3, 2010

Friday, September 03, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer

An infamous Tennessee Williams play (1958) made into an infamous movie (1959) starring Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn.

And I never in a million years understand a part of it. The plot centers around a psychiatrist investigating why a wealthy New Orleans woman wants her niece lobotomized.

Apparently it has to due with the death of the woman's son, a man named Sebastian. He died mysteriously on a trip with the niece. So what does it have to do with the lgbt community? Read on if you want me to spoil it for you.

Apparently Sebastian (who is never seen, even in the flashbacks) had his cousin accompany him his usual trip to Spain because he was using her to attract the impoverished young men there. Before her, he was using his mother but she had gotten too old.

On the trip in question, the young men whom he was exploiting gathered together and took a nasty vengeance on him. They (wait for it) ate him.

And to this day, I will never understand that plot twist.

The movie itself was a hit, garnering Oscar nominations for both Taylor and Hepburn. According to the Internet Movie Database:

Screenwriter Gore Vidal credits film critic Bosley Crowther with the success of this film. Crowther wrote a scathing review denouncing the film as the work of degenerates obsessed with rape, incest, homosexuality, and cannibalism among other qualities. Vidal believes advertising such salacious detail made audiences flock in droves to the film.

And here is another bit of trivia for you. While the gay man in the center of movie was never seen or heard, one of the cast members was the legendary actor Montgomery Clift, whose inability to deal with his own homosexuality helped lead to his death.

Two years before, an awful car accident had damaged his face and psyche. He was heavily into drugs at the time and it caused problems on the set for a number of reasons, as did his sexual orientation. However, he had an ally in Katherine Hepburn. Also from the Internet Movie Database:

According to author Garson Kanin in his memoir "Tracy and Hepburn", Katharine Hepburn was reportedly so furious at the way Montgomery Clift was treated by Sam Spiegel and Joseph L. Mankiewicz during the filming that, after making sure that she would not be needed for retakes, she told both men off and actually spat at them (although it remains unclear just which one of the two she spat at, or if she spat at both.)

Tea partier makes tasteless joke about Matthew Shepard and other Friday midday news briefs

Mother: Anoka-Hennepin School policy contributed to gay son’s suicide - While Focus on the Family is spinning, lgbt children are dying.

Pacific Justice Institute DENIED by court; Schwarzenegger, Brown will not be forced to defend Prop 8 - Just in case you didn't hear about this.

Montana Tea Party president jokes about murdering gays and Matthew Shepard - When these folks talk about "taking the country back," crap like this is one of the reasons why I cringe.

Lambda Legal and HIV-Positive Retiree Settle Lawsuit Against North Little Rock Assisted Living Facility - Good for Lambda Legal. It's amazing that so many in the community go ape@!& when it's time to criticize some of our lgbt organizations (and some of this criticism is legitimate) but are silent when our groups do good things.

Remember the 'good old days' with Phil Donahue?

Yeah I know I'm late post. But I'm off from work today and am still working to get things together for SC Pride tomorrow. Plus, you know how Fridays are, particularly this one before the Labor Day weekend.

Remember when there were such things as good talk shows and decent hosts trying to get to the bottom of pertinent issues instead of 'baby mama dramas?"

Remember Donahue? Phil Donahue was one of the best. Although nowadays, he would be smeared as a "dirty liberal," he was, and still is heads and shoulders above almost anything put out in terms of talk shows.

These clips come from a show which featured a Gay Entertainment network. It's interesting to see and hear the anti-gay attitudes back then and realize how a lot of them haven't changed that much: