July-August 2016
A STORY often repeated in film history places Groucho Marx at the premiere of the 1949 Cecil B. DeMille epic Samson and Delilah. Posters of the massive, bare-chested Victor Mature served as the visual backdrop for anyone entering the theater that evening. After the movie’s debut, DeMille asked Groucho what he thought of the film. Groucho replied: “No picture can hold my interest where the leading man’s tits are bigger than the leading lady’s.”
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The Judas Kiss A play by David Hare Directed by Neil Armfield Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, March 22–May 1 Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYC, May 11–June 12 …More
Firefighters were met by a grisly, horrific scene. The lifeless body of Bill Larson, pastor of the newly formed local Metropolitan Community Church, was wedged in a window, his face and right arm protruding stiffly over the street. Several bodies were huddled in a corner, burned and fused to each other. Many of the dead were burned beyond recognition …
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In fact, Bacon tells Peppiatt in Francis Bacon in Your Blood, Dyer simply saw the painter and his pals in a club in London and introduced himself, because they seemed to be having a good time.
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Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond Edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford & MaryLouise Patterson University of California Press. 440 pages, $27.95 …More
ON A COLD and drizzly day in San Francisco, Jewelle Gomez, recipient of a Lambda Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council,…More
I HAVE LONG MARVELED that my hero, the subject of my dissertation and book, Frances Kellor (1873–1952), is not as famous as her contemporary Jane Addams. You’ve probably heard of Addams, who started settlement houses for immigrants, most famously Hull House in Chicago. Kellor worked with immigrants at the same time. And yet, Addams is in every high school textbook on U.S. history, while Kellor is nowhere to be found. While a few explanations are plausible, I believe Kellor has been written out of history mostly because she was a lesbian and because she publicly challenged gender norms.
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