Bonus Video! The one gay French hairdresser who inspired 30 years of imitators
Hello there! In this week's bonus video, we're taking a loooooong historical look back at a gay (or I guess gay-affected) French hairdresser whose appearance in a 1966 film inspired the femme drag star of La Cage Aux Folles and, in turn, Nathan Lane's character in The Birdcage. Also: I'd like to introduce you to Doctor Doolittle's boyfriend. And check out Bea Arthur making a surprise appearance at a Chicago gay bar!
Backup link in case the video embed doesn't work:
https://youtu.be/qIg6vDVTLzI
Here's the full pilot of The Rita Moreno Show: https://youtu.be/ZAOielrBJ7g
Here's Le Roi de Coeur (with subtitles): https://youtu.be/4dXHhCos6_c
Here's Bea Arthur at a gay bar: https://youtu.be/IqvEa6Qs-LQ
Comments (13)
Love that bit from "Bringing Up Baby". I first saw it in "The Celluloid Closet" by Vito Russo.
My husband David is a retired French scholar, is fluent in French, and is the founder of the queer studies program at his university. Please feel free to pass your questions on through me. He may have contacted you by email once before, and will try to locate your address.
Thank you so much! Basically, I have two videos (3 minutes and 7 minutes long) that I think MIGHT be helpful, but I don't speak French fluently enough to understand exactly what they're saying. I have the auto-generated transcripts for both, but they're pretty error-prone, so I just need a little help cleaning them up and fixing incorrect words. Once I have accurate transcripts, I can handle the actual translation into English. If that's something he'd be up for helping with, I'd be very grateful! Best way to reach me is matt@mattbaume.com.
or maybe they beat us "hands down" totally
they beat us cold sounds like they beast us to death
Does fleckmans have alogo
Just watched The Rita Moreno Show. The guy that played the guy with the skis on is Paul B Price who played "Get-Away-From-Me-Claude" with Rita in THE RITZ a few years prior to this!!! Also the director of this pilot, TONY MORDENTE was married to Chita Rivera who originated the role of Anita in West Side Story that Rita played in the movie and winning an Oscar for.
Wow so many connections!!!
Too short. Thanks for the links.
Last vid I did a quick cakle when Nathan say What at the end, and again this time. He's an amazing actor with just one word and facial expression.
He's just a TREASURE. So funny in that role.
And gays remember Victor Buono from both "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" (as the creepy accompanist Jane/Bette Davis hires) AND in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" (as the father of Charlotte/Bette Davis). Does he have enough gay cred for his own segment?
I loved Victor as King Tut so much that I looked for anything he was in, which was a sadly short list, at least as far I could find pre-internet. I was so happy when he showed up in Baby Jane. I didn't see him as creepy (I often miss things) but my remembrance of him was the slowly dawning horror on his face when he realized the performance he was being hired to accompany on piano.