Remains of the Day (05/31)

Facebook: Join my pal A.E. Kieren for a special "drink and draw" event with Broadway Bares this Sunday at Club Cumming

Twitter: This is Kyle Edmund freezing his balls off

NewNowNext: Pentagon sued for discriminating against people with HIV

Washington Blade: Will D.C. decriminalize prostitution?

CBS: Illinois approves Equal Rights Amendment 45 years after Congress approved it

The Daily News: Tom Arnold thinks Roseanne Barr wanted her show to get canceled

Boy Culture: A review of "The Fabulous Allan Carr," a documentary I am DYING to see!

New York Post: Hawaii man pulls gun on neighbor checking on lava-threatened home (aka Welcome to America!)

YouTube: Dominic Thiem brings flair to the frame game and French Open

The Advocate: Lawyer who hates Muslims, gay people says he’s fit to be judge

Back2Stonewall: NRA spokeswoman calls Parkland students extortionists over Publix protest

The Randy Report: Andrew Christian's new trophy boy is hot

Towleroad: Crazy Donald says he'll pardon conservative conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza, who was convicted of violating campaign finance laws; also considers pardoning Martha Stewart and freeing Rod Blagojevich

Dlisted: Serena Williams defended herself against anyone who didn't like her black catsuit

It's Either Sadness or Euphoria: "Did it take a mythological deformity to find a gorgeous man who was as needy as I was?"

Matthew's Island of Misfit Toys: A little steroidy -- and a lot hot

OMG Blog: Michael Moore teases new project that deals with Trump and Roseanne

The New York Times: From transgender activist to runway model

Hot Cat of the Day: Meet the man who unexpectedly became a "cat dad" to four kittens!

Get Ready for 'The Fabulous Allan Carr'

Jeffrey Schwarz dazzled us with "Wrangler," "I Am Divine," "Vito" and "Tab Hunter Confidential." Now I can't wait to see his latest documentary, "The Fabulous Allan Carr," about the pervy producer behind "Grease," "Can't Stop the Music" and "Grease 2," for which he handpicked an unknown Maxwell Caulfield as the lead after seeing him nearly naked playing a bisexual hustler in an off-Broadway play. 

InsideOut writes: After almost 20 years working in television and producing a string of minor b-movies, Carr finally hit the jackpot with "Grease," the highest grossing film of 1978. The subsequent money and fame made Carr the toast of Tinseltown, and his hedonistic parties, overflowing with cocaine and beautiful blond boys, were the place to be. But his success led to a string of disastrous career decisions—including "Grease 2," "Where the Boys Are," the Village People flop and the Oscars debacle—and it all came crashing down around him. 

Get updates on screenings, etc., HERE.

Q: Allan Carr was one of the ringleaders of 1970s gay debauchery, it seems, and while an entire documentary series could be made about that aspect of his life, what we see of it in this film is enough to give us strong impressions of how much fun he had, and how much pleasure he brought into other people’s lives. 

A: This is a feature film, after all, and as such must be an overview, to a certain extent, but it’s telling that certain sections of the film are so well executed that they made me long for deeper dives.

Read John Boucher's full interview with Jeffrey Schwarz HERE.

Becoming Mr. Sloane

"Entertaining Mr. Sloane," Joe Orton's scandalous 1964 comedy about "a middle-aged brother and sister vying for possession of a smooth-skinned, sexually flexible hoodlum," returns to the stage tonight thru May 14 at the Wild Project, 195 E. Third St. (between Avenue A and Avenue B). (Tickets HERE -- use the promo code KEN).

Practice makes perfect ...

 

Mr. Sloane will be played by newcomer Matt Baguth -- but here's a quick look at three other men who have stepped into this sexy role ...

Chris Carmack as Mr. Sloane 

Alec Baldwin, Chris Carmack and Jan Maxwell at the Laura Pels theater in New York in 2006. 

Ben Bradley said at the time: The show features Alec Baldwin, in a role that should be perfect for him but that he only teases and flirts with, and Chris Carmack, a pocket Adonis who certainly has the torso if not the inventive menace required of the title character.  

From HERE.

Here's the Showbill from the production that opened at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village in June 12, 1981, and ran for 269 performances. The cast included a very young Maxwell Caulfield -- who was spotted by pervy producer Allen Carr, who later cast him in "Grease 2" when Andy Gibb's screen test bombed -- Barbara Bryne, Gwyllum Evans and Joseph Maher. Directed by John Tillinger. 

Smoking!

Via Kultguy's Keep: In this 1970 screen adaptation, drifter Mr. Sloane (Peter McEnery) meets frumpy middle age spinster Kath (Beryl Reid) in a suburban London cemetery and accepts her offer to lodge with her and her elderly "Dadda." Kemp (Alan Webb). But while fending off Kath’s rather clumsy attempts at seduction, the young stud is taken under the protective wing of Kath’s closeted spiv brother Ed (Harry Andrews), who makes him his personal chauffeur, while Kemp is the only one who can see through the slippery charmer’s facade. The film may look tame today, but its surreal Gothic Revival cemetery setting (it was filmed on location at Camberwell Old Cemetery in Honor Oak) and sterling performances make this Brit curio worth revisiting time and again – and its Beryl Reid who’s truly unforgettable. Her spinster Kath, minus false teeth and dressed in a baby doll nightie, is as outrageous a character as Alison Steadman’s Beverly in "Abigail’s Party," and watching her seduce McEnery’s sexual menace while uttering Orton’s fruity dialogue is campy fun indeed.

Hero to Zero

The latest Advocate pamphlet makes note of Robert Hofler's "Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr," a new biography about the late Allan Carr, who was as well-known for producing the all-time blockbuster "Grease" and Broadway's "La Cage aux Follies" as he was for the flop "Can't Stop the Music" and the Rob Lowe-Snow White "incident" at the 1988 Oscars. The book says Carr was notorious for his orgies in his Beverly Hills mansion -- where wall-to-wall carpeting met wall-to-wall hustlers -- and Hollywood's closeted A-listers could be their "true" selves. Robert Leleux writes, "Carr's life and sexuality offer a unique illustration of his era's limitations and the extent to which it was possible to transcend them. He briefly endeared himself to Hollywood's elite by playing their fey jester, but they soon bounced him out of show business in a homophobic fit of pique." This finally explains why the audience at the Academy Awards reacted so coldly in 2000 when his photo was shown on the screen during the "in memoriam" part of the show, something that has always bothered me. At least he died having worked with dreamy Maxwell Caulfield, whose pornstachioed look seemed to mesmerize Allan back when as much as it is me now. (Amazon)