Waitin' for the Weekend

It's May Day!  "Oh Happy Day . . . To Be Gay" by Clint Collide:

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The King's Speech

Screen capture of the speech from the Associated Press broadcast.
Queen Camilla, in white, is seated to the King's left.

King Charles III addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday, as his mother had done in 1991.  Surveying the whole field of our common heritage from Magna Carta to the present, and displaying a deep understanding of American history and politics, his eloquence and humor went over well with the assembled representatives, who interrupted him with standing ovations a number of times.   A lovely speech by a kindly old friend, full of warmth, wisdom, and gentle warning - well worth heeding by those now in power.

If only they would!

The Associated Press transcipt of the speech can be found here.

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Sunday Drive: (You're My) Soul and Inspiration

This gold single by the Righteous Brothers was #1 this week in 1966 on the Billboard charts.  It holds up very well, I think.  They had a unique sound, a masculine sound that must have appealed to every gay boy and man in America.  It certainly appealed to me, just beginning the mysterious ascent to manhood.  Enjoy.

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Waitin' for the Weekend: Gay Swim Party, 1946

From the collection of Harold T. O'Neal, a gay home movie buff who made many films of gay life in California from 1939 to 1989.  This one begins with a well-dressed but rather dull garden party, followed by scenes of several beautiful young men splashing about in various states of undress somewhere along the American River.  A lovely glimpse of what seems a much more innocent time.

Double-click the screen to go full size; hit escape to exit.

Once again, I state what M.P. says, and he ought to know:  if they're only swimming, it's not porn.

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First Gay TV Movie, 1959

This popped up in my YouTube feed the other day:  South, a surprisingly early gay drama shown on British television in 1959 - long before there was any such thing in America.  Newspaper critics were hostile to the display of "perversion" on the small screen, but the fact that it was shown at all proves that the British were ahead of us in that regard.  

The first gay-themed TV movie over here that I recall was That Certain Summer in 1972; Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen played the lovers.  Young people today would not understand the trepidation of watching something so taboo and forbidden.  I watched it with fascination - and no little repugnance.  I was attending college, but still deep in the closet, and terrified of actually encountering any of those wicked ho-mo-sexshuls.  (Oh but I fantasized often . . . then begged God to forgive me . . . over and over again.  An absurd agony that blighted all my teenage years.)

The play was written by Julian Green (1900-1998), born to expatriate American Southerners in Paris.  (The family home in Savannah is now a museum.)  He was a prolific writer, mostly in French, among whose many honors and awards was election to the Olympic heights of the Académie Française in 1971, the first non-French person to be chosen.  Besides which, to judge by the contents of his meticulous lifelong diaries - published in 19 volumes after his death - he was, shall we say, rather energetically gay.  Perhaps, as a Catholic, he had his own struggles with l'absurdité.

The full movie can be seen here (1:19:31).

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King Charles Commemorates 100th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II

A lovely tribute and an inspiring one.

P. S. - I must say, I'm disappointed and a bit shocked that the UK Government has not yet erected some kind of memorial to their late beloved monarch, who served them so long and so well.  Shame on them!

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Sunday Drive: There but for Fortune

My dream girl once upon a time . . ..

Cher, 1967.  An old favorite of mine.  The message still resonates in today's world.

Backup music - by turns ethereal and dramatic - provided by the Wrecking Crew.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

Caution - a few scenes of old-fashioned nekkid swimming.

"If I Had a Boat" by Osvaldo:

M.P. says if they're only swimming, it's not porn.  I'm glad to get clarification on that.

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To Tell the Truth - Undercover Cop, 1973

For several years now at dinnertime, M.P. and I have enjoyed watching episodes of To Tell the Truth from the early 1960s.  I remember it well from my childhood, and I think it is the most entertaining of all the old game shows - perhaps because, unlike with other game shows, neither the panelists nor the audience knows who the real featured character is, so it's fun to try guessing who it is.

This particular episode is perhaps the most entertaining of all, for reasons you will discover if you watch it.  Big laughs.

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Sunday Drive: Debussy, Reverie

Music by Debussy; Art by Parrish.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"Slow It Down #2" by Clint Collide:

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