This long, juicy 2016 interview with one of the last survivors of the Golden Age of Hollywood is a real treat. In case you didn't know, Miss de Havilland is still very much alive today at age 104 - yes, that's right - and living in Paris, full of fascinating memories and joie de vivre. Bon appetit!
This summer and fall, M.P. and I have enjoyed watching a number of old Debbie Reynolds movies, remembered from our childhood or newly discovered by us - and now we are saddened to learn of her death. The world's light has been dimmed by the loss of these two stars, mother and daughter, just a day apart. May they rest in peace.
In this undated interview from ABC, Carrie talks about her admiration for her mother:
Last year, Debbie was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but was unable to accept the award in person due to ill health:
Here's a poignant glimpse of Debbie as a glamorous young star and mother in a 1961 episode of This Is Your Life, with her children Carrie and Todd brought on at the end:
This excellent documentary series, produced by Thames Television in 1980 and narrated by James Mason, covers the rise and development of Hollywood from nickelodeon days to the end of the silent era, and includes interviews with many performers, writers, directors, and film crew from the period. A must-see for film buffs. Here is part 1:
My truckbuddy Frank has posted a clip from a new documentary about the late author and activist Vito Russo over at Reluctant Rebel; which reminded me of this documentary, now posted in six segments on YouTube, of Russo's Celluloid Closet, a survey of how gays were depicted in film during the past century. Fascinating stuff; and as Frank says, should be part of the required viewing before anyone gets their gay card.
You might be surprised at how much gaiety some filmmakers managed to slip past the censors back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Here's segment 1, narrated by Lily Tomlin:
Cary Grant - "I've just gone gay!" - in the
screwball comedy Bringing up Baby, 1938
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
