Babs: I'm Not A Diva

She said as she sat in the host's chair in order to show her most flattering side.

L'Manda -Feeling So Free (Haggin')

Via Boy Culture, here's a great nod to 70's gay disco culture via a track the label winkingly claims to have "discovered" in their vaults. They nailed it - lyrics, music, costumes, and video effects. "Pretty boys on the prowl and the girls who are draggin' / I'm part of their world cuz baby I'm haggin'."   Loving this. 

Ray Manzarek Dies At 74

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the iconic band The Doors, has died at the age of 74.

Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock 'n' roll acts to emerge from the 1960s and continues to resonate with fans decades after Morrison's death brought the band to an end. The Doors sold more than 100 million albums worldwide on hits like "Hello, I Love You," "Riders on the Storm," "Light My Fire," and "Break On Through to the Other Side." Manzarek, a Chicago native, continued to remain active in music after Morrison's 1971 death. He briefly tried to hold the band together by serving as vocalist, but eventually the group fell apart. He played in other bands over the years, produced other acts, became an author and worked on films.

Uma Thurman To Play Anita Bryant

Deadline reports on the coming Anita Bryant biopic:

Uma Thurman will star as controversial anti-gay activist Anita Bryant in Anita, produced by Sex And the City creator Darren Star, Howard Rosenman, Jeffrey Schwarz and Dennis Erdman. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will direct from a screenplay by Chad Hodge. Those filmmakers, who most recently helmed Lovelace, won Oscars for Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt and The Times Of Harvey Milk. Anita Bryant doesn’t stand a chance here!

I would have cast Delta Burke.

ABBA Museum Opens In Sweden

Following the naming protocol of ABBA: The Movie and ABBA: The Concert, opening today in Stockholm is ABBA: The Museum.

Some 40 sets of the trademark shiny flares, platform boots and knitted hats are on display in the museum. But visitors can also see digital images of what they would look like in costumes, record music videos and sing such hits as "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia" on a stage next to hologram images of the band members. A telephone also has been placed in a corner and ABBA members have promised to "Ring, Ring" and speak to visitors occasionally. The collection includes models of the band's kitchen, a cottage where they used to compose their songs and the small, rustic park venues Bjorn and Benny played when they first met in the 1960s. Visitors can listen to the band members' recollections and one section is dedicated to the breakup and the story of the divorces.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

Donny Osmond As Liberace

And Debbie Reynolds as Paul Williams. From a 1979 show dug up by JMG reader Dave Evans.

Cindy Brady On Her Gay TV Father

"I really can honestly say, 'My Dad was Gay.' I can also say that being gay killed him. Because it was so taboo, he could never make peace with himself. He never allowed himself to have a genuine love. He was forever taunted by his own disdain for the natural inclinations that he was BORN WITH. Bob was a family man. Had he been allowed to form a relationship with another man, he would have been the best husband ever and might still be alive. But Bob could not be at peace with this because the people surrounding him shoved their own judgement down his throat and, sadly, he bought into it. He thought he was wrong. He felt the shame that every hypocritical 'God is love' fundamentalist wanted him to feel.

"I am eternally grateful for having a golden rule placed before me as a child. I had a gay father! I knew he was gay when I was nine years old and had the wisdom of a child. I knew it was OK and none of my business. I knew with all certainty that this was a very good man. And so, any ideology that demonized such a good man would have to be evil itself. Robert Reed, unwittingly, showed me the true nature of religion. And this is why I steer clear of it to this day."- Actress Susan Olsen, writing about her Brady Bunch father, actor Robert Reed, who died of HIV-complicated colon cancer in 1992.  Check out Olsen's Facebook page above, which today is full of support for marriage equality and messages of love from fans of the show. (Tipped by JMG reader Jason)

Porn Legend Harry Reems Dead At 65

Deep Throat star Harry Reems, the only porn actor ever charged and then convicted on federal obscenity charges (overturned on appeal), has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.

The news was first reported by Don Schenk, a close friend of Reems, who was by his side yesterday afternoon when he succumbed to organ failure at the Salt Lake City VA Hospital. Gawker has since received confirmation of Reems' passing from a representative of the hospital. According to Schenk, Reems was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last summer, compounding his existing health problems, which included peripheral neuropathy and emphysema.

Following the Deep Throat court case, Reems fell into alcoholism and drug abuse, but Gawker notes that he spent the last 25 years of his life as a sober and highly successful real estate broker. 

TRIVIA: Reems was originally cast as the track coach in the film version of Grease, but was replaced by Sid Ceasar over fears that his porn past would hurt attendance.

RELATED: Deep Throat is widely considered the most financially successful porn movie of all time, with some accounts putting its worldwide gross at around $600M, placing the film in contention with other highest-grossing conventional titles. Film critic Roger Ebert has contested that figure, saying that mob-connected theaters probably inflated box office revenues in order to launder drug and prostitution-related money. The film's female lead, Linda Lovelace (real name Linda Boreman), died in 2002 after denouncing the porn industry and becoming a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement. Lovelace claimed that the bruises visible on her body in Deep Throat came from the gun barrel of her then-husband, whom she claimed beat her into making the movie. In 1986 she told a congressional committee, "Virtually every time someone watches that movie, they're watching me being raped." Others in the porn industry discounted Lovelace's claims, noting that she went on to make other films. Lovelace's story, however, was backed by the late porn actress and disco star, Andrea True.

Walter Murphy, Oscar Nominee

Walter Murphy got an Oscar nomination today for his theme song from Ted. (Lyrics by Seth MacFarlane, his co-nominee.) You might remember Murphy for his #1 pop hit from 1976, A Fifth Of Beethoven. Murphy's follow-up single, Flight '76, was a cheesetastic disco version of Flight Of The Bumblebee. It got to #44. He never charted again. Murphy also wrote the theme for Family Guy.

HomoQuotable - Fran Lebowitz

"The idea—and not just the idea, the actual life of homosexuals—changed immeasurably because of the acceptance of homosexuality. And that was because of AIDS. No one ever says that. Or how AIDS caused gay marriage. I mean, it would never have existed. You could pretend to your family that you were straight, but you couldn't pretend you weren't dying. And also, people became scared, not just of AIDS, which was a sufficient reason to be terrified, but also because—and this is the other thing no one ever says—the way that AIDS spread, by which I mean the rapidity, which was caused by a level of promiscuity that never existed before or since. And I really believe that people made these kinds of bargains with themselves. You know, I'm not saying I have this on the record but from what I could see from the people I know who survived that era, it was like, 'don't kill me and I won't do this anymore.'

"Also, most straight people never thought about gay people before AIDS, which is why I could publish this stuff, go on a national television show and never be asked about it, in the way you are asking me about it. They would focus on other things. And after AIDS, I think that [homosexual] people were afraid of a kind of official response to AIDS, like they would be arrested, or put in jail, all these kind of things, which are not unlikely things, by the way, and so they made up a lie. 'We're just like you. We are just like you, we're exactly like you.' But of course, they were not exactly like straight people. They were nothing like straight people." - Fran Lebowitz, in a lengthy interview with The Awl that touches on gay heteronormativity, AIDS, and New York City in the 1970s. Highly recommended. (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Teach The Children About Hammertime

I actually do remember JFK's assassination rather vividly and I was only four years old. Source.

Gay Actor Ron "Horshack" Palillo Dies

Openly gay actor Ron Palillo died of a heart attack today at the age of 63. Some of you will remember him as Horshack on the hit 70s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. TMZ has the story:

We're told Palillo was found by his partner of many years Joseph Gramm around 4:00 AM. Gramm called an ambulance and Palillo was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. We're told the heart attack was very unexpected. Palillo was 63. According to one of Palillo's colleagues at G-Star School of the Arts, Palillo had appeared to be in good health ... but was a heavy smoker. We're told he had been suffering from a bad cough and had even scheduled a doctor's appointment for today.

In 2009 I met Palillo after he appeared in Broadway Backwards, the annual LGBT Center fundraiser in which performers sing showtune standards written for the opposite sex. Palillo's skit was a hilarious satire of Proposition 8 and he was fantastic in it.

Norman Lear Turns 90 Today

Today is legendary television producer Norman Lear's 90th birthday so I thought I'd note the occasion with the below 1971 clip from All In The Family, which is considered by some to have been the first sitcom to realistically grapple with gay issues. I was eleven years old when this episode aired and I distinctly recall wondering if I was going to have to move to England.

RELATED: A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet and sputter out a few words of thanks to Mr. Lear in the lobby after Bea Arthur's memorial. He was very kind to me.

Chad Everett Dies At Age 75

Celebrities are falling fast this week. Seventies television icon Chad Everett died today at the age of 75.

Everett's daughter told the Associated Press that he died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer. Perhaps best known for his role as surgeon Dr. Joe Gannon, the actor was twice nominated for a Golden Globe for his perfomances on "Medical Center." The series ran seven seasons and, at the time, tied with "Marcus Welby, M.D." for longest-running medical drama. But in an acting career that spanned more than 40 years, Everett guest-starred on a wide range of television series, including "The Love Boat," "Murder, She Wrote," "Melrose Place" and as a closeted gay police officer on "Cold Case." Everett found a new audience in 2009 when he acted in an episode of the CW's "Supernatural" as an aged version of Dean Winchester, usually played by Jensen Ackles. He recently appeared in the TV series "Castle."

I had such a raging teenage crush on Everett during Medical Center. Those sideburns! And I loved Lalo Shifrin's jangly theme music.

Sherman Hemsley Dies At Age 74

Actor Sherman Hemsley was found dead in his home today at the age of 74.

Although the cause of Hemsley's death is unclear, TMZ reports that the actor passed away at his El Paso, Texas, home. Hemsley made a name for himself as George Jefferson, carrying the iconic sitcom for a decade and earning a 1984 Emmy nomination for his work as lead actor in a comedy series. The actor went on to appear on a handful of other classic television shows including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Hughleys." He also starred as Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series "Amen" for several years.

Hemsley's costar Isabel "Weezy" Sanford passed away in 2004. That dee-luxe apartment in the sky is just a few blocks from my place on the UES.

A 70s "Ex-Gay" Flashback

This clip was just posted to YouTube today but judging by the clothes and hair, it was made sometime in the late 70s, maybe the early 80s. Acting!

Source.

Debby "You Light Up My Life" Boone's Husband Performs Gay Marriages

In early 1978 schlock-popper Debby Boone infuriated Grammy watchers when she won Best New Artist on the heels of the treacly You Light Up My Life, which had spent an insane ten weeks atop the Billboard singles chart the previous summer. Especially galling to the rockers who'd expected Foreigner to take Best New Artist was Boone's revelation that her song was actually about God and not a boy.

Boone went on to a successful career as a Christian artist, children's book author, and informercial pitchwoman. Today Boy Culture tips us to the upcoming issue of the National Enquirer, which reveals that Boone's husband has been performing gay marriages, something the paper claims her ardently anti-gay dad Pat Boone, who writes a column for World Net Daily, doesn't know about. We'll have to see if Debby Boone gets the Carrie Underwood treatment from WND editor Joseph Farah. I'm betting, she won't.

#1 This Week In 1976

Thirty-six years ago today, Donna Summer's Try Me, I Know We Can Make It was in its third and final week atop Record World's disco chart. (Billboard did not launch its own national Disco Action chart until later in 1976.) Clocking in at an epic eighteen minutes, this three-song medley from the aptly named Love Trilogy album was used as a defacto 12" cut by club DJs, although an edited 4:00 version was released to radio, where it petered out at #80 on Billboard's singles chart. Donna was still fresh off the smash global success of Love To Love You, Baby and the pop chart failure of Try Me had anti-disco critics gloatingly calling her a flash in the pan.

MORE TRIVIA: In 1977 this and the first single from Love Trilogy, Donna's cover of Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic, were both included on the soundtrack for the creepy disco murder movie, Looking For Mr. Goodbar.
EVEN MORE TRIVIA: The female background singers on Try Me were former members of 1976 Eurovision winners Brotherhood Of Man.

#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

Thirty-five years later the song (arguably) still most closely associated with Grace Jones is her first chart smash, I Need A Man, which spent two May 1977 weeks atop Billboard's disco report before being shoved aside by Marvin Gaye's epic, Got To Give It Up. An early version of the track was first released in 1975, reaching a limp #83 on the U.S. pop singles chart. But in 1977 Jones signed with Island Records, who had her rerecord the single for re-release. The rest, as we oldsters know, is gay disco history. Below is a murky yet fascinating film of Jones performing I Need A Man at her legendary show at NYC's Roseland Ballroom - complete with a live caged tiger, wedding gown, and men in jockstraps. "And NOW ladies and gentlemen.....heeeeeeere's Grace!"

#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

Recorded in the summer of 1975, ABBA's only U.S. chart-topper didn't achieve its lone week at the summit until the spring of 1977. Dancing Queen's glory as ABBA's biggest and most enduring American hit was besmirched last year when it the media learned it was Newt Gingrich's ringtone. TRIVIA 1: Dancing Queen was written just months after ABBA won Eurovision 1974 for Sweden with Waterloo. TRIVIA 2: Among the many well-known acts that have lovingly (and often mockingly) performed Dancing Queen in concert: The Sex Pistols, U2, Bjork, Alanis Morrisette.