Warning... this is an adult site. If reading or viewing things about what gay men do sexually with one another bothers you - you should not read this blog. This blog is a reflection of my adventures and thoughts. Some are fun, some not so pretty. I won't name names, or kiss and tell... but I will live to tell. And baby, trust me - I am gonna spill it all over your pretty little party dress. Enjoy!
I tell you... be they bedecked in diamonds or pearls... these boys are all for the girls!
Yes, today is Nothing Like A Dame Day.
And I must say, I heartily concur.
Be they true beauties, like our own Mistress Maddie, or looney toons like Bianca Del Rio and Tammi Brown, or merely a pay day for those who will play gay...
These girls have what it takes in oh-so many departments.
And how delightful that they are willing to share both sides of their gilded coins!
Below you'll find the fella that puts it to Stella, the boy who plays it coy, and the girl who's sweeter when tucking that peter!
And, dears, trust me... I've read the stories, I know the controversies, I hear and validate.
But when push comes to shove, and the rent is due, a child will do what a child must in order to keep from going homeless.
Yes, Richard Rodgers knew exactly what he was talking about when he wrote that song.
So, let's all sing along and celebrate this day in a way oh-so gay!
Today we take a look at a series of four books, (possibly) the complete gay male output by Selbee Associates. We will also take a brief look into the history of the imprint's founder, one of the pioneers of fetish media, publisher and photographer Leonard Burtman.
Selbee Associates is the brainchild of one Leonard Burtman and his story is worthy of a movie, or at least the lengthy article Richard Pérez Seves wrote about him which can be found at the byNWR website. Pérez Seves really did his homework. He examined the facts, culled from existing government documentation as well as a massive FBI file petitioned through FOIA (The Freedom of Information Act).
Me? I'm going to give the lowdown in a few paragraphs, borrowing from Richard Pérez Seves' article and Wikipedia.
Although photographer Isadore 'Irving' Klaw was first in entering the fetish art business in 1948, it was Leondard Burtman who envisioned going beyond mail order and creating the first fetish-inspired publishing enterprise with nationally distributed magazines and books.
In the case of Burtman, this innovation was the mother of necessity. You see, he'd held a government job for many years, but had a habit of getting arrested, which put an end to that and other similar opportunities.
Ah, let's start at the beginning.
Born in Nebraska in August of 1920, Burtman was raised in NYC. His father was a one-time newspaper owner and editor. An initial fascination with electronics bloomed into a promising career. Burtman was educated at a number of technical schools, including the California Institute of Technology, the Philco School, and Bell Laboratories School for War Training. He held positions at the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation, ITT, and RCA. He returned to the California Institute of Technology where he worked “as a member of the research staff in the development of telemetering devices for the atom bomb.”
Burtman eventually landed a civilian job as a radio technician at a military base. And that's when life soured for Burtman. His first arrest was for stealing government property. He was then arrested for failing to appear before the draftboard - though he got out of that by claiming "he was employed by the Office of Scientific Research and Development; the Unit had the code name (Camel), and was concerned with Atom Bomb Research." However, his luck ran out with his next arrest; for transporting stolen goods and check fraud. He pleaded guilty to six counts and served a year in federal prison.
Upon release, he returned to the east coast. Disgraced and unemployable, he turned his attention to one of his other passions - photography, namely that of nude females. Under various alias' he built a reputation and was a frequent contributor to the publications of 'Pin-Up King' Irving Klaw.
Around 1952, Burtman met his future business partner, Benedict 'Ben' Himmel, a loud, brash former union organizer and one-time burlesque club owner with rumored ties to the underworld. Himmel had already been arrested for selling obscene literature in 1951, so it was decided that he would remain in the background, securing funding and distribution, while Burtman would handle the creative end. The two built an empire which eventually included numerous fetish fashion magazines: Diabolique, Exotica, Paris Taboo, Pepper, Satana, and Striparama, Exotica, Connoisseur, Leg Show, High Heels, Masque, Female Mimics, Forty Plus, Bizarre Life, and Orbit.
Burtman's social network included such fetsh notables as Charles 'The G-String King' Guyette, illustrator, writer, publisher John Alexander Scott Coutts AKA: John Willie, publisher Robert Harrison, and illustrators Eric Stanton and Gene Bilbrew. He'd work with all of them, eventually developing an innovative style, conveying "a novella-length story, hinging on some aspect of 'bizarre' fashion, told entirely in sequential photographs and no words." Not that he treated them well. He frequently pilfered material them or treated them poorly. Stanton, one of his chief illustrators would one day say... “I hate that son-of-a-bitch more than anyone I ever met. I did a lot of work for him. I was up there one Christmas Day and I saw him writing checks and putting money in envelopes for the doorman, etc. At the time I was broke. I heard he said to someone once ‘You got to keep these artists starving or they never draw.’”
Operating under 17 alias' and starting in 1954, Burtman built his publishing empire, which eventually included film (Satan In High Heelsand Cinderella's Love Lessonfeaturing cabaret/burlesque legend Lily St. Cyr). He worked with the best models in the business including Bettie Page, Roz Greenwood, Baby Lake, Brandy K. and Burtman's future wife, Tana Louise (they divorced in 1960 and Burtman would marry three more times).
Burtman was also a huge fan of transgender, transvestites, and female mimics. He was the first to create full-sized magazines dedicated to them. Yes, according to one intimate, Kim Christy: "He loved the lady boys."
Problems with the law surfaced between 1957-1959. In May of 1959, on the basis of evidence obtained during a 1957 warehouse raid, Burtman and Himmel were found guilty of “possession of obscene booklets with intent to sell.” And so Burmel Publishing Co. would become Kaysey Sales Co. Inc. which then became Selbee Associates.
Selbee Associates would collapse in 1963 under the weight of a 66 count indictment and the bankruptcy of their major distributor, All-State News Co. (who owed them $180 K). Burtman and Himmel would continue publishing under various names, using secondary distributors, but never achieve the height reached in 1963. Oh, and that 66 count indictment? It never went to trial, but did manage to tie up Burtman and HImmel's time, money, and energy.
No, the end came when a shipment of Danish porn marked “earthenware cups and saucers” was accidentally dropped and broken open on the docks. The duo made the mistake of offering a bribe to a customs official to cover it up - and that was their final undoing.
The unfolding legal case revealed Burtman's shady affiliations one particular individual indicted with Burtman and Himmel; Charles 'The Blade' Tourine, a man described in the New York Times as a "high lieutenant in the Genovese Mafia family." Burtman and Himmel were found guilty, fined $5 K each, and sent to the big house for one year. And that was the end of their partnership.
Burtman would soldier on alone and the 1970's proved much more accommodating to his brand of fashion fetish. Unfortunately, the competition eventually did it better, bringing a final end to his fever dreams. He died at his desk in 1989, unable to reinvent himself one more time.
Here are the four titles published by Selbee Associates, along with two titles published by other Burtman-associated imprints. All artwork is either done by Eric Stanton or Gene Bilbrew.
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Queens In Drag
"Female Impersonators... on parade!" Author: Anonymous Publisher: S-K Books 1964
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Mr. Muscle Boy
Selbee Associates
Author: Donald Evans
1965
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The Gay Jungle
Selbee Associates
Author: Donald Evans
1965
According to Hommi Publishing's Big Ass List, this one is about a "hustler on Times Square".
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Beach Boy
Selbee Associates
Author: Donald Evans
1966
According to Hommi Publishing's Big Ass List, this one is about "gay tourists in Miami Beach".
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Male Madam
Selbee Associates
Author: Donald Evans
1966
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Female Impersonator's Handbook
Author: 'Pudgy' Roberts
Publisher: Capri Publishers
1967
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And that's all for now.
Next time: more tantalizing titles from another vintage gay pulp fiction imprint.
Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.
Today, we take a look at the work and history of the multi-talented performer Lana Pellay.
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From Wikipedia and other sources:
Lanah P (Alan Pellay, Al Pillay, Al-ana Pellay, and Lana Pellay) is an LGBTQ English entertainer who starred in The Comic Strip Presents and as Alex in the 1987 film Eat the Rich. A contemporary and friend of designer Leigh Bowery, she also dabbled in music and was a fixture on the drag circuit.
Born near the docks of Grimsby, Pellay was the youngest of six children. Her mother was a cleaner of Bajan descent, while her father was an engineer on the fishing trawlers of Indian descent. She quit school at the age of 15, making her way to Manchester, where she befriended the Northern drag performers Bunny Lewis and Frank "Foo Foo" Lammar. Pillay impersonated Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Cleo Laine and Dorothy Squires in full drag, with no microphone, and was booked into the working men's clubs throughout the North of England, as well as the cabaret club circuit.
During a lull in Pillay's drag career, while managing the Black Market Café in Levenshulme and renting a room from Coronation Street actor Alan Rothwell, Pillay was introduced to Kay Carroll and Mark E Smith of The Fall. Pillay formed her own band, the I Scream Pleasures, who subsequently appeared as guest support at Fall gigs.
Pillay recorded with Adrian Sherwood for his dub label, On-U Sound. Their effort, the post-punk/punk funk industrial tune Parasitic Machine appeared a label compilation. Pillay then metamorphosed into a disco diva as the hormone-popping transsexual Lana Pellay. Dressed in costumes by her close friend Leigh Bowery, Pellay enjoyed a Top 40 single in Australia and New Zealand with Pistol in My Pocket. She was also featured on Gary Clail's 1991 hit Human Nature.
While living in Notting Hill, west London, Pillay met Keith Allen, who invited Pillay to appear on the first program aimed at a youth audience on the recently launched Channel 4 network. There, Pillay met her champion, Peter Richardson. The latter was an actor, comedian, writer and director for the television show The Comic Strip Presents. Richardson would go on to write parts for Pellay in five episodes of the show, plus a part in the feature-length film The Supergrass. In 1986, Pellay released the PWL produced I Can Make A Man Out Of You.
Richardson also wrote the lead part for Pillay in the 1987 feature film Eat the Rich. Pillay then became a film critic on the ITV late night chat show Funky Bunker, with fellow critic, Craig Charles. A one-woman show based on her life and a cabaret review followed, along with a step into traditional theatre, playing the title role of the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires on stage in Mrs. Roger Moore.
Pellay is friends with Andy Bell of Erasure and together, they have collaborated on a number of songs, including the LGBTQ anthem, Queercore!
Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.
Today, we take a look at one of the quirkiest films ever made, All American Co-ed.
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From Wikipedia and other sources:
All American Co-ed
(1941)
The all-girl school Mar Brynn tries to attract more pupils and publicity by making fun of the neighboring all-male Quinceton college. For revenge, the boys there send Bob Sheppard to infiltrate Mar Brynn dressed as a girl hoping to create a scandal. But Bob falls in love with Virginia, a girl putting on a fund raising show for Mar Brynn. Now Bob has a problem: get revenge for his frat brothers or keep the girl? When his frat brothers at Quinceton get wind of his relationship, they decide to send him some 'support' in the form of two clueless thugs. And things get really complicated on the day of the big show due to a measles breakout on campus. Will boy lose girl? And can the show go on?
This American musical film produced and directed by Leroy Prinz and stars Frances Langford, Johnny Downs, Marjorie Woodworth, Noah Beery Jr., Esther Dale, Harry Langdon, and The Tanner Sisters.
This served as the film debut of Arthur Hale, Jr. and Marie Windsor. Hale you may remember as the Skipper on the popular television show Gilligan's Island. Marie Windsor was an American actress known for her femme fatale characters in the classic film noir features Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin and The Killing.
Nominated for two 1942 Academy Awards; for Best Music, Original Song Out of the Silence, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture for Edward Ward.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
Those are the facts about All-American Co-ed.
Here is the reality of All-American Co-ed: it is one strange, trippy drag queen dream which must be seen to be believed.
The picture opens with an all-male review featuring male student dressed as glamorous females. It's a big production number, unlike any ever performed by any actual all-male school ever, with an elaborate set, full orchestra and high production values. Johnny Downs takes the lead vocals and has no problem walking/dancing in heels. Turns out it's part of some annual Zeta alumni gathering for the all-male school Johnny attends.
Meanwhile the headmistress of at Mar Brynn, wonderfully played by Esther Dale, is fretting that they will have to close the doors of the all-female horticulture school she runs due to a lack of students. She's in her office with with her nephew(?), who is in charge of the school's financials or maybe a local newspaper man (I couldn't tell), and one of the girls at the school, played by Frances Langford. They decide to get a bit of media attention by writing a story ridiculing the drag review at the local all-male school. Then the three hatch a plan to lure girls to Mar Brynn by offering full scholarships to beauty contest winners.
The boys at the all-male school are really cheesed off when they read the article. They don't like being made laughingstocks - because, apparently, they take their drag review very seriously. A surreal scene follows, as they try to choose who should go undercover in order to bring similar embarrassment to Mar Brynn. It comes down to Johnny Downs and Kent Rogers. Rogers (the future voice of Woody Woodpecker), inexplicably, goes on for quite some time doing impersonations of Gary Cooper and the like before Downs is chosen for the job. Downs quickly transforms himself into Bobbie DeWolfe, Queen of the Flowers. In addition, we also get to see Joe Brown's son, Joe Brown, Jr. as the class idiot - there are a lot of second generation actors in this film.
And, sure enough, Johnny Downs is one of the dozen horticulture-themed beauty queens to be given a free ride at Mar Brynn. There's an odd train ride in which Langford, as hostess, escorts all the beauty queens to the school. This, of course, means time for a musical number with The Tanner Sisters (on hand for some reason), the beauty queens, and the black train porter. Once at the school, Downs settles in, accidentally drops his suit in the laundry shoot (resulting in a questionable scene with the school laundress - who is black, believes in ghosts and quits on the spot) and, of course, another musical number in the quad. Downs is in and out of drag, and even ingratiates himself (sans drag) into the creation of the musical review Langford is staging for the school.
But then a measles outbreak occurs, thanks to the sparkling Marjorie Woodworth (who really should have been given a lot more to do, as she clearly possesses the star power Langford lacks) throwing a wrench into things - which grow even dicer once the Zeta boys get wind that Downs is in love. To ensure that Downs goes through with their plan (which I guess is to be exposed as a man going to a women's school?), two thugs appear in the form of Noah Berry, Jr. (another star off-spring), and Alan Hale, Jr. (whose dad was also a famous actor). Question: Are they Zeta boys or hired thugs? I think the latter because they develop a thing for Down in drag, meaning they don't have a clue who he/she is.
Noah Berry, Jr. and Johnny Downs
Once the show gets going, there's a slap stick chase during an over-the-top musical salute to horticulture which is taking place throughout the campus. Inexplicably, and I use that word yet again, for it would seem 'inexplicable' is the perfect way to describe this film, there is a group of chorus girls who dance on a rather small stage with the view obscured by scrims and sheets of fabric as each of the horticulture beauty queens get a chance to spotlight their outrageously awkward costumes.
Of course there's a happy ending, although I'm not sure what or why.
Bottom line, there was a lot of potential here and certainly a fair amount of cash thrown at it, given the musical production number values, but the script is full of holes (literally, you have to jump to several conclusions for the thing to make any sense), motivations are sorely lacking, and it was edited with a meat cleaver. That said? It's fun to watch and a bit of a gas - so I highly recommend it. It's a short film (les than 50 minutes) but worth your time, plus - you've been forewarned. Enjoy!
