#Ethan Mordden

[matchboxguns]

Doing some deep cleaning. This is a hardbound I bought way back in 2018-2019, in a used bookstore here in my corner of SE Asia. I wonder what G. De Rosa & M. Gutierrez of Los Angeles, California are up to right now.

To the two of you, we will never meet, but thank you so much for this book. I hope life is kind to you guys. 🫶🏻

[makingqueerhistory]

Do you have any recommendations of books/ studies/ articles about the representation of queer people in media? Thank you for all the work you do!

Yes absolutely, I would be happy to share. Any discussion like this needs to mention The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo. Making Queer History does have a set of articles about this as well, with Queen Christina, Queer Codes, and Queer Coding and Different from the Others.

Some more modern books that I can vouch for are:

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me about (Desiring) Men

Manuel Betancourt

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

Joe Vallese

Gays on Broadway

Ethan Mordden

Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture

Matt Baume

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film

Tre'vell Anderson

(Affiliate links above)

This is just what I have read though, so other's are free to add on!

[bitter69uk]

“Paramount, which signed her [Marlene Dietrich] in a tizzy after viewing a rough cut of The Blue Angel, was the only studio that actually liked weird directors; von Sternberg was the champ of weird. Stop the projector during a medium shot in any of his films and you’ll see a crammed picture, every piece in it doing something. Graffiti, toys, masks, light fixtures, bowls of things: the sets are alive.” / From Movie Star: A Look at the Women Who Made Hollywood by Ethan Mordden, 1983 / If visionary director Josef von Sternberg (Jonas Sternberg, 29 May 1894 - 22 December 1969 – died 55 years ago today) was the Leonardo da Vinci of cinema, then German glamourpuss leading lady Marlene Dietrich was his Mona Lisa. The seven films the duo made together between 1930 and 1935 were dark, erotic, witty and sublime works of art / fleurs du mal in which they honed Dietrich's complex, sultry and feline persona and brought a whiff of genuine Continental decadence to mainstream Hollywood. Once Dietrich and Sternberg’s personal and professional relationship imploded his career went into a steep decline (Sternberg’s “artistic temperament” burnt a lot of bridges!) but I love his later post-Dietrich films The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Macao (1952) and Anatahan (1953). (I’m the first to admit, I haven’t seen any of his earlier silent movies). The intense and fruitful creative union between auteur Sternberg and muse Dietrich arguably created a template for the likes of Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Hanna Schygulla, John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, Pedro Almodovar and Carmen Maura (or Penelope Cruz) – and John Waters and Divine! Pictured: where it all began – Sternberg and Dietrich during production of their first collaboration together, The Blue Angel (1930).

[bassiter2]

hey so i know you purposefully seek out gay media. and i need some more of that in my life. do you have any recs?

okay so i've made 3 letterboxd lists

gay movies i'd reccommend (varies between romances, gay-themed comedies, documentaries, etc - but all are lgbt-centered)

movies with gay characters, sensibility, and/or themes (doesn't overtly focus on gay stuff, some have actual gay content and some don't, but all are fun/compelling in a gay way)

not canon gay but so homoerotic it counts (has some overlap with the list above this; i mostly only put movies on this list if the homoeroticism is practically textual and only unspoken)

as for books, I'd reccommend:

literally everything by Paul Monette (includes fiction, memoir, and poetry)

also everything by Alan Hollinghurst (fiction with gay protags and casual eroticism)

the Buddies trilogy by Ethan Mordden (autobiographical essays/vignettes)

The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt (fiction)

Richie McMullen's memoirs Enchanted Youth and Enchanted Boy

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (reimagining of peter pan where wendy is trans and peter is his boysona)

Maurice by E.M. Forster (the film adaptation is also on my letterboxd list but it is INSANE to read it knowing how long ago it was written)

City of Night by John Rechy (semi-autobiographical accounts of being a gay hustler in NYC in the 60s)

for gay history specifically, Gay New York and Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest are both very thorough, extremely interesting, and great sister-books imo.

anyway honestly i go to my local bookstores all the time and just peruse the lgbt section and for a while i was constantly coming away with so many books i had to start putting a limit on it and just keeping a long to-read list.

[stronghours]

2023 Yule Bash Beta Menu

SAVORIES

Spiced boiled beef (LC) (Paulina Market) (buy, 12/9 – cook, 12/15)

Baked pullman loaf (can make ahead and freeze)

herbed buttermilk biscuits (12/16)

COOKIES

Priyaniki (12/8-10)

Dough needs to rest several hours to hydrate

There is a glaze

Melomakarona (12/8-10)

sables bretons (12/8-10)

CAKE/ISH

the black cake (Nov 18/19)

sits till party – ice with royal icing

country Christmas cake (LC) (Nov 18/19)

glaze/frost day before party (jelly, marzipan, royal icing)

also sits till party

DRINKS

gleuhwein (12/16)

eggnog (12/16)

GELATINS

three-layer lemon honeycomb mold (12/15)

black velvet & cream jelly (12/15)

miscs: limoncello, chili jam, hot mustard (for beef sandwiches) - flowers

I have been itching for a couple years now to get a nice punch recipe in here but it has just not materialized and in any case I am rapidly running out of surface for a punchbowl

I axed all "growing food" last year for an all dessert menu, which means this year I launch myself backwards with the force of a cannon and prepare a retro, ostentatious, polarizing meat dish

no figgy pudding this year! I was not terribly impressed by my effort last year, but it was very fun for my guests to try and watch me light it on fire

I have already cut this menu back and am already just oozing to add onto it

I was whizzing through some Ethan Mordden today and found a christmas story he wrote where he recounts the 'traditional tiered caviar display' and im like uaaaaaaaaaaaaagh (no I am not going to do this)

I am so bizarrely stressed about this year's party even though I've done it several times before lmfao I have no idea what's up

however: when it comes to party-throwing i am a Big Fat Masochist and need the stress

I will be patient umolding the gelatins this year - I will not half-melt them by sitting them in too-warm water baths. I will meek and good(!)

I am gonna have to arrange my rooms again to fit the fucking christmas tree and have no idea how I want to do it

I have NEVER been happy with the mulled wine syrup I use. it tastes FINE but like, it's such a pain. figure out new method this year.

looking at this menu now, I'm like what the fuck is this. what is this pussy ass list. there is barely nothing on here. I suppose my guests can just feast on fistfuls of AIR

[transfemgeorgecostanza]

Listening to Liza, forever thinking about that quote by Ethan mordden

[galushanationalrailways]

tagged by @minecraftpissblock

currently reading: "the happiest corpse i’ve ever seen” -ethan mordden

favorite color: yellowww

last song i listened to: lorelei by ella fitzgerald (on the gershwin album

last movie i watched: lover come back 1961

sweet vs spicy vs savory: savory

currently working on: novel

tags: @folksingers @pixzelchixzzz @lunar-drizzle (no pressure ofc)

[newyorktheater]

Gays on Broadway. What is a gay play?

To author Ethan Mordden, Edward Albee is the “Great American Gay Playwright” —  emphasis on gay — even though few of his plays have any gay characters in them at all nor any obvious “gay material,” and Albee himself said “I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay.” Mordden sees it differently. “It’s not the sociological content of Albee’s plays that’s gay as much as his style as…

[talesofpassingtime]

That's why I love you. When an issue comes up, you don't defend yourself no matter how wrong you may be, the way most people do. You don't attack. You soften.

Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On

[bitter69uk]

“Pola Negri was the first European actress to be wooed, won and misunderstood by Hollywood … She had the kind of down-to-earth animal magnetism that more recent audiences associate with a Bardot or a Loren. She was a descendant of Polish gypsies, and her ancestry was reflected in the demeanour and tatty clothes of her screen image – it added to her desirability. As one critic engagingly noted at the time, trying to explain her attraction, “You had the feeling that the back of her neck was dirty.” Hollywood imported her and immediately sanitized her, washing off the dirt and replacing her tatters with elegant clothes and elaborate coiffures – it didn’t work, but she made a hell of a name for herself during her tempestuous decade in the movie capital.” 

/ From The Illustrated Encyclopedia of The World’s Great Movie Stars (1979) by Ken Wlaschin / 

“She played the definitive Hollywood Star. No sooner had she landed in town than she set up an affair with a biggie, Charlie Chaplin, kept a panther on a leash, called everyone “darling”, demanded that she be called Madame Negri or Countess Dombski, sabotaged shootings with tantrums and feigned headaches, laid Chaplin aside for Valentino (more to the point), gave a smashing performance at his funeral in New York shortly before suing his estate for $15,000 (a loan), and like Swanson, married a title. She could act, too.” 

/ From Movie Star: A Look at the Women Who Made Hollywood (1983) by Ethan Mordden / 

Born on this day: volatile Polish silent movie diva Pola Negri (née Apolonia Chalupec, 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987).

[sondheims-hat]

March 24, 2016: Author of On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide Ethan Mordden, is the guest.

[bitter69uk]

“Pola Negri was the first European actress to be wooed, won and misunderstood by Hollywood … She had the kind of down-to-earth animal magnetism that more recent audiences associate with a Bardot or a Loren. She was a descendant of Polish gypsies, and her ancestry was reflected in the demeanour and tatty clothes of her screen image – it added to her desirability. As one critic engagingly noted at the time, trying to explain her attraction, “You had the feeling that the back of her neck was dirty.” Hollywood imported her and immediately sanitized her, washing off the dirt and replacing her tatters with elegant clothes and elaborate coiffures – it didn’t work, but she made a hell of a name for herself during her tempestuous decade in the movie capital.”

/ From The Illustrated Encyclopedia of The World’s Great Movie Stars (1979) by Ken Wlaschin /

“She played the definitive Hollywood Star. No sooner had she landed in town than she set up an affair with a biggie, Charlie Chaplin, kept a panther on a leash, called everyone “darling”, demanded that she be called Madame Negri or Countess Dombski, sabotaged shootings with tantrums and feigned headaches, laid Chaplin aside for Valentino (more to the point), gave a smashing performance at his funeral in New York shortly before suing his estate for $15,000 (a loan), and like Swanson, married a title. She could act, too.”

/ From Movie Star: A Look at the Women Who Made Hollywood (1983) by Ethan Mordden /

Born on this day: volcanic Polish silent movie diva Pola Negri (née Apolonia Chalupec, 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987).

[adrian-paul-botta]

Gish went back to the stage, but Pickford stayed put at Pickfair. Her marriage to Fairbanks was ailing; from The Taming of the Shrew on, their ability to tolerate each other’s incompatible qualities was blunted, and at length Fairbanks’ affair with Lady Sylvia Ashley, much touted in the press, made reconciliation impossible. Pickford divorced Fairbanks and married Buddy Rogers, her co-star in My Best Girl and, all things considered, a better consort for America’s Sweetheart than Fairbanks. Rogers was America’s Boyfriend, Fairbanks America’s Big Man on Campus, his ego constantly chafing against the wide reaches of his girl’s celebrity. Mary and Buddy remained active in Hollywood doings, and in the mid- 1930s she proposed to try a radio show, Parties at Pickfair, in a variety format like that of Louella Parsons’ Hollywood Hotel. But Parsons discouraged great stars from appearing, and such was her power that this in effect canceled Pickford’s show. That was the new Hollywood: jackals owned it. No wonder Little Mary ended up a bedridden recluse sipping gin. Griffith, too, drank his wretched life away. But Gish, the most formidable of actresses, stayed so busy and vital that eventually Hollywood needed her all over again.

[stronghours]

2022 reading list

I have not been able to read fifty books a year since my grad school days and it is pissing me off! however, I read more than last year and much more than the year before that. I have reading asks I totally forgot about, will try to get back to those soon.

Everybody Loves You – Ethan Mordden (Jan) The Secret to Superhuman Strength – Alison Bechdel (Jan) The Monk – Matthew Gregory Lewis (Jan) White Gold: the diary of a rubber cutter in the Amazon 1906-1916 – John C. Yungjohann (Feb) The Vagabond – Colette (Feb) The Pugilist at Rest – Thom Jones – (Mar) Dreams of Amputation – Gary Shipley (Mar) Chasing the White Whale – David Dowling (Apr) Cold Snap – Thom Jones (Apr) Sonny Liston was a Friend of Mine – Thom Jones (May) The Joyful Blue Book of Gracious Gay Etiquette – Daniel Curzon (May) The Burning House – Ann Beattie (June) The Philosopher in the Kitchen – Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (June) James Herriot’s Dog Stories – James Herriot (July) Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert (July) The Lonely Lady – Harold Robbins (July Gigi – Colette (July) Julie de Carneilhan – Colette (July) Chance Acquaintances – Colette (July) Nine and A Half Weeks – Elizabeth McNeill (July) The Death of the Heart – Elizabeth Bowen (August) Country Girl – Edna O’Brien (August) The Marbled Swarm – Dennis Cooper (September) I Wished – Dennis Cooper (September) The Return of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle (November) Frisk – Dennis Cooper (November) Bats out of Hell – Barry Hannah (November) Endless Love – Scott Spencer (Dec) The Confidence Man – Herman Melville (Dec) The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann (Dec)

[itsdlevy]

Three and a half years after his uneven if entertaining On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide, Ethan Mordden turns his pen to a similarly iconic figure for his follow-up, On Streisand: An Opinionated Guide. Improving on its predecessor in almost every way possible, the new entry is an engaging and insightful look at the stage, television, film and recording work of one of the few people alive to stake a serious claim to the title of "the greatest star." 

Read my review on Talkin’ Broadway