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Scene 1 The
LavenderTimes
"I always wear slackes because of the brambles and~maybe~the snakes..."
~Katharine Hepburn
Those who've been deep in Hollywood's Inner Circles
or who've studied the Mysteries of Hollywood Stars may be already aware of The Lavender Years.
The early Gay~Lesbian transgendered Stars of Hollywood,
preside with such deities as G. Garbo, Joan Crawford, Mercedes de(la) Costa, Cary "Carrie" Grant, wove their acting spells
and character roles into films and classic movies. Clandestinedly loving each other, some openly (and privately) married
and had children while maintaining "outer" social roles...
The Sewing Circle authored by Axel Madsen
is one in a series of de-lite-ful books with insights of the Lavender Years, with little stories of the Gay~Lesbian(G~L) players
who were the prime Prima Donna movers like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Mercedes d. Costa, who held marvelous
parties and sponsored the way for aspiring G~L actoressess to make their Star of Destiny with the Silver Screen.
The Sewing Circle comes complete with rare
photos and footage showing some of Hollywood's biggest Stars sharing special moments with their G~L lovers. Though these
Stars sometimes married to maintain an "outer" socially acceptable Public Image, and to have children, they continued
to live private lives with the Lavender Circle, also called the Sewing Circle.
Scene 2 Black Pearls
"All the women I know feel a little like Outlaws..." ~Marilyn French
ah yes...Fitting this into a Hollywood perspectives,
one of my favorite theories is that all books~movies~ can be seen as branched to the Source of three major MovieBooks:
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (including Through the LookingGlass), THE WIZARD OF OZ books, and (mystery...ie to be revealed elsewhen...)
Members of the Sewing Circle were
encouraged to perform cameo roles, with alter-ego pseudonyms noms de plumes simetimes playing multiple roles
in the same movie... Greta celebrities such as the androgynous Garbo and Dietrich could stretch their abilities as
well as augmenting their salaries (pay checks), by playing alternative roles other than their more Public Image performances.
Occassionally these
"altars" of alternative pseudonym characters were so successful ie popular that Hollywood agents quickly rushed in to make
steps to secure the Actoresses Public and Private Images. Sometimes "amusing", celebrities faced situations of having
to appear as two personas in presenting their Character at receptions or Movie Previews or Award Ceremonies, or were
fortunate to have a "stand-in" double for them!
This form of GenderBending coverage
did give some creative writers ideas for movies in which one of the characters played different roles within the same movie,
such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Freaky Friday, Dr. Jekyll and Mrs Hyde (with Sean Young&J. Daniels), and earlier movies
with similar themes.Some of these Lavender Stars while gaining popularity in their mainstream roles found a need
to strengthen the security of their preferred playful yet serious lovelife styles.
To balance their inner and outer
Circle lives, press release might indicate that certain Stars had "retired" or temporairily retreated from Hollywood
for a vacation. Curiously enough, often this encreased their Fans' appreciation and support for their favorite charactors.
Indeed sometimes the Stars would be away in Europe or at home elsewhere with "Family" perhaps to Star in a "foreign movie"
and to spend private time with their preferred lover(s)...or involved in a Private Affair of the heart and body...
Stars of the Silent Film era gave
opportunity to devop body and facial fluency of expressions, later entended into enhancing other senses including vocal skills,
intonations and interacting with evolving New Technologies...
Greats
such as Monroe and Garbo, Hudson and Grant went to extensive lenghts to maintain their Private Image lives while enhancing
their experiences by choosing more varied roles. Serious dramatic actoresses vyed for more humourous, comedic roles,
while the 'breezy' fast-action 'Madcap Heiress' stars successful in a series of Spy spoofs, Detective and comedy-romance stories
such as:
My Favorite Spy (Hope),
Pillow Talk (Husdon & Day), A Shot in the Dark (Sellers),
Queen Cristina (Garbo), Barefoot in the Park (Garner),
Maid of New Orleans & Destry Rides Again (Deitrich and Stewart), Annie Get Your Gun (and other Western heroine spinoffs...Annie
Oakley&Calamity Jane...)
...these
Stars began experimenting with roles that showed they could portray more serious dramatic varied facets to their characters.
This trend eventually favoured the release of "weird" flicks loosed labelled as Thriller, Horror, Melodrama, Suspense, Gothic
and Mystery, including Comedy of Terrors (B Rathbone, Lorre, Price & Karloff), the Abbot and Costello mee...series (Dracula,
Frankhenstein, the Mummy etc) often with some good musical/singing numbers included, The Mummy, She & The Vengeance of
She, Nosferatu... Many of these Stars began to consider role play that reflected the Darker Side and the 'repressed' sexuality
ego, often a Playful way with subtle depths.
As more Stars
became active in the Sewing Circle, the term Black Pearls arose referring not so much to color or ethnics but to those
Stars which were a bit more notorious ...even those who made the black list because of thier outspoken
views in politics and public issues. These included Eartha Kitt, Lynne Redgrave, Kathryne Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and
others, who sometimes found the climate more comfortable at times in Europe or Mexico...until things cooled down
back in the US...
In future notepages we will explore more
of the inner doings of the Sewing Circle and events that immortalized some of these Stars forever, famous and infamous key
players and backers of The Lavender Sewing Circle...
~Drusillaxiii~
| A lovely day for The Goddess... |
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| ..from CHARM's "Om my Goddess!~..." |
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