Even in the Wizard of Oz, you could tell she was destined to be fat. In this movie, she was.
Posted on 11/17/2023 12:48:16 PM PST by DallasBiff
Lt Herwitz was Ethel Merman?
Even in the Wizard of Oz, you could tell she was destined to be fat. In this movie, she was.
That was her last movie appearance...............
I think gay men just liked her cabaret club acts and she responded to them warmly and cheerfully….she was slightly outrageous with her makeup and costumes which added to the appeal…plus she had her personal struggles that made her relatable
Now Liza Minelli has the same following
Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine were married for 42 days.
The reason for their divorce was “Irreconcilable faces” - Paul Lynde Hollywood Squares
Yes, and sadly was the last time we saw her.............
One of my first jobs many, many years ago, was at a retail store in San Francisco (Ghirardelli Square)...it was a small shop with about 15-20 total employees.
I was one of 2 people that were “straight”. Every other man/woman was gay (on steroids)...
I can tell you first hand...every gay male in that store idolized Judy...she was their Goddess.
Just a fact.
“Certain groups have a knack for taking anything innocent or whimsical, and recreating it in their twisted mindset.”
And they do so in part to wreck our appreciation of these icons. Our job is not to let them.
What are you talking about?
No conservative has any problem with Judy Garland.
She had a tragic life and that is sad.
As Dorothy, she was asexual and innocent, and befriended, sang with, danced with and had an adventure with 3 incomplete, outcast men.
And in real life, she was image-conscious, confused and broken
Its the gay-male persona and experience to a “T”
“Well she was a gay icon, time to dump her in the conservative memory hole...”
She divorced her husband, the father of Lisa, when she found out he was gay.
Is it any mystery why so many gay men would feel an affinity with a campy, boozy, substance-abuser known for belting out show tunes?
I’m not sure it’s fair either to Judy Garland or to gay people in general to call Judy a gay icon. Has she been fetishized by some fragment of the gay community? The story would have us believe that she has. Is this fragment representative of the gay community? I’m a bit skeptical of that.
In other words, a story like this possibly says more about the author than it does about Judy Garland or the gay community.
Pushing this idea becomes a matter of feeding ugly stereotypes. Judy was wonderfully talented. Her childhood was abusive. She battled alcohol and drugs her entire adult life and compounded it with sexual recklessness. So: this is a story of a FABULOUS(!) facade masking chronic substance abuse, depression, promiscuity, and self-destruction at an early age.
If I, as a straight, white, conservative male, offered this up as an iconic portrait of gay culture, I could be (and probably would be) accused of trafficking in scurrilous negative stereotyping of homosexual behavior.
So why do gay or gay-sympathetic writers do this? There are innumerable gay people — including even homosexuals in Hollywood — who do not behave this way. Limiting it to actors, does anyone here have a problem with Jim Nabors/Gomer Pyle? I don’t think so. Current day actors? Does anyone here have a problem with Jodie Foster? I don’t think so. There are many more where these came from. Take your pick.
If there is a gay subculture that festishizes Judy Garland, it consists of the worst element in the gay community seeking to glamorize their dysfunctions: the Pied Pipers of self-destruction. We should hold people, including gay people and movie stars, to higher standards.
Judy Garland was wonderfully talented, and she ended up in the Dead Celebrity Junkies Hall of Fame. If there is an extenuating factor in her story, it would be her abusive childhood.
Judy Garland's performance captures the sentimental yearning for the impossible which many gay men feel. Her tragic death at an early age, never having found happiness or true love, is also something that gay men identify with. They believe they know who Garland felts. She is a kindred spirit.
Gay men want to be tragic divas?
They believe they know how Garland felt. She is a kindred spirit.
“Some people go both ways” -Ray Bolger, as the Scarecrow
“I think gay men just liked her cabaret club acts and she responded to them warmly and cheerfully….she was slightly outrageous with her makeup and costumes which added to the appeal…plus she had her personal struggles that made her relatable. Now Liza Minelli has the same following”
In its own way, Cher seems like she has a solid following among gay men for many of the same reasons.
I hate to use the sitcom “Will & Grace” as an example, but in the show, the really flamboyant gay guy (Jack) idolizes Cher.
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