Va-Va-Villainess: Kay Francis

Published January 4, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

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Her specialized take on honorable, suffering women made the distinguished Kay Francis one of the highest paid female stars of the ‘30s. Considered to be “as a responsive as a violin” (by none other than William Powell), Francis used this versatility to expand her career as that decade came to a close.

Kay Francis In Name OnlyCast as Cary Grant’s manipulative wife in 1939’s In Name Only, Francis’ Maida Walker was a woman who could – and did – drive men to suicide. Subtly maneuvering the family of Grant’s unhappy Alec into her corner, Francis’ character almost destroys his future with Carole Lombard’s loving and artistic Julie Eden. A final confrontation with Julie reveals Maida’s true motivations to all, though, and Francis slinks off with shocked elegance at the film’s close out. Subtly underplaying her character’s flint hard anger, Francis shines with sense of brittle control mixed with an acidic softness here, allowing the audience to feel a bit of sympathy for her while also delighting in her downfall. Kay Francis Allotment Wives

Taking the vengefulness of Maida a step further, Francis’ dominating Sheila Seymour is a crime boss extraordinaire in 1945’s Allotment Wives. The head of a ring of women determined to milk soldiers of their savings, Francis is coldly charming once again here. Even when gunning down her opposition in cold blood, Francis shines with a hypnotic allure. As with In Name Only, Francis connects fully with the character’s emotional softness, manifested by this character’s beloved daughter, allowing the audience to feel a twinge of compassion for her actions even when they are homicidal in nature.

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While not as well remembered as Bette Davis, her professional rival at Warner Brothers, Francis still has her devoted fans and a number of books and a website dedicated to her career and life.

www.kayfrancisfilms.com/

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Kate Bush

Published December 29, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Music has that distinctive power to shoot you into various points in your timeline. A recent listen to Sad Day, the FKA Twigs’ track that owes much sonic inspiration to the genre hopping brilliance of Kate Bush, brought me back to my high school days. As with many LGBTQIA youth, those years weren’t my happiest. One fond memory does linger with me, decades later, though.

My parents always seemed to be late to pick me up from activities. Sometimes I waited for hours outside of buildings or, in happier and warmer circumstances, in lonely, darkened hallways. My senior year I was in a production of William Inge’s Picnic and, after opening night, I found myself all alone in the shadowy caverns of the school cafeteria waiting, once again, to be familially retrieved. I had a huge broken down cassette player with me and I spent the entirety of my waiting time listening to The Kick Inside, Bush’s glorious debut recording, which I had bootlegged from a bootlegged tape of a friend.  Soaking in the genius of Bush’s nimble soprano fed lyrics in that solitary state, I realized the space I was in would soon be a distant memory. I felt profound and beautiful, inching a bit closer to the wild creative freedoms of adulthood.

Fans, of course, know that particular recording features Wuthering Heights, a beautiful homage to the world famous gothic novel. Bush would continue to explore those darker worlds in subsequent recordings, including Lionheart’s Hammer Horror. Detailing the travails of an actor being haunted by another while taking on the role of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this single was a mild chart success in Britain, but is held in high regard by nostalgic horror lovers everywhere.

Bush, of course, is still continually evoking worlds of mystery and grace at http://www.katebush.com.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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A Scry for Dagger Cast!

Published December 24, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Queer writer and Midwest bon vivant Aaron Eischeid brought his A game to the holiday episode of Dagger Cast! Promoting A Scry for Help, his demon inspired tale of grief, Eishcheid regaled us with tales of Clive Barker and conjuring….and even answered a few of our goofy questions about Santa tinged slashers!

This episode also marks Dagger Cast’s one year anniversary. It’s been such an amazing pleasure to chat with all of our guests…and to do all those gloriously goofy post show photo shoots! We can’t wait to continue with more sonic (and visual) alternative horror adventures in 2020!

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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https://www.facebook.com/scryforhelp/

 

 

 

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Lorna Luft

Published December 22, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Best known for her enthusiastic portrayal of Pink Lady Paulette in Grease 2 and for her famous lineage, Lorna Luft also joined the ranks of horror goddesses with her role in the Tales of the Darkside episode The Shrine.

The veteran of countless musical theater productions, Luft also knows her way around a torch song as evidenced by her take on The Music That Makes Me Dance:

Of course, New Wave enthusiasts are aware that she also backed up the likes of Debbie Harry, most notably on the popular Eat to the Beat track Slow Motion, and Hilly Michaels in the early ‘80s, making this performing dynamo a true delight in almost every entertainment medium imaginable.

https://www.facebook.com/LornaLuftOfficial/

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Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Hopelessly Devoted To: Joan Woodbury

Published December 21, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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With cheekbones that could have cut you like a quick blade, the striking Joan Woodbury actually brought a truly cozy energy to her many screen roles. Whether adopting a slight accent (King of the Zombies) or blonde locks (The Chinese Cat), she always radiated with warmth and easy humor.

The Living Ghost, an old dark house style murder mystery, especially gave her a chance to shine with a screwball wit. Paired against the wisecracking James Dunn, Woodbury truly steals the show here with her glamorous fashions and good natured bantering.Joan Woodbury the-living-ghost-2

Proceeding Brooke Shields by decades, Woodbury was also the first actress to bring famed comic strip reporter Brenda Starr to life. Although, she is perhaps more significantly known for her multiple roles in the Charlie Chan programmers, including Charlie Chan on Broadway.

Joan charlie-chan-on-broadway-1937But with credits in everything from Bride of Frankenstein to popular musicals (Bring on the Girls, Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies), Woodbury is truly deserving of appreciation from old school film lovers of every imaginable genre in glorious perpetuity.

 

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Review: BETTE Xmas at the Continental Baths

Published December 15, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Bette Midler is many things. Her repertoire of songs alone includes rock and roll, MOR pop ballads, girl group classics and new wave energizers. Her role as the hysterically vengeful Winifred in Hocus Pocus also imbues her with a strong horror pedigree, allowing generations of outsiders to delightfully engage in their inner wicked witches.

In BETTE Xmas at the Continental Baths, Chicago theater goddess Caitlin Jackson invokes many of those Midler personalities while also remaining uniquely herself. Based upon the Divine One’s ‘70s showcase at a NYC men’s club, this production is full of goofy energy and go-for-broke silliness, making it not only a seasonal delight, but one of the year’s best stage offerings as a whole, as well.

Jackson’s desire to make this a sort of performing arts fever dream is perfectly realized. For example, the corny jokes in Jackson and David Cerda’s fun script are often so obvious that they don’t land with the audience…at first. But the performer’s skilled reactions to the theater’s radio silence are truly hysterical, making the presentation as a whole an unmitigated delight from start to finish.

Of course, Jackson’s softly anguished takes on songs such as Superstar, River and I Shall Be Released are the evening’s master points. This go-for-broke yet subtle emotionality is her forte as a performer, making one pity those who will never experience this kind of brilliance in their lifetimes.

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Nicely, Jackson is ably assisted here by Terry McCarthy as Mr. Gerard, Midler’s game hairdresser, and Sydney Genco and Allison Petrillo as Laverne and Trixie, Midler’s backup singers. Genco and Petrillo get a chance to shine on their own during the show’s intermission/costume change. Their pert energy and spot on timing ultimately prove that they deserve a show of their own one of these days. Hmm…maybe next season!!!

But until then… give proper kudos to Jackson and co-director Marc Lewallen, by checking out this year’s festivities before closing night on December 31st.

https://www.facebook.com/events/570448403729627/

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Atanas Ilitch

Published December 15, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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As the Driller Killer in Slumber Party Massacre 2, Atanas Ilitch made a definitive impression on slasher movie lovers worldwide. Radiating with hip James Dean swerve and a sense of New Wave cool, Ilitch made killing seem as quick and easy as a cheesy pop song here.

But Ilitch’s personal history is even more colorful than his best known onscreen role. The scion of a powerful Detroit based business dynasty, he was also reportedly considered for the role of James Bond in the ‘80s. His musicality was a prime consideration to the producers and, in preparation for playing the iconic spy, he recorded a number of songs with espionage style theatrics. Upon losing the role to Timothy Dalton, he took such imaginings as Dark Night, Crazy in the Dark and Shoot the Gun and put them on an album called Shadows. Let’s Live Together was one of the more romantic offerings on display there.

Surviving a battle with cancer in his early 40s, Ilitch is, assumedly, still providing the citizens of Michigan with interesting musical avenues via his various corporate undertakings.

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Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: Cecil Cunningham

Published December 12, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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A product of the Broadway and vaudeville stages, the distinguished Cecil Cunningham was a character actress who, for decades, supported such cinema queens as Hedy LaMarr, Greta Garbo, Mary Astor, Carole Lombard (pictured below) and Barbara Stanwyck. Of course, smart cinema enthusiasts know that she was a presence in her own right, making a strong impression in smaller roles that often weren’t even credited onscreen.

thZJV2T4DG.jpgThankfully for horror fans, Cunningham was given one of her most prestigious undertakings in the fun Warner Brothers’ genre fest The Hidden Hand. Released in 1942, this gem found this regal celluloid queen in fine form as Lorinda Channing, the head of a family of greedy, mentally unbalanced socialites. Pretending to be near her death, Channing invites her nearest and dearest to her estate. Surmising that they all want her cold for her cash, this devious diva enlists the help of her brother, a deranged killer who has just escaped an asylum, to assist her in her plotting against her avaricious kinfolk.

Filled with weird humor and old dark house theatrics, this project also gave Cunningham plenty of room to utilize many of her acting tools. She brings a proud and strange presence to Channing, reveling in a role that would have normally been filled by a Boris Karloff or Laird Cregar type. Her work here is definitely the precursor to contemporary artists like Deanna Dunagan and Lin Shaye, fine actresses, who have embellished and empowered such films as The Visit and Insidious with their distinguished essences.

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Cunningham, who also appeared in 1934’s hard to find Return of The Terror and Ladies They Talk About, an early WIP effort, died at the age of 70 in 1959. Sixty years later, her filmography (and her genre credits, in particular) seems truly ripe for rediscovery.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Dusty Springfield

Published December 8, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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She is the essence of smooth British soul, making her the perfect soundtrack vocalist. Indeed, Dusty Springfield, one of the essential goddesses of sixties pop, has decorated the background of many a celluloid landscape. Nicely, her smoky version of Spooky highlights the first kiss between childhood sweethearts in 2017’s fun horror comedy The Babysitter. Countered by exploding bodies and cranial blood bursts, this tender moment could not have a more perfect aural illustration.

Springfield is also of special interest to the LGBTQIA community. Romantically linked with a number of women, including Rough Trade’s magnetic Carole Pope, she is one of the many exceptionally talented performers that we can claim as family. Her immaculate voice and silvery presence grandly live on despite her death in 1999, due to cancer, at the far too young age of 59.Emily-Alyn-Lind-and-Judah-Lewis-in-The-Babysitter-2017

http://www.dustyspringfield.co.uk/

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Va Va Villainess: Helene Millard

Published December 7, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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The grand Helene Millard perfected the art of being a distinguished featured player in ‘30s and ‘40s cinema. Portraying characters with names like Mrs. Vincent Cantillon, June Deering and Sylvia DeWitt, she was always memorable even when her screen time was uncredited and seemingly insignificant.

She is perhaps best known for backing up Norma Shearer in a number of her most famous films, including The Divorcee and The Women. It was in 1929’s Their Own Desire that she made the most impact, though. As the scheming Beth Chevers, she steals the heart of Lewis Stone’s Henry Marlett, causing much trauma for his ex-wife and daughter, played rambunctiously by Shearer.

Helene 2Nicely, Millard is given scenes in the latter half of the film that show her character to have a modicum of heart and a significant conscience, making her a more full bodied presence than the usual femme fatale stereotype. While books like They Had Faces Then, a study of ‘30s actresses, and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Character Actors, have (practically or completely) ignored Millard’s contributions, it is amazing to think that 90 years after her performance here, that she is still gaining new fans and being recognized as a true force of celluloid nature.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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