I love collecting movie related postage stamps. James Dean, Alfred Hitchcock, Al Jolson. The new Lena Horne “Forever” stamp is just sublime. The 1997 release of stamps of famous Hollywood monsters was just sensational. It was such a joy putting a Wolf Man or Mummy stamp on my Con Edison bill. The Andy Warhol stamp made me the most berserk, though. Seeing My Hustler, Vinyl, Bike Boy, Loves Of Ondine, I, A Man and The Nude Restaurant was a revelation and constant inspiration. I remember dropping acid and seeing Lonesome Cowboys three times in a row, and, on an impulse, hopping on a plane and moving to Denver that very day with two close friends. But what this country really needs is more gay icons on postage. (Ethel Merman just doesn’t count.) So here are my suggestions:
Paul Lynde (1926-1982) This flamboyant comic went from movies like Bye Bye Birdie and Send Me No Flowers to Hollywood Squares where he regularly lobbed off scores of campy zingers. (When asked, “Can you get an elephant drunk?” he replied, “Yes, but he still won’t go up to your apartment.”) I remember hitting the notorious alcohol-and-substance abuser square in the face with a bar door when I worked in Provincetown, only to have him cackle and say, “Christ, I’m so drunk I couldn’t possible feel that.” Hopefully, he’s now doing poppers in heaven.
Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968) Tallulah was a theater acting legend (The Little Foxes) and an outrageous TV personality who wore mink coats and was famous for using her Alabama-foghorn voice (molded from years of heavy drinking and smoking) to utter her trademark, “Daaahling”. She was once quoted as saying, “Cocaine isn’t habit forming. I should know- I’ve been using it for years.” Renowned for cartwheeling down hotel hallways without underwear, she perennially shocking gullible reporters. When asked if her co-star, in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, Tab Hunter was gay she reportedly replied, “Well, he never blew me….” Bisexual, she died of pneumonia, influenza and emphysema. You got to love a gal whose last mumbling words were rumored to be: “codeine…bourbon..”
Dorothy Arzner (1897-1979) The mannish-looking director from the 1930’s, rose from script girl and editor to become one of the few female directors to work for a major film studio at that time. Her films (Christopher Strong, Merrily We Go To Hell, The Bride Wore Red, Craig’s Wife) showed a sensitivity towards her female characters that’s still hard to find in Hollywood. Director George Cukor once said of her: “She was too tough for Hollywood. Most of her movies were hits….but she didn’t modify her ways or looks or manner….They didn’t want her inside their golden boy’s club.”
Raymond Burr (1917-1993) Famous for his starring role in the long-running TV series Perry Mason, Burr was adept at playing shady “heavies” in his early movie years. He was unforgettable as the murderous neighbor in Rear Window, the violent crime boss in Raw Deal and the psychotic detective in Pitfall. In interviews, the lovely Barbara Hale (1922-2017) gushed about how wonderful, and devilishly funny, Burr was. His relationship with Robert Benevides, an actor he met in the 1960s, was a partnership that lovingly lasted until Burr’s death.
Other suggestions for gay icon stamps include: Rock Hudson (1925-1985) handsome 50s movie star, whose closeted life and death from AIDs inadvertently helped educate and galvanize people in their fight against the disease.
Nancy Kulp (1921-1991) the horsey, good-natured Jane Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies was a light in the dark to tomboys everywhere.
Sal Mineo (1939-1976) played sexy sidekick to James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause. He was just doing some daring stage directorial work like Fortune In Men’s Eyes when he was stabbed to death by a mysterious assailant in a Los Angeles garage.
And what about a series of commemorative stamps for our fallen heroes- the handsome porn stars who gave their lives so that millions could find relief. Like Fred Halsted (1941-1989) the studly actor who performed in El Paso Wrecking Company, and directed remarkable experimental gay X-rated movies like Sex Garage and L.A. Plays Itself.
Or Casey Donovan (1943-1987), a handsome blonde who appeared in mainstream films like Score but who also played the lead in porn films, like the 1971 landmark Boys In The Sand.
Jon Vincent (1962-2000) the dirty-talking muscleman who was gay only when high, which was 98 percent of the time.
And Joey Stefano (1968-1994), an emerald-eyed beauty and porn puppy who streaked through the adult-film industry like a flaming comet as the best bottom in the business before overdosing on drugs at the age of 26.
Billy London (1965-1990) the blonde twink who appeared in such films as Bulge and Sex Drive 2020, whose dismembered head and feet were found in a dumpster in an alley behind Santa Monica Boulevard in 1990.
Hell, just the thought of opening my mailbox to find Paul Lynde’s face affixed to the right-hand quarter of an envelope is enough to make me feel gay as a goose.