February 24, 2021 – davidbruceblog #2

Gays and Lesbians

• Due to TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the heterosexual Alyson Hannigan became a gay icon because she played Willow Rosenberg, a character who had a positive same-sex relationship with the character Tara Maclay, played by Amber Benson. However, in an alternate universe the gay icon may be Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy. In the movie Cruel Intentions, Sarah played a character who had some lesbian scenes, and in fact, her character’s lesbian kiss with the character played by Selma Blair won an award for Best Screen Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards. Shortly afterward, Sarah filmed the movie Scoobie-Doo, in which her character, Daphne, exchanges bodies with the character Fred, then kisses the character played by Linda Cardellini. For a while, Sarah was excited that her second on-screen, same-sex kiss might win for her a second award for Best Screen Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards, but unfortunately, that scene ended up on the cutting-room floor, disappointing lesbians and straight men everywhere.

• Michael Thomas Ford once attended a screening of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in a New York theater filled with gay men. As the movie was shown on the screen, half of the audience recited Bette Davis’ lines from memory, while the other half recited Joan Crawford’s lines from memory.

Gifts

• One of Marlene Dietrich’s heroes was Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. As an entertainer of GIs in Europe during World War II, Ms. Dietrich knew that Mr. Fleming’s discovery had saved the lives of thousands of soldiers. When she had the chance five years after the war, she invited him to dinner. After dinner, Mr. Fleming gave Ms. Dietrich a gift — a small glass jar containing the very first penicillin culture.

• Canadian figure skater Toller Cranston once did a movie with Artur Rubinstein, after which Mr. Rubinstein gave him five gallons of a very expensive Guerlain men’s cologne in a cut-glass decanter. It was impossible to use that much cologne in the regular way — so Mr. Cranston took a bath in it.

Husbands and Wives

• Celebrities sometimes must have long-distance relationships with loved ones because of their work. When actress Halle Berry was making the TV movie Solomon and Sheba in Africa, she was separated from her then-husband, baseball player David Justice, by an ocean. For the first month they were apart, their long-distance telephone bill was $4,500. In October of 1995, Mr. Justice won the World Series for his team — the Braves — by hitting a home run. Ms. Berry was watching the game on TV — 3,000 miles away because she was making a movie.

• Ballet dancer Jacques d’Amboise courted another dancer, Caroline George, but he got off to a bad start with her family. They were conservative, and so being a male ballet dancer was bad, in their opinion. In addition, he showed up with long hair (a no-no) that had been dyed red (another no-no) for his role in the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Finally, he tried to show off his knowledge of the wines of Europe, then discovered that her family didn’t drink. Still, all ended well. He and Caroline (aka Carrie) married and had children.

• Ilka Chase was once married briefly to the much-married actor Louis Calhern. After her divorce, she sent a box of calling cards engraved “Mrs. Louis Calhern” to Julia Hoyt, Mr. Calhern’s next wife, with the note, “Dear Julia: I hope these reach you in time.”

• Actor Robert Morley’s wife once tried to bluff her way into a hotel dining room that had been reserved for General Motors. She told the hotel staff, “The General is a good friend of mine. He will be delighted to see me.” (The bluff didn’t work.)

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