8.15.2005

Sissies...gotta love 'em!


I've been sitting in this room since 10 am, drinking tea and obsessively reorganizing my huge stash of yarn. I've been kept company by the Fred Astaire marathon on TCM; boy, I've seen some gems today! For one, Flyin' Down to Rio, which featured some kick-ass airplane dancing, and Careless, an early musical study of psychoanalysis. With dancing, of course.

However, neither of these films featured my favorite gang of supporting characters, the delightful Edward Everett Horton, or EEH for short (look, I'm like Rachael Ray with her EVOO!), or the latest addition to my bevy of fruity film beauties, prim and proper Eric Blore.

While looking for an appropriate photo of him to post, I found an excellent essay on the very characters that continue to capture my heart. They're the guys that keep things interesting for me, but this article refers to them simply as "sissies." Check it out. http://www.glbtq.com/arts/film_sissies.html

2 comments:

ted d. said...

umm,,. Mark Rappaport made two documentaries about general faggotry in movies, but he has large sections on the role of the sissy and how and why villians are effeminate and English.

His documentaries are "The Celluloid Closet" and "Silver Screen: Color me Lavendar"

I suggest you pick them up. Besides, Celluloid Closet has some choice momements between Bob Hope and Fred Astair(?) and covers lots of awesome double entendres that the actors may not have realized the writers had given them in their lines.

ted d. said...

Umm.. I also want to say that once Dan Savage did a piece of sissies for this american life that was funny.

It was when he was in charge of the personals for The Stranger and he was editing out "Straight Acting" and ends up asking, isn't letting yourself be a sissy a lot braver that putting up a macho front?