Mart Crowley is dead to us all

DL is blocking links to Facebook. stupid DL.

Aw, I hope he got his see his show on film, before he passed.

R2, well it was adapted for film in the 70's already, so I guess he did.

Musto is tweeting

What did he know about Kirk's rape of Natalie?

Crowley also was in a gay bar scene in the Netflix film. It was shot at the Monster. A friend of mine worked as a background actor in it back in August.

Mart posted on DL secretly I am guessing.

[quote] Mart Crowley

Was he K’s brother?

,,,,

Wikipedia still hasn't been updated. Somebody hop to it!

Making of Boys in the Band. Sorry, is geoblocked in America.

R10 you need a place of death for Wiki, none is mentioned in the obits.

He lived on East 54th, can we assume he died at a Manhattan hospital?

We know it must be true, because the Twitter account Liza Minnelli Outlives told us so.

RIP to a gay brother who made it out of Mississippi.

Kirk's been dead for weeks. When is Lana Wood going to confirm that he raped her sister?

I did NOT know that the old 60s Bette Davis pilot that's been shared here a billion times on DL was, in fact, co-written by Mart Crowley.

Great documentary. I finally figured out how to change my VPN setting to another country so I could watch it. Thanks for posting R11

"[R2], well it was adapted for film in the 70's already, so I guess he did."

I think #2 means the remake, coming soon.

Sad. RIP, Mart!

He was besties with Natalie Wood

What an entrance!

Who is she? Who was she? Who does she hope to be?

Turning

I love that film and have watched it at least 50 times, but I have to confess there is one line I don’t understand.

When Hank tells Emory “And you remind me of a chicken wing“

His hand on his hip I always thought looked like a chicken wing maybe

R27 I never thought about that. That makes sense.

Yeah, hand on the hip = chicken wing, at least that's how I always took it.

I liked Mart. I know he got a lot of guff here on Datalounge for a lot of little things, but he seemed loyal and fun and very witty.

Wasn't he some sort of devil magician?

Did Ozzy Osbourne write a song about him?

Did he have Robert Wagner?

Now you can show me a happy homosexual.

Did he want to exit before the disaster hits Netflix?

I'm bringing a comforting Connie Casserole for us when as we sit shiva.

Well, this bit was prescient:

Emory: Ooh, I'd love to meet him. Or her. I have such a problem with pronouns.

Alan: How many esses are in the word pronoun?

Emory: How'd you like to kiss my ass, that's got two or more essessss in it!

Alan: How'd you like to blow me?

Emory: What's the matter with your wife, she got lockjaw?

Gay men had to learn to be sassy to survive.

Boys In The Band came out of the wonderful culture of off-Broadway. I miss that scene very much.

I’ve seen the movie at least 3 times, but I don’t recall if the dialogue explains the title: The Boys in the Band. I get that it’s a group of boys, but I don’t quite get the Band reference. Is referring to a high school marching band, where a lot of gay boys congregated? Or the band on the Titanic, famously playing as the ship went down? (I have always assumed the latter, which I believe was extended by Randy Shilts with And The Band Played On.)

Sad news.

R38 I always thought it was a reference to a line of James Mason's in A Star is Born when, after hearing Judy ding "The Man That Got Away," he says something about her singing when it's just "you and the boys in the band."

Judy was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

as a high school sophomore in tucson, az in April 1968 i read in Time magazine a Boys in the Band theater review and thought what the hell is this about? Later that fall the Burns Mantle 10 Best Plays of 1967-68 came into my public library, with plot condensation and stretches of dialog from Boys in the Band. I'll never forget reading it in my back yard on the lawn.... life was never the same. Never forget the power of a public library before the internet era.

I wonder how much money he made from "Boys in the Band" over the years.

I always thought the sequel should have been called One Man Band , not The Men from the Boys. And Michael was the only one still alive in 2008 or whenever, the rest had died from AIDS-related diseases as well as from other natural causes.

You have to wonder if the success of this play provided the catalyst of the power of pride which led to Stonewall.

The play was very successful in NY and worldwide.

The 1970 movie, not so much.

If you love the play/movie, I highly recommend watching the documentary "Making the Boys".

The documentary is not very good. First, it looks like shit. Whatever cameras they were using were cheap crap.

Second, they waste so much time interviewing F-list gay "celebrities" (most of whom have disappeared entirely) as to whether or not they know about The Boys in the Band only to reveal that nearly all of them don't. What's the point of that? Who gives a fuck if Carson Kressly knows the play or the film (which I don't believe for a minute), none of them say anything pertinent. It was just a stupid way to get "names" attached to the poster.

Third, the story the filmmaker delves into isn't any deeper than what you'd see in an episode of Biography. I know most of the cast is dead, but Robey has no idea what questions to ask those he did interview.

I went to see it in the theater and had to really stop myself from throwing shit at the screen, I hated it so much. If you really don't have the money to do anything visually interesting, I can forgive that, but research is free.

All articles say the play had it's debut at Theatre Four. Wasn't the original production at in the Village?

[quote]All articles say the play had it's debut at Theatre Four. Wasn't the original production at in the Village?

It ran for a few performances at Vandam Playhouse (now called Soho Playhouse). It was so popular that they then moved it to Theatre Four.

Has anyone ever listened to the cast album? I have it as a pair of mp3s (Act I/Act II) somewhere.

I wish a manuscript would turn up containing all the secrets and gossip Mart took to the grave with him.

R49 How does someone misplace mp3? Aren’t in your computer?

R45 here -

Watched the doc, again. Still like it.

Sadder now, after MC's death.

i picked up the 2 lp cast album in the .99 cent bin just last year

The dialogue in that recording is better than the screenplay's. Better character development. I have a copy too.

[quote]The dialogue in that recording is better than the screenplay's. Better character development.

To paraphrase Miss Effie Melody White in Dreamgirls: No one can see them on record.

How is it the Original Broadway Cast Album when the production never went to Broadway?

Original Greenwich Village Production is less impressive.

. Here's the audio recording that was made of the play that opened Off Broadway in 1968. The album cover says Broadway, but it wasn't Broadway.

Well done R58!

Matt Crowley bitched me out once - like foaming at the mouth screaming. It was at a party for the late 90’s (early 00’s?) revival that played on Christopher Street. Everyone was having fun & Matt decided he needed the floor to go on about something he felt was wrong with the production - I don’t really even know what. I was in the kitchen chatting up a producer - he was really funny, kinda sexy guy. So I just kept on laughing at the guy’s conversation & Crowley flew into the kitchen & just attacked me for rudeness - for a good 5 minutes. I was amused. I wasn’t a part of the production & I’m not in the arts so didn’t really care. When he was done he went back to the cast & the producer said Crowley’s like that . Slept with the producer that night - he had a perfect looking 7” cock. Not much of a story but there you go.

Old artists need to hold court. You were lucky not to be bitch-slapped. Glad you got laid, though.

He's not Matt, you dolt.

R62 so what. ? Just relaying my adventure.

I’m disappointed that Mart didn’t leave behind a j’accuse against Kirk Douglas before he croaked. What about justice for Natalie?

Can someone tell me, because--OK, I'm embarrassed, a LITTLE--what does "turning" mean? After all these years, I still do not know.

Harold says 'Turning' while observing the gradual stages of Michael's drinking, and its negative effects. He knows the bitterness and resentment which will emerge, and how they're expressed by lashing out viciously.

They know each other's self-hatred all too well. Some sort of tough rapport is though shown by Harold's finally telling Michael he'll call him next day.

Seems like being a rich and formerly famous person is toxic in old age. I know very few happy formerly famous people.

There was good, church-attending Michael and evil, self-hating Michael who lashes out ruthlessly, destructively to everyone around him, R65. A Jekyll and Hyde personality. Ever know anyone like that? Harold warns of Michael's transformation brought out with his drinking: "Tuurrning".