Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell

I forgot to link their image

Not sure if you're serious, OP, but you should see this movie.

R2 I'm serious. I was reading an article on Marie Curie's love affairs and they were mentioned in it. Thanks for sharing that movie!

There is a fantastic biography, Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr. It came out in the 80’s and the film of the book in the 90’s. Lots of great sex stories and late night cruising of toilets in the 60’s. The book is based on Joe Orton’s dairies and the sex is very graphic. It is highly recommended as a snapshot of cruising in the 60’s.

The diaries themselves are camp legend.

Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 film directed by Stephen Frears. With Gary Oldman and Vanessa Redgrave. LOVE IT. I went to Joe Orton's apartment in London, where he was murdered. Yes, there is a "Joe Orton lived here" plaque on the building.

^^ I lived a few streets from the apartment. In the 80’s and 90’s is was part of an organised Saturday walking tour around Islington. Not sure about now.

Few things I know about them: Orton fucked an Irish navvy in the toilets while on his way to his mother's funeral; Orton told Kenneth Williams that decriminalisation of homosexual acts didn't help him as he only liked having sex with 16-year-olds; Halliwell, as a child, looked on as his mother swallowed a wasp at a beach picnic and she died within seconds.

They were so poor they served rice with maple syrup for dinner to a guest. I'm pretty sure that was the combination. Joe Orton used to 'deface' library books with naughty art and was actually tried and fined for doing it. Anybody who has those books now is sitting on a goldmine.

Right, R9, "a spartan, ghastly meal" is described here by the guests, two publishers.

I didn't even know Joe Orton kept cows, R4, let alone that he documented their sex lives in detail.

The book is excellent, and the film as well, though the latter will ruin you for life. I'll look up in a crowd sometimes and shudder, suppressing a finger pointing and a cry of "Kenneth Halliwell!" Worse, though, is to spot a "Joe and Kenneth" couple and wonder if they are aware of the direction in which their unhappiness is headed (but of course they do, they always do, so better to say nothing and try to think no more of their future together.)

meh, they were ugly and filthy

Orton was a friend of Kenneth Williams and features a lot in his diaries and in the film about WiIliams, Fantabulosa (with Michael Sheen as KW). ('m a bit curious about how Orton got mentioned in the Maire Curie story).

Anyone see the late 1960s films "Loot" and "Entertaining Mr. Sloane"? Where can I watch them? Any other Orton writings adapted to film?

Not to derail the thread but why hasn't Alfred Molina (who played Williams) had a bigger film career? Great character actor, many early fearless performances in interesting indie films.

Or is he appearing as villains in lots of Marvel movies that I don't watch?

As a public librarian I was both horrified and fascinated by Orton and Halliwell's artistic defacement of library books.

[quote]Not to derail the thread but why hasn't Alfred Molina (who played Williams) had a bigger film career?

threads get derailed when posters don't get their facts right.

Molina, indeed a fine actor, played the partner/murderer Halliwell, not their friend Williams

The dowager countess demurs, snowflakes melt when they learn about nasty boys.

"Maggie Smith turned down the role of Ramsay, saying that she did not want to perturb her sons by starring in a film that featured homosexual promiscuity and murder"

the fearless Vanessa did not abide such prissiness and stepped up.

and Sir Ian regrets.

"Ian McKellen was originally envisioned as Halliwell.[3] McKellen explained: "I needed a holiday – I'd been working so hard – so I just kept saying 'no, no, no', but when I saw the film I really regretted not having done it"

They are so stupid and so milk-out-the-nose funny, R17.

There was a good book published of them in 2013 called Malicious Damage, something of a catalogue raisonné where the earlier books about the defaced books had been selective surveys. It's tricky to find now for less than £250 or £300

First, Kenneth Halliwell. Then ... Andrew Cunanan.

Why do gays kill?

Read "The Collected Plays of Joe Orton". They are quite funny and unexpected.

Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane is one of my favorite films.

Beryl Reid approaches Mr Sloane who is sunbathing on a grave and says, "Can you see through this dress?"

The film is not available so far as I can tell.

I swooned so hard over this picture of Orton and then was devastated to find out how he died. And I always loved the cheekiness of recreating the icon Keeler photo, and the conveying of the equal amount male sexuality and desire that she did as a female.

the young alec baldwin was smoking hot when he did "Loot" on Broadway and was also very doable decades later in "Entertaining Mr. Sloane"

Entertaining Mr. Sloane was done Off-Broadway in the early 1980s with Maxwell Caulfield.

The later revival of Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Roundabout starred Alec Baldwin (miscast as the fussy older gent), DL fave Jan Maxwell (she of the Manhattan Plaza apartment building) and gorgeous blonde hunk (who we mysteriously never talk about here) Chris Carmack.

Though the reviews weren't very good, I wish I'd seen it. This was the infamous production in which Baldwin lost his temper backstage and knocked a hole in a wall. It caused Jan Maxwell to leave the production.

is Maggie Smith a homophobe?

R29, why is that? Chris Carmack needs to be talked about....a lot!!!

Jan Maxwell left that production citing the toxic atmosphere backstage.

Baldwin was never blamed by management and worked there again. Maxwell didn't and then, she died.

Not sure you can post about Alec Baldwin and Loot without including this backstage photo...

[QUOTE] Not to derail the thread but why hasn't Alfred Molina (who played Williams) had a bigger film career?

Alfred Molina's career was basically limited by caring for his much older wife, actress Jill Gascoine. Who a various periods in their marriage suffered from: Clinical Depression, Kidney Cancer and finally Alzheimer's. They were married for 34 years and she died last year aged 83.

When they married in 1986 she was much more successful him.

Thanks for the info on Molina, sad as it is. His wife must have been at least 10 years older than him, I would guess.

Molina was fantastic as Diego Rivera.

Here's a reasonable version of 'What the Butler Saw' which is my favorite Orton work.

Tidbits of Molina: -very modest origins - His father, Esteban Molina, was a Spanish immigrant from Madrid, who came to England in 1939, and worked as a waiter and chauffeur.[3] His mother, Giovanna (née Bonelli), was an Italian immigrant who moved to Britain after WWII, and who cleaned rooms in a hotel, and worked as a cook and housekeeper.[

-a mensch - In addition to acting, Molina is an advocate for people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). He donates towards AIDS research, participates in the Los Angeles AIDS Walk and appeared as himself in a documentary produced by Joseph Kibler[35] (who has been HIV+ and paraplegic since his birth, c. 1989) about Kibler's life titled Walk On, first screened in 2013.[36][37]

-played a homo -" Love is Strange"

R38 Played Homo and Homicidal Prick Up Your Ears.

Molina was in two short-lived sitcoms in the USA. "Bram and Alice" and "Ladies Man" (with Betty White).

Bump

OP, you must be new to Datalounge.

R15 Entertaining Mr. Sloane & Loot are both out on Blu Ray in the UK but are region locked so you would need a region free Blu Ray player to watch them.

Great pic R33. I can't decide who fell harder into fat dad land, Baldwin or Robert Sean Leonard.

I also have to recommend Malicious Damage, that expensive book about the library book thing. It's not cheap, but it also has photos of their flat, which was wallpapered in collages from stolen art books. I would have killed too if I had to live there.

Kenneth complained in his diary that John Lahr was making a "cottage industry" out of Orton.

[quote] Kenneth complained in his diary that John Lahr was making a "cottage industry" out of Orton.

That’s what John Lahr did.

Prick Up Your Arse....I mean Ears was a great read and made a great film.