Movie classics All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, A Streetcar Named Desire and Imitation of Life rank high on the list of many gay men's favorite films, and openly gay writer Sam Staggs ( pictured ) knows that. He's written deliciously detailed making-of books about each of them. Born to Be Hurt: The Untold Story of Imitation of Life is his latest. The recently released book coincides with the 50th anniversary of the 1959 film that stars Lana Turner as a fabulous stage star; Sandra Dee as her attention-starved daughter; John Gavin as the tall, dark hunk they both fall for; Juanita Moore as Turner's kindly Black housekeeper, Annie Johnson; and Susan Kohner as Moore's light-skinned, troubled daughter Sarah Jane who decides to pass for white, rejecting her mother's love in the process. A vibrantly acted tearjerker, the film, overseen by closeted producer Ross Hunter and bisexual studio mogul Ed Muhl was a huge hit, resonating deeply with Black audiences and with its emphasis on "passing," gay ones, too.
Directed by Douglas Sirk, whose other 1950s films are also gay favorites, Imitation was also helped to success by the notoriety surrounding Turner, whose daughter, Cheryl Crane, had been acquitted in the accidental stabbing death of Turner's gangster lover just prior to filming. Crane ( who later came out of the closet ) wrote that the film relationship between Turner and Dee was much closer than the one she enjoyed in real life with her mother. Staggs details all this and much more in his fabulous book. Droll and funny, the author, who hails from Dallas, offers his slam-dunk opinions and insights with a gentle Texan's drawl.
Windy City Times: Imitation of Life has such an impact on gay men of a "certain age," but what about the younger generation of gays? Do they still get it?
Sam Staggs: I don't think most of them get it because we live in such a different world and, you know, one of the many tragedies about AIDS is that a whole generation of gay men died before they could pass on—let's call it gay culture or gay interests—to the next generation. It is so rare to find a gay man in his 20s or 30s who has any interest in opera or anything like that. I think if that generation of men had not been wiped out by AIDS certain cultural assumptions and predilections would have been passed on, handed down to the next generation. But instead, the next generation thinks that the pinnacle of music is Whitney Houston or Celine Dion or whoever the fuck they think it may be. It's very depressing. And then of course, now everybody under 40 or 50 is so busy sending stupid text messages and talking endlessly on their cell phones that they don't know that there's a world around them.
They seem not to realize that pop culture is disposable and let's say high culture, or even the better reaches of pop culture are the things we want to keep around and think about and talk about. There are, of course, many exceptions.
WCT: I couldn't agree more. I love that juicy bit of dirt in the book about Rock Hudson being serviced by Universal studio executive Ed Muhl—wow!
SS: Yeah, how about that?
WCT: I want you to write the Randolph Scott-Cary Grant biography. You wouldn't be afraid to tell it like it was.
SS: I had not planned to put in anything about the Rock Hudson-Ed Muhl affair because it had already been written about. Then I became very curious and I'm convinced that the Muhl family, the children or whoever, must have been horribly embarrassed by their father's bisexuality and so it seems—this is speculation on my part—that they decided to make him a non-person. But he really is the unknown mogul.
WCT: That was a very eye-opening section of the book. Talk about the closet being forced on somebody after they're gone.
SS: Yeah, yeah.
WCT: You write about Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven being the only Sirk movie homage that really gets it.
SS: I think so.
WCT: I'm also a big fan of the [ François ] Ozon film 8 Women because I love all those French actresses.
SS: I do, too. One of my very favorite actresses is Fanny Ardant, and anything she does to me is well worth watching. She's a pleasure to watch and her line to Catherine Deneuve—"Fine, melodramatic acting"—I just thought was wonderful. [ Laughs ] I'm not a big fan of Catherine Deneuve. That face doesn't move a whole lot more than Nicole Kidman's. I like actors who act with their faces and their eyes as well as their bodies and their voices, and so many don't these days. Susan Sarandon is one who doesn't act with her face. Sigourney Weaver is another one. It's as if somebody said, "Now keep your face perfectly still and do it all with your arms and your feet," or something.
WCT: We're in that era of "less is more" acting.
SS: Oh yes, but quite often, though, more is more.
WCT: Well maybe that's why this term "melodrama" is used nowadays to dismiss things because these over-the-top performances—rare as they are now—seem like they're overacted. But there is something so delicious in seeing those big emotions on the screen.
SS: Well, yes. All kinds of bad critics use the word "melodrama" as though you needed to pick it up with a Kleenex and put it in the garbage or something. I think Ross Hunter had a very good comeback to them—he said, "Any movie that has romance in it is called a melodrama."
WCT: It's so touching that he and Jacques Mapes are together for eternity but how sad that he couldn't really be out in his lifetime.
SS: Yes, but remember this was decades before Stonewall. I don't think they had much choice. Looking back now, yes, it is sad but at least they stayed together for 50 years and lived happily despite the deceptions and all that. The sad part is that this country and the world have been so very homophobic and so repressive. I think there is a story of triumph in Ross and Jacques that they actually did make a life together despite all the prejudices that they encountered. Now, of course, they were luckier than many. They were well known and wealthy, and so they were in a privileged position compared to many people.
WCT: Do you think we'll ever get to a point in Hollywood where gay actors won't have to "pass" as Sarah Jane did?
SS: I think it's encouraging that gay men and lesbians are more and more out. Wanda Sykes, for example, and now she's going to be at the White House in a couple of months. She said, "I made sure I paid all my taxes" in an interview recently referring to that. [ Laughs ]
WCT: But what about the men? That's the last holdout. Is one of these guys ever going to pass up Scientology and come out instead?
SS: If they're a Scientologist they're hopeless anyway so don't wait for that. But there are some out young actors, aren't there?
WCT: Yes but no A-list stars—no big male stars. Or lesbian ones either—not in film anyway. Jodie Foster certainly hasn't officially come out by any stretch of the imagination. I just hope that in my lifetime that changes.
SS: Well, do you think we'll ever have a gay president?
WCT: Yes, I do.
SS: I think that's entirely possible. Going back 50 years ago who would have imagined a black president or even something like the Windy City Times, a gay newspaper? Who would have thought that?
Watchmen watch:
Watchmen is director Zack Snyder's follow-up to the violent but extremely homoerotic special-effects extravaganza, 300. The film, based on the Mt. Everest of comic-book series, clocks in at nearly three hours and is easily this spring's most highly anticipated film by the LGBT community. ( Check out the 10 pack on the Billy Crudup character, for starters. ) The movie promises another overload of homoeroticism and, though it's already premiered in London, it's not being screened for Chicago critics in time to meet WCT's deadline. But we want to let you know as early as possible our thoughts on the film. Check the Windy City Times Web site on Friday, march 6, for Richard Knight, Jr.'s, review of the film.
