From the 'Don't-You-Wish' file: The Chicago Sun-Times ( Aug. 28 ) quotes Evanston's own Jeremy Piven in his Emmy acceptance speech. 'I don't know what to to for [ the next ] 17 years. Do I become a fluffer?' The Sun-Times tells us that ' [ a ] fluffer is someone who works behind the scenes at porn sets, 'fluffing' up male actors' tensile strength.' No, we're not going to explain it any further.
From the 'Is-This-Progress-Or-Not?' file, The New York Times ( Aug. 29 ) gave nearly a whole page on the tribute given to tennis great Billie Jean King. The National Tennis Center was renamed for her during the U.S. Open. King graciously spent most of her speech thanking her first coach, Clyde Walker, who gave free tennis clinics in public parks in Long Beach, Calif., when King was 12. Covering her whole career, including her famous Battle of the Sexes match with male chauvinist Bobby Riggs ( which she won ) , the long article does not mention her lesbianism anywhere.
From the 'How-Fallen-Are-the-Mighty' file, the Chicago Tribune ( Aug. 27 ) profiles former Joffrey Ballet stars Christian Holder and Gary Chryst, who, 30 years ago, were lead dancers in sexy macho roles ( e.g., Astarte and Trinity ) . The two gay friends ran with Bette Midler, Peter Allen and Tina Turner, and still look great. Now in their late 50s, they are back to dance in the Joffrey's Cinderella as the two stepsisters. They insist it's not drag or camp but, well, the pix look pretty draggy and campy.
From the 'Dark-Side' file, both the Chicago Trib ( Aug. 27 ) and the Chicago Sun-Times ( Aug. 30 ) reviewed the new play Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story. The true tale of two gay lovers in the 1920s—University of Chicago students who murdered a 14-year-old boy for a thrill—has been told before in plays, books and film ( the most famous being Alfred Hitchcock's film Rope ) . Amazingly, for the time the two did not get the death penalty but, then, their lawyer was Clarence Darrow, the Johnny Cochran of his time. The well-received play is a musical, a first for this story.
From the '21st-Century-Deconstruction-of-Dante' file, we repeat Chicago Sun-Times' columnist Neil Steinberg's conversation ( Aug. 30 ) as he and his ( 10-year-old? ) son read The Inferno together: 'Dad, what's a sodomite?'/ 'Sodomite is an old-fashioned word for gay,' I said./ 'Oh,' the boy said. 'And in Dante's time the church thought that gays went to hell.'/ 'Yes,' I said./ 'And does the church still think that way?'/ 'Yes,' I said. 'They do.'/ 'So nothing really's changed much in 700 years?' he said./ 'No, I suppose not,' I said. 'Not in the church, anyway.'
From the 'Well-Take-Them-to-Some-Drag-Shows-and-Gay-Piano-Bars' file, the Chicago Sun-Times ( Aug. 30 ) reports that gay and lesbian lawyers in London are put off by the 'homophobic undertones' of English lawyers' group trips to lap-dancing clubs, rugby matches and drinking sessions. Hint: Don't go.
