RIP Mart Crowley
RIP Mart Crowley
#1RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/8/20 at 6:29pm
https://www.boyculture.com/boy_culture/2020/03/mart-crowley-boys-band-gay-obituary.html?fbclid=IwAR2igl0lWn_ZaZ0GSAFxdgkBOpQpmahS5-poWsruOMrohizER6BwIge6z5Q
Michael Musto reports that Mart Crowley has passed away, following heart surgery.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
Updated On: 3/8/20 at 06:29 PM
#2RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/8/20 at 11:06pm
Rest in peace, Marc Crowley. Thank you for telling it as you saw it, and writing a powerful play.
#4RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/9/20 at 5:47am
A line from the 1954 Judy Garland musical, "A Star is Born" was the inspiration for the title of Mart's ground breaking 1968 play.
"You're singing for yourself and the boys in the band" ~ Norman Maine to Esther Blodgett
#5RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/9/20 at 8:36am
Thank you for your contribution to the American theatre. RIP
#6RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/9/20 at 4:48pm
CarlosAlberto said: "A line from the 1954 Judy Garland musical, "A Star is Born" was the inspiration for the title of Mart's ground breaking 1968 play.
"You're singing for yourself and the boys in the band" ~ Norman Maine to Esther Blodgett
Actually, Crowley has said he wasn't thinking about that, although maybe it was there subconsiously. It was just a common phrase at the time for gay men (I can't tell from context whether he means "the boys" was a common phrase or "the boys in the band" was).
"
#7RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/9/20 at 5:38pm
I remember seeing the film for the first time on television in Cincinnati on a Saturday afternoon as a teen. I was immediately drawn in by "something" that I hadn't yet figured out about myself. The language and intensity really made me wonder that if when I got older if I would be as bitter and nasty as the people in the film. I remembered watching the film almost every time that it came on TV, and then going to see the unedited version at my downtown rep theatre and bringing a friend to share my new found obsession. This film is truly a classic, and it is a terrible shame that he has passed.
#8RIP Mart Crowley
Posted: 3/9/20 at 8:49pm
ChgoTheatreGuy said: "I remember seeing the film for the first time on television in Cincinnati on a Saturday afternoon as a teen. I was immediately drawn in by "something" that I hadn't yet figured out about myself. The language and intensity really made me wonder that if when I got older if I would be as bitter and nasty as the people in the film. I remembered watching the film almost every time that it came on TV, and then going to see the unedited version at my downtown rep theatre and bringing a friend to share my new found obsession. This film is truly a classic, and it is a terrible shame that he has passed."
I first saw it on television, too, and I was around 14, I think not even quite that old, very much unaware yet of my sexuality. I tuned in after it had started (I was flipping through the channels late at night--all five or six of them) when the cowboy was just or had just arrived, and from the way everyone talked about waiting for Harold to show up and there only being men there, at first I thought they were plainclothes police on some kind of stakeout. To be fair, I was just a kid at the time, and I figured out within a couple of minutes what the set up was.
But I had no warm feelings towards the movie then, and even into my twenties I had no fondness for it, let alone appreciation for the craft involved. I needed hope and happy endings then. Heck, even something like Querelle was better (at least there was a lot of fairly explicit moments and Brad Davis was hot). It took me being older to give Crowley the credit not just for his daring but his amazing skill, and the cast for their note-perfect performances.
Now I'm very appreciative of it. I can't quite say I "like" it, but I think it is truer (at least to its era) than I once gave it credit for, and extremely well realized as a piece of writing (and in terms of the movie, performance, direction, cinematography and editing).
