Photo of the day: BOYCOTT BARILLA PASTA ! – Guido Barilla, president of century old pasta purveyors last week became the Anita Bryant of his time “I would never make a spot with a homosexual family,” Guido Barilla said on the Italy radio program La Zanzara (The Mosquito), according to Italian news agency ANSA. “Not out of a lack of respect but because I do not see it like they do. (My idea of) family is a classic family where the woman has a fundamental role.”
That bigoted small minded comment has caused an backlash spreading fear in the company’s accounting department as sales started to drop. At a open minded dinner table no longer will Russian Vodka and Italian Barilla pasta be served. This takes me back to 1977 when the right wing Christian Florida orange juice queen Anita Bryant declared her war on gays.
In 1977,Dade County Florida, passed an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance as the leader of a coalition named Save Our Children. The campaign was based on conservative Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation. Bryant said:
“What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.”
The campaign began an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Jerry “I have sinned!” Falwell went to Miami to help her. Bryant made the following statements during the campaign: “As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children” and “If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters.”She also added that “All America and all the world will hear what the people have said, and with God’s continued help we will prevail in our fight to repeal similar laws throughout the nation.” Well . . . Anita suffered a backlash like none that had been seen before. Her many commercial endorsements ceased one by one. TV show and concert appearances were canceled. She was heckled and booed wherever she went including having a pie thrown in her face.
Anita Bryant
If you want to stop or hurt someone – you hit them in the pocketbook which is exactly what we did! Secretly sold at the time (1977) in head shops, were rings that had razor blades hidden in their design. So, in the days before store camera surveillance, you went to the orange juice section of the grocery store – and let your ring hand slide over allllll the orange juice cartons. No juice = no $ale. 
Stores terrified of further vandalism stopped carrying Florida orange juice. In the end, gays won. Anita suffered bankruptcy and divorce after divorce finally being reduced to selling religious sunglasses. Yes, you read that right, they had scripture on the inside stems.
So Mr. Guido Barilla . . . I may not still have my razor blade ring, but – I will gladly poke my finger through the cellophane of all you pasta boxes in the local supermarkets. The tactic was very effective the first time. Ready everyone: POKE!
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September 30, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: "Lady and the Tramp", 1977, Anita Bryant, ANSA, anti Barilla protest, anti-gay sentiment, Barilla pasta, Bryant religious sunglasses, Christian right, Dade County Florida, Florida orange juice, gay activists, gay child molestation, gay rights movement, Guiod Barilla, Hans Von Rittern, homophobia, homophobic, Jerry Falwell, La Zanzara (The Mosquito), Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, religious right, Save our Children campaign | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: MEET BETTE MIDLER IN PERSON MAY 9, AT KORVETTE DEPT. STORE – 36 years ago! May 9, 1977. It was a Monday afternoon, I am sure I played hooky from college, and I got there early and got in line with all my Bette Midler memorabilia which she gladly signed (in those days, stars did that!). It was the advent of Bette’s much anticipated ‘Live At Last’ 2lp record set. To capture the escence of 1970’s bawdy Bette – you need to hear her live, up till then there had been only three studio recordings of her. The ‘Live’ record album became one of the most quoted and mimicked in every drag queen’s act in those days. “Hello Cleve-land!”
Red head Bette was in true camp mode and kibitzed with everyone. Dig the groovy 1970’s graphics in the background of the smaller photo. Doesn’t her assistant look like ‘Laurie Partridge’?? I stayed a while and took some photos of the, then, rising superstar. On the way out of the old Korvettes Department Store – I grabbed this sign with the photo, right out of the standing sign holder and raced for the door. Today the sign is one of the few artifacts left of the long gone (then one of the first) discount department store Korvettes located at 575 Fifth Avenue/47th Street, to the consternation of SAKS Fifth Avenue, which was just two blocks up on the swanky avenue.
Eugene Ferkauf, owner of E. J. Korvette department store, standing outside by storefront on Fifth Avenue
(The store used both spellings: KORVETTE and KORVETTES.)
Now today, 36 years later, you can see blonde Bette on Broadway in the play “I’ll Eat You Last.”
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May 9, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "I'll Eat You Last", 'Laurie Partridge', 'Live At Last' lp record, 1970's New York, 1977, 575 Fifth Avenue, Bette Midler, Bette Midler and fans, Bette Midler memorabilia, Bette Midler signs autographs, Broadway, Broadway legends, discount department store, Fifth Avenue, Grace Jones, Hans Von Rittern, KORVETTE, Korvette Department Store, Korvettes Department Store, Manhattan, May 9, New York City, SAKS Fifth Avenue, shopping | Leave a comment
THE PERSIAN ROOM AT THE PLAZA HOTEL, 1974: Where were you 38 years ago on November 29, Friday night, 1974? I was 18 years old and took my friend Amy Hernandez to see a drag revue at the Plaza Hotel’s Persian Room, one of the most magical places within the Plaza. For more than forty years, from 1934 to 1975, the Persian Room was the place to be in New York City. An unparalleled array of performers graced its stage—everyone from the incomparable Hildegarde Shirley Bassey, Ethel Merman, The Mills Brothers, Kay Thompson (mother to Eloise), Eartha Kitt, Bob Hope, Liberace, Diahann Carroll, Julie Wilson, Andy Williams, Josephine Baker, my dear Celeste Holm and Marlene Dietrich’s last New York appearance.
It was done in high Persian style in deep iridescent tones of blues, greens and purples – nowadays we would view the decor as high camp/kitsch, but it was divine! The entrance looked like a golden gate to a palace. Today it is where the main lobby of the hotel is on the left side as you enter the Plaza Hotel, with sadly not a hint of it’s decadent past.
Amy Hernandez’s mother owned an east side townhouse bar and restaurant called ‘The Beef & Bourbon’ and the bourbon, her mom’s (and Amy’s) favorite drink of choice, flowed freely. Amy had an uppity twin sister named Carol who never liked anything I had to say and would just say “Oh Hans…”.
‘Manhattan Follies’ was the talk of the nightclub world and I just had to go! Impersonated that night were the then staples: Dietrich, Garland, Ross, Channing, Marilyn and Mae and that new sensation Bette Midler. The headliner was up and coming drag star Craig Russell who would go on to make the hit 1977 film called “Outrageous!”
The room still had a ‘cigar & cigarette girl’, a shapely woman with a tray strapped under her bosom selling smokes for high prices (Lena Horne started out as one). A Weegee-like man went from table to table with a huge old fashioned flash camera an offered souvenir photographs.
Some of the photo’s fun details: I am wearing a black and white polyester Marilyn Monroe print dress shirt with an awfully huge white poly tie. The suit is black velvet bell bottomed and huge platform shoes (that you can’t see here) that had silver stars on them. The program pictured here on the right, is next to me by my seat. Amy’s polyester print blouse was black and white to match me. Note my index finger is extended on my lap because I am trying to show off a silver ring in the shape of a man’s head wearing a turban which I felt was appropriate for the evening’s occasion. Amy and I didn’t know we were partaking in history because sadly the ‘Manhattan Follies’ was the last and final show to play at The Persian Room.
The 1970’s was a glorious era. My era. A decadent era of nightclubbing, dancing, glitz and glamour. Studio 54, Xenon, 12 West, Ice Palace and the Paradise Garage. Huge shoes, hair sprayed hair, big eye glasses, bell bottoms and that wonderful disco music.
Where where you November 29, Friday night 1974?…
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November 29, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "Outrageous!", 1974, 1977, Andy Williams, Bette Midler, Bob Hope, Carol Channing, celebrities, Celeste Holm, cigar cigarette girl, Craig Russell, decor, Diahann Carroll, Diana Ross, Eartha Kitt, Eloise at the Plaza, Ethel Merman, Hans Von Rittern, Hildegarde, Josephine Baker, Judy Garland, Julie Wilson, Kay Thompson, Liberace, Mae West, Manhattan, Manhattan Follies, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, New York City, nightclubs, November 29 - 1974, Shirley Bassey, The Mills Brothers, The Persian Room, The Plaza Hotel | 4 Comments
“BUT THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND”: The lyrics from Liza Minnelli’s 1977 film “New York, New York” seem appropriate in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy.
Sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re sad
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes you lose every nickel you had
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t alter a thing
Take it from me, there’s still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes ’round
And sometimes your heart breaks with a deafening sound
Somebody loses and somebody wins
And one day it’s kicks, then it’s kicks in the shins
But the planet spins, and the world goes ’round-
But the world goes ’round
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t matter at all
Take it from me, there’s still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a spring and a fall
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes ’round
And sometimes your heart breaks with a deafening sound
Somebody loses and somebody wins
Then one day it’s kicks, then it’s kicks in the shins
But the planet spins, and the world goes ’round
And ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round
The world goes ’round and ’round and ’round
And ’round!
Lyrics by the great iconic team: composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb.
(Photo is of the lobby of The Daily News Building on 42nd street aka ‘The Daily Planet’ in the Superman series.)
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November 1, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: "New York New York", 1977, 42nd Street, Fred Ebb, Hans Von Rittern, Hurricane Sandy, John Kander, Kander & Ebb, Liza Minnelli, lyrics, Manhattan, New York City, Superman, survive, The Daily News Building, The Daily Planet | Leave a comment
FRIED EGG OR A PURPLE WIG – IT’S ALL THE SAME: (From Bette Midler’s 1977 “Live At Last” album)
“I was walking down 42nd street one day, I wasn’t workin’42nd street I was walkin 42nd street. And this amazing thing happened to me. It was July it was about 98 degrees. It was hot, hot for New York You know and I was walking east and this humungous person was coming west. And she had this big blue house dress on peppered all over with little white daisies. She was almost bald but sitting on top of her head, forehead you know on her forehead was this fried egg. Which I thought was really unusual. Because in New York City the ladies with the fried eggs on their heads don’t generally come out until September or October you know. Here was this lady this demented lady with a little fried egg on her head in the middle of July. God what a sight and ever, ever since I saw that lady not one day goes by that I don’t think of her and I say to myself “Oh God, don’t let me wake up tomorrow and want to put a fried egg on my head. Oh God. “Then I say real fast I say ” Oh God, If by chance I should wind up with a fried egg on my head”;cause sometimes you can’t help those things you know, you can’t. I say to myself “don’t let anybody notice.”And then I say real fast after that “if they do notice that I’m carrying something that, that’s not quite right and they want to talk about it, let ’em talk about it but don’t let ’em talk so I can hear I don’t want to hear it.” Cause the truth about fried eggs, you can call it a fried egg, you can call it anything you like, but everybody gets one, some people wear ’em on the outside, some people they wear ’em on the inside.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn0YqNvBvy4
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October 24, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "Live at Last" lp, 1977, Bette Midler, crazy person, Hans Von Rittern, Hello in There", lonely person, New York City, old person, old woman, purple wig, sad person, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 