Bruce Schackman & Ed Sikov

Ed Sikov (born January 11, 1957, Pennsylvania) is an openly gay American film scholar and author. His books include Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers (published in 2002), On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder (published in 1998), and Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedies of the 1950s (published in 1994). On September 17, 2011, Bruce Robert Schackman, a son of Justice Walter M. Schackman and Dulcie Linzer Schackman of New York, married Ed Sikov. Justice Schackman, who retired from the New York State Supreme Court, officiated at Gramercy Tavern, a New York restaurant. The couple met in Boston in 1998 through a mutual friend after they had crashed a party given by The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.

Mr. Sikov said that, after their friend wandered off, the two of them stood “smack dab in the middle of the party” talking for the next 45 minutes or so about themselves. Mr. Schackman had returned to graduate school, and Mr. Sikov was writing the biography of Mr. Wilder.

“I kept thinking to myself, Why did he have to live in Boston,” Mr. Sikov said, and when Mr. Schackman suggested that the party could be a networking opportunity for Mr. Sikov, Mr. Sikov said he blurted out: “No, you don’t understand. I hate people. I’d rather talk to you.”

Schackman (born 1959) is an associate professor of public health and chief of the division of health policy at Weill Cornell Medical College. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, from which he also received an M.B.A. with distinction and a Ph.D. in health policy.

Sikov was born in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, majored in English at Haverford College, and has a PhD from Columbia University; Sikov has since written eloquently of the difficulties he experienced as a gay student in the 1970s.


Ed Sikov (born January 11, 1957) is a film scholar and author. His books include Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers, On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, and Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedies of the 1950s. On September 17, 2011, Bruce Robert Schackman married Ed Sikov at Gramercy Tavern, a New York restaurant. The couple met in Boston in 1998 through a mutual friend after they had crashed a party given by The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sikov & www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/fashion/weddings/bruce-schackman-ed-sikov-weddings.html

( Further Readings )

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Lynne Carter (1924 – January 11, 1985)

Lynne Carter (ca.1924 – January 11, 1985) was a prominent entertainer, actor, and female impersonator.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Carter served in the United States Navy during World War II. He began his performance career in 1947 in a Chicago nightclub where he met Pearl Bailey who became an early supporter of his act. Kay Thompson's threat to sue him was to his benefit, and through it he became known in Los Angeles. As an encouragement, Josephine Baker gave him numerous Dior and Balenciaga gowns and tutored him in French.

Carter worked with big bands (typically 15 musicians), small ensembles, and with a solo pianist, as well as other dancers, such as the Jewel Box Review Chorus Boys and the Four Cartiers. He impersonated many famous actresses and singers including Pearl Bailey, Josephine Baker, Tallulah Bankhead, Fanny Brice, Carol Channing, Cher, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Phyllis Diller, Hermione Gingold, Hildegarde, Eartha Kitt, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Kay Thompson, and Mae West. He also created several original characters. He is best known for starting in the long-running Jewel Box Review showcase.

Carter recorded one album entitled She's a He in 1957 on Fiesta Records. He appeared on the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas TV Shows (1960s), in the Fun City Review (1968), and in the film The Man from O.R.G.Y. (1970). In 1971 Carter became the first female impersonator to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Critics attributed his success to his ability to give his characterizations authenticity and depth as well as humor.



Carter's final performances were in "Hooray for Hollywood," a revue at the St. Regis-Sheraton Hotel in 1984. After suffering declining health caused by multiple heart attacks and AIDS related complications, Carter died of pneumonia in Manhattan in 1985.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Carter

( Further Readings )

More LGBT History at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Gay Classics

Max Lorenz (May 10, 1901 – January 11, 1975)

Max Lorenz (born Max Sülzenfuß; 10 May 1901 – 11 January 1975) was a German heroic tenor famous for Wagner roles.

Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He made his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1927, becoming a principal tenor. From 1929 to 1944 he was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin State Opera, appearing also at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1931–34), the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (1933–39, 1952, 1954) and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1934 and 1937). He sang, too, at the Vienna State Opera (1929–33, 1936–44, 1954).

Audiences at the Salzburg Festival also heard him, and he created roles in such post-World War II works as Gottfried von Einem’s Der Prozess (Josef K, 1953), Rolf Liebermann’s Penelope (1954) and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny’s Das Bergwerk zu Falun (1961).

Lorenz's operatic and recital career lasted almost three decades. He became known as one of the world's leading heldentenors, particularly renowned for his performances as Tristan, Walther and Siegfried (in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung). He was also a notable Otello, Bacchus and Herod.

At his best in the 1920s and 1930s, Lorenz possessed a powerful, ringing voice which he used in an impassioned manner. Some of his recordings of operatic arias have been issued on CD. Notably, he was recorded live in a performance of Die Meistersinger at the Bayreuth Festival, under the baton of the celebrated conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Lorenz_(tenor)

( Further Readings )

More LGBT History at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Gay Classics

New Release Blog Tour: The Pack or the Panther by Tara Lain

The Pack or the Panther (Tales of the Harker Pack Series) By Tara Lain

Blurb:

Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself.

When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

Available for purchase at

( EXCERPT )

About the Author

Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 23. Her best­selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul­mate husband and her soul­mate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!

You can find Tara at

Giveaway:
Grand prize:

US only: print copy of either Spell Cat or Brush with Catastrophe and $10 Amazon GC
International: e-copy of books and $10 Amazon GC

2 additional winners:

$10 Amazon GC

Link

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YjRjMDAwMWQ0YTk5ZGQyZmI1YmFhOThlNDc4OWIwOjkz/
 

Presented By

It Happened Today: January 11

Bayard Taylor & George Henry Bocker: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3396124.html

Bayard Taylor wrote novels and essays that dealt with passionate relationships between men, including Twin Love and the poem "To a Persian Boy." Joseph and His Friend (1870) is considered to be the first American novel to deal with gay feelings. In real life, Taylor loved poet/diplomat George Henry Boker.

Diana Gabaldon (born January 11, 1952): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1015600.html

Diana J. Gabaldon is an American author, known for the Outlander series of novels. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and fantasy. Lord John and the Private Matter reached #8 on The New York Times Best-Seller List in 2003. Publishers Weekly said that "Gabaldon's prose is crisply elegant" and that she "brings an effusive joy to her fiction that proves infectious even for readers unfamiliar with her work or the period."

Ed Sikov & Bruce Schackman: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4126451.html

Ed Sikov (born January 11, 1957) is a film scholar and author. His books include Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers, On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, and Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedies of the 1950s. On September 17, 2011, Bruce Robert Schackman married Ed Sikov at Gramercy Tavern, a New York restaurant. The couple met in Boston in 1998 through a mutual friend after they had crashed a party given by The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.

Eric Hebborn & Graham David Smith: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4127189.html

Graham David Smith has lived a life overflowing with incident and adventure: at the Royal College of Art, watching David Hockney perform in drag; submerging himself in the "dolce vita" of Rome in the 1960s with his lover, the celebrated art forger Eric Hebborn, where he became a hustler and first explored the world of S&M. Smith is revealed as a friend and confidant of Derek Jacobi, Sir Anthony Blunt, Christine Keeler, Fellini, Pasolini, David Bowie and Lindsay Kemp.

Eva Le Gallienne & Marion Evensen: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1523829.html

Eva Le Gallienne was a theatrical actress, producer, and director during the first half of the 20th century. In 1934 she met actress Marion Evensen, who became her partner of 37 years sharing her house in Connecticut. In the late 1930s Le Gallienne became involved in a relationship with theater director Margaret Webster. The relationship with Webster ended in 1948. At the death of Evensen in 1971, Le Gallienne was devastated, and it did not help that also Webster died just one year later.

Lynne Carter (1924 – January 11, 1985): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4126692.html

Lynne Carter was a prominent entertainer, actor, and female impersonator. Carter recorded one album entitled She's a He in 1957 on Fiesta Records. He appeared on the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas TV Shows (1960s), in the Fun City Review (1968), and in the film The Man from O.R.G.Y. (1970). In 1971 Carter became the first female impersonator to perform at Carnegie Hall. Carter's final performances were in "Hooray for Hollywood," a revue at the St. Regis-Sheraton Hotel in 1984.

Marc Acito & Floyd Sklaver: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/375744.html

Marc Acito is a novelist, humorist, and screenwriter. His comic novel How I Paid for College won the Oregon Book Awards' 2005 Ken Kesey Award for Best Novel, was voted a "Teens Top Ten for favorite young adult book" of the American Library Association. Acito is openly gay and lives with his partner since before 1988, Floyd Sklaver. They met in New York City years ago, when Floyd was running a theatrical production company that produced Broadway shows. They hit it off and became life partners.

Max Lorenz (May 10, 1901 – January 11, 1975): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4126766.html

Max Lorenz was a German heroic tenor famous for Wagner roles. Lorenz was homosexual, but from 1932 he was married to Lotte Appel, who was Jewish and was aware of his homosexuality. His homosexuality was almost tolerated by the Nazis as a well-known secret. Hitler advised Winifred Wagner, the director of the Bayreuth Festival, that Lorenz would not be suitable for the Festival. Wagner answered that in that case she might close the Festival because, without Lorenz, "Bayreuth can't be done."

Sarah Aldridge & Muriel Inez Crawford: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4126147.html

Sarah Aldridge was the pen name of Anyda Marchant, who was a founding partner for Naiad Press 1973 and A&M Books in 1995. She met legal secretary Muriel Inez Crawford in 1947. The couple was together for 57 years until Aldridge's death. Crawford died less than 6 months after Aldridge. Her first published work was a short story issued by The Ladder. The 14 lesbian novels she wrote include All True Lovers, Tottie, A Flight of Angels, The Latecomer, and The Nesting Place.