Barbara Grier & Donna McBride

Barbara Grier (b. November 4, 1933 in Cincinnati, Ohio - d. November 10, 2011 in Tallahassee, Florida) was an American writer and publisher most widely known for co-founding Naiad Press and writing and editing The Ladder under the pseudonym Gene Damon.

Born in Cincinnati to Dorothy Vernon Black, a secretary, and Philip Strang Grier, a doctor, Grier grew up in several midwestern US cities. She claimed she came out as a lesbian at 12 years old and spent her life finding as much information about female homosexuality as she could. Her parents divorced when she was 13 years old. Grier went to the library to discover more about lesbians after noticing her own behavior patterns were different from her friends. She told her mother that she was homosexual, and her mother replied, "No, because you're a woman, you're a lesbian. And since 12 years old is too young to make such a decision, let's wait six months before we tell the newspapers." She began collecting books when her mother gave her a copy of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall when she was 16 years old. She described her collection of lesbian-themed books as Lesbiana, a collection that was fueled by a "love affair with lesbian publishing."

Shortly after Grier graduated high school in 1951, she met Helen Bennett in a public library. They spent 20 years together living in Denver, Colorado while Bennett went to library school, then moving to Kansas City where both worked in public libraries.

Grier began writing book reviews in The Ladder, a magazine edited by members of the Daughters of Bilitis, soon after subscribing to it in 1957. She used multiple pen names in her writings including Gene Damon, Lennox Strong, Vern Niven, most often writing to review literature in which lesbians were characters or a plot device.


Barbara Grier and Donna McBride, 1989, by Robert Giard
Barbara Grier had been in a relationship with Helen Bennett for 20 years when librarian Donna McBride fell in love with her. Grier left Bennett for McBride and claims it was the only decision she ever agonized about. Grier and partner Donna McBride began running Naiad Press at the support and urging of two editors of The Ladder. Barbara Grier, publisher, activist, archivist and lesbian-feminist hellraiser, died in 2011 in Florida, where she had lived for years with her partner of four decades.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Grier

( Barbara Grier, 1989, by Robert Giard  )

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Frances Faye & Teri Shepherd

Frances Faye (November 4, 1912 – November 8, 1991) was an American cabaret and show tune singer and pianist. She was born to a working-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. She was a second cousin of actor Danny Kaye.

Born as Frances Cohen, Faye's showbiz career began at the age of 15 in nightclubs where she first became a star. She appeared in one Bing Crosby film; Double or Nothing singing "After You". She wrote the song "Well All Right" recorded by the Andrews Sisters. Faye made her solo recording debut in 1936. Her act became famous for including double entendres and references to homosexuality and lesbianism. Faye herself was bisexual and hinted at this frequently in her act; she would often playfully alter pronouns in love songs or weave her girlfriend's name into lyrics of song. For instance, she inserted "it's a Teri, Teri day" into "The Man I Love" and on national television sang "why do all the boys treat Teri so right" in "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate."

She recorded about a dozen albums for many different record labels, including Capitol Records and Imperial Records and jazz labels Verve Records and Bethlehem Records.

Faye was married twice in the 1940s. In the late 1950s, a woman named Teri Shepherd became her manager and lifelong partner. Shepherd discussed her relationship with Faye in Bruce Weber's 2001 film Chop Suey.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Faye

Overtly homosexual shows were sometimes unwelcome in smaller cities. Lesbian singer Frances Faye, born Frances Cohen in Brooklyn, had a far easier time as a performer in small clubs. Noted enough to appear in a 1937 Bing Crosby film and television, she was famous for singing jazz and show tunes in nightclubs. In the mid-1940s she began tossing off bawdy lines and references to homosexuality in songs, often adding, "It's not dirty, it's just how I say it." In the late 1940s she was hardly hiding her lesbianism, and in the late 1950s she was chanting at the end of her act, "Frances Faye, all the way, gay gay gay, is there any other way?" --A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Alwin Nikolais & Murray Louis

Alwin Nikolais (November 25, 1910 in Southington, Connecticut – May 8, 1993) was an American choreographer. With his life partner Murray Louis, Nikolais was a driving force in the Playhouse Dance Company, later the Nikolais Company. In July 1987, Nik and Murray, a feature-length documentary film about Nikolais and Murray Louis, directed by Christian Blackwood, aired on the PBS series American Masters.

At Colorado College in 1949 he met Murray Louis, who would later become his lifelong partner. That year he moved to New York and taught a dance class with Louis as a student. Louis made his debut as the lead soloist in Nikolais’ newly formed Playhouse Dance Company.

Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist, he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition. It was after attending a performance by the German dancer Mary Wigman that he was inspired to study dance. He received his early dance training at Bennington College from the great figures of the modern dance world: Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Louis Horst, and others.

In 1940, in collaboration with Truda Kaschmann, his first modern dance teacher, Nikolais received a commission to create Eight Column Line, his first ballet. The work was presented at one of the events of Hartford social season that counted Salvador Dalí and Léonide Massine as honorary patrons and was well received.


Murray Louis choreographed more than one hundred dance works. With his life partner Alwin NIKOLAIS, Louis was a driving force in the Playhouse Dance Company, later the Nikolais Company. On May 8, 1993 Louis's mentor and partner, Alwin Nikolais, died. Louis did not dance for 2 years after Nikolais' death. In 1995 his company performed at Carnegie Hall for 10,000 children during their "LINK" program and in 1996 he completed a five-part video series titled, The World of Alwin Nikolais.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alwin_Nikolais

Murray Louis choreographed more than one hundred dance works, toured five continents, and performed in every state in the US. Many prominent composers wrote music for him. Louis created ballets to the music of Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky, among others. He choreographed dances for the Royal Danish Ballet, the Jose Limon Company, the Hamburg Opera Ballet, the Scottish Ballet, the Berlin Opera Ballet, the Cleveland Ballet, and other smaller companies in the United States and Canada.

With his life partner Alwin Nikolais, Louis was a driving force in the Playhouse Dance Company, later the Nikolais Company. He also created the Murray Louis Dance Company.

Murray Louis (born November 4, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American modern dancer and choreographer.

Murray Louis was born on November 4, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He is known as one of the most influential American modern dancers and choreographers. He grew up in Manhattan near Henry Street where he would later attend class at the Henry Street Playhouse and also start his company. He was one out of five children and his mother died when he was eight years old. He was then sent to an orphanage until he was twelve. At this time his sister Ethel, who was studying dance at the time, took him to many modern dance concerts. He graduated from Samuel Tildon High School in 1944.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Louis

( Read more... )

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

Rainbow Awards pre-party and 8th anniversary (Day 4)

November 2014 marks the 8th anniversary since I opened my first journal on LJ, and the 6th anniversary of the Rainbow Awards and we will have again a 1 month long big bash party. 119 authors, all of them in the 2014 Rainbow Awards, have donated an ebook and I will use them for a Treasure Hunt. Every day, for all November, I will post 4 excerpts (a random page of the book). No reference to title, or author, or publisher. You have to match it with the book ;-) comment on the blog (do not leave anonymous comments, if you post as anonymous, leave a contact email (comments are screened)), you can comment 1 time for more matchings (you can even try for all 4 books if you like, so 4 chances to win every day). Until the end I will not say which matching is right, so you will have ALL month to try. No limit on how many books you can win, the more you try the better chance you have to win. End of November, among the right matchings, I will draw the winners. So now? let the game start!

If at the end of the treasure hunt there will be still unmatched excerpts the giveaway will go to the one who matched more books.

( The books are: )

Previous Post - Next Post

Today excerpts are:

( 13) )

( 14) )

( 15) )

( 16) )