"Stay single and stay alive" was a proposed slogan for John Waters' new comedy series 'Til Death Do Us Part about real-life married couples in which one spouse has murdered the other. It might also be John Waters' own motto, as he tells the Talk of the Town reporter in this week's New Yorker [March 26, 2007] that he's never lived with a boyfriend. He turns 61 next month and still delights in an old-school feyness. "I always thought the privilege of being gay is that we don't have to get married or go in the Army. I personally have no desire to imitate a fairly corny, expensive heterosexual tradition, though I certainly know gay couples who are married who should be. I am all for it. I have always joked that the growth industries are gay divorce and tattoo removal."
Gay presence in the New Yorker has improved recently. Last week’s issue [March 19, 2007] featured a profile of the four finalists for Britain’s 2006 Turner Prize in art, including video artist Phil Collins. “Although he officially lives in Glasgow with his boyfriend, he spends most of his time traveling—to Belfast, Belgrade, Bogota, Baghdad—and making elaborate videos with the locals.” He has upcoming solo shows at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh [March 31 – July 1] and the Dallas Museum of Art.
Also in that issue, Dana Goodyear profiled Cameron Silver, owner of Decades, the influential vintage couture shop on Melrose. He is a former cabaret singer and Peggy Moffitt considers Cameron “the most socially adept person I’ve ever met, and I’ve met loads and loads of people in a very long life.” His bar mitzvah reception, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, was named “The Cameron Awards” where he sang “Easy Street,” “New York, New York,” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” wearing a tuxedo, top hat, and white gloves, before giving his guests faux Oscars. Unrelated, he’s gay. He and his boyfriend of nine years, “a handsome commercial actor named Jeff Snyder,” won an award from the L.A. Conservancy for their restoration of their 1930 Rudolf Schindler house in Los Feliz. The first paragraph includes Gwen Stefani, Sandy Hill, Julia Roberts, Chloe Sevigny, and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the article continues apace for seven pages. As is always the case with first rate fashion writing, the clothes outshine the stars.
Lastly in that issue, John Colapinto wrote a very long profile of Karl Lagerfeld.
The previous issue of the New Yorker [March 12, 2007] featured Joan Acocella’s essential profile of choreographer Matthew Bourne, which broke the much-repeated story of his plans to stage a gay version of the Romeo & Juliet ballet to be called Romeo, Romeo. “Bourne lives in Church Cottage with his partner, Arthur Pita—formerly a dancer in his company, now an independent choreographer—and their two Chihuahuas, Mr. Eddie and Grace.”
The March 12 issue also gave readers Paul Rudnick’s brief comic essay “Inappropriate,” which imagined unsuitable books for children such as The Big Floppy Penis and Where’s Waldo’s Hand? One imaginary book’s description ended with, “And so before eating his meagre ration of watery gruel, he would masturbate until his palm bled.”
