My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them

“Part flapper, she could wrap her lovely figure up in her long brown mink or coat of lynx. Her cigarette was always held at bay from the tangerine or pink gloss of her lips by the dark span of a cigarette holder.”—Scott Hightower, on Aurora de Albornoz\  \ “There is something about these larger-than-life stars that represents our yearnings for vindication, in which we see ourselves transcending the difficulties a gay man faces in this world.”—Edward Field, on Gloria Swanson

Introduction—Michael Montlack        Sappho (630 BC): Love, I Implore You in Polyester Lapels—Michael Broder        Queen Elizabeth I (1533): Heart of a King—Patrick Letellier        Virginia Woolf (1882): This Perpetual Revision of Thought—Brian Teare        Margaret Dumont (1882): Duchess of Dignity—Christopher Murray        Bessie Smith (1892): Empty Bed Blues—Sam J. Miller        Claude Cahun (1894): Masks, Makeup, Meaning—Peter Dubé        Gracie Allen (1895): Comic Muse—Lloyd Schwartz        Lotte Lenya (1898): Divine Weltschmerz—David Bergman        Gloria Swanson (1899): Sunset Boulevard—Edward Field        Agnes Moorehead (1900): Afternoons as Endora—Richard Blanco        Marlene Dietrich (1901): Falling in Love Again—Walter Holland        Joan Crawford (1905) and Bette Davis (1908): "But ya AHHH, Blanche!"—David Trinidad        Lucille Ball (1911): Flaming Redhead—Lawrence Applebaum        Mahalia Jackson (1911): Divine One—Forrest Hamer    Julia Child (1912): Life's Ingredients—Bill Fogle        Billie Holiday (1915): Lady Day—Alfred Corn        Edith Piaf (1915): A Share of Pain—Gregory Woods        Evita Perón (1919): Santa with a Soundtrack—Guillermo Castro        Grace Paley (1922): O Stone! O Steel!—Mark Doty        Ava Gardner (1922): Small Town Girl—Chris Cleo Creech        Aurora de Albornoz (1926): Tia Divina—Scott Hightower        Joan Sutherland (1926): Dame Joan and I—Gary Ljungquist        Eartha Kitt (1927): Purrrfectly Detached—D. A. Powell        Betty Berzon (1928): Dinners with the Diminutive Diva—Jim Van Buskirk        Jeanne Moreau (1928): Living Dangerously with Jeanne—Collin Kelley        Two Fat Ladies (Jennifer Paterson) (1928): Cocktails with Jennifer—Jack Lynch        Audrey Hepburn (1929): Adoration and the Icon—Joseph Campana        Elizabeth Taylor (1932): The Über-Diva—Scott F. Stoddart        Anna Moffo (1932): Her Funeral—Wayne Koestenbaum        Ms. Kiki Durane (Depression Era): Her Sound and Fury—Christopher Schmidt        Nina Simone (1933): I Got It Bad for Bangles & Diamonds—Regie Cabico        Julie Andrews (1935): My First Maria—Mark Wunderlich        Tina Turner (1939): Tina & I—Jim Elledge        Karen Black (1939): Diva of the Deranged—Michael Schiavi        Raquel Welch (1940): As My Mother—Ron Palmer        Julie Christie (1941): The Cocteau Girl—Cyrus Cassells        Helen Reddy (1941): Before Anarchy—Richard Tayson        Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) (1942): Exploring the Amazon—Jeff Oaks        Diana Ross (1944): How to Reign Supreme—Jericho Brown        Rocío Dúrcal (1944): The Day She Died—Rigoberto González        Bette Midler (1945): First Loves—Steven Cordova        Jessye Norman (1945): Als Ob Ich Säuseln Hörte—Dante Micheaux        Liza Minnelli (1946): Everybody Loves a Winner: Five Lessons from Liza—Jason Schneiderman        Cher (1946): History (1987–2)—Aaron Smith        Laura Nyro (1947): All She Asked of Living—Michael Klein        Stevie Nicks (1948): "And Wouldn't You Love to Love Her?"—Michael Montlack        Jessica Lange (1949): Isn't It a Laugh?—Allen Smith        Patti Lupone (1949): Patti's Turn, In the Key of Diva—Jonathan Howle        Wendy Waldman (1950): Seeds and Orphans—Paul Lisicky        Cyndi Lauper (1953): The Sadness in Her Rasp—Steven Riel        Rickie Lee Jones (1954): The Duchess of Coolsville—Timothy Liu        Annie Lenox (1954): Desire, Despair, Desire: Some Notes on Annie Lennox & Tension—RJ Gibson        Siouxsie Sioux (1957): Black Eyeliner and Dark Dreams—Benjamin Harper        Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell) (1958): "I'm Going to Open Doors for You, Doors You Never Even Dreamed Existed"—Lewis DeSimone        Kate Bush (1958): The Invisible Diva—Reginald Shepherd        Jamie Lee Curtis (1958): When the Artist Met His Muse—Vince A. Liaguno        Sade (1959): The Other Material Girl—Christopher Lee Nutter        Taylor Dayne (1962): "Tell It to My Heart"—Peter Covino        Björk (1965): With Regards to Ms. Gudmundsdottir—John Dimes        Kristin Hersh (1966): "Is Sticky Ever Blue?"—Mark Bibbins        Céline Dion (1968): Cirque du Céline—Jim Nason        Parker Posey (1968): A Pocket Full of Posey—Michael J. Andrews        Margaret Cho (1968): How to Break Every Oriental Stereotype in the Book—Kenji Oshima        Mary J. Blige (1971): I Take Shallowness Seriously—Jeffery Conway        Princess Leia (1977): Leia's Kiss—Christopher Hennessy        Contributors   

\ Publishers WeeklyIn very short, very tender essays, a variety of gay male writers, from poets to playwrights to a standup comic, pay homage to an even wider variety of women who have inspired them. Peter Dubé writes how the photography of Claude Cahun suggested "a delirious world of possibilities"; Jeff Oaks recalls a childhood of wearing wristbands fashioned from paper cups to emulate his "model of power," Wonder Woman; Christopher Lee Nutter looks back on his closeted teenage years and how Sade taught him "that there was a world somewhere that suited them better than the world they'd been born into." While a few essays are disappointingly shallow ("More than smart and fabulous, Parker Posey is fall-on-the-floor ridiculous"), such standout pieces as Mark Doty on Grace Paley are elegant and affectionate tributes to how these muses have been "fairy godmothers" and "older sisters," as Montlack's introduction explains, and illustrate how complex, sustaining and lifelong are the bonds between gay men and their divas. (May)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalA diva. Every good gay man has one, it seems, and, to paraphrase the editor, it's amazing that no one thought of this before. Montlack (English, Berkeley Coll.) has assembled essays, chiefly by up-and-coming writers, that explore the symbiotic relationship between the gay male and the diva—those beloved, larger-than-life ladies who have served as role models, muses, and even therapists. Sounds like a hoot, but this is more than a camp fest. The essays, mostly three to five pages, are touching and thoughtful as well as funny, as they lovingly detail what each author's personal diva has meant to him. Show business and popular culture icons abound, with most of the usual suspects present (Liza, Marlene, Cher, both Bettes, and Joan), as well as choices from history and politics (Elizabeth I, Eva Perón), the culinary arts (Julia Child, Jennifer Patterson), and even fictitious figures (Auntie Mame, Princess Leia, Endora). VERDICT This is one of those delightful books you can open at random and be amused, enlightened, or moved by. The concept seems too rich to be confined to one volume; don't be surprised if a sequel appears in a year or two. Highly recommended for all LGBT readers.—Richard J. Violette Special Libs. Cataloguing, Inc. & Greater Victoria P.L., Victoria, B.C.\ \ —Richard J. Violette\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsGay male writers-including Mark Doty, Wayne Koestenbaum, Cyrus Cassells and others-pay homage to their divas. In the introduction to this revealing study of secular devotion, fanatic fandom, heroine-worship-call it what you will-poet Montlack (English/Berkeley Coll.) says that within two weeks of announcing his idea, more than 40 contributors had signed on. The list is quite a cornucopia of female cultural icons, ranging from Sappho to Princess Leia. "[T]here seems still to be a particular type of fandom, or devotion, that only gay guys can deliver," writes the author. "[W]e show up for the ladies like no one else and usually stick with them for life." Such fervor and steadfast loyalty blaze through these diverse accounts, whether in depicting an icon, admitting what she means to the devotee or exploring the nature of devotion itself. Poignant and colorful description dominates: Queen Elizabeth I, "undeniably a nerd's diva," that "crusty, white-faced Gloriana"; Nina Simone, with her "velvety voice" so "slow, so full, so processional it could pull a ship of lonely sailors to shore"; Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, whose "disheveled hair falling onto her bloated face and into those famed eyes physically transformed her to a gorgon"; Julia Child, "crowned everlastingly in a brown helmet of bedroom hair." Such splendid portraiture traces the outlines of the writer's immediate, breathless relation to his diva, for whom she may have paved a route out of repression or a confining home life (Joan Sutherland, Auntie Mame), acted as a tangential, sympathetic witness to the author's budding sexuality or take-no-prisoners attitude (Kate Bush, Sade, Bjork) or continues to serve asa catalyst for an evolving sense of self (Lucille Ball, Mahalia Jackson). A delightful essay collection.\ \