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que sera, sera


Doris Day has passed away at 97.
She was one of those Hollywood legends that some people have considered important for her later-in-life activism but she has left a mark in the culture that goes beyond that.  She started as a big band singer and then went on to have a fantastic movie career, starring in dozens of movies and pairing on screen with some very handsome men.

When it comes to old Hollywood movies, I only really started paying attention to them after I watched 'The Celuloid Closet' on HBO many years ago. The gay subtext in many of these movies became apparent after I knew where to look. One of the names that kept popping up was Doris Day. Not because she was a lesbian, but because of the highly coded gay subtext in so many of her films. Apparently she was gay-adjacent when being gay-adjacent was not even a thing and being gay or having gay relationships out in the open were verboten.

So this post is dedicated to Doris Day but it's basically about the incredibly handsome men that starred with her in some of those movies. Back then, they offered a different kind of escapism to the gay men who got to watch them. Gay men in the fifties, sixties and seventies didn’t have all their smut needs covered by the internet. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness. It took work to be able to glance at those hunks without being found out by some eagle eyed bigot.

Of course, the first one of those spectacular men is Rock Hudson. What can I tell you about Rock Hudson? Let me tell you:


Yep, cause a goddamn picture is worth a thousand words.


At 6'5" and with dazzling good looks, Rock Hudson is at the top of this list. God was he beautiful! Doris Day was also instrumental in putting a well-known loving face for the world to see to minimize the demonizing Rock Hudson suffered when it was discovered he had AIDS.


Then there is Tony Randall, who was the coded gay man bouncing off Doris' and Rock's jokes:



Tony was apparently the gayest straight man in Hollywood.

Then there was John Gavin:





Oh, that Spartacus movie. Additionally, There was Stephen Boyd





Let me tell you... those were some very handsome men.

So there you have it. Doris Day brought on my thirst for vintage Hollywood beefcake. I think we all should have a Doris Day marathon in her honor. If you were here, I'd invite you and provide the drinks. We'd laugh and ogle some of these beautiful men a little bit more and camp it up to high heavens. They don't make them like that anymore, huh?

XOXO



Comments

  1. don't forget paul lynde in my fave DD movie "send me no flowers". rock & paul must have had a gay old time on that set!

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  2. As you mentioned, Doris will be remembered for her advocacy, especially with animals (as in animal husbandry not those in bed). But she did have a knack for being cast with some beautiful men. And I’m sure you had to look long and hard to find the shirtless pictures you so graciously provided. We’ll need to set up a screening party. I’ll bring 🍿🍿.

    XOXO 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨

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  3. Those are some hot men of yore.
    And Doris was one of a kind.
    RIP

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  4. She was a lady, and the best of her kind. She was a ray of sunshine that will be missed.

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  5. Mom and I were just watching her movies on mothers day. My father has a record...yes I said record, of Les Baxter and his band, and it features Doris Day, where she got her start. It's one of the few items I saved from my dads death.

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  6. Clint Walker was my favourite. That big hunk of spunk

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  7. Of all the men you mentioned, easily my favorite is John Gavin... who was 6' 4" and spoke fluent Spanish, in fact he was the US Ambassador to Mexico.

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  8. I never cared for her movies. But she was a great animal rights activist and she deserves props.

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  9. I swear sometimes you read my mind. I was thinking about creating a post about past heartthrobs but I like to go back and look at them when they were young. I barely remember Doris Day but I remember those songs. I actually didn't know she was still alive. It was also upsetting at work because the twenty and thirty somethings were asking, "who's Doris Day, who's Tim Conway"? Me goats old. :(

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  10. @AnneMarie: OMG Paul Lynde WAS camp. He just had to make a face to have me in stitches. Can you imagine the stories?
    @Bae: it's a deal! And yep. Those me were YUMMY.
    @Bob: hot men or yore are hot, right? yum beefcake.
    @Walt: She seemed pretty cool. Had an aura about her.
    @Maddie: that's awesome! Ohhh love me some vinyl.
    @John: Oh dear god. Clink Walker. Yes, yes, yes!
    @Dave: yep. Tall men all the way.
    @Jimmy: I know! She was well known for her activism.
    @Steve: The young guns need to be slapped into knowing some pop culture. And you MUST create a post with your favs. Come on, you know you wanna....

    XOXO

    ReplyDelete

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