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1 week ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
“Blue,” that is, the hue, creates a ninth character in the Guthrie’s latest production of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.” Set in a winter snowstorm, the frisson of murder onstage is intensified through the spectrum of chilly blues painted throughout the vast single-room set; the walls, the window trim, the blue height of the ceiling all make the viewer unconsciously pull his sweater around a bit tighter.
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3 weeks ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
“Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean”Jason ColavitoApplause$29.95Colavito tackles the acres of James Dean material scribbled since his death at 24 on September 30, 1955. Crude maverick disliked by many or inspired actor adored worldwide then and now, his sexuality is still a point of contention. It mattered in the 1950s. Rock Hudson (Dean-hater) played straighter-than-straight, until AIDS, while any emotional male was designated gay and shunned.
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3 weeks ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
Shortly before I turned 14, “East of Eden” was released on April 10, 1955. One among scores of other viewers, I was transfixed by 24-year-old James Dean’s Cal Trask, the anguished, less-favored son of a demanding father, fruitlessly seeking approval and affection through unsparing Depression losses.
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1 month ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
Wanting to escape the harried here and now, I opened T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King” I’d first read in 1958 at seventeen. I settled in to recapture those halcyon days when the world was young and life was so much simpler. Seems it wasn’t. Older and wiser offered a deeper read.
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1 month ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
This issue’s “Books” column includes “The Old Man and the Queer,”a non-fiction account of whose subtitle, “The Transformative Story of a Retired Mayor and the Barber Who Freed Him From Bigotry,” gives a clearer indication of what you’ll find within.
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1 month ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
“Are You Happy?”Lori OstlundAstra House$26This seemingly innocuous question Ostlund (“After the Parade”) poses has as many cunningly hidden pitfalls as a jungle tiger trap. If “Yes,” then at what cost? If “No,” the same gauge applies. Characters may be straight or queer, suffer from a lack — or presence — of a partner. An airplane crash survivor may find the path to freedom while a settled nighttime Adult Ed teacher draws a stalker.
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2 months ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
Places where one can go to be one’s self — I touched on two such recently, and a third came to mind. But, with its different vibe and different clientele, it deserved its own space. I was born and raised in New England, and while my folks predictably subscribed to the Hartford Times and Courant, we also took the New York Daily News, tabloid-sized, offering a more spirited, if you will, brand of journalism.
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2 months ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
“I Know Who You Are, but What Am I?: On Pee-wee Herman”Cait McKinneyUniversity of Minnesota Press$10McKinney shares how queer folk children in the 1980s embraced Pee-Wee’s TV show then and how it affects them now, when hysteria about sexuality (any) and gender (being the “wrong” one) is once again rampant. Debuting as AIDS spread together with homophobia, Pee-Wee remained untrammeled, a spinning sparkler with retro talking furniture and appliances that heralded today’s smart house.
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2 months ago | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
This issue’s “Books” offers a slender but thought-provoking monograph by Cait McKinney, currently assistant professor of communications at Simon Fraser University, formerly a queer first-grader and fan of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” She’s still a fan and offers insights on how the show was “a portal for a lot of queer kids of my generation who grew up in the 1980s.” Pee-wee Herman was, as you may remember, the nom-de-jeu of Paul Reubens, but in public, even when not in his Playhouse he presented...
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
lavendermagazine.com | E.B. Boatner
I used to listen to “Fibber McGee and Molly” at night on my little radio back in the 1940s and ‘50s. The middle-class couple lived in Wistful Vista, where Fibber’s tales and Molly’s invariable “T’ain’t funny, McGee!” retorts were my first insights into repartee, while being glued to the 7 p.m.-every-Sunday Jack Benny show offered a masterclass in nuanced humor and timing. TV added visuals: gems like “The Honeymooners” (Jackie Gleason, Audrey Meadows, Art Carney, Joyce Randolph).
