Beyond Beyond The Candelabra

Scott with Liberace in 1982.

Did you ever wonder what happened to Scott Thorson, Liberace's young lover whose Beyond the Candelabra served as the basis for this Sunday's HBO movie?  First of all, he's no longer Scott, he's Jess and he won't be watching on Sunday because the Washoe County Jail in Reno doesn't get HBO. He was a teenage foster kid who was thrust into a life of luxury and just as suddenly had it taken away.  Life since then has been anything but a fair tale.  Liberace kicked him out in 1982 because of his cocaine habit and Thorson's retaliated with a palimony suit that was quite the scandal at the time.  Since then he has bounced around the country from Vegas to Florida to Maine to Palm Springs to Reno.  He's been in and out of trouble for drugs and identity theft, he's lived in homeless shelters and he's been shot three times.  The money he made from the book and movie were quickly blown before his current unfortunate incarceration.   Read all about life after Liberace in The New York Times.   

Jess today.

SmashCaps: The Transfer

Ivy and Karen agree to be nice and professional during awards season.  You know this won't last.  Ivy is in her Broadway Star, Go-to-Hell Red coat while Karen is in a painfully hip cap she borrowed from a Rastafarrian. 



I feel a little guilty about writing my usual SmashSnark since the show has just been cancelled.  It's sad that a show with this much potential has crashed and burned so spectacularly. 

But I don't feel that bad, Hit It:

This episode began "in progress" because of some sports something or other.  I hate the tyranny of sports on TV.  Don't they know Broadway divas are waiting?  Anyhoo, we're in the middle of a totally improbable scene in which Ana is "screwing up her cross" in Hit List rehearsal.  The actress who has been totally spot-on every moment she's on stage is suddenly staggering around like a three-year old at a ballet recital.  Subtle, this show ain't. 

Cut to Eileen who is planning a tribute to Tom and Julia and their oeuvre.  "Lindsay" is going to sing, which is apparently a real big deal.  Hopefully, they don't mean Lohan.  This tribute is all about the Bombshell Tony campaign.  Eileen wants Tom and Julia to sing a duet at the tribute and Daphne Ruben-Vega agrees.

Hit List has magically moved to Broadway and Ana has been sidelined for the night for "screwing up her cross."  She's pissed and sees the handwriting on the wall.  Derek wants to replace her!

Good little Karen goes to Derek to go to bat for Ana and discovers that Derek is testing Daisy for Ana's role.  Daisy is the gal who sued Derek for screwing her.  Then he screwed her again.

Ivy does a Ford Fusion ad in Times Square wearing a cute little sundress even though it's freezing in New York.  As soon as it's done, she pulls on her killer red coat.  I am obsessed with that red coat which is clearly the best thing about this episode. 

The gossip blogs are suddenly all about Ivy and her sinful past, including sleeping with Derek and Karen's boyfriend (remember hot Raza Jaffrey from last season?).  Therefore, she doesn't want to play a stripper in the Tom and Julia tribute. 

Tom and Julia's split has hit the blogs also.  Who could have leaked it?  This will make the tribute oh so poignant. 

Now that Hit List is on Broadway, Julia and Jimmy are trying to recreate that Downtown feeling.  Julia finds one of Kyle's index cards with "Twitter" or something written on it and decide the answer is to text and tweet the audience during the show.  OMG, Broadway discovers social media!  So hip!  So now!  So Downtown!  Never mind that theaters usually discourage the use of phones during performances, not encourage it.  They set out to make this brilliant idea happen for tonight's performance.  I guess they're going to get every ticket holder's mobile number or something.

At the Tom and Julia tribute, Megan is still ambivalent about doing her big stripper number.  Eileen gives her a pep talk and she goes out there and knocks them dead. 

This is as undressed as Megan gets during her stripper number.  She totally kills it. 



Karen finds out that Daisy is one of the dancers who sued Derek.  She confronts him and he immediately admits that he screwed her a month ago and he's giving her Ana's role to keep her quiet.  Brilliant idea, Derek.  Way to set yourself up for another lawsuit. 

It's the Hit List opening night at The Barrymore, which is way too classy a theater for this dreck.  We're subjected to another dumb Hit List number.  Ana's watching from the back, pissed as hell that Daisy's going on instead of her. 

Cut to the Tom and Julia tribute at The Oak Room.  Julia shows up really late because she's been working on the Hit List social media stunt.  Tom is pissed, but what else is new?  Julia sings.  Cue the Tom and Julia montage from the past two seasons.  Awww, they really do love each other.   

OMG it was Eileen who leaked the Tom and Julia breakup!  Now they have to give them the Tony because it's their last show!  Daphne Ruben-Vega admires her knack for publicity. 

Derek fires Ana and  hires Daisy.  Really dumb move. 

Karen tells Ana that Ivy screwed Derek for the lead in Bombshell, Ana tells Ivy, Ivy confronts Karen.  It's on, bitches, just in time for the Tony nominations.

The episode's last moments:

Ring Ring. 

"Hello?" 

"Ivy Lynn?  Congratulations, you're pregnant."

Boom!  Show's over. 

You gotta be fucking kidding me. 

Quote of the Day

"I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of."

--Angelina Jolie, in a powerful and brave editorial in The New York Times, coming out about her decision to have a preventitive double mastectomy after doctors estimated that she had an 87% risk of breast cancer.  

Minnesota Makes 12!

Sen. Dibble (on the right) applauds passage of his bill.  

The Minnesota Senate today passed a marriage equality bill, which has already passed the House.  Governor Dayton has pledged to sign it into law tomorrow!  Openly gay Sen. Scott Dibble of Minneapolis introduced the bill and it passed 37/30.  Sen. Dibble had this to say:

"Minnesotans, when given a chance, understand that the values that unite us are stronger and so much more important than those that divide us. I am proud to be a Minnesotan today. Today good hard-working Minnesotans playing by the rules, trying to live a good life, contributing in so many ways to their communities will be treated fairly. For thousands of families, life will be better. We will be removing the barriers that they have had to the full joys that life has to offer. In doing so, we strengthen ourselves and we strengthen our democracy. When this is over, we will have left Minnesota a better place. That is why we’re here."

Just last year, fair-minded Minnesotans fought back an ugly, anti-gay constitutional Amendment and that victory undoubtedly spurred equality activists to go for it all.  Those mean little people who pushed the constitutional amendment had no idea they were providing the spark necessary for today's big event.  

The first anti-gay constitutional amendment in Minnesota was introduced by none other than then-state Senator Michele Bachmann, no doubt inspired by LadyBird's miraculous heterosexuality.    

Joe.My.God posted this picture, but it's such a perfect expression of today's events that I couldn't resist.  

Monday's Man: Joel Edgerton

I saw The Great Gatsby in 3-D over the weekend and I must say it was better than I expected.  It was quite Spectacular Spectacular, I half expected to see Nicole Kidman drop down in a swing.  I've never been much of a Leo DiCaprio fan, but he looked good in the gorgeous suits meticulously tailored for him.  I can't say he achieved any particular depth with his characterization of Gatsby, he mainly treated the audience to his patented smile and scowl.  No matter, because whenever Joel Edgerton was on screen as Tom Buchanan, I wasn't paying Leo, or anyone else, a bit of attention.

 

From the moment he literally galloped into his first scene in a form-fitting polo outfit, he dominated the picture.  He was the alpha male.  Silly Daisy for wanting the man in the ice cream suit across the bay.   
 

Here he is throwing a punch in an earlier film, Warrior, that I somehow missed.  Is this on Netflix streaming so I can freeze-frame? 



Unfortunately, he had to shave his sexy beard for Gatsby.

 

MN Lawmaker Cries On House Floor Because Gays Might Get Married

Minnesota state Representative Peggy Scott (R-Peroxide), cried over the prospect of sodomites getting married in her state.  Rep. Scott, who clearly does not have a gay hairdresser, had this to say:

"My heart breaks for Minnesota. It’s a divisive issue that divides our state,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she stood on the House floor after the vote. “It’s not what we needed to be doing at this time. We want to come together for the state of Minnesota, we don’t want to divide it." She said this without a hint of irony.

Honey, here's a tip - after you take out the Kindness 20 hot rollers, you're supposed to brush it out.

via Towleroad.

Smashed

It was a dark day at 30 Rock as NBC announced it's cancellations including Smash , The New Normal, the Reba McEntire show Malibu Country, Happy Endings, and almost every freshman series.  Smash wasn't a surprise since it was moved to Saturday nights last month, but The New Normal was thought to be in better shape as the network had ordered a full season shortly after its debut last fall.  But when The Voice took a break, nobody tuned into NBC and Normal's ratings took a plunge.  It's too bad.  I liked the show and thought it had real potential.  This is the first time that a Ryan Murphy show has failed to make it past one season.  His shows Glee and American Horror Story were both renewed, Glee for two more seasons.  

Does this mean Andrew Rannells and Megan Hilty are free to do a spectacular new Broadway musical?