We have a
centenary to celebrate today, in the middle of my Gay Pride Countdown! Just as well it is Frank Loesser - composer of more than 700 numbers for a variety of musicals, not least was his own masterpiece
Guys'n'Dolls.
I have of course blogged about the fabulous Mr Loesser before,
on the occasion of the anniversary of his death last July.
However, I can always manage to find some new and unusual things to celebrate such an anniversary, AND tie it in with the gayness of this countdown week...
Here's a bizarre version of one of Mr Loesser's finest works (with all it's gay connotations - very daring for its time), here performed by an Italian
travestito by the name of Quince [
"Every time I play a female role, my name (half QU-een, half pr-INCE) will be: QUINCE!"]. Whatever. He/she is fab!
Here's a right slapper from the 1940s (well hardly by our standards!) with one of Frank's classically "suggestive" numbers, which, in its many variations, became an early gay classic:
And how about one of Hollywood's "worst kept secrets" Mr Perkins, and his version of the gayest of gay Loesser songs?
Frank Henry Loesser (29th June 1910 – 28th July 1969)
