Your love gives me such a thrill, but your love won't pay my bills

Thirty years ago this month, we were all listening to this wonderful little number - and the lyrics are as true today as they were way back then...

The Flying Lizards - Money

But what happened to the icy-cool Deborah Evans-Stickland, she of the aloof vocal style and superb dress sense?

Well apparently she now works as a psychotherapist, but back in 2003 she re-emerged on a collaboration album by none other than DJ and producer Richard X, singing two great numbers - Walk On By and Lemon/Lime. Some great talents never go away...

Richard X and Deborah Evans-Stickland - Lemon/Lime

...thankfully.

Femininity, indeed...

Ah, how I look forward to Tacky Music Mondays...

It doesn't get much tackier than this little gem from someone called Donna Theodore:

Donna Theodore - Femininity (Scopitone)

A town so smart it's spelling starts with: C - H - I - C... Chic!

Many happy returns today to the lovely Lesley Anne Warren, dancer, actress and - at the age of 62 - still a beautiful lady.

It is for one major (Oscar-winning) role that we particularly love Miss Warren - and here she is as "Norma" in one of my favourite movies, Victor Victoria:

Lesley Anne Warren - Chicago, Illinois [Victor Victoria]

Lesley Ann Warren on IMDB

Pretty for Me

As it is Saturday, and I am in the mood for some dancing boys, I make no excuse for posting a little Chita Rivera!

Chita Rivera - Pretty for Me on The Hollywood Palace

Who you calling sorry looking?

Happy birthday today to the fabulous Antonio Fargas, probably best known for his role as the super-fly Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch, as well as any number of "blaxploitation" movies in the 1970s.

By far my favourite role of his was as the irrepressibly camp yet streetwise "Lindy" in the 1976 movie Car Wash. For not only was his one of the earliest portrayals of an out gay character many people had seen in a mainstream movie, he was also not required to meet a tragic end, nor be sidelined into a background role (hairdresser, waiter, etc.) as had so many gay parts in films before.

Far from it! For me, he delivers possibly one of the best gay put-downs in cinema history...

Lindy: "I'm so tired of you running off at your mouth it's getting me down honey. Why don't you just leave? And be an assassin? Or is the only thing you're good at shooting off is your big mouth?"
Duane: "Will you please get out of my face you sorry looking faggot."
Lindy: "Who you calling sorry looking?"
[Everybody laughs]
Duane: "Can't ya'll see she ain't funny?"
[Laughter stops]
Duane: "She's just another poor example of how the system is destroying our men."
Lindy: "Honey, I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get!"
[Fingers - Snap! Snap!]

Genius! And just because I am now reminded of that wonderful film, here's the equally brilliant title song:

Rose Royce - Car Wash

Antonio Fargas website

I can change your temperature from hot to cold

As we celebrate the 90th birthday of the phenomenal legend George Shearing (read my blog for the great man's birthday last year), I have discovered a most spectacular version of one of the jazz standards that George made his own.

I'm sure he was quite happy when Miss Betty Grable decided to put some of her singular va-va-voom into How come you do me like you do?...

Betty Grable - How come you do me like you do?

Queen of the Zeedijk

We had a fantastic, if exhausting, long weekend in Amsterdam for my birthday. It is very familiar teritory for me - possibly my 31st visit(!) - but this time we had a virgin with us! It was great fun showing Steve's "Houseboy" Alex the sights with which we are very familiar, and discovering some new ones too!

One of our great discoveries this time was the fact that one of the oldest gay bars in the world has re-opened for business after 26 years of being preserved as a virtual museum...



The legendary Cafe 't Mandje was originally founded in 1927 and run by one of the most loved characters in the area, Bet van Beeren, who bought it from her uncle and began running it as her own unique venue.

One of the most courageous pioneers of gay and lesbian liberation, in her leather jacket Bet would roar through Amsterdam on her bike with her latest flame riding on the back, and openly welcomed gay men and women in her establishment. All kinds came to 't Mandje - prostitutes, pimps, sailors, variety artists and tourists.



Bet was referred to as the “Queen of Zeedijk” and was known all over Amsterdam as well as across the Netherlands. She was entertaining and welcoming and enjoyed using the bar as her stage through some difficult periods, including the Nazi occupation during WW2 and hiding Jews from the SS patrols.



't Mandje was one of the first cafes where gays and lesbians could socialise freely - although smooching and same-sex dancing was not allowed, except on the Queen's Birthday. An owl sits behind the bar with little lights in its eyes dating back to the time when it was used as a signal to play it “straight” in case the police or suspicious stranger walked into the bar.

Most interestingly there was a tradition that people would leave something behind when they visited the bar: a ribbon, a pin, or in some cases, a necktie. She would cut them off of men, often with a butcher's knife(!). The ties were then be hung around the bar, and many of them are still there to this day.



In 1967, Bet died and was laid out on the billiard table in the bar for three days so that people could pay their respects. Bet’s younger sister Greet took over the bar and ran it for fourteen years, until the struggle with running the business in what was then a bit of a rough area (even for Amsterdam) became too much for her. Yet she refused to let the bar be taken over by developers, and it remained perfectly preserved until 2008 when after Greet's death, her niece re-opened it for business.

So important was the site, however, that part of the bar has been reconstructed at the Amsterdam Historical Museum, including the scissored ties on the ceiling, photo collages and the doodles and cards left by customers.



It is indeed a wonderful place to discover - so atmospheric! Most of the decor in the bar itself remains as it was in Bet and Greet's day, but the postcards and messages have been carefully photocopied onto wallpaper, and many of the original framed photos and cuttings are now copies.

The landlady (Bet and Greet's niece) was very friendly and welcoming, and when we were there a drag queen arrived with what was obviously a gay history walking party, who all did a toast to Bet and to the bar - and to the pioneering work that this woman began for gay and lesbian rights more than eighty years ago!

Recently, Bet van Beeren and 't Mandje were featured in a documentary series on the history of Amsterdam on Dutch TV. The video is all in Dutch (of course), but it is fascinating to view nonetheless.



[If it doesn't play, click here]

[2021 UPDATE - all one from the interwebs]
Cafe 't Mandje website (in Dutch)