Gabby was visiting the publisher Algonquin and did a dozen or so quick pic-withs.
Aside from the fact that my hair is a travesty (use voice of Vivian Vance), I had some fun at BEA, the big book-publishing convention. Grindr was quiet as a mouse (bookworms...harrumph!), but I was 0 feet away from Gabby Giffords (whose astronaut hubby was a tad overqualified to be our photographer), Tim Conway (who was scolded for not smiling by the random guy who took our shot, even though he did!) and Jim Carrey.
No interaction, but an honor to be in his presence. Got his new book, What's So Funny?, free.
Carrey's was the only real production, including a lengthy line and crazed fanboys and fangirls. One, Eva, wants to marry him and totally deserves to. They'd be cute together! Carrey was doing the quickie/across-the-table pic-withs, so that is always a great way to bring out my double chin. But the lovely girl who took the shot did well by us.
The photogenic editor or publicist photobombed everyone shamelessly.
When I had my 4 seconds to speak to him, I had figured I'd blurt out something about Phillip Morris, but I instead found myself referencing Duck Factory (!) before telling him to please keep giving 'em hell on Twitter, even if hell doesn't exist. "Yeah...it's a crazy world," he offered, perhaps thinking a promo even for a kiddie project wasn't quite the right place to dwell on deeper topics.
An adorable "power reader" (I prefer power bottoms) on line with me features in my video.
The only other celeb I bumped into was James Frey, and I didn't know it was him until after. He was very friendly. He kept eyeing me in a non-sexual way, and I later figured maybe he was wondering what my opinion of him was? Nice, though.
Liberace's bro George, Mae West, Liberace & Johnny Ray
In Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace, Scott Thorson details Liberace's desire for younger and younger men:
When I asked if he'd ever had sexual relations with a woman he told me he'd had a couple of experiences, but complained that the way women smelled revolted him. While dating JoAnn publicly, he confessed that he continued to have secret dates with young men. By the end of 1955, JoAnn Del Rio was just a footnote to Liberace's history.
The older Lee got, the more younger men appealed to him. In that regard, he was a Dracula who never wearied of the taste and touch of youth. By his 50s he preferred dating boys in their teens. There have been rumors that Lee had an affair with Rock Hudson early in their careers. But Rock wasn't any more Lee's type than Lee was Rock's. The supposed affair never happened. In the years we were together, Lee never mentioned knowing Rock. Although hundreds of celebrities came to Lee's shows, Rock never made an appearance. The two men moved in completely different circles, socially and professionally.
According to this new book, the celebrated Greta Garbo-John Gilbert love affair was one-sided and lasted all of a few months:
"He bowled her over. She was a 20-year-old girl who didn't speak very much English. I don't think she was ever in love with him. I think she was just swept away by him. When she got back on her feet again, she distanced herself from him, which only took a couple of months. The big romance of the century lasted only a few months."
