Recently, one of our Facebook page fans asked about Chad Douglas, one of the true mystery men of porn, who came to prominence in the 1980s.
BijouBlog
Interesting and provocative thoughts on gay history, gay sexual history, gay porn, and gay popular culture.
Does Bigger Mean Better?: Thoughts About A Book for "Size Queens"
In 1985, a book came out called How to Enlarge Your Penis. Yes, instructions on how to get that all powerful king of dicks that many men have always wanted. According to the book, by someone with a degree in history (what does history have to do with
Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on Lee Ryder
We at Bijou carry back issues of Manshots magazines, which was, I think, in its heyday (the late eighties and early nineties), offered a sophisticated approach to gay porn; its video reviews were generally cogent and intelligent, even scholarly. It t
Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on Pierce Daniels
“Pierce is quite stunning and every time I look at him I do get a bit weak. Looking at his photos that night I began to want to see him naked immediately.” – randyblue.com I must say I agree with the above quote, especially after looking at some of t
Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on Gino Colbert
I first encountered Gino Colbert in his youthful glory, in a spanking fetish film Bijou Video carries called Disciplining the Undisciplined Athlete. Gino, playing a short in stature boxer with a chip on his shoulder, and Michael Ryan spank each other
Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on David Ashfield
The facts (courtesy of Back2Stonewall.com): David Ashfield was one of the biggest names of 1980s porn, making dozens of movies and appearing in plenty more as a stunt dick. He was slim, born in 1960, had a huge and thick cut penis and topped (al
Retrostuds of the Past: The Inimitable, Luminous George Payne
The crowd historian Elias Canetti claims in Crowds and Power that invisible crowds have always existed. The most numerous, according to him, are those microscopic entities like bacteria and sperm. Crowds of them that can't be cou
One Ringy-Dingy, Two Ringy-Dingy: The Fun Days of Phone Before Cellphones
I am of a “certain age” that remembers prank phone calls, heavy phone books, payphones (do any exist anywhere these days?), and calling the operator. And, gasp, rotary phones. We had two rotary phones, one on the kitchen wall, and one down in
Weird People on the Bus
I've seen them on television and the movies, and I've even been in them (well, when you're from Cicero, Illinois, you've got to do something), but what exactly is a dive bar? Or more specifically, a gay dive bar? The ones I have seen on televi
Alexander the Gay
“326 BCE – Gay/bisexual military leader Alexander the Great completes conquest of most of the then known Western world, converting millions of people to Hellenistic culture and launching the Hellenistic Age.” I found this on a gay timeline someo
Cereal and Cock
“They all do it... “ And in so many different ways! Male squirrel monkeys display their penises and urinate in each other's faces during the mating season. A small percentage of seagulls pair up as lesbians (observed on the Santa Barbara Islands, Cal
I remember my Dad taking my brothers and me to see the movie Earthquake and hearing the sirens from The Towering Inferno in the adjoining theater. Remember those seventies disaster movies? I wonder why they were so popular at that time, but when one thinks how they were made before the days of computerized digital special effects, the time and effort that went into making them is awe-inspiring.
I attended Chicago's forty-fourth annual Gay Pride Parade, mostly to wait for the Leather Pride float sponsored by Touché (it was practically at the end of the line-up; I wonder why?) Standing with a friend in an area away from the crowds at the barricades where we could both smoke, I noticed less gay bar floats (the older, at this point, community fixtures like Baton and Sidetracks showed up; more welcoming religious organizations (they pretty much marched together en masse, a stunning effect which should silence the holy haters like the Westboro Baptist Church); more schools including Nettlehorst, a local primary school; less politicians (though the really key figures like the Governor and the Mayor showed up, pretty much a given these days); but, overall, many groups, even nonpolitical ones, emphasized marriage equality given the recent decision on DOMA by the Supreme Court.
Antenna TV (you know, the station for old-timers who still read newspapers and use landline phones) recently ran a memorial tribute to Jean Stapleton, the actress known for her now iconic portrayal of the much-loved “dingbat” Edith Bunker. The station aired now legendary, groundbreaking episodes centering on Edith that addressed then-taboo subjects such as menopause, homosexuality, sexual assault, and euthanasia.
A 1960s gay publication called Drum (issue number 22, undated, but probably 1966) published by the Janus Society of America, displayed a keen sense of humor in its features called “Gay Moments in Advertising” and “Gay Moments in News Coverage.” Given that life for LGBT citizens in America during that supposedly liberating time (for heterosexuals, that is) was a life of secrecy and oppression, many gay-related venues resorted to “drag” or “camp” as a way of sublimating feelings of fear and shame.
