Arts & Entertainment
Memoir claims ‘American Bandstand’ dancers were closeted
the book says most dancers weren’t straight


(Screenshot via YouTube.)
“American Bandstand” was the first reality show craze for high schoolers in the ’50s and ’60s who would rush home to watch their favorite couples dance on screen. Although all the pairings were heterosexual the truth was that when the cameras switched off the dancers, both male and female, were living gay double lives.
Arlene Sullivan, one-half of the popular Arlene and Kenny dance couple, and Ray Smith have written a tell-all memoir “Bandstand Diaries” about their days as the coveted “Bandstand” dancers. Sullivan and Smith say that most of the dancers were gay.
“I knew I was different early on, but being with all these [‘Bandstand’] friends, I came to terms with my feelings. I kissed a girl, and I liked it!” Sullivan, 74, told the New York Post.
Smith, who knew he was gay when he joined the show, found himself in a similar situation and said he was “shocked” to find his fellow dancers were also gay.
“The one thing that really shocked me,” Smith told the New York Post, “was that those boys who were 14 and 15 and 16 were sleeping with each other.”
Sullivan says the dancers would hang out at Rittenhouse Square, the “Gayborhood” in Philadelphia. However, host Dick Clark never wanted anyone to know about his dancer’s secret lives possibly for fear of the show getting canceled. Sullivan and Smith even believe Clark sent members of the production team to spy on the teens and come back with a list of who was suspected to be gay.
“Parents across America would never, NEVER have allowed their kids to put ‘Bandstand’ on,” Sullivan writes.
“Bandstand Diaries” can be purchased here.

The 2025 Silver Pride Resource Fair and Tea Dance was held at the Eaton Hotel on Wednesday, May 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)










Out & About
Queer film festival comes to D.C.
DC/DOX to showcase LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers

DC/DOX will host a film festival beginning on Thursday, June 12, at the Regal Gallery Place, Eaton Cinema, and the U.S. Navy Memorial Burke Theatre.
This festival will premier LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers. Each screening will be followed by in-person Q&As with the filmmakers.
For more details, visit dcdoxfest.com
Movies
Gay director on revealing the authentic Pee-wee Herman
New HBO doc positions Reubens as ‘groundbreaking’ performance artist

In the new HBO two-part documentary, “Pee-wee as Himself,” director Matt Wolf gives viewers a never-before-seen look into the personal life of Paul Reubens, the comedic actor behind the much loved television persona, Pee-wee Herman.
Filmed before Reubens passed away in 2023 from cancer, Wolf and his creative team created the riveting documentary, interspersing several interviews, more than 1,000 hours of archival footage, and tens of thousands of personal photos.
Determined to set the record straight about what really happened, Reubens discussed his diverse influences, growing up in the circus town of Sarasota, Fla., and his avant-garde theater training at the California Institute of the Arts.
Ruebens joined the Groundlings improv group, where he created the charismatic Pee-wee Herman. He played the quirky character during the Saturday morning show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” and in numerous movies, like “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Big Top Pee-wee.” He also brought Pee-wee to Broadway, with “The Pee-wee Herman Show.”
To get an enigma such as Reubens to open up was no easy task for Wolf.
“I felt determined to get Paul to open up and to be his authentic self,” acknowledged Wolf at a recent press conference. “And I was being tested and I wanted to meet my match in a way so I didn’t feel frustrated or exhausted, I felt determined but I also, it was thrilling to go this deep. I’ve never been able, or I don’t know if I ever will, go this deep with another human being to interview them in an intimate way for over 40 hours.”
Wolf described the collaborative interview experience as a dream, “like we were in a bubble where time didn’t matter.” he also felt a deep connection to the material, having come of age watching “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to put words to it at the time, but I think it was my first encounter with art that I felt emotionally involved in,” noted Wolf.
“He continued: “I recognize that that show created a space for a certain kind of radical acceptance where creativity thrives. And as a gay filmmaker, I also recognize things like Pee-wee Herman marrying a bowl of fruit salad at a slumber party or dancing in high heels to the song, ‘Fever.’ That stuff spoke to me. So that was my connection to it.”
During the documentary, Reubens comes out as a gay man.
“Paul went into this process wanting to come out,” said Wolf. “That was a decision he had made. He was aware that I was a gay filmmaker and had made portraits of other gay artists. That was the work of mine he was attracted to, as I understood. And I wanted, as a younger person, to support him in that process, but he also was intensely sensitive that the film would overly emphasize that; or, focused entirely from the lens of sexuality when looking at his story.”
Their complicated dynamic had an aspect of “push and pull” between them.
“I think that generational difference was both a source of connection and affinity and tension. And I do think that the level to which Paul discusses his relationships and intimacy and vulnerability and the poignant decision he made to go back into the closet. I do have to believe to some extent he shared that because of our connection.”
Wolf hopes that the “Pee-wee as Himself” positions Reubens as one of the most “groundbreaking” performance artists of his generation who in a singular way broke through into mainstream pop culture.
“I know he transformed me. He transformed how I see the world and where I went as a creative person. And it’s so clear that I am not alone in that feeling. For me, it was fairly abstract. I couldn’t necessarily put words to it. I think people who grew up on Pee-wee or were big fans of Pee-wee, seeing the film, I hope, will help them tap into intangible and specific ways how transformative his work was for them. It really is a gift to revisit early seminal experiences you had and to see how they reverberate in you.”
He added: “So, to me, this isn’t so much about saying Paul Reubens is a genius. I mean, that’s overly idealizing and I don’t like hero worship. It’s more about understanding why many of us have connected to his work and understanding where he lives within a legacy of performance art, television, and also, broader pop culture.”
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