Arts & Entertainment
Lily Tomlin to be honored with foot and handprint ceremony at Chinese Theatre
A bona fide LGBTQ icon is soon to join the ranks of some of the greatest stars in the history of Hollywood by having her hand and footprints imprinted in the world-famous courtyard of the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) announced last week that it will honor veteran acress and comedian Lily Tomlin with a hand and footprint ceremony at the landmark movie house during the networkās upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival. The Tony, Grammy, eight-time Emmy and two-time Peabody Award winner will be honored on Friday, April 7.
The hand-and-footprint tradition began in 1927, when then-owner Sid Grauman honored stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford at the first ever ceremony. Since then, though the theater has changed owners, the ceremonies have continued, and the forecourt outside the main entrance has long been one of Hollywoodās most-visited spots for fans looking to stand in the footprints of their favorite stars.
TCM began holding ceremonies at the theatre in 2011, honoring actor Peter OāToole during their second annual Classic Film Festival. They have honored a different Hollywood legend each consecutive year since then, including Kim Novak, Jane Fonda, Cicely Tyson, and Billy Crystal.
Tomlin will be the tenth star to be honored by the network.
Ben Mankiewicz, TCMās primetime anchor and official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival, had this to say about the actress:
“Lily Tomlin’s talent has endured for fifty years because she knows who she is. She’s managed to play broadly drawn roles alongside more nuanced characters without a hint of falseness. Not long ago, Tomlin told The New York Times, ‘I wanted people to see the characters as human beings. And see themselves in them, too.’ The humanity she finds in the women she plays has enabled her to transition, seemingly with ease, from groundbreaking work on āRowan & Martin’s Laugh-Inā to four Emmy nominations for āGrace and Frankie,āwhere she co-stars alongside another seminal artist, Jane Fonda. There’s a consistent richness to her work, in comedy and drama, as well as on stage in her innovative one-woman show, āThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,āand on the big screen. Whether your favorite Lily Tomlin performance is āThe Late Show,āor ā9 to 5,ā or āNashvilleā ā¦wait, I’m not doneā¦ or āAll of Me,ā āFlirting with Disaster,ā āI Heart Huckabees,āor āA Prairie Home Companion,āyou know all of those pictures were made more memorable because Lily Tomlin was among the cast. It’s hard to imagine a more deserving artist to have her hand and footprints cemented outside Hollywood’s signature classic movie house.”
In addition to her decades-long career as a performer, Tomlin has long been a respected and visible member of the LGBTQ community, as many LGBTQ media outlets, like LGBTQ Nation, have been quick to point out. She has been with her partner, film producer and writer Jane Wagner for nearly fifty years (the couple married in 2013), and they are staunch advocates and activists for LGBTQ rights and other causes. They are both benefactors of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. In December, the actress was arrested at āGrace and Frankieā co-star Fondaās weekly āFire Drill Fridaysā climate change protest in Washington, D.C.
The 2020 TCM Classic Film Festival takes place Thursday, April 16 ā Sunday, April 19, 2020. It will feature an extensive lineup of classic movies, appearances by legendary stars and filmmakers, presentations and panel discussions, special events and more.
For more information and tickets visit the TCM website.
Out & About
Film festival to highlight Polish trans womanās story
‘Kobieta Z’ screening at Landmark E Street Cinema
The Washington Polish Film Festival will screen āKobieta Zā (English translation: āWoman Ofā) on Saturday, May 11 at 8:45 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, Theatre 6.
Having premiered at the Venice Film Festival, this Polish film breaks new ground. Starring Malgorzata Krzysztofik-Hajewska and Joanna Kulig, the movie is a sensitive and intelligent story of gender identity in a cruel world that cannot accept it and the personal love that ultimately does.
Tickets to the festival start at $20 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.Ā
Friday, May 10
Center Aging Friday Tea Time will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults! Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more information, email [email protected].Ā
Go Gay DC will host āLGBTQ+ Social in the Cityā at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Women in their Twenties and Thirties will be at 8 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social discussion group for queer women in the Washington, D.C. area. For more details, join WiTTās closed Facebook group.
Saturday, May 11
Go Gay DC will host āLGBTQ+ Brunchā at 11 a.m. at Freddieās Beach Bar & Restaurant. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
SMYAL will host āPride Prom DMVā at 6 p.m. at a location thatās shared after attendees purchase a ticket. With a vibrant atmosphere, diverse music, and a supportive communityā Pride Prom DMV is not just a celebration; it’s a declaration of identity and resilience. Through laughter, dance, and shared experiences, attendees create lasting memories and forge bonds that extend beyond the dance floor. Tickets are free and can be accessed on Eventbrite.Ā
Sunday, May 12
Go Gay DC will host āLGBTQ+ Happy Hourā at 6 p.m. at Clare and Donās Beach Shack. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
AfroCode DC will be at 4 p.m. at Decades DC. This event will be an experience of non-stop music, dancing, and good vibes and a crossover of genres and a fusion of cultures. Tickets cost $40 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.Ā
Monday, May 13
Center Aging: Monday Coffee & Conversation will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of their choice. For more details, email [email protected].Ā
āTRANSEND: Transgender & Nonbinary Support Groupā will be at 4 p.m. at the Pride Center of Maryland. This event will be a safe space to discuss hot topics, education and incentives while enjoying food. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.Ā
Tuesday, May 14
Pride on the Patio Events will host āLGBTQ Social Mixerā at 5:30 p.m. at Showroom. Dress is casual, fancy, or comfortable. Guests are encouraged to bring their most authentic self to chat, laugh, and get a little crazy. Admission is free and more details are on Eventbrite.
Trans Support Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This group is intended to provide emotionally and physically safe space for trans people and those who may be questioning their gender identity/expression to join together in community and learn from one another. For more details, email [email protected].Ā
Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a peer-facilitated discussion group and a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so. For more details, visit the groupās Facebook page.Ā
Wednesday, May 15
Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking ā allowing participants to move away from being merely āapplicantsā toward being ācandidates.ā For more information, email [email protected] or visit thedccenter.org/careers.
Thursday, May 16
Virtual Yoga with Charles M. will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. For more details, visit the DC Center for the LGBT Communityās website.
Movies
Deliciously queer āDead Boy Detectivesā a case worth taking on
A light-hearted, smart, and complex sensibility behind the fantasy
Believe it or not, there was once a time when the Hollywood entertainment industry didnāt take comic books very seriously ā but then, neither did anyone else.
In the early days, comics were dismissed by most adults as childish fantasy; indeed, those with a penchant for clutching pearls saw them as a threat to their childrenās intellectual development and therefore to the future of America itself. Their popularity could not be denied, however, and Hollywood, ever eager to capitalize on a trend, was certainly hungry to get a piece of the action.
The problem was that the studio lackeys assigned to adapt the comics for the screen during those āgolden yearsā were never actually fans of the comics themselves. The result was a parade of kitschy ā if occasionally stylish ā low-budget serials, kiddie matinees, and āB moviesā which operated, for the most part, at the level of cartoons, and mindless ones at that. Even in the 1960s, when comics like āX-Menā had begun exploring mature themes and turning the comic book into a counterculture phenomenon, the best that Hollywood ā now deploying the then-relatively new medium of television ā was a āBatmanā series that felt even campier than the corny serials of three decades before.
Yet despite being treated as a throwaway genre with no cultural significance or intellectual value, the popularity never went away ā and with the generation that grew up with comics now old enough to be working in Hollywood themselves, a new burst of creativity began to infuse the screenās version of the genre with the kind of nuance and sophistication that fans had always known was there. Fast forward to 2024, when comics-based content dominates not just our movie screens ā nobody needs to be told about the way it has shaped (some would say crippled) the mainstream film industry for the last decade or so ā but all our other screens, as well. And while much of the material that has resulted from this obsessive fascination with comics (and comics-adjacent material like āStar Warsā and other similar fantasy franchises) often suffers from the same safe āappeal to the LCDā mentality that robbed the vintage stuff of its potential, the artistry of creators who are fans themselves has also resulted in a lot of genuinely good storytelling.
In the latter category, we offer up āDead Boy Detectivesā ā a new series derived from a supplemental thread in renowned comics creator-turned-bestselling author Neil Gaimanās groundbreaking āSandmanā, which debuted last week on Netflix ā as a counter to the increasingly popular notion that comic books have hamstrung the industryās creativity.
Based on characters and storylines that emerged during the original run of Gaimanās iconic book (published by DC Comics via its Vertigo imprint), itās a fresh, funny-yet-emotionally engaging supernatural saga in which two ghosts who died in their youth ā the titular āDead Boysā ā operate a detective agency in London, solving mysteries for other spirits who need closure before moving on to the afterlife.
The boys ā Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) ā are not themselves quite ready to depart the earthly plane, however; on the contrary, they operate on the lam, making sure to keep one step ahead of Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste, reprising her role from Netflixās acclaimed āSandmanā adaptation) so that she canāt drag them out of it before theyāre ready. Something of a mismatched pair (both died at the same English boarding school, but 60 years apart), they nevertheless have established a fondness for each other and a dynamic together that makes them an excellent team in solving the supernatural crimes they encounter in their work. Their biggest handicap is the difficulty of dealing with the living ā who, for the most part, cannot see or hear them – when it becomes necessary in an investigation. Fortunately for them (and for the story, of course), they find a solution to that issue during episode one.
Enlisted by the ghost of a Victorian child to rescue the human medium – Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson), possessed by a former boyfriend who was actually a demon (David Iacono) ā that has been trying to help her ācross overā, the detectives find themselves with a living ally who can not only interact with them, but also with the ārealā world in which they do their work. With CrystalĀ on the team, they are soon called to an American seaport town to investigate the disappearance of a child – who, it turns out, has been abducted by a witch (Jenn Lyon) intent on draining her youthful essence in pursuit of her own immortal beauty. We donāt want to give anything away, but during the course of the case they not only incur her wrath, they set off alarm bells on the āother sideā, calling attention to the fact that two AWOL souls are still lingering in the human world.
Things get worse for them in the second episode, when Edwin attracts the interest of the local āCat Kingā (Lukas Gage, āWhite Lotus,ā āDown Lowā) and subsequently finds himself cursed to remain until he has ācounted all the catsā in town ā a daunting and maybe impossible task.
Though jumping into the second installment might feel like getting ahead of ourselves, itās important to look ahead for the sake of exploring the showās deliciously pervasive queerness, so forgive the spoiler-ish leap; because it is Edwin, who died in an era long before being openly attracted to other boys could even be discussed, let alone accepted, that serves to root the storyās tension into a real-life context that helps all the supernatural nonsense connect with relatable real-world experience and emotion. Uncomfortable more than a century after his death with the secrets of his own sexuality, he finds himself hampered by his jealousy of the obvious growing attraction between his literal BFF and the new girl psychic who has joined their team – as well as vulnerable to manipulation from both the witch who has it in for him and the Cat King whoā¦ well, letās just say that Edwin’s cat-counting curse could be easily lifted if he would only accept another way to appease the libidinous (and far from unappealing) feline monarch.
Itās best we stop there, before we reveal too much; the series ā developed by Steve Yockey and produced by (among others) original author Gaiman and out queer TV impresario Greg Berlanti ā sets up its story arc very plainly from the beginning, so savvy viewers will read the subtext long before any definitive events take place, but much of what makes it fun is watching how it all unfolds.
Suffice to say that, with engaging performances from all its players, a light-hearted, smart, and complex sensibility behind all of its fantasy elements, and a palpably queer vibe that leaves plenty of room for allies to jump on board, too, itās one of the more worthwhile (and meaningful) ācomic bookā stories to hit our screens in a long while.
Maybe more importantly, itās also entertaining, which makes it easy for us to recommend āDead Boy Detectivesā as a case youāll definitely want to accept.
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