bucakra: Tony Curtis: hey, our generation didn't invent "gorgeous" --!

You know, these days with your superstars Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt and Will Smith, gorgeous George Clooney and angelic Orlando Bloom, that Viking archetype, Viggo Mortensen, and then the Aussie contingent -- Hugh Jackman (pant), Eric Bana (gasp), Russell Crowe (oooh), and the drop-dead gorgeous Brits such as Jude Law and Christian Bale and so on, and ON ... this generation tends to have the impression that we've not only cornered the market on gorgeous, but -- we invented it.

Not true. Believe me ... I've been around for quite long enough to remember a lot of the stratospheric names that today' twinkies, teens and tweens associate with senior citizens, gray hair and walking sticks --!

Fact, kids: time catches up with us all eventually (except for me; I'm immortal; so long as I stay the hell away from mirrors). And you might be knocked flat with a feather to see some of yesteryear's superstars in their hay days.

What brought this on? Well, AG is currently doing laps of the room without touching the floor (quite a stunt, when you work without a net) because Tony Curtis has just published a new book! Yep, a new one, American Prince ...!

Here's one of the first reviews: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-10-13-tony-curtis_N.htm (it's also a good one, on USA Today).

I have GOT to get this book:

You know, Tony Curtis was one of the first actors to dare to do gay scenes. They were done for Spartacus about 1960. He played a slave owned by Lawrence Oliver's character (a Roman general), and boy, did the general fancy his, uh, property. They actually had the guts to film this -- but it was promptly cut out of the movie. Now, the film wasn't pro-gay ... in fact, the slave (TC) so far objected to being a general's sex object that he ran away and ended up executed ... but keep in mind, this was 1960, and these scenes were actually filmed. It blows your mind, when you think about it:

This was yonks before, for example, Death In Venice -- and DinV was so blurry-edged, so toned down, unless you know what you're looking at, half the time there's nothing TO look at! Which shows you the courage it took to give the scenes in Spartacus the proper treatment ... and then there's TC's incredible drag act, in Some Like it Hot. He and Jack Lemon did the full works -- and the drop-dead line in the movie goes to Joe E. Brown, right before the end credits roll. Gotta love it ... I mean, seriously, a flaming gay romance, and this was done in the 1950s?!

Anyway, Tony Curtis's new book is top of my shopping list, which is why I'm on the subject of TC today. And if you thought we invented "gorgeous," scroll down a bit further...