A Short Story (a short story, of sorts)

    I stare, glare at the black screen through two pieces of plastic glass.  The white too bright to reflect, refract, magnify my muddled words.  Feeling the syllables crawling, scrawling beneath this growing older by the millisecond skin.  Verbal seeds screeching, reaching for the blinding sight of others to inhale, devour, clatter in their respective collective mindscape.  Fading away fingerprints scrolling through digital pages or tips bleeding from flipping sharp paper edges in a frenzy to discover meaning in nonsense and senselessness in moments.  Watering eyes, tears or sweat blurring lines of fictitious reality and really fiction until the happy or not end is reached, achieved.  My voice spent, digits numb from popping letters into place, trying to place the seen from my head onto the dark screen floating in depth, closer than appears but so far from the soul suffocating inside.  Circling the circles surrounding sighing eyes, unable to see what others claim to see inside out.  Inside me within the lines of a short story that may never come to be.

____________
2024, John L. Harmon 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  Escape reality through my books available from an Amazon near you…

freakboy on film: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

click the pic to read more posts

This post is part of The 2nd Annual ‘Favorite Stars in B Movies' Blogathon, hosted by Brian of Films From Beyond! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I am not Baby Jane Hudson!  

Not me!

I just want to make that clear, even though my sister has always said I would be like Baby Jane if she ended up in a wheelchair, after an intentional car accident, and I was her primary caregiver.  It’s not like I was a mega-brat vaudeville darling who sang sweet songs about writing to a dead daddy as our father peddled creepy doll versions of me.  Unlike Blanche Hudson, my sister and our mother never watched unimpressed from backstage or as I demanded ice cream right NOW!  

Not my sister!

I don’t know if our mother ever promised my sister that her time to shine would come, but now that I think about it, people in our small town know my sister more than they know me, despite my book-signing event last year.  Anyways, that’s beside the point, it’s not like I’m trying to feed her unspeakable meals, even though our cat Laszlo has killed a couple of mice and a baby snake recently.  Well, in any case, I definitely do not drunkenly dance around the house with creepy doll me while imagining I’m still a fresh, young thing full of talent.  Never mind that I’ve been re-listening to an audio soap opera parody I created many years ago and may or may not dance to the music I used, but that’s not the same as Baby Jane!   

Still not me!

Anyhoo, when I think about Bette Davis, I don’t have to think twice.  My mind first goes to the classic 80’s hit, “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes.  Then I think of her all-in performance as Baby Jane Hudson.  Sure, I’ve seen some of Miss Davis’ earlier work, such as THREE ON A MATCH (1932), but she will always be the unhinged Baby Jane to me. 

Still not my sister!

Now, when I think of Joan Crawford, my mind immediately goes to Faye Dunaway as Crawford screaming, “No wire hangers ever!” in MOMMIE DEAREST.  Then I think about how a bartender once told me a Vodka-Pepsi is called a Joan Crawford.  Finally, I think of her sympathetic performance as Blanche Hudson.  Sure, I’ve seen some of Ms. Crawford’s earlier work, such as SUSAN AND GOD (1940), but she’ll always be Blanche in that chair to me.  

Elvira is tired of my antics…I mean Baby Jane’s antics!

While Bette and Joan are the combined reason to watch, there are a few notable supporting actors who add to the story.  Maidie Norman gives a no-nonsense performance as Elvira Stitt, Blanche’s housekeeper and only source of kindness.  Victor Buono is the comic relief as Edwin Flagg, the sketchy con-artist pretending to help Baby Jane jump start her career.  I must also mention Anna Lee as Mrs. Bates, the nice neighbor with a slight edge, because she portrayed the sweetly feisty matriarch Lila Quartermaine for years on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital.  Last, and probably least, Bette Davis’ daughter, Barbara Merrill, gives a stiff performance as the daughter of Mrs. Bates.  Was Christina Crawford not interested in the role or was she just too busy writing the first draft of Mommie Dearest? 

Coffee, tea or Edwin?

Watching WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE again for Brian’s blogathon made me wonder if it really is a ‘B’ movie.  I mean, I know the story treads into exploitation territory at times and some performances verge dangerously close to camp, but overall it is a legitimately entertaining film.  If you look beyond the lurid shocks and histrionics, there is a tragically sad tale of how fame can corrupt and destroy a person, especially a child.  There is also the emotional dichotomy of Blanche and Jane as they both deal with aging by either accepting the past is the past or clinging to what was, even though it will never be that way again.  Perhaps I’m trying to find a deeper meaning within the creepy-crazy spectacle through older and allegedly wiser eyes.   

directed by Robert Aldrich/screenplay by Lukas Heller, from the novel by Henry Farrell 

In conclusion…
Maybe the bright stars of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had faded when they signed up for this film, but they showed  they still had the ‘it’ factor with two gutsy performances that have been forever blazoned in the minds of film fans.  So, whether or not WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE is a ‘B’ movie, this black and white Hollywood gothic is worth experiencing!  Now, if you’ll excuse me, my sister and I simply must head to the beach because it’s the perfect weather for reliving memories, shocking revelations and ice cream. 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.  

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. click a pic to experience tales from blogathons past… 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
My books are available from an Amazon near you…

booking freakboy: VILLA OF QUEENS by Alan Fair

Similar to how my Andy Milligan obsession has shoved me down a rabbit hole to the fringes of the fringes of cinema, my interest in Ed Wood’s literary career has gotten me addicted to Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction.  These often shocking, wildly inappropriate novels with spectacular titles have been an antidote to the general boredom of the mainstream “bestsellers” I experience through a monthly lunchtime book club.  VILLA OF QUEENS was one of those titles that caught my semi-good eye a couple of years ago, but was it worth the wait? 

I felt weak and unprotected facing this giant of manliness.

Glen Andrews a young queer man in his 20’s, is staying at a villa in Cannes with his Uncle Martin.  The young man was kicked out of his brother’s house after being caught in the middle of sexy time with a boyfriend.  Now, away from his homophobic brother, Glen is enjoying the sun and sand and the possibility of a new love in the firm form of Jason Wilding.  

Despite having soft, gentle eyes, Jason is surrounded with dark, lurid rumors of sex and murder.  His last lover David, a wild, snobbish and conceited young man whom Glen resembles, drowned even though he was an excellent swimmer or was he murdered?  This tragedy happened while Jason’s brother Phillip was staying with him.  Phillip now lives in Paris, but what do the other inhabitants of Jason’s château know?  Is Jason’s cook Anna as innocent as she seems?  Does Jason’s facially disfigured companion Paul, who looks after him and takes care of things around the château, know what really happened. 

Glen ignores the rumors and falls in love with Jason anyway.  Never mind that Jason fired a few shots at Glen when he trespassed on the château’s private beach.  Never mind Jason nearly ran over Glen when pulling his car around to give him and Martin a ride home.  Never mind a boulder nearly crushed Glen and Martin as they walked along the beach.  Never mind Martin’s villa was set on fire and Jason just happened to be there as they escaped.  Glen is either deeply in love with Jason or the sex is really that phenomenal to put up with multiple near death experiences. 

Our love poured out, both of us drinking the last dregs of romance that flowed through our trembling bodies.

Who is trying to kill Glen?  Does Glen’s resemblance to dead David have something to do with it?  Is his Uncle Martin also a target?  Does Martin know more than he is saying?  Is Jason behind it all or does he know who is?  What the hell is going on anyway?  

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! 

Paul is really Jason’s brother Phillip and he is behind the ghastly things that have been happening!  When Jason first brought David home, the young man and Phillip started having an affair.  Jason discovered the affair and kicked his brother out.  Phillip stayed with Martin and they began a relationship, but he couldn’t stop obsessing over David.  Eventually Jason allowed his brother to move back in and was even going to let Phillip and David run off together.  David laughed at this because he didn’t want a mental case as a boyfriend.  Phillip and David had a fight over this and Jason saw his brother carrying the young man’s unconscious body into the ocean to commit murder-suicide, so he hopped in a speedboat to rescue them.  He couldn’t find David (his body would later wash up on the beach) but he found Phillip when he accidentally hit him with the boat, disfiguring his brother’s face.  Phillip survived and was committed to a sanitarium.  Upon release, Jason allowed him to come back, but Phillip used the name Paul so no one but Jason and Martin would know it was him.
Now Paul/Phillip believes Glen is David resurrected and he is furious!  He believes his dead lover would rather be with Jason and Martin than with him.  Completely out of his mind, Paul/Phillip brutally beats and rapes Glen.  Then he fights with Jason and ultimately falls to his death down a marble staircase.  Martin is there, distraught over his injured nephew and the death of his former lover, but in Paul/Phillip’s final breath, he tells Martin that he’s sorry.  So I guess that makes everything a-ok because in the end, Martin has a new young boyfriend he met while remodeling his fire-ravaged villa and Jason and Glen are flying off on their honeymoon.  

Author Alan Fair paints these characters with broad strokes and keeps emotions at surface level, but it makes sense with this novel.  I mean, VILLA OF QUEENS was obviously not meant to be profoundly thought-provoking.  The story is a roller coaster ride awash in convoluted twists and lurid shocks, which is pretty much what I anticipated.  

There is one aspect that rather impressed me.  The characters in VILLA OF QUEENS are unapologetically queer.  There is no struggle with or shame over sexuality.  They are here, they are queer and the reader can rejoice in it!  I think this is remarkable for a book published in 1968, especially since it ends on a happy note.  

In conclusion…
While not quite as emotionally engrossing as DEATH OF A TRANSVESTITE or DESIRE IN THE SHADOWS, this sometimes tawdry tale of love, sex and death was worth the wait.  The crazy plot and openness of its characters kept me engaged, even as I smirked knowingly and lovingly rolled my half-blind eyes as my tablet read the torrid pages to me.  So, if you’re looking for a shockingly entertaining read away from the current literary mainstream, then VILLA OF QUEENS may be the book for you!  

SIDE NOTE: Much like other Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction I’ve reviewed, VILLA OF QUEENS is not readily available.  However, there are some titles available as reasonably priced ebooks, a few of which may or may not be waiting for me on my Kindle app bookshelf. 😁

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH
~~~~~~~~~~~
A sanitarium…
A treacherous marble staircase… 
A convoluted plot with twists and turns…
Am I referring to VILLA OF QUEENS or DARK EXCURSIONS? 🤔 

You decide… 😉