Beauty NOW

Lips NOW. Lips used to be for: Sucking, Licking, Hissing, Talking Dirty, Slurping. Now they’re for: Discussing the Meaning of Existence, Prayer, and Songs. Lips NOW have never looked more FABULOUS because they are PRISTINE. Join theGay Men’s Chorus! Gargle regularly with warm water, baking soda, and/or salt, to keep the edges and inner lining of the mouth MOIST and RED. Don’t GNAW at your lower lip even though the New Reserve may induce TENSION. Remember your FOCUS: Lips are COMPOSED, SERENE, yet GENEROUS. Lips ’85 convey a WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE, AND a wealth of WISDOM. Lips ’85 send a message: NO. We are no longer doing certain things. This can be HARD ON LIPS. LIPS ’85 are used to saying, “I DON’T DO THAT NOW. Because SOMEONE PISSED IN THE POOL, darling! Because we all realize now that anonymous (Let-Yourself-GO) sex is OUT, unless you want to spend this FALL ’85 petrified over every pimple and cold sore and ache. Lips ’85 want to know: What about Safe SEX? SAFE SEX can be FABOU for the lips—if they don’t have to EXPLAIN IT to the person first. Whose lips enjoy NEGOTIATING rules of lovemaking before sex? KEY: Look for people ON YOUR OWN LEVEL: AWARE, WITH IT, KNOWING, ON THE CREST OF THE WAVE. If you should see a HUMPY ANGEL you cannot pass up, use your LIPS ’85 to find OUT what he knows. And if he doesn’t know ENOUGH (and LIPS ’85 are all about KNOWING. Why else do you live in the most fabulous city in the world?), then simply give him the telephone number of a FRIEND who will explain on your behalf Condoms, Hydrogen Peroxide, Clorox, Oxynol-9 (and let’s not kid ourselves any longer about Kissing: I know this is tough on die-hard romantics, but grow up.) Sally Slut says to herself, “If I have to go over there and raise the issue of DEATH with that gorgeous man, I’d rather not bother.” (Makes sense, Sally.) Suzy Sensible makes the effort. Both ask, “What IS sex, anyway?” Or (more accurately) “What WAS sex?—before going ahead with it. Use Lips to redefine, RETHINK what same-sex desire is really all about. Use Lips to sing fabulous, sophisticated, bluesy RODGERS & HART ballads that still express JUST HOW WE FEEL. CONSIDER: Taking your FABULOUS NEW LIPS to church. Lips ’85 look great in a PEW because PRAYING and FOLLOWING THE LITURGY are SAFE SEX. BONUS: At the coffee hours after the service at Dignity or the gay synagogue, you may meet men who are there for something other than INSTANT oral gratification. Use your LIPS to discuss THE SOUL. (You HAVE one, darling. You just MISPLACED it during the seventies! It’s someplace around the apartment. LOOK FOR IT.) And while you do, practice FACIAL ISOMETRICS. Because Lips ’85 are both PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL Lips, CENTERED, CALM, COMPOSED Lips, and so, darling, are— 

Andrew Holleran, Ground Zero, 1988

People, January 11, 1988: While in London in 1973, Stritch—then 47—married American-born actor John Bay, then 45. They met when they were rehearsing Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings. It was his first marriage too. “The word that applies to John is sweet,” says Stritch, picking up a framed sketch of him off an end table. “He was a sweet, gentle, wonderful man—and funny like you can’t stand it!” They spent nine years living in the Savoy Hotel. In 1982 they returned to New York, buying a Victorian house on the Hudson River in Nyack that they restored together. “It was John’s decision to come back. He felt it was time.” she says, adding, “I turned my back on a very successful career there. Noel was right. They really loved me.” Later that year, Bay died of a brain tumor. “I really miss him,” says Stritch, “but I was lucky to have those years.”

People, January 11, 1988:

While in London in 1973, Stritch—then 47—married American-born actor John Bay, then 45. They met when they were rehearsing Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings. It was his first marriage too. “The word that applies to John is sweet,” says Stritch, picking up a framed sketch of him off an end table. “He was a sweet, gentle, wonderful man—and funny like you can’t stand it!”

They spent nine years living in the Savoy Hotel. In 1982 they returned to New York, buying a Victorian house on the Hudson River in Nyack that they restored together. “It was John’s decision to come back. He felt it was time.” she says, adding, “I turned my back on a very successful career there. Noel was right. They really loved me.” Later that year, Bay died of a brain tumor. “I really miss him,” says Stritch, “but I was lucky to have those years.”

People, January 11, 1988:

ALONE IN THE SEPTEMBER OF HER YEARS, ELAINE STRITCH BEATS BOOZE TO SCORE A COMEBACK IN A WOODY ALLEN DRAMA

Bitch, shut your face. The real question is who doesn’t buy issues of People magazine from 1988 off of eBay? It’s called pre-anthropological studies or something; it’s all like post-modern and shit; it’s totally a degree offered at NYU nowadays, I’m sure. Seriously, you’re such a whore.

I was gonna list a few choice quotes from the article for all you non-haters/Stritchy-adulators. But after the article’s first page, I already had ten and then decided you should probs just read it in its entirety for yourself. Trust: it’s worth it.

Elaine Stritch in Cocoon: The Return; or DON AMECHE AND STRITCHY REUNITED, 1988