The Daily Agenda for Christmas Day

Jim Burroway

December 25th, 2011

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Quentin Crisp: 1908. He was always effeminate, going back to when he was the object of endless teasing in elementary school. In 1926, he studied journalism at King’s College London, but switched to art at Regent Street Polytechnic. He also visited the cafes and pubs of Soho’s Old Compton Street, which is still the heart of the gay community in London. It was then that he decided that his life’s work would be “making the existence of homosexuality abundantly clear to the world’s aborigines,” and he did so by developing the flamboyant style that would become his signature. When World War II broke out, he tried to join the Army, but was rejected on medical grounds — “sexual perversion” was the diagnosis. He remained in London during the Blitz, and placed himself at the service of American G.I.’s, so to speak. That’s where Crisp picked up his love for all things American.

In 1968, he achieved success with his third book, an autobiography he titled The Naked Civil Servant. The title referred to his working as a paid nude model for government-supported art schools. He quipped that being an life model “was like being a civil servant, except that you were naked.” The book at first didn’t sell well, but it led to a documentary in which he talked about his life while sitting in his flat filing his nails. That documentary eventually led to the 1975 television adaptation of The Naked Civil Servant, featuring John Hurt as Crisp. That launched a second career for Crisp as professional raconteur and lecturer. He toured Britain with his one man show, and moved to New York permanently in 1981, fulfilling a longtime dream. Before moving to the States, he was reportedly asked at the US Embassy in London if he were a practicing homosexual. He replied, “I didn’t practice. I was already perfect.” But his sharp-tongued wit also got him in trouble. During the early years of the AIDS crisis, he recklessly quipped that AIDS was a “fad.” He made a pact with a New York performance artist named Penny Arcade that he would live to be a hundred years old, with a decade off for good behavior. He died just one month before his 91st birthday.

Charles

December 26th, 2011

Quentin, not Quenton

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