Oblivion, by way of obscurity

“Here's a rule I recommend: Never practise two vices at once.”

“It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.”

"The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again I'd make all the same mistakes - only sooner."

"I did what I could to inflate the rumour I was on my way to stardom. What I was on my way to, by any mathematical standards known to man, was oblivion, by way of obscurity."

“Say anything about me, darling, as long as it isn't boring.”

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (31st January 1902 – 12th December 1968)

In case anyone missed it, I found a marvellous anecdote about the Divine Miss B last year - read The Hurricane Called Tallulah to see what I mean.

There is a vacancy...

...I may apply.

The best of the best?

Boy George


David Hockney


Mika; Simon Callow


Sharon Needles, "Drag Idol" winner


Omar Sharif, Jr.

American gay magazine Out has published its annual list what it considers to be the world's most inspirational gay figures, "Out 100 2012", with a series of photographic portraits.

Seafood Mamas

A classic shot by Luis Marden (born Annibale Luigi Paragallo), pioneer in the use of color photography for National Geographic (25th January 1913 – 3rd March 2003)

Misha

"Dancing is my obsession. My life."

"Dancers are stripped enough onstage. You don't have to know more about them than they've given you already."

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.”

"I am not the first straight dancer or the last."

“Perfection is a theory.”

Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov, nicknamed "Misha" (born 27th January 1948)

He said to me, "Soph!"

"I was in the woods last night with my boyfriend Ernie, and he said to me 'Soph!',(he always called me Soph),he said to me 'Soph, these woods sure are dark. I sure wish I had a flash light'. I said to him, 'so do I, Ernie. You have been munching grass for the last ten minutes.'"

"I will never forget it, y'know. It was on the occasion of Ernie's eightieth birthday and in honor of the occasion he married a twenty year old girl. And he rang me up the very next day and he said to me 'Soph, Soph, I have just married myself a twenty year old girl, what do you think of that'. And I said to him, 'Ernie! When I am eighty years old I shall marry myself a twenty year old boy, and let me tell you something, Ernie - twenty goes into eighty a hell of a lot more than eighty goes into twenty.'"

"I was in bed last night with my boyfriend Ernie, and he said to me 'Soph, you got no tits and a tight box'. I said to him 'Ernie get off my back!'"

Sophie Tucker (13th January 1886 – 9th February 1966)

[Her jokes were made famous by Miss Bette Midler, of course!]

Not putting up a mask

"Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself."

"To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude."

"Ageing gracefully is supposed to mean trying not to hide time passing and just looking a wreck. Don't worry girls, look like a wreck, that's the way it goes."

"I don't feel guilt. Whatever I wish to do, I do."

Jeanne Moreau (born 23rd January 1928)