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| re: Tommy Kirk -- Some Theatre Related Credits & Being Gay in the 50's | |
| Posted by: clothedboysinging 11:52 am EDT 09/30/21 | |
| In reply to: Tommy Kirk -- Some Theatre Related Credits & Being Gay in the 50's - BroadwayTonyJ 11:22 am EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| He eventually reconciled with the Disney Organization, and made some personal appearances on their behalf. | |
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| re: Tommy Kirk -- Some Theatre Related Credits & Being Gay in the 50's | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 12:33 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Tommy Kirk -- Some Theatre Related Credits & Being Gay in the 50's - clothedboysinging 11:52 am EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| Kirk had a rough time for a number of years. He suffered from drug use in the 60's and early 70's, left acting, and was then able to kick his addiction. He eventually had a successful business and was able to retire comfortably. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2006 and made appearances at retro film conventions. About 10 years ago I saw an interview he did with Tim Considine. Leonard Maltin may have been the moderator. Kirk talked about his TV and film career. He seemed very at ease and had no bitterness toward anyone in the film business. The interview may have been a bonus track on the Disney DVD of the first Hardy Boys serial. As a kid, I read all the Hardy Boys books and was a huge fan of The Mickey Mouse Club. My parents took me to see all the Disney films, many of which featured Tommy Kirk. I loved Old Yeller and Swiss Family Robinson -- still do. |
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| Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 05:01 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Tommy Kirk -- Some Theatre Related Credits & Being Gay in the 50's - BroadwayTonyJ 12:33 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| in Vanya’s rant in Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike. | |
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| re: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 05:15 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
| In reply to: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang - TheOtherOne 05:01 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| It's been a long time since I saw the play. Can you summarize the rant? | |
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| re: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 10:16 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang - BroadwayTonyJ 05:15 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| I'll quote from it. After talking about how much he liked him in the movie Old Yeller, Vanya says "I wondered what happened to Tommy Kirk, and I did a Google search and I learned that sometime after he was in Son of Flubber, Walt Disney found out that Tommy Kirk was gay and he fired him. He dropped his contract. Meanwhile, Tab Hunter was gay, too but HIS studio just saw to it that he went on pretend dates with starlets. They didn't fire Tab Hunter. They starred him in movies opposite Sophia Loren, for God's sake. Tommy Kirk on the other hand was mistreated, and I TAKE IT PERSONALLY. As I expect he does, too. He stopped making movies. He took drugs for a period. And then later he got better and became a minister. And now he runs a cleaning business. I guess he's alright." Essentially, his impassioned rant about all that the world has lost between the seemingly quaint 1950s and the tweet-crazy 00s leads him to use his childhood crush on Tommy Kirk to come out to the audience at his play's performance, which has been so rudely interrupted by the straight and sexy Spike. I knew nothing about Tommy Kirk until I saw (and later read) the play, but I was struck by how his obituaries covered the very same ground. |
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| re: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 10:51 am EDT 10/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Of Course, His Story Was Immortalized by Christopher Durang - TheOtherOne 10:16 pm EDT 09/30/21 | |
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| Thanks for refreshing my memory. I saw Vanya, Sonia twice but forgot about the Tommy Kirk reference. I was a huge fan of Kirk's TV and film work in the 50's and 60's and was disappointed when he suddenly stopped making Disney movies. It wasn't until decades later that I learned the whole story. The details revealed a lot about the dark side of Walt Disney. | |
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