I am a friend of Dorothy's

[ambitious_wench]

There back in the day when being gay would get you prison time, you had to be careful who you came out to. Careful verbal parrying and probing became an artform.

"A member of my church"
"Sister"
"Family"

One of my favorites to this day is "Are you a friend of Dorothy's"?

There are different explainations for this phrase--Dorothy as in the Wizard of Oz heroine, played by Judy Garland, a notorious gay icon.

But more likely, it refers to Dorothy Parker, acerbic wit and according to some, a closeted lesbian.

Today is her birthday, and the following is from The Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of poet and short-story writer Dorothy Parker, born in West End, New Jersey (1893). In 1920 she was fired from Vanity Fair because her drama reviews were so harsh, so she put her cynicism and wit into her first book of poems, Enough Rope, and it was a bestseller when it was published in 1926. She went to The New Yorker to write book reviews under the name "Constant Reader," and she was one of the founders of the famous Algonquin Round Table at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan. She established a reputation as one of the sharpest conversationalists in New York, and she epitomized the liberated woman of the 1920s. Her poems were collected as Not So Deep as a Well (1936), and her short stories were collected in Here Lies (1939). When she was 70 she said, "If I had any decency, I'd be dead. Most of my friends are." And she said, "Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words."

Some of her more famous quotes:

When holding a door for Dorothy, some woman quipped: "Age before beauty." Dorothy retorted "Pearls before swine."

When asked to use the word "horticulture" in a sentance, she replied "You can lead a horticulture, (whore to culture) but you cannot make her think."


"I burn my candle at both ends
It shall not last the night
But Oh! my foes,
And Ah! my friends,
it makes a lovely light!"

Edie

Comments

"I burn my candle..."

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

...is by Edna St. Vincent Millay :-)

Re: "I burn my candle..."

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

Well. color me clueless!

Damn. I could have sworn it was Dorothy...

Thanks for the correction, Art.
Edie

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

And now I finally have a reference for that comment in the movie Clueless.

Thank you. *smile*

But since when was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz a gay icon? I must have missed that one completely....