<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;My guest this week is Steven Milliken, author of a book of autobiographical essays entitled &lt;a href="https://www.latebloomerbabyboomer.org/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Late Bloomer Baby Boomer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Steven was a class clown who grew up to become a teacher in some fairly rough schools, and had to move in and out of the closet over the years as he navigated sensitive careers alongside alcoholism and sobriety&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;We’ll have that interview in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new video coming this weekend about the making of the Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme holiday special, including an exclusive interview with BenDeLaCreme and lots of never before seen behind the scenes footage. That goes live this Sunday, December 21 — check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — and although shipping deadlines might be tight, you can still get the ebook, and audiobook at &lt;a href="http://gaysitcoms.com"&gt;gaysitcoms.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Plus: I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give your friends and lovers access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos. That’s at &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Confederacy of Dunces, the Mongomery Clift, and David Bowie

My guest this week is Steven Milliken, author of a book of autobiographical essays entitled Late Bloomer Baby Boomer. Steven was a class clown who grew up to become a teacher in some fairly rough schools, and had to move in and out of the closet over the years as he navigated sensitive careers alongside alcoholism and sobriety

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new video coming this weekend about the making of the Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme holiday special, including an exclusive interview with BenDeLaCreme and lots of never before seen behind the scenes footage. That goes live this Sunday, December 21 — check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — and although shipping deadlines might be tight, you can still get the ebook, and audiobook at gaysitcoms.com.

Plus: I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give your friends and lovers access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos. That’s at Patreon.com/mattbaume .

I Told a Priest I Was Having Impure Thoughts (Ep 549 - Montgomery Clift/Steven)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;My guest this week had his big screen debut alongside Adam Baldwin and Matt Dillon in 1980; made a career getting gays online with PlanetOut in the 90s; and today work for TED Talks, bringing together who are doing, as he describes it, some of the weirdest work in he world. Tom Rielly’s had a lot of jobs, and one of the constants has been figuring out new ways to bring audiences along for an unpredictable ride.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; out about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at &lt;a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://youtube.com/mattbaume."&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — you can get it in paperback, ebook, and audiobook at &lt;a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://gaysitcoms.com"&gt;gaysitcoms.com&lt;/a&gt;. And I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give someone access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos starting at about $21 for an entire year. That’s at &lt;a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://Patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Flipper, La Cage Aux Folles, and TED Talks

My guest this week had his big screen debut alongside Adam Baldwin and Matt Dillon in 1980; made a career getting gays online with PlanetOut in the 90s; and today work for TED Talks, bringing together who are doing, as he describes it, some of the weirdest work in he world. Tom Rielly’s had a lot of jobs, and one of the constants has been figuring out new ways to bring audiences along for an unpredictable ride.

We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video out about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — you can get it in paperback, ebook, and audiobook at gaysitcoms.com. And I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give someone access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos starting at about $21 for an entire year. That’s at Patreon.com/mattbaume .

The Weirdest Possible Fellowship (Ep 548 Flipper/Tom)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;For this week’s &lt;em&gt;Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;, books like &lt;em&gt;Return to Oz&lt;/em&gt;, and adaptations like &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. These conversations are all part of &lt;a href="https://youtu.be/n9IXq5MwG5Q"&gt;my new video about Oz and queer culture&lt;/a&gt; that just went live on YouTube — check that out at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Dee Michel: &lt;a href="https://www.deemichel.info"&gt;https://www.deemichel.info/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Josh Trujillo: &lt;a href="https://www.joshtrujillo.com"&gt;https://www.joshtrujillo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Terry Blas: &lt;a href="https://terryblas.com"&gt;https://terryblas.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Emma McMahan: &lt;a href="https://www.mcmahan.media"&gt;https://www.mcmahan.media/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Emma’s YouTube channel: &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel"&gt;https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Watch Emma's video about &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;'s stage-to-screen adaptation: &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0"&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Wizard of Oz

For this week’s Sewers of Paris, I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like The Wizard of Oz, books like Return to Oz, and adaptations like Wicked. These conversations are all part of my new video about Oz and queer culture that just went live on YouTube — check that out at YouTube.com/mattbaume . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from Wicked, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture.

Dee Michel: https://www.deemichel.info/

Josh Trujillo: https://www.joshtrujillo.com/

Terry Blas: https://terryblas.com/

Emma McMahan: https://www.mcmahan.media/ 

Emma’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/

Watch Emma's video about Wicked's stage-to-screen adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0

The Wonderful Queerness of Oz (Ep 547 - Terry Blas, Josh Trujillo, Emma McMahan, and Dee Michel)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To mark the recent release of the second &lt;em&gt;Wicked &lt;/em&gt;film, for this week’s episode we’re revisiting my 2020 interview with &lt;a href="https://www.deemichel.info/"&gt;Dee Michel&lt;/a&gt;, author of the book &lt;em&gt;Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;. Dee’s book is an in-depth examination of queer Oz fandom, which for him has its roots in happy memories of watching the movie with his dad. Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there was the constant threat that the family would be exposed. Added to the general chaos of the time was the discovery that his father was gay, and Dee’s own struggle to find his place in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; coming this weekend about the powerful gay magic behind &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. Check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Wizard of Oz, gay folk dances, and Communism

To mark the recent release of the second Wicked film, for this week’s episode we’re revisiting my 2020 interview with Dee Michel, author of the book Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz. Dee’s book is an in-depth examination of queer Oz fandom, which for him has its roots in happy memories of watching the movie with his dad. Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there was the constant threat that the family would be exposed. Added to the general chaos of the time was the discovery that his father was gay, and Dee’s own struggle to find his place in the world.

And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming this weekend about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

Fairies and Mortals Can't Get Married (Ep 546 The Wizard of Oz/Dee)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;I am delighted to welcome back a friend of the &lt;em&gt;Sewers&lt;/em&gt;, film critic and holiday aficionado, &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/linoleumcast/?hl=en"&gt;Linoleum Knife&lt;/a&gt;’s &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/alonso.duralde/?hl=en"&gt;Alonso Duralde&lt;/a&gt;. His book, &lt;a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/have-yourself-a-movie-little-christmas-9781493087440/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, is now out in a revised and updated edition, gathering even more expert recommendations for holiday films to enjoy this season and year-round. We chatted about how Christmas movies have changed since he wrote the first edition of his book, fifteen years ago, and what the future of holiday films might be. And also why he’s been baking Christmas cookies all year long.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; coming at the end of this month about the powerful gay magic behind &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. Check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And as always, if you’re enjoying &lt;em&gt;The Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, head over to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

holiday films, Christmas film noir, and butter

I am delighted to welcome back a friend of the Sewers, film critic and holiday aficionado, Linoleum Knife’s Alonso Duralde. His book, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, is now out in a revised and updated edition, gathering even more expert recommendations for holiday films to enjoy this season and year-round. We chatted about how Christmas movies have changed since he wrote the first edition of his book, fifteen years ago, and what the future of holiday films might be. And also why he’s been baking Christmas cookies all year long.

And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming at the end of this month about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And as always, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.

Give Yourself a Little Pleasure (Ep 545 - Christmas film noir/Alonso Duralde)

Revealing stories about the books, movies, tv, music and more that have changed the lives of gay men. Each week, a guest plucks a piece of entertainment from their past, and answers the question: how did it change your life?

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