Ask the Flying Monkey (July 22, 2008)

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!

A: Meryl sings! Who knew? – Bryan, Boston, MA

Q: Indeed! As anyone who has seen Mamma Mia! (2008) knows by now, the acting powerhouse that is Meryl Streep is also an accomplished vocalist. She was famously attached to the movie version of Evita (1996) for years (instead, producers cast a wooden post Madonna in the role). But Meryl has occasionally sang onscreen before, in both Postcards From the Edge (1990) and A Prairie Home Companion (2006).

But the Flying Monkey’s favorite onscreen Meryl musical sequence is the wonderfully campy opening number to Death Becomes Her (1992), where Meryl’s vain, self-absorbed actress-character sings one of the worst/best songs ever written, “Me” (love the disco interlude)!

Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her

Q: Who was the first television family to have a family member come out? Jodie Dallas on Soap, right? – Sue, Tampa, FL

A: Wrong, at least depending on how you define “television family” and “come out.” Twenty year-old Lance Loud was already out to his family when they participated in the 1973 PBS show, An American Family — a filmed account of what would become one family’s unraveling and television’s first “reality” programming. But Lance did “come out” to the world on the show, making him the first gay person ever in a television series, and television’s first openly gay family member.

The Loud family of PBS' An American Family and Lance Loud (right)

Interestingly, AfterElton.com recently had a chance to ask Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson how Mrs. Brady might have reacted had one of her famous television clan come out. “Well, since Carol Brady really was a reflection of myself,” Flo tells us, “I think she would have embraced him and loved him and said, ‘What can I do to make your journey easier?’”

Florence Henderson (right) & The Brady clan

Awwww! Is that one lovely lady or what?

Q: I've been a huge fan of Hollyoaks just because of John Paul, and I was shocked by the news that James Sutton is leaving. I'm incredibly sad, but I wish him good luck. But what's James Sutton's "new project"? – Andie

A: James didn’t leave the show for a particular project and said that he doesn’t have anything lined up just yet. He’s done some auditions, but also plans to take some time off.

“I’m twenty-five-years old, and I’ve done this character for two years now, and I feel like I’ve made my mark,” James tells us. “I kind of feel like I’m ready to take a risk before I hit 30 and realize that actually I’ve missed my opportunity. A calculated risk.”

James Sutton

Next Page! Paulo Szot's boyfriend revealed! Plus, the Tori/Candy feud!