At least one of those things, I could do now.I pulled over my laptop and opened up my email.Bless Paul’s heart, his was right on top.
Long time no talk!And you don’t have to play coy with me—I know what you’re after.I’ve been in this game a while now and trust me, I have zero problem sharing the goss.
In short: I haven’t heard anything about a movie being shopped around in a meaningful way but I HAVE heard—and from legit sources—that Gerald Tubbs Junior has run through his trust fund and is facing an ugly lawsuit from—drum roll please—the estate of Beth Ellison.And no, I don’t know who is repping the estate.That’s super hush hush.My area of expertise is more stage related but when it comes to the ‘vintage’ celebs, there’s a lot of overlap in the gossip circles.But there might be a little bird singing about Tubbs exploiting Beth Ellison’s good will even after death...read into that what you want!
As for Gwendolyn Terhune, oh boy.She’s a piece of work behind the scenes.One of the grad students helping me compile research for my book actually has an entire file on her from 1982-96, none of it stellar.But also never on set or on stage so it really didn’t get out much once you moved outside her circles.Typical diva stuff tbh, nothing I’d call scandalous or even career-ruining.Her generation on screen, it’d be almost expected for her to have an ‘attitude.’
Pamela Sommers, though.Very little info on her except for some super super super unofficial tea: She and Beth Ellison were partners.Allegedly.
Very allegedly.
Professional opinion?Nothing to support the rumor but it’s one that pops up now and then.They were both single, both very close until Beth’s death, and Pamela’s very notable mental breakdown after Beth died fed that rumor.Pops up now and then whenever some teenagers on social media want to make a list of famous queers in media and just start grabbing names without doing research.
Call me sometime—love to meet in person one of these days!Lots of questions for you, tbh, and I want your feedback for a project.
I sat back, staring at the screen without seeing it.“Huh.”The proliferation ofare they or aren’t theyrumors about celebrities had probably existed since the very first cave dweller got up in front of their clan and put on a little show for them.People loved to speculate and the more titillating they were, the more they did it.When it came to things like sexuality and gender, the way they’d become so hypersexualized had just led to even more slavering over rumors and sometimes outright making things up, trying to spin narratives or live out a fantasy about a favorite star.If So and So is gay, then me being gay is okay too.Or more likelymaybe I’ve got a shot.
Max dealt with it all the time.He was pretty open about being queer himself but tried to keep his private life just that—private.I was usually his plus one to events, and if not me then his agent or sometimes, more rarely, Tina, Max’s older half-sister.Once in a great while, he had a PR date set up by agents and productions but not often.The sheer number of people posting what amounted to fan fiction about Max’s sexuality was still mind boggling and more than a little unsettling, ranging from made up stories about his coming out to detailed deep dives about preferred relationship roles and his “type” in the bedroom.And as bad as it was for him now, I couldn’t begin to imagine how invasive and horrible it would’ve been for someone forty years ago, or even twenty years ago, to have people whispering about who they were attracted to.
But why would that end up with them framing me for arson?With Tubbs’ death?
If that’s what was happening.
“Damien?”Ben knocked on my door with a quick, two knuckle rap.“I’m heading out in a few minutes.”
I hesitated, considered being bratty, but instead got up and opened the door.“Be safe driving back.”
He nodded, gaze searching my face.“Look, I know whatever’s going on right now is—”
“It’s okay.I mean, objectively, it sucks, but I’ve got things under control.”
“Um.No, you really don’t.”He grinned at the laugh that startled out of me.“It’ll take me less than three hours to get back here if you need me to,” he went on, “and I’m serious when I say your safety is important to me, Damien.And hey, I’m still good for the time off.Lots of banked days.”
Well, color me flustered.“Um.Thank you?And, just an FYI, your safety is important to me, too.”I nodded.“Yep.Safety is number one in my book.Look both ways, use turn signals.Don’t walk on wet floors...”Oh my god, why can’t I stop talking?
Ben pressed his lips together and gave me a firm nod, but I knew he was trying not to smile which just made my ears feel like they were about to burst into flames.“I’ll be sure to wear my high-vis vest between the car and my office.”
“Good.Good, good, good.So.I’ll be fine.Really.I’m just going to the library after my doctor appointment and replacing my phone tomorrow and that’s about it.”
Which wasn’t entirely a lie.Those were the only places I planned on going.Everything else I could do from home.
Ben hesitated another few moments.“Damien, promise me you’ll call if you decide to do something, okay?At the very least so someone knows where you are.”
“I promise,” I sighed, rolling my eyes a little.“I’ll ask Heath to drive me to see that doctor and I can walk to the library from here afterwards.”It wasn’t that far, but nothing in Lester Cove was really.
Finally, Ben either believed me or realized he had to go or he’d still be sitting in traffic at midnight.“I’ll remind Heath.”
“You know I do know how to use the landline, right?”
He was already halfway down the stairs.“Appointment’s at ten, right?”
“Ben!Seriously!”
“I’ll tell him you’ll be ready at a quarter past nine.”
#
"SIX WEEKS ISN'T SObad," Heath said for the third or fourth time since we left the orthopedist's office.
