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... the desire to share one rather poignant and definitive moment in my life.
Picture this, if you will:
8:00 PM, one late summer evening in 1975, a buddy and I have only just minutes before slipped through the front door of "Studio 70" (one of Toronto's and Canada's then pre-eminent All-MALE no alcohol dance clubs), to find ourselves drifting from one room to another long before the après-théâtre and dinner crowd will throng through it's doors. The club is mostly vacant, Jay Cochrane, the owner, a fixture at the door glad-hands all who enter, with staff scurrying to and fro, primping and fussing over last minute finishing touches before the evenings festivities may begin, with the ever present beat of disco tunes pulsating from what seems to be every pore and fiber of the building.
We have just entered the room hosting the club's dance floor, as ABBA's seminal gay-anthem "Dancing Queen" surrounds us in all it's visceral glory.
Both Paul and I stop dead in our tracks, awestruck as we witness an (unknown to us) atypical 1970's Canadian suburban youth as he clumsily jettisons forth, completely out of nowhere, into the centre of the totally empty mirrored floor surface, clad in a light-coloured plaid lumberjack sweater shirt, unbuttoned and billowing in the air, underneath a contrasting dark-coloured "T", the ubiquitos denim's, Kodiak steel-toes unlaced in all their splendour, his "not-yet-seen a razor" face aglow, eyes luminously glazed over and golden shoulder length tresses flying all asunder.
What occurs can only be described as veritable poetry and symmetry in motion; all that had then been, no longer is, and perhaps never was.
What is at first blush, to our eyes, an awkward underage teen, miraculously morphs becoming, for all pretense and purpose in our hearts and minds, a floor-length satin dressed siren whose movements are so fluid as to defy description, and whom captures our hearts and minds, mesmerizing us as we stand feebly by not willing, nor able, to move.
As the final fade on the tune closes, the bubble bursts on this truly divine apparition, and the youth shuffles from the dance floor into the shadows and the less than ephemeral obscurity of the sands of time, living on in our memory each and every time we hear that song.
To this very day, I have never been quite the same; nor would I have wanted to be. That youth, and countless others just like him, would largely become responsible for ushering in a new era of tolerance and understanding that Canada has largely become.
Do you have a remembrances of one moment in your lives, fueled as mine has been by imagery or music that you might be willing to share with us?
I provide, for those inclined, the following link to ABBA's Dancing Queen from their 1976 album Arrival:
http://hiryu.icynipple.net/ABBA%20-%20Dancing%20Queen.mp3
A historical note:
NO ALCOHOL CLUBS such as Jay Cochrane's "Studio 70", Derek and René's "Club Manatee" (featured in Craig Russell's film "Outrageous", "The 5-11", each found in the heart of the city's continuing gay-ghetto, and early predecessors such as "Lettro's", "The Rock Pile" and "The Gogue-Inn" all provided a much needed and necessary service; namely succor and shelter from the ever present and censoring eye of the once puritanical Torontonian, and prevailing Police surveillance.
"Studio 70", located at 70 Carleton Street was housed in what had then been Warner Bros' Canadian Headquarters prior to their move further up Yonge Street in North York, and which currently tenants The Toronto International Film Festival.
"Club Manatee", domiciled in the basement at 17 St. Joseph's Street, closed without fanfare or notice with its' owners retiring their Rosedale home and relocating to their beloved Puerto Rico, currently houses a graphic arts emporium.
"The 5-11", located in the basement levels of an nondescript commercial strip mall at 511 Yonge Street, continued well into the 80's to host one variation or another of gay dance club.
"Lettro's", was situated in the basement of 10 Toronto Street, a building located just a stone's throw from the King Edward Hotel in Toronto's then business district and would become famous as the World Headquarters of E. P. Taylor's and Bud McDougall's Argus Corporation and later the foundation of Conrad Black's fortune.
"The Rock Pile", situated at the corner of Davenport and Yonge Streets, now entitled the "Masonic Temple" remains a continuing entertainment venue.
"The Gogue-Inn" is now buried beneath a 30-story edifice housing amongst other Ontario Government Departments, The Ontario Ministry of Corporate and Consumer Relations.
Warren C. E. Austin
Toronto, Canada
[Updated on: Wed, 04 February 2009 17:54]
"... comme recherché qu'un délice callipygian"
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Dear Warren,
That sounds wonderful - an epiphany that you could have in 1970 that was never open to me (as I was 20 in 1954 when the word 'gay' still mean 'lighthearted' and such clubs had to be secret if they were in the UK).
I was once approached at parsons pleasure (the men's nude bathing place at Oxford) by an old man who suggested I come and see his lodger, Joe Bianco. And I did! And Joe was Maltese and a lovely light brown all over and came out of his room to see me and I don't remember any clothes - could he really have come out naked? - and he was just stunningly beautiful. That was probably in 1957 and, as you see, I still remember it with pleasure. I think he was the prettiest of all the people I've made love to.
I think it's something we all share - the sudden amazement and delight when someone strikes us as really beautiful.
Love,
Anthony
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