Pet Shop Boys Community

Wow, what a life- I really didn't know of him, but the tributes pouring in and accounts of others over the years, he really seemed a kind, gracious, generous and talented person, who made a lot of people smile. rip.

raggatwin wrote:

Radiophonic wrote:Sad news but not unexpected. Another of the old British showbiz troopers.

Barbara Windsor will outlive them all it seems - she's immortal.

He was Irish.....

Ireland's in England surely...

raggatwin wrote:LaRue is a bit like Barry McGuigan, Irish when he lost, British when he won......

Like the night when Andy Bell defeated him in the World Heavyweight Camp Performer bitchfight.

From what I read, La Rue probably considered himself British, leaving so early and living his whole life in the UK. But interestingly, he remained a Catholic all his life, with all sincerity. I think he was the sort of person to appreciate both aspects of himself, and not choose one. But it was the UK where he was appreciated, he went right to the top in charming British high society. It seems that it was Princess Margaret and the Queen Mum (who shared a fondness for raffish society, champagne, and amusing gay men) who gave him the stamp of approval for mainstream British audiences. After that, I don't think there was much to go back to in Ireland for him.

..as Wikipedia also says he served in the Royal Navy. Didn't think that would be possible

'Don't ask, don't tell' Oh no that's a gay thing sorry!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/emma_hartl ... ervertible

British society has always been remarkably (and admirably) sanguine and tolerant about gay people, it seems for the most part, at least compared to the US. Not that it's been a picnic, or easy, and of course classically British gay men had to escape "abroad". But post-Wilde (who really could have avoided his fate by not being the one to initiate legal actions against his lover's father), British people seem to accept it as a fact of life. They might not care for the idea, but someone had to keep the Queen Mum entertained. And in times of war, there never seemed idea that gay people were anything but fellow citizens.

Interestingly, the same used to hold true in the US. In the 1930's there was a "pansy craze", gay people were often depicted as a fact of life, sometimes unflatteringly, in pop culture- Hollywood movies, newspaper cartoons, pulp novels. Bugs Bunny, often. They were caricatured, but that's nothing compared to how awfully black people were at the time. It took the Red Scare, the Communist witch hunts of the 1940's to set down the idea that gay people were foreign, alien, subversive, un-American. In some quarters this idea still holds.

At least with the Brits, such nonsense never took hold. "He may be a poofter, but he's our poofter." But some decorum still prevails. Danny la Rue was clearly gay, but in the "discreet" old-school way. The anecdote of his asking Barbara Windsor if she'd "fancy some" on his deathbed managed to make its way into every UK obituary article i've read. But it's okay, it's cool. Let people believe what they wish, sincerely.