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Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story
By: Steve Wilson
From: Advocate Books
Pages: 240
Softcover
UPC: 155583793X
ADL's Price: $15.95
In an age when celebrities have turned the act of coming out into an empowering media event, Paul Lynde certainly seems like a campy relic of less-liberated times. This view of Lynde as an out-of-step, self-loathing queen of queens overlooks the man's great, if accidental, achievement: getting away with being gay on TV on an almost daily basis for years. During his three decades as a popular character actor on television, film and the stage, this fairy forefather's arch and bitchy wit snuck regular doses of the queer world into that bastion of intolerance, the American living room. Lynde showed mainstream viewers that a gay man could deliver the jokes, not just be the butt of them. In doing so, he helped make homosexuality more palatable to unwitting viewers who simply saw him as a stylish, funny man. Biographers Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski draw on revealing interviews with friends from Lynde's childhood, college days and adult years--including stars such as Phyllis Diller, Charlotte Rae, Cloris Leachman and Peter Marshall, who worked with Lynde in Broadway productions and in film and television. What emerges is a memorable portrait of a man who reaped his share of wealth, enjoyed a fair amount of fame and basked in the adoration of thousands of fans--but paid a price in hardship, heartbreak and hangovers.
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Reviews from our visitors.
Average visitor rating  based on 2 review(s)
Review by bigdancd on 08/02/2005 - 
I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy anything pertaining to one of the most hateful, bitchy queens on the planet. Paul Lynde in public was absolutely no one to be around. When he came to my hometown in Ohio during the summer Kenley Players productions in the 70's and 80's, he was caustic, abrasive, and thought he was royalty. He treated other people in the bars after the shows like they were second class and would always have some offensive remark to anyone who wanted to speak to him. Famous homos like him were an embarassment to the gay community. There are a lot better books on the shelves to buy than this worthless addition.
Review by ann on 07/31/2005 - 
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