Born On This Day- August 8th... Rudi Gernreich

Do I have your attention boys & girls? This story is important. This story is fabulous, & this story is true. A little Viennese gay baby boy- Rudi Gernreich was born on this day in 1922. Jewish Rudi fled Austria at age 16 to escape the Nazis.

Following the 1938 Anschluss, the Gernreichs, mother & son migrated to L.A.. They survived on the pastries that his mother baked & he sold door to door.

Gernreich’s first job was washing cadavers for autopsy. Gernreich: “I grew up overnight, I do smile sometimes when people tell me my clothes are so body-conscious I must have studied anatomy. You bet I studied anatomy.”

Gernreich was enamored of Martha Graham. He became a dancer with the Lester Horton company. In 1974, Gernreich danced with Bella Lewitzky, with whom he had danced in Salome 30 years before, when both were members of Horton's troupe. His remarkable costumes for the Lewitzky presentation of Inscape were part of the set & part of the plot. His "Siamese twins" were joined at the skull in stretchable hoods that kept the dancers connected both literally & figuratively. Gernreich continued to collaborate with Lewitzky, designing sets & costumes for Pas de Bach in 1977, Rituals in 1979, Changes & Choices in 1981, & Confines in 1982, all danced by by my college boyfriend & still good pal, the beautiful Walter Kennedy in his dancing prime.

Walter Kennedy in Gerneich

60 years ago in L.A., Gernreich, with his lover at the time- Harry Hay & others, formed the Mattachine Society, the first gay rights group in the country. Some later criticized the designer for not coming out after taking those amazingly brave early steps, but most of us now could barely imagine how difficult & dangerous it was to do so: you could lose your job, your friends & family, even your life. Gernreich did not come out until after his death, when the estate of he & his partner of 31 years- Oreste Pucciani, provided an endowment for ACLU in their names. Oreste Pucciani, chairman of the U.C.L.A. French department was instrumental in bringing Sartre to the attention of Americans.He was a pivotal figure in the gay rights movement.

Early Mattachine Society

Hay & Gernreich, are the main characters of the play The Temperamentals by Jon Marans, with Thomas Jay Ryan playing Hay & out & proud actor Michael Urie (with whom he shares this birthday) as Gernreich; after workshop performances in 2009 the play opened to rave reviews off Broadway in spring 2010.

Rudi Gernreich was the first to use cutouts in clothes. He was the first to use vinyl & plastic in clothes. He Introduced androgyny: men's suits & hats on women. He designed the first see-through clothes. Gernreich designed the first soft transparent bra the "no bra" bra that torpedoed the torpedos. He invented body clothes based on leotards & tights. He used hardware such as zippers, & dog leash clasps as decoration. He did the first designer jeans. He designed the 1st thong bathing suit. He was the first to design men's underwear for women.

Rudi Gernreich spent most of his productive life entirely aware that clothes were ideas in material form. His innovations embraced the new concept of lifestyle & in his soft bathing suits ,thongs, body clothes & tube dresses, in his unisex looks & signature, playful witty look, celebrated the removal of restriction & conformity.

Gernreich seemed to understand that a piece of clothing could embody a larger sense of freedom and liberation. It had to have something to do with his being gay, & of course being a dancer must have informed his vision of how a dressed body should float with naked ease in & around every situation.

I love 1960s conceptualist fashion. High Art fashion. Its not just fashion; it is a way of life. Life as theatre. Today in the stereotypical gay lifestyle & queer fashion is being appropriated by straight culture. Gay S&M fashion once an underground subculture, has gone mainstream. Slings are a home decor accessory. Rudi Gernreich was cutting edge, but today would he be cutting edge? The real queens of the past: Rudi Gernreich, Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Jean Genet, Truman Capote, Jean Cocteau were so brilliant, they defied fashion convention, they were not subservient to it. I hope that Rudi’s friend Walter kennedy is lounging around his digs, enjoying his coffee in a purple thong or one of those famous unitards.

You've Got To Have Friends... Walter Kennedy Turns Somewhere Between 40 & Death Today- June 15th

The University that I attended in L.A. had a junior year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, the only school in the USA to have such a program. The faculty could choose as little or as many students to send to England, as they saw fit.. Another day & another blog post will tell the tale of my NOT going to RADA.

On the 1st day of the autumn term, the Theatre Department held auditions for the fall plays. I was sitting in a large class room with 50+ other theatre majors, waiting for my chance to do my prepared pieces & my song in hopes of being cast in Godspell & not Racine’s Phaedra. Sitting close to me were 2 adorable freshmen, just barely 18 years old (I was a few months shy of my 21st birthday). I watched them watching the “theatre people”. The students from the previous year’s sojourn to RADA were newly returned to campus complete with British accents & a whole new attitude. I had never witnessed so much air kissing & scarf tossing & shrieks of- “I have not seen you since we were in Our Town together", followed by more hugging.

I turned to the newest members of the department- WCK3 & his high school buddy- Little Stevie B & with a dry drop of disgust at the histrionics & mentioned to them- “my, have you ever seen so much drama from a Drama Department?”

I had already started on my life’s journey of loving to perform, but disliking the artifice of "Theatre People". WCK3 & Little Stevie B & I were all cast in Godspell, with WCK3 landing the role of Jesus (on his 1st day of University!). I was given the song- All Good Gifts, which was perfect for me, because I like to show off. WCK3 & I became fast friends & eventually boyfriends. WCK3 was not interested in going steady. He was quite young & wanted to play the field & I was unwilling to give up my adventures as a slut. But we stuck together. I introduced him to cocktails & nasty sex. I was a bit of a mentor in the hedonistic arts. He already had years of dance training by the time we met & I was very impressed with his flexibility. WCK3 is much more conservative then I… & I can still shock him all these decades later.



WCK3 & I transitioned from lovers to friends. We have been very close for more than 35 years. We lived together several times, including a run in the mid- 1970s in NYC when WCK3 studied at Julliard & I was at HB Studios. I was always made to feel at home with his parents & siblings. WCK3 is a handsome & remarkably talented man. He can be just a tiny bit opinionated, his recollections can be a bit long-winded, but I would always want him to be in my life.

WCK3 would go on to a life as a professional dancer. At one point he had to choose between an offer from Michael Bennett to tour in A Chorus Line or to join a famed Modern Dance Company- The Lewitzky Dance Company where he was a principal dancer for 20+ years. WCK3 has traveled all over the world with Bella Lewitzky’s dancers. He was trained by Bella Lewitzky to be a master teacher of technique, improvisation, & composition, & was appointed the company's rehearsal director from 1990 until the company's farewell performance in 1997. He has also worked as a dancer for choreographers: Lar Lubovitch, Laura Dean, Joe Goode & Anna Sokolow. His choreography has been honored at several American College Dance Festivals, & at such venues as Highways Performance Space & the Dance Kaleidoscope Festival in Los Angeles. In the summer of 1998 he was invited as guest choreographer to The Yard, an artist's colony on Martha's Vineyard, & at the University of Arizona. WCK3 has an MFA from University of Illinois where he was also Visiting Assistant Professor, & a BFA, from California State University, Long Beach, where he was also on the faculty.


WCK3 is now on the faculty of the University of Oregon & we have the chance to see each other often. When we do, we toss our scarves over our shoulders, air kiss, squeal & then we list our credits, because we are THEATRE PEOPLE.