After Dark June 1977 (Part 2)

This issue of After Dark featured the "Hot Books for a Hot Summer". So what was hot in 1977? Haywire by Brooke Hayward. Brooke was the daughter of producer Leland Hayward and film star Margaret Sullavan. The book was a harrowing chronicle of growing up rich, famous, and eternally on the verge of extinction in the glamorous thirties. Billy Hayes was from a middle-class Long Island family who found himself arrested in Turkey for possession of a small amount of hashish. The five years he spent in the Turkish prison is chronicled in Midnight Express. A fictional account of a man whose term in prison leads to spiritual enlightenment and the rejection of conventional norms is Falconer by John Cheever.

Joyce Haber's The Users tells the tale of a young girl who becomes a popular socialite when she marries a movie star. She then uses her "talents" to push her gay husband to the top of the box-office heap. This book was later made in to a TV-movie starring Jaclyn Smith, Tony Curtis and John Forsythe that I have on VHS. I've watched it numerous times because it also features my favorite actress, Carrie Nye.

Legendary lady Marlene Dietrich gets a new biography by Sheridan Morley aptly titled Marlene Dietrich.

Other books featured and reviewed were:
Valentines and Vitriol by Rex Reed
Darling You Were Wonderful by Harvey Sabinson
Cast of Thousands by Anita Loos
We Thought We Could Do Anything by Henry Ephron
Starring Fred Astaire by Stanley Green and Burt Goldblatt
The Films of Robert Redford by James Spada
Billy Wilder in Hollywood by Maurice Zolotow
Rudolph Valentino by Alexander Walker
A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion

Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland is a disturbing book closely based on the real-life story of twin gynecologists found dead a few years ago (a few years ago from 1977 that is) in the debris-littered bedroom of their New York apartment.

Speaking of twins: Jack and Patrick Walsh are identical twin actors and dancers who got a full page color portrait in this issue by Herbert Migdoll.

Those who don't know Dave Kopay better read his book called The Dave Kopay Story. Dave was the first professional football player to come out of the closet.

I have finally found someone to blame for the horrible but still lovable film Sextette. Ian Whitcomb was the music vocal director for the Mae West film.

Al Pacino was performing on stage in Boston in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.

The Cherry Orchard was performed at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Here is some of the cast in perfomance: Irene Worth, Cathryn Damon, Raul Julia and Mary Beth Hurt.

Irene Worth was playing Madame Renevskaya.

The director of this production was Andrei Serban.

The Deep was hitting the film theaters making a star out of Nick Nolte.


His beautiful co-star in The Deep was Jacqueline Bisset.

Tom Ligon was a dedicated actor.


While filming a scene for NBC's Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys, pains in his side almost blew his scene but he finished before being rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. He explained to the doctor that he was vain and wanted the tiniest scar possible. Four days later, he was back on the set performing a fight scene and then off to New York to film The Courier. He also starred as Chester Jump in Jump.

Tom goes shirtless and shows his scar.

Robert Altman's film (and one of Mom Smackley's favorites) 3 Women with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall was released in 1977.

From the family that produced the Bee Gees, comes the latest talent, Andy Gibb with his new album "Flowing Rivers".

Bette Midler had an ad in this issue for her new LP set "Live At Last".

Speaking of ads, here is one for surgical hair replacement. It looks like, according to the ad, it will only cost you an eye.

Another ad featured urethane gym shorts available in silver, gold, black, white, yellow, or CLEAR VINYL. Why couldn't they have shown the shorts in clear vinyl?

David Leong designed some shorts in urethane, also. These icy-looking nylon shorts came with a matching bag. Perfect for a summer at Fire Island.

Well, that's it for this issue. Before we close the covers on this one, I wanted to share one more photo from Victor Arimondi's Character Fantasies that were featured in Part 1.