Maurice Sendak on his 80th Birthday: "I'm gay."

[DeepModem Mom]

Media Bistro: Wednesday, Sep 10
Maurice Sendak, 80, Officially Comes Out of the Closet



Here's a little nugget slipped into today's NYT's interview with Maurice Sendak, who is celebrating his 80th birthday this Monday at a Gala at the 92nd St Y: he's gay!

"His fascination with the (Lindberg) kidnapping, like many of the other details of his life, has been repeated endlessly over the years in the hundreds of interviews he has given. Was there anything he had never been asked? He paused for a few moments and answered, 'Well, that I'm gay.'

'I just didn't think it was anybody's business,' Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn's death in May 2007. He never told his parents: 'All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.'"

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/media_people/maurice_sendak_80_officially_comes_out_of_the_closet_94089.asp

Link to NYT, Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/design/10sendak.html?sq=sendak&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Wow. I love "Where The Wild Things Are!" n/t

[HowHasItComeToThis]

2. let the RUMPUS BEGIN

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Indeed!!! How many, many times I've read those books to my children!

They are such wonderful books, he must be a wonderful man.

[eShirl]

3. I didn't realize he was in the closet

I just kind of assumed he was gay
no big deal

[Jade Fox]

4. Sarah Palin: "Get those awful books outta here!" nt

[xchrom]

5. recommend!

:applause: :woohoo: :applause:

[JackBeck]

7. If only the Hardy Boys would come out.

Then I could understand all those feelings I had while reading their tribulations as a kid.

[crimsonblue]

13. you mean the Hardly Boys?

I think they have a raging clue.

[madaboutharry]

8. I love this book.

It was my favorite book as a child. I even own a copy now.

[JerseygirlCT]

9. Yes, it was one of the ones I never minded reading, over and over,

to my kids.

[eshfemme]

10. Where the Wild Things Are was awesome!

I hope that this doesn't generate all the drama that Rowling's "revelation" that Dumbledore was gay did. Maurice Sendak deserves all the kudos and just because he's gay, it shouldn't detract from the fact that his story was a good part of our childhoods.

[aquart]

11. I'm shocked. Shocked.

[Beregond2]

12. Well this explains all the gay people that have suddenly

appeared in the world! It was those damn Sendak books! Of course, I never read them...

Maybe Beverly Cleary is a lesbian!

[RufusTFirefly]

14. Thank Dog we have Sarah Palin to help pray all that bad stuff away!! n/t

[mopinko]

15. favorite book.

i bet i read it to my son a thousand times. i have a stuffed wild thing right here by my desk.
but i do love all his books.

and yeah, i kinda thought he was gay. how sad to have to hide from your family.

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. One of my favorite Sendak books is The Miami Giant

[satya]

17. How sad that his parents were so intolerant. Who wouldn't be happy that their son shared 50 years

with the man he loved?

[knitter4democracy]

26. I thought that, too, in reading it.

How horrible for them to lose that closeness and joy with him, and how horrible for him that he had to live with that shit.

Makes me want to give him a hug and knit him some socks.

[FloridaJudy]

18. How sad that this man

Who gave pleasure to so many couldn't make his parents happy. It's no mean trick to write books for children that their parents don't mind reading again and again. Nor to live faithfully with a partner for fifty years.

Thank you, Mr. Sendak, for Max, and Pierre and all those Alligators. The world is a richer place for your presence.

[Jack Rabbit]

19. Does that mean Governor Palin will try to get it banned from public libraries in Alaska?

When my sons were a lot younger, we enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are and other Sendak works.

[KitchenWitch]

20. Won't you all think of the children?

/sarcasm

[Vickers]

21. Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen!

I've read this in two languages about a THOUSAND times over the years to my kids...excellent book, and VERY fun to read aloud.

[Heidi]

22. Sendak: "The theme of all my books is how babies survive adults..."

At 1:58 in this interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhk-pd0Mm7g

I love you and your beautiful body of work, Mr. Sendak! :loveya:

[IndyOp]

24. Wow - that was a great video. Thank you for sharing that Heidi! (n/t)

[Aeval]

25. I second. An amazing storyteller and artist!

[REP]

23. Why did I think I already knew this?

I adore Sendak, and for some reason, thought I already knew he was gay ... maybe I misread something about his living with Dr Glynn years ago! Sendak is one of my favorite illustrators ever.