Birthday of - - Quentin Crisp

December 25, 2011 3:10 PM

Today, Christmas day, is the 103rd anniversary of the birth of notorious British bon vivant Quentin Crisp. Previously. He was not noteworthy for any achievements, he was the opposite of an activist, but he was full of very good advice - Ubu web has recently made available his 1979 recording, An Evening With Quentin Crisp.
posted by Abinadab (15 comments total)

Quentin Crisp taught me I don't have to eat vegetables if I don't want to, so long will I sing his name.
posted by The Whelk at 3:13 PM on December 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Oh, God, this is great!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:36 PM on December 25, 2011

Merry Crispmas everyone!
posted by acb at 4:10 PM on December 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Strangely, I just watched An Englishman in New York. Hurrah!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:24 PM on December 25, 2011

Other Christmas Birthday Celebrities

Although 'Crispmas' sounds much better than Serlingmas or Rovemas...
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:28 PM on December 25, 2011

Strangely, I just watched An Englishman in New York. Hurrah!

After watching that in 2009, I was inspired to be Crisp for Halloween, which directly led to (a) an extended discussion with a couple of drag queens in a craft fair in Dublin on the proper way to select a scarf and wig, (b) my discovery that makeup doesn't come off all that easily with soap and water--seriously, women, I don't know how you do it--and (c) almost getting turned down by my then-romantic target because I was made up so abominably and unrecognizably that he tried to skitter past me at the party we were attending before I revealed I was the dude he'd been flirting with the previous week.

But never fear, dear reader, I indeed got laid that autumn night. Merry Crispmas!
posted by psoas at 4:47 PM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Selfdescribed as England's last great stately homo. Amazing..
posted by imperium at 4:56 PM on December 25, 2011

Timeless. Thanks!
posted by carter at 4:57 PM on December 25, 2011

I met him once, in a diner in the East Village, while playing cards with friends. He paused on his way out to ask if we were playing bridge, and to tell us of a friend of his who was obsessed with bridge, heroin, and opera. We weren't playing bridge, but felt that we immediately needed to switch to playing it just for him.
posted by gingerbeer at 7:13 PM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best holiday present yet! Thanks for posting.
posted by immlass at 7:48 PM on December 25, 2011

He was a guest at a live panel discussion on Beauty that I hosted for an online community. He was so gracious and very witty and "game." Later we took him out to dinner (That was his deal -- promise him dinner and he'd show up for any speaking engagement). Then I escorted him back to his tiny, unbelievably cramped apartment, with dishes and dirty clothes everywhere. It was a bit disconcerting that that's how he lived (almost more of an SRO room than an apartment) but he didn't seem to mind.

Lovely man.
posted by DMelanogaster at 7:55 PM on December 25, 2011

Ah, yes, the other Queen of England. I went to An Evening with Quentin Crisp in about 1986 or so in Chicago. Great fun.
posted by pjern at 8:06 PM on December 25, 2011

I loved him as Queen Elizabeth I in Orlando - clearly the role he was born to play ;)
posted by zomg at 10:35 PM on December 25, 2011

Nice.

And you know who else came from Epsom
posted by jan murray at 12:10 AM on December 26, 2011

What pearls of wisdom, those recordings. They are my new bible!
posted by Tarumba at 6:46 AM on December 26, 2011