Jerome

Jerome, age 8

Groesbeck, Texas (1959)

We didn't have the word "gay" when I was a child, we only had the word "sissy!"
Thanks to my older sister's movie magazines in the late 1950's, I was obsessed with Hollywood glamour. Here, in this photo, I think I'm emulating either Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, or Mamie Van Doren - perhaps all three!

Growing up "special" in a tiny, rural Texas town wasn't easy.

But thanks to "The Rifleman" TV show and those sparkly dresses in the fashion shows on "Queen For A Day," I survived.

Through the years when I've come across this photo, I would cringe.

But now, some 50 years after it was taken, I find it charming.

Self-acceptance at last!


Jerome's first, famous-person same sex crushes:

Ty Hardin (on "Bronco")

Johnny Crawford (on "The Rifleman")
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