Monday, June 11, 2018

Blind Item #8 - Letters Part Three - A Dancing Boy Blind Item

Before anyone spoke, the two security guards were joined by a studio lackey - a big, bearded man with a too-tight aqua shirt and black leather skinny tie. He chimed in first. "Is this the little fellow who let the animals out?"

"Yes sir," I said.

"Why did you do that son?"

The dancing boy shrugged, fear in his eyes.

"Do you know what kind of liability you just incurred for us?"

***** shook his head no, not even understanding what that meant.

"Well, it's a lot - I can tell you that. Those llamas are worth a fortune."

The studio doctor, a kindly-seeming man with dark hair and a foreign accent, came over. "I think the boy was concerned about the animals' welfare. Isn't that right *****?" (DB note: I didn't at the time think to wonder how this man knew my name, but I know now that his awareness of me went back to a certain network party in the late 70s, at least. Do you want to guess his country of origin? More about him to come...)

The dancing boy shook his head yes. That's when the llamas' owner, previously indifferent to the situation, and talking to his be-speckled young assistant (who in my recollection bore a close resemblance to the owner's future son), came over.

"*****, is that your name?" he asked?

"Yes sir," the dancing boy said.

"Call me by my name," he said. "Do you know what that is?"

"Yes," ***** said, smiling and blushing.

The man reached over and took the dancing boy's hand. "I want you to know how special ***** and **** are to me. They're not pets, they're family. They have a beautiful stable, and freedom to roam, and be themselves. A lot of the time they choose to be in the house with us. They eat, sleep, and play with me every day. I'd really like for you to see how well taken care of they are."

"The young man has an audition," the doctor said.

"Well, there's always afterward, isn't there?" the man said. The doctor, appearing to ignore the man, approached *****. "This is just perfunctory *****, but I need to ask you a few questions before I can let you go. Can you tell me what your name is, first and last - not your stage name?"

"***** ******."

"And what year it is?"

"1985."

"Now who is the current president?"

"Reagan. He likes jelly beans you know."

"Yes, he does. Now what about your date of birth? Can you tell me that?"

"**** 18, ****," he said.

"That's an important day for us both," the doctor said, retrieving a breathalyzer from his coat pocket. "It's the day after my own home country was turned upside down - the day I first heard of it. Now open your mouth and take a deep breath, then exhale," he said, inserting the device into *****'s mouth. He checked the results. "The boy can go," the doctor said, waving us on.

By the time we got back to the stage, the auditions had already begun, eating through half the line of boys plus one more, who had nodded off, and fallen over. Shortly later, he threw up. The assistant put up cones around it. I was the designated maid. It wouldn't be the last time.

The scene the boys read - along with a stand-in for the character's father - takes place in a supermarket. It was short, but pivotal, and charged with themes like family secrets, and protection of them vs. fidelity to the rule of law.

After the third or fourth one, I began to notice that with each new boy, the consultant would look him over, and nod his head yes if he wanted the audition to be filmed. It was almost as if he was playing favorites before even seeing them act.
When they finally got to *****, I was rooting for him to get the nod. In retrospect I almost regret it. I didn't know what would become of those boys. But he did - get the nod I mean.

Truth be told (and he doesn't mind me saying this), his audition was better than average but not great. He didn't project clearly or loudly enough to fill the room, and his body language wasn't always true to the dialog. But on the one, most important line of the scene - where he asks his father to choose between family and the law - he was nearly pitch perfect. He really sounded like that boy.

With the auditions over, the boys were treated to a reception in a neighboring office while they waited for their parent or guardian to pick them up. There, the consultant thanked them for their audition, and suggested that some of them had been invited as guests at a charity auction. It would be good for their careers, he said, as a number of wealthy and famous people would be in attendance. With that, he read the names, which included the dancing boy. The others were dismissed.

Shortly later, I heard a commotion outside, and looked out the window. A black SUV and animal trailer had pulled up, and were surrounded by the remaining boys. It was the man from earlier - the one with the llamas.

Smiling, and patting the boys' heads as he passed them, he came into the office. He spotted *****, and the consultant watched him icily as he approached him.

"He has a charity ball to go to," the consultant said, pre-emptively.

"Actually, he was invited over for a visit with my family and I."

"Do you know whose house it's at?"

"Yes," he said. "I was invited. But I declined. You do wish to continue working in this town, don't you?"

The consultant looked away, shooing ***** with his hand.

They left the office together, the dancing boy turning around to wave goodbye to me. I ran over and hugged him. It was the last I ever saw him.

From what I heard later - one of the other chosen few contacted me himself - the short-listed boys were told that they would spend the evening at a charity auction hosted by an entertainment executive and philanthropist. What they did not yet know was what was on the auction block - namely, them.

They were driven in chauffeured limousines, some of them without having contacted their parents, to this palatial home in a famous seaside town. There were apparently three entrances: one for residents and guests, the second for servants and staff, and the third for very special young visitors. You can imagine which one the boys came through.

They were led through a tunnel under the house by the exec's valet, and into an elevator. It went up several floors, and opened into a changing room.

The boys were told to undress, and each was given a red monogrammed pair of speedos to wear. Their clothes were locked in a storage closet. Then, the attendant unlocked a door to a short hall. The boys followed him to its end, a padlocked, sliding metal gate in front of a red velvet curtain. The boys  lined up in alphabetical order, and were told not to step out onto the platform until their name was called. After that, the man said, "dive into the water, and swim with the dolphins. Look like you're having the time of your life. The guests want to see happy go lucky boys. If and when you're picked, you will be netted by the staff, and lowered into the ballroom."

The man picked up the house phone, and called in to the booth. "We're ready," he said. A button was pressed, and the curtains parted.
The first boy stepped out onto the platform, waving and blowing kisses - as if making his Broadway debut. He stood over a theme park-sized salt water aquarium, full of live coral, rare sea life, and dolphins. Beyond it was a large ball room, filled with men and women. He took his bough, and dove into the water.

After the last boy was in the water - this was the passenger from part II, so placed because of his high alphabet last name - the attendant returned down the hall, and into the changing room, locking the gate and door behind him.

One by one, the boys were selected by wealthy men in attendance, including that most famous horror movie actor, and the legendary foreign-born/Oscar-winning director. His most famous film involves an old profession, but his most personal film was inspired by his own real life relationship with a teen boy. When they were picked, a studio crane with two men in the bucket was deployed, hovering over the tank where the boy swam. Together, they inserted a large marine net into the water, scooping each boy out like lobsters in a restaurant tank, and delivering them to men on the ball room floor. They were given robes, but nothing more. They would go home with the men.

So, you're wondering, what happened to *****. In a word, nothing. He and the boys who didn't make the cut, with their parents' permission, spent a pleasant evening at home with he and some of the family at his mansion. One of the brothers grilled, and in between calls from the label, his broker, and at least one old friend, he talked enthusiastically about some of his favorite movies, including that late 1960s musical. Afterward, they watched the recent movie from the child actor turned director on the theme of eternal youth. They swam in the pool that night, another brother pranking them by turning off the pool light. "Knock it off *****," the host said. Big brothers will be big brothers, I guess, regardless of how famous you are. The boys slept in sleeping bags on the floor of a living room, just as they did at their friend's birthday party. They ate a breakfast of French toast and sausages. The host greeted their parents, and in some cases siblings, when they came to fetch the boys. There were pictures taken, and autographs signed. It was, according to the dancing boy, all so extraordinary, and yet so ordinary.

A few weeks later, I learned that the consultant had been fired, and replaced by a seasoned professional. It seems that one of the mothers had complained.

As for the movie, you may or may not have seen it. It flopped in theaters, earning back only half its cost - but many of you will know the story. It was based on the first installment of a best-selling book series, and would be remade in later years with the actual book title. In fact, the whole reason it got to be remade is because a little more than a half-decade after this original outing, the second installment in the series was made (with different cast, etc), and became a sleeper hit + awards sweeper.

PS I'm on Twitter now as the dancing boy.

68 comments:

SeeBee said...

Is the movie Manhunter?

Nor Cal said...

I do not really have any guesses, but I think this is what we are supposed to solve:

1. dancing boy- in a film from 1985 that was not successful. A later remake was successful.

2. consultant- part of the pedo ring

3. studio doctor- foreign born, from a country that had turmoil

4. charity auction host
Malibu?
entertainment executive and philanthropist

5. auction guests/ pedophiles

famous horror movie actor

legendary foreign born/ Oscar winning director whose most famous film was about the "old profession" (prostitution?) and another film about a relationship with an underage boy

6. llama owner- Michael Jackson?- writer indicates that MJ hosted a party for boys but treated them well/ did not molest

MontanaMarriott said...

I hope that this rise in "Dancing Boy" BI's means reveals will be forthcoming on July 4th?!?!

filmfanb said...

This contradicts his original blind that said he only did modeling gigs and mundane things. The one role he got he ran out on because of the terrible event and he said his career was over from then.

Anyway, checked his twitter, same child photo as the guy we suspected it to be. We know the source.

joshg g said...

Hosseini again?

B626 said...

Louus Malle for foreign Director
Pretty Baby
Cocoon for Movie they watched at MJ’s

Anonymous said...

Ummm...whatever Tricia is guessing!

This and That said...

Exactly. These super long and / or old-Hollywood ones always lose me.

Nerf Poodles said...

The movie they watched was "Cocoon"

Brayson87 said...

Kids snatched from a studio without contacting their parents, tossed in a giant lobster tank with coral and dolphins, pulled out with a crane and a net? This sounds like some nonsensical bs.

nonyabusiness said...

Trying to promote his Twitter in a blind item. Lol. This was a snooze fest.

The Ashton Cruz Zoo said...

This blind left out the part where the volcano sprouted out of the giant pool and spewed gold glitter lava all over the guests as the aliens ship came down from the sky unleashing an avalanche of pink singing unicorns and tap dancing Loch Ness Monsters. That was the best part.

Unknown said...

Dancing Boy, you said you didn't do much and was not within the realm of Hollywood after your traumatic experience. Honey, what's really going on here? What is your goal to all of this?

totaji said...

Nitpick. Manhunter is based on the book Red Dragon. The movie Red Dragon was made much later than Silence of the Lambs.

Sara, Making It Work said...

@filmfanb, this doesn't conyraduct that. He auditioned but didn't get the role.

Sara, Making It Work said...

@jean
This took place a year or 2 before "the big role".

Sara, Making It Work said...

I found this really fascinating, and no more or less believable than any of the other pedo ring/ cult/ Lolita island blinds on here. This was at least written in an entertaining way.

totaji said...

Famous horror actors: Tom Noonan is a famous horror actor in Manhunter but he’s not overall famous.

Sara, Making It Work said...

So I'll "solve" what we already guessed from other blinds,

Michael Jackson
Manhunter
Paul Walker (high alphabet name)

I'll look into some of the other ones, the newer additions.

I'm wondering if DB is meaning to imply that he thinks MJ's assistant is bio dad of his (MJ's) kids...

Sara, Making It Work said...

@totaji, I'm not sure it's supposed to be someone from that movie, just a famous horror actor in general. But it could be, hmnmmmmm.

tinydancer61 said...

For some reason, Leonardo DiCaprio seems like he's got some role in this...would the years fit his age?

totaji said...

Yeah definitely Sara, I’m throwing ideas out there and building upon them. Famous horror actors are a pretty short list: Price, Lee, Belaligosi, Englund, who am I missing?

Anonymous said...

I have the sinking feeling its Vincent Price, arguably the most famous horror actor alive at that point. Lugosi and Karloff were long dead, and Lee was not doing horror in the 80s. Price was doing the narration for Thriller...which would put him in the vicinity of llama owner Michael Jackson.

Agreed its Cocoon for the movie they watched.

Thonker said...

What's his twitter account?

Sher said...

Afghanistan for the country the doctor is from.
(King overthrown July 17 1973 in a coup d'etat.)

Is that supposed to mean something to the reader?

Anonymous said...

Previously Solved:
Movie being auditioned for: Manhunter
Last Kid with High Alphabet Name: Paul Walker
Llama Owner: Michael Jackson

New Solutions:
Horror Actor: Vincent Price
Foreign Born Director: Louis Malle
Old Profession Film: Pretty Baby (prostituiton)
Personal Film: I'm thinking Au Revoir Les Enfants

Movie DB watched: Cocoon, directed by Ron Howard

AkhaldanSolo said...


Thonker said...
What's his twitter account?

Can't find it either.

Sara, Making It Work said...

Au Revoir Les Enfants for the other film? I haven't actually seen it, but the plot sounds like it could work.

Sara, Making It Work said...

If Vincent Price, maybe he's the one who invited MJ to the event? Idk... hmmmm

Sara, Making It Work said...

@tinydancer
The boys in this blind were for the most part born in 1973 (based on what we already know about Dancing Boy). Leo would be a year or so too young.

Anonymous said...

@Sara, once again, we're on the same page

Sara, Making It Work said...

@Sher, just a clue to figure it out.
Is the doctor with MJ? Is it his long time doctor who had a hand in his death?
Or maybe he's from the studio, and one who DB had a run in with later.

Sara, Making It Work said...

Lol Melvin! Always!

tinydancer61 said...

Thanks @Sara. After reading this a second time, even a third, if this is true, this story is absolutely gross and horrifying. What is the fascination with young kids? Especially little boys??

totaji said...

I love Malle! 😥 Au Revoir Les Enfants is a great movie 😥

Snappy Dragon said...

He’s implying that ending up at MJ’s House was really a safe haven. This makes me even sadder for Michael because he knew of all these things happening to these kids and he just wanted to offer a safe place away from these monsters. Instead he was the one trashed and accused of these horrible offenses. I wish he would have left public record of what was going on with those people before he died. The dr was probably paid well to kill him...

Sher said...

@Sara
"@Sher, just a clue to figure it out.
Is the doctor with MJ? Is it his long time doctor who had a hand in his death?
Or maybe he's from the studio, and one who DB had a run in with later."

I think I get it now.
The term "Dancing Boy" comes from the dancing boy sex slaves of Afghanistan. This doctor will likely pop up again as an accomplice/villian and be the inspiration for the nickname.

thirtyframesasecond said...

Please tell me Louis Malle wasn't up to anything. I'd be devastated.

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

You guys got it with all the shady pedo Afghan doctor bacha bazi shit.

Remember when the Taliban outlawed it? Yeah, um, oopsie?

Don Kieballs said...

Are we supposed to be guessing who ***** is? It's not them telling the story, correct?

I get thrown off by them going to *****'s family mansion, if I'm reading this part right:

"So, you're wondering, what happened to *****. In a word, nothing. He and the boys who didn't make the cut, with their parents' permission, spent a pleasant evening at home with he and some of the family at his mansion."

If "He" is *****, then they were at his house. (I'm super tired so I read it like they were at MJ's mansion.

Anyway, ***** has beautiful and powerful eyes, if it's who I believe it is.

Don Kieballs said...

Also the twitter account is @thedancingboy1

Now i need to go try and visit Galveston before the pretty water leaves again.

Don Kieballs said...

I was looking at ***** imdb and he was in a show with my friend who was also on another show that is mentioned a lot in the Alphy's/DEN talk. I wonder if he was ever "auctioned".
Damn people are sick

Sara, Making It Work said...

@Kieballs
********* is Dancing Boy w/ name redacted. This story (like part 2) is told from the perspective of the studio intern at the audition. There are a few notes thrown in by DB himself. It was explained in the last blind. Probably should have explained it again.
Hope that clarifies things.
So I'm not sure whose imdb you're referencing.

Pope of Hollywood said...

I have never ONCE peeked at a Dancing Boy blind and I'm better for it

Sara, Making It Work said...

I am not convinced it is Louis Malle, but I'm not sure how many foreign born legendary Oscar nommed/winning directors there were, who made at least one autobiographical (or semi-, bottom line he had to have written it himself) film, and another well known film about prostitution.

I do believe the horror actor is Vincent Price. He was bisexual. Yes I know that doesn't mean he's a pedo.

Don Kieballs said...

Sara, Always Making it Work. I'm glad db is able to tell his story and hopefully let go of any trauma/pain he went through. I'm just having a difficult time following it due to it being in so many parts and so spread out. I should wait until the end and binge read it, like I do tv now. My memory isn't what it used to be. At least from what I remember.

Don Kieballs said...

From the birthday of **/18/73-74 I thought it might be someone else, but if that's db's birthday then I'm back to confused and will return to lurking for a while - unless we chat on twitter

SnarkyAngel said...

Child actor turned director would be Ron Howard. I think Speilberg would factor in somewhere.

Sher said...

I see some readers wrote on the wrong DB twitter account. (That poor high school kid won't know what is going on.)

It's the_dancing_boy
@thedancingboy1

Black and white profile pic of him as a kid. First tweet is to enty.

IanPhlegming said...

Vincent Price was in Edward "Scissorhands" with Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, directed by Tim Burton.

SDaly said...

From prior blinds, it sounds like the Caligula party is supposed to take place at the Getty mansion in Malibu.

Dane said...

Klaus Kinski for the horror actor 100%.

totaji said...

Fellini fits but I’m not sure he was alive. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are others.

totaji said...

But would you really describe him as such?

Dane said...

I think so. Kinski is well know as a sick and violent sob. Seems like he even molested his own kids. I would not let a rat around him.

totaji said...

I didn’t realize he was considered a horror actor. I thought he was known for his Herzog films or being nuts in general. But yeah it wouldn’t be a hard sell to mentally put him there. He was a pedo.

Dane said...

He did a lot of horror films.

Sara, Making It Work said...

Maybe Herzog is the director, then. I don't know, there are so many possibilities and I'm not enough of an old Hollywood buff to know this one.


Anyway,
As for MJ's kids' bio dads. The man who claims to be Blankets father (Matt Fiddes) was his bodyguard, but is much too young to have worked for him in 1985.
The other supposed father, Arnold Klein, was MJ's dermatologist. He worked with him from 1984, but was never his assistant.
So that line could be a red herring.

Anonymous said...

As a lifelong horror fan, Kinski WAS NOT a horror actor. He was an actor who occasionally did horror. There is a difference. And he is certainly not THE top most horror actor.

Unknown said...

They're pedophiles. That's why they are obsessed with young boys. It's revolting!

Unknown said...

Ohhh, well done Sher! Bacha bazi is what they call them there. Very disturbing and abusive practice.

Unknown said...

And there was some recent chatter about tunnels under the museum....

OriginalKK said...

What about Mike Nichols for the director?

Shining Sobriquet said...

The director isn't Louis Malle:

Malle's most famous film at this point is definitely Au Revoir les Enfants, which is indeed autobiographical.

I don't think Pretty Baby is his most famous film. Pretty Baby has 8k IMDb reviews, while Elevator to the Gallows is older and black and white yet has 16k reviews and an 8.0 to Pretty Baby's 6.6. My Dinner With Andre has 14k reviews, Damage has 14k, Atlantic City has 12.6k, and Au Revoir les Enfants has 27k. Maybe Pretty Baby IS the most famous because of the cast or Brooke Shields or something.

But Au Revoir les Enfants is not about "his own real life relationship with a teen boy". Gaspard Manesse (representing Malle) and Raphael Fejtö (the other boy) were both 12 or younger when the film debuted, and probably 11 during filming. The characters are not written as teenagers either. I don't think the blind would say "his own real life relationship with a teen boy" unless it was sexual, and the characters in Au Revoir are made to seem heterosexual. Louis Malle was 11 during the Gestapo raid in his school which would have been around 1943.

One possibility could be John Schlesinger.

Foreign born? London (went to Oxford, too), check.

Oscar winner? Direction for Midnight Cowboy, check.

Midnight Cowboy is definitely his most famous film, and does indeed involve the oldest profession.

Sunday Bloody Sunday is set in London (Schlesinger's home). It's about a middle-aged Jewish doctor (Schlesinger is Jewish and his father was a pediatrician), and a divorced woman in her mid-30s, who are both in a sexual relationship with a man in his mid-20s. If the real-life inspiration for the 20-year-old was a teenager, it would check out. The actor that played the doctor was older than Schlesinger, but Wikipedia claims (without source) that the role was written "as that of a much younger man" and that the first choice of actor was Alan Bates (8 years younger than Schlesinger), so it could definitely be based on Schlesinger's past.

UPDATE: It definitely is autobiographical and CONFIRMED to be his "most personal film". Here's a passage starting with page 224 of the book Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger, written by William J. Mann, who "befriended the famed film director and became his documentarian during the last two years of Schlesinger’s life as a stroke patient in Palm Springs":

"In many interviews given over the course of the years, John Schlesinger had said that Sunday, Bloody Sunday was his most personal film. In his tape-recorded diary he had insisted at one point, 'It's my story, my own bloody Sunday - my affair with a young man.'"

However, the book claims Steiner was "just 22 when he met John Schlesinger"; Schlesinger would have been about 37.

An interesting note about Sunday, Bloody Sunday: "Fourteen-year-old Daniel Day-Lewis made his screen debut in this film, as a teenage street vandal. "

Shining Sobriquet said...

About "that most famous horror actor":

Klaus Kinski? He was never that famous. I'll agree he seems by all accounts to have been a real-life horror. Outside of Nosferatu, his most famous roles were not "horror" in a traditional sense. Even if you read it as "most famous as a horror actor", it seems like he raped girls and women but I've found no reports he was ever into boys or men, but does someone have his autobiography? Searching within it on Google Books, I do see "Pier Paolo Pasolini comes to Appia in the company of boys to talk about his next film, Pocile." Whether or not he was murdered, it seems obvious to me that Pasolini violated boys sexually. I also see "We sleep in the open under galaxies of stars. Nanhoi asks me if the world is round and if it really spins. He is three years old." Kinski's kids agree he was a child rapist.

Tom Noonan: Not famous or even really horror. Certainly not famous at the time of Manhunter's production.

Robert Englund: A Nightmare on Elm Street came out in 1984, when Manhunter was presumably in production. Who the hell would have recognized him without the mask in 1984? It'd be like recognizing Peter Mayhew in 1977. It does fit "that most famous horror actor" pretty well, but I don't think he would have been anywhere near a high-roller at the time that would be invited to something like this.

Vincent Price: He narrated Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1983, so, if the MJ guesses are correct, that would make it even more likely. In 2015, Vincent Price's daughter said "As I've learned more about my dad's sexuality... I've had the choice of what to reveal and what not to reveal". She revealed he was a bisexual, but also seems to have found him to be a great father (in stark contrast to Kinski).

Christopher Lee: He knew an awful lot about the occult and Satanism but spoke out against it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoqJTegrFKw) and would have learned it inevitably with the roles he had. He was in RAF intelligence so it would be unlikely they wouldn't have some blackmail material on him. He was in Spielberg's 1941 in 1979. "He is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon website at the University of Virginia, because he can be linked to any one in Hollywood on average in 2.59 steps. That is less than either Charlton Heston or Kevin Bacon himself." He was knighted and another British spy, Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was his cousin by marriage.

On his Wikipedia page: "The Carandinis, Lee's maternal ancestors, were given the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Cinemareview notes: "Cardinal Consalvi was Papal Secretary of State at the time of Napoleon, and is buried at the Pantheon in Rome, next to the painter Raphael. His painting, by Lawrence, hangs in Windsor Castle."[122][144]"

His wife seems to be mentioned extremely rarely for having died in 2015. She was a Dior model. Yves Saint Laurent claimed that a fellow fashion designer he worked with at the Christian Dior fashion house when young was the inspiration for La Vilaine Lulu. But I think we all know the fashion industry is shady.

I'm guessing Price or Lee at this point.

Shining Sobriquet said...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that the boy that got the role was named "David Seaman", given that there was that "David G. Seaman" that asserted himself as the leading pizzagate journalist and then flamed out.

The Manhunter David Seaman's last role was an episode of Law and Order called Renunciation where he plays an underage lover to an adult:
"Based on the Pamela Smart case. In 1990, Pamela Wojas Smart manipulated her 15-year-old lover William "Billy" Flynn into murdering her 24-year-old husband, Gregory Smart, promising him they would have a future together. Along with his friends Patrick Randall and Vince Lattime Jr., Billy shot Gregory Smart execution-style and then made the scene look like a botched robbery. All three boys turned State's witness against Pamela, who was so poised she was dubbed "Ice Princess" by the media. Smart is now serving a life sentence for accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering in New Hampshire."

Anyway, that actor in 1991 looks much different from the David G. Seaman.

Sara, Making It Work said...

@shining
I believe that came up in the comments a few blinds back, when the auditions were first mentioned. (I know, it is quite a bit to keep up with.) Somebody suggested it was the same person then we realized that was not likely. I think the conspiracy guy might be too young, and he doesn't look anything like the actor.
I've no doubt the actor kid was molested at some point. The very few roles he had were sexualized. The one you mentioned, plus Manhunter & Pippi Longstocking, most pictures online (as a young teen) show him shirtless.

So while it's possible he is noe fighting pedos in a blog, I think it's more likely he's just retreated into normal life.

Zeroh Tollrants said...

Famous kid actor who was lost boy, became a lost man-Macaulay Culkin
His actress friend who was a good student-Anna Chlumsky
(Home Alone, My Girl)
Llama owner-Michael Jackson
Movie girls' starred in-Motel Hell
Famous director-Louis Malle
(Pretty Baby)
Kid in cart who became famous later-Paul Walker
Famous Horror Actor-Vincent Price
Kid actor/director-Ron Howard
Movie-Cocoon
Horror movie adapted from book by Thomas Harris that was made 1st-Manhunter
Sequel that was big hit-Silence of the Lambs
Re-make of first movie-Red Dragon (which was the name of the book, wonder why they called it Manhunter, anyway?)
Sci-Fi actress-Sigourney Weaver

I don't know any of the rest, I remember those girls, but I'm too lazy to Google any of this stuff. The perks of being an 80s teen/young adult, is that I lived thru all of this so it was an easy blind.

Interesting to see another tie between Culkin & Jackson, (I guess the first meeting), and also between Jackson & Price, besides Thriller video.

I remember people talking about Louis Malle being a dirty old man, decades ago, and the whole "Pretty Baby" thing was kind of a big deal, (she was a TWELVE yr old prostitute, ffs!) when I was a kid. Actually, Brooke Shield's whole early career was a big deal, and always talked about, back in the day, for all the inappropriate, underage/adult themed stuff she did, including that famous Calvin Klein ad, at 14.
I remember going to see "Blue Lagoon" and "Endless Love," in the theater, and being the approx. same age as Brooke, & even I knew at the time that it was hinky and off for her to be in those roles when she was 14, 15 yrs old.
I mean, she was swimming nude w/Christopher Atkins, who played her brother, and the movie had her getting pregnant, having his baby, and nursing it!
That was a little shocking, back in 1980.
I'd love to hear all of the *real* stuff Brooke Shields knows/went thru, I mean, her mother had her pose nude at TEN for a spin-off publication of Playboy, "Sugar n Spice," I believe it was called, which in hind site, was OBVIOUSLY at least softcore child pornography!

There's also the weird connection of Louis Malle-->Brooke Shields--->Michael Jackson. She became "friends" with him when she was like, 12-13, and he was in his early 20s, but they dated a lot, and he asked her to marry him, IIRC. I remember reading Jackson saying he had her pics up all over his room and Shields came up to him at the Academy Awards, the one he'd gone to w/Diana Ross in 1980, and Brooke introducing herself & asking if he was going to the afterparty, him saying yes & they partied together that night. She would've been 15, he would've been around 23!

I even still remember the National Enquirer pic of her & him taken at Studio 54, being shocked that a 14 yr old girl was in a nightclub w/adults.
Of course, I didn't have any idea *just* how wild that place was, until I was much, much older. It was even more shocking to see Drew Barrymore there, she couldn't have been but 9-10. Good grief, I can't even imagine all the wrong stuff that went on with, and around kid actors back in the day.

I also remember squirming in my theater seat, embarrassed & uncomfortable, watching Tatum O'Neil and Kristy McNichol in the 1980 movie, "Little Darlings." In the movie, Tatum was trying to lose her virginity to a 30-something Armand Assante, and Kristy's character actually did, w/Matt Dillon. Looking back, I don't think those were age appropriate movies for any of them to be making or girls my age to be seeing, but see them we did. I don't remember a single girl I knew who didn't go to the theater and watch those films. :/

As for Louis Malle, makes you wonder a whole lot about Candace Bergen being married to him for so long...but she was a show biz kid, herself, so maybe that had something to do with the acceptance of such "behaviors." Interesting, in any event.

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