Matthew Broderick nearly didn’t appear in the film ‘Torch Song Trilogy’
The film version of Harvey Fierstein’s acclaimed work Torch Song Trilogy had its premiere on this day in 1988.
The film reunited many of the cast members from the original stage production that had run on Broadway several years. The cast included Matthew Broderick, but he nearly wasn’t in the film version.
The theatrical version of Torch Song Trilogy opened off Broadway at The Actor’s Playhouse in Greenwich Village in 1982.
The collection of three short plays, which are performed in succession, runs for over four hours and tells the story of Arnold Beckoff, a gay Jewish drag queen and torch song singer. The play is recognised for its depiction of an effeminate gay man who longs for a family.
The individual parts of the play had previously been performed in 1978, and 1979, in 1981 the three part play was first performed in uptown NYC, before it transferred to the Actor’s Playhouse where it ran for 177 performances. In June 1982 the show moved to a Broadway theatre where is continued for another 1230 outings.
Fierstein played the lead character, and the cast also included a young Matthew Broderick who received wide acclaim for his performance as Beckoff’s adopted son David.
By the time it came to film the screen version Broderick had built up quite a screen career having appeared in War Games, Ladyhawke, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Project X and Biloxi Blues. When the cameras came to roll on the film version it looked like Matthew Broderick wasn’t going to be involved.
Initially Broderick turned down the role as he was recovering from a tragic car accident that occurred in Ireland.
On August 5, 1987 while driving a rented car in Ireland Broderick crossed into the wrong lane and collided with another vehicle. The crash instantly killed the driver and passenger of the other car.
Broderick suffered a fractured leg and ribs, concussion and a collapsed lung. His girlfriend Jennifer Grey was treated for whiplash and later required surgery to avoid paralysis. Broderick has no memory of the crash occurring.
He was later charged with death by dangerous driving, a charged which could have seen him sever five years in prison. He was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving which only required him to pay a small fine.
With Broderick unable to commit to the screen version of Torch Song Trilogy Fierstein cast Tate Donovan in the role instead. Two day into the rehearsals for the shoot Broderick changed his mind and contacted the playwright. Donavan was fired from the film, and Broderick joined the production.
The work discusses issues like gay marriage and adoption and has been recognised as a precursor to popular TV shows like Will & Grace, Modern Family and Queer as Folk.
Bruce Wayne Campbell, who became rock performer Jobriath, was born in 1946
Bruce Wayne Campbell found fame as 70s rock performer Jobraith, he’s been described as the first openly gay rock musician. He also remembered as one of the first internationally famous musicians to be lost to AIDS.
Born in Pennsylvania, Campbell always had a love of music and when he headed to college he enrolled in the music program, but he dropped out after just one semester. In the mid 1960’s as the Vietnam war raged Campbell was drafted into the army, he didn’t hang around, within a few months he went AWOL and headed to California.
Once in Los Angeles, he renamed himself Jobriath Salisbury and he was cast in the 1969 production of the musical Hair. he played the character of Woof, who is implied to be gay. While he got great reviews he was fired from the show for “upstaging” the other actors.
He went on to join the folk-rock band Pigeon, recording an album’s worth of material but the band soon broke up. The military police also caught up with Jobriath and he was arrested. He ended up spending six months in a military psychiatric hospital after suffering a breakdown. During this time, he started to write some songs that would be part of his next musical project.
In 1972 a tape of songs recorded by Jobriath was sent to record label executive Clive Davis. Davis rejected the demo, but it caught the attention of manager Jerry Brandt who had previously discovered singer Carly Simon. Brandt set out to track Jobriath down.
He found him living in living in an unfurnished apartment, surviving as a sex worker and now using the surname Boone. He was signed to a two-album record deal and reportedly paid $500,000 which was described as the most lucrative record contract of the time.
As his debut album launched in 1973 and it featured a massive marketing campaign with pictures of the singer on buses and billboards. His self-titled debut album got good reviews and just six months later the follow up Creatures from the Streets came out. He toured and played shows to full houses.
Then just two years after his big debut, Jobriath announced he was retiring from the music industry following a fall out with Brandt and his record company. Having signed a 10-year contract, he was unable to perform as Jobriath.
He retreated to living pyramid topped rooftop apartment above New York’s Chelsea Hotel. He renamed himself Cole Berlin (a play on the names of composers Cole Porter and Irving Berlin) and worked as cabaret singer. He also returned to sex work.
In 1981 he began to fall ill, he died on 3rd August 1983 one of the early victims of AIDS, and one of the pandemics first celebrity deaths.
When The Smiths lead singer Morrissey was launching his third solo album Your Arsenal in 1992, he tried to track down Jobriath as a support act for his tour, not realising the singer had died almost a decade earlier.
A longtime fan, Morrissey would later oversee the release a compilation CD that brought Jobriath’s forgotten albums to a new generation of music fans.
