Afternoon Greg: Appreciating Shirley MacLaine and other ladies…

Wow. It’s Friday afternoon and I have only ventured out once – to Rubio’s Bakery on Pico – where I am very proud of myself for ordering my lunch in Spanish. I’m leaving in awhile though to the Beverly Hilton Hotel for, get this, “An Evening With Women.”

That’s right bitch, I made the switch!

But seriously folks, this will be a star-studded affair with appearances by Christina Aguilera, Sharon Stone, Cybill Shepherd, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and others.  It’s an event presented by the Los Angeles Gay % Lesbian Center celebrating art, music and equality. I went last year and had a wonderful time. Will have a full report for you later in the weekend. Samantha Ronson is scheduled to be DJ so if Lohan shows up, Greg In Hollywood will be in it! (Kidding. The Lohan ban is still in effect).

Busy weeklend overall. Tomorrow and Sunday, I’m hoping to attend some events at the LA Times annual Festival of Books and have plans to see the new production of Ain’t Misbehavin at the Ahmanson Saturday night.

Whew!

But I can’t let the day go by without wishing a happy 75th birthday to the great Shirley MacLaine.

The Oscar-winning star of Terms of Endearment and such films as The Apartment, Sweet Charity and Children’s Hour, has given us gay boys all kinds of delicious lines to do. Most of them come from a pair of delicious performances in Steel Magnolias and Postcards From the Edge. It was heaven on Earth after the Golden Globe Awards this year and she did one for me as we waited for our transportation (her a limo, me a shuttle bus). The line she delivered was: “Never let ’em see your ass, never let ’em see ya sweat. Whatever.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she delivered it WRONG. The line is from Postcards and goes like this: “Never let ’em see ya ache. Or is it ass? Never let ’em see your ass. Whatever.”

Here is one of my favorite scenes from Postcards opposite Meryl Streep:

Meanwhile, here are some of the stories from the week worth checking out in case you missed them:

*** Extensive GLAAD Media Awards coverage including my red carpet recap, a blow-by-blow recap of the awards show itself, interviews with celebs about marriage equality, my commentary on why Marc Cherry should not have seem so self-satisfied about his award; and my personal snapshots from the event and favorite memories from the night which including meeting Cheyene Jackson!

*** Exclusives: Legendary TV moms Florence Henderson and Shirley Jones to team up for a show; Neil Meron and Craig Zaden talk about losing Zac Efron in the Footloose remake.

*** This week’s Greg In Hollywood interviews with Alan Cumming and Gregory Michael, and  the week’s Morning Men: Jason Chambers, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Lochte, and JP Calderon.