Television

The Young and the Dead
The revival of Hollywood’s hippest cemetery

Where do Hollywood’s most fabulous stars go when they burn out and fade to black? For the past century, the final resting place for golden-age celebrities such as Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, and Janet Gaynor has been the historic Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery. But after decades of mismanagement, this historic landmark was close to shutting down for eternity–until a bold young gay entrepreneur stepped in to revive it.

Produced in association with HBO, The Young and the Dead shows how the thirtysomething Tyler Cassity and his friends transformed a relic into a high-tech, hip, and stylish burial ground called Hollywood Forever.

Founded in 1899, the Hollywood Memorial Park sits adjacent to Paramount Studios. It was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood, and still attracts eccentric personalities who frequent the gravesites of their favorite Hollywood legends.

The Young and the Dead takes a witty look at our culture’s relationship with celebrity, mortality, and the preservative power of the moving image. Through interviews with Cassity, his staff, and a colorful collection of neighbors, journalists, and devotees, the film illuminates the rich history and ambitious renovation of the landmark cemetery.

Under Cassity’s leadership, Hollywood Forever has revolutionized the death-care industry by exploiting modern technology, with offerings ranging from digital memorials to webcast funeral services. In keeping with the celluloid-inspired lives of the cemetery’s eternal residents, an in-house mini-film studio, Forever Studios, serves as the nerve center of Hollywood Forever. This allows the cemetery to produce slick, multimedia biographies of its clients, which can feature oral histories, DNA records, family trees, genealogies, family photos, home videos, and more. To date, more than 10,000 biographies have been created.

"When we first arrived at Hollywood Forever, we discovered an engaging group of idealists who truly believed they were leading a revolution in death care. Yet what was more revolutionary to us was the fact that these young, attractive, and healthy people chose to surround themselves with the elderly and the dead in a town where aging and death are taboo," comments co-director Shari Springer Berman.

"Ultimately, our greatest surprise was how truly life-affirming it was for us to make this film," adds co-director Robert Pulcini.

Topics covered in The Young and the Dead include:

• The scandal-plagued past of former proprietor Jack Roth, a.k.a. Jules Hine Roth, a white-collar criminal and right-hand man of infamous oil stock swindler C.C. Julian.

• The 73rd Annual Rudolph Valentino Memorial Service, introduced by longtime host Bud Testa, which still attracts legions of ardent fans, among them the eccentric and mysterious rose-bearing "Lady in Black."

• Before her death in 1952, Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for Gone with the Wind, hoped to be buried beside her Hollywood peers at Hollywood Memorial Park, but her request was denied by segregationist Jack Roth. When Cassity took over, he offered to "right the wrong," but McDaniel’s family decided against her disinterment. Instead, Cassity honored the African-American actress by building a monument dedicated to her pioneering life.

The documentary debuts Sunday, May 12 (9-10:35 p.m.) on HBO as part of "America Undercover Sundays." If you have to have your weekly dose of Queer as Folk at that time, The Young and the Dead has repeat airings on May 15 (noon, 10 p.m.) and the 18th (1 p.m.).

Showtime Goes Gay

Four hours of gay programming every week

Showtime Networks will provide gay viewers with even more targeted primetime programming with a newly-created gay programming block on the network’s multiplex channel Sho Too, which is part of the Showtime Unlimited package. Dubbed "Night Out on Sho Too," this roughly four-hour block will be one of the first nationally distributed programming blocks offering regularly scheduled gay-targeted programming. Hosted by personalities such as New York actress and performance artist Tammy Faye Starlite, downtown denizens Kiki and Herb, and the award-winning theater company Five Lesbian Brothers, the block will kick off each week with "Gay Cinema," a feature film that has gay appeal culled from Showtime’s exclusive theatrical hits and Showtime Original Pictures. Films will include Chuck & Buck, Kiss Me Guido, Jeffrey, Bent, and In thru the Outdoor.

Following the film, viewers will be treated to short-form programming that will include the cult-classic cartoon Queer Duck, created and written by Emmy-winner Mike Reiss (The Simpsons). This witty cartoon, whose star was named as one of Out magazine’s top 100 influential personalities, exposes the lives of gay cartoon characters by following the outrageous adventures of, yes, a duck who works as a male nurse.

Wrapping up the block will be a weekly episode of the hit Showtime series Queer as Folk, the highest-rated series in Showtime’s line-up. Night Out on Sho Too will run every Wednesday at 8 p.m. starting May 22 and will repeat on Saturdays at 9 p.m.