Emile A. Griffith, Jr. * STONEWALL Rebellion Veterans Association Vice-President Emeritus and legendary World Middleweight & Welterweight Boxing Champion * (unrecommended) Booklbomb: "Nine, Ten And Out! The Two (1.1) Worlds of Emile Griffith" -- not very "out!", full of missinfo yet undercovers lover Luis Rodrigo.

Emile A. Griffith, Jr.
Legendary Middleweight Boxing Champ
Subject of documentary "Ring of Fire"

STONEWALL Veterans' Association
S.V.A. Vice-President Emeritus

The EMILE GRIFFITH Foundation

Benefit for World Champ: Emile Griffith

News Blaze story by David Pambianchi

One of boxing's "All-Time Greats", Emile Griffith, has been tormented
for almost 50 years since regaining the championship from Benny "Kid"
Paret in the brutal 12-round bout that resulted in Benny's death. Now,
with only Social Security benefits to make ends meet, Emile is in the
fight of his life as he battles pugilistic dementia along with other
health concerns.

With the initiative of long-time friend Dave Selwyn, illustrator John
Pennisi created 112 limited prints of Emile Griffith -- Emile's total
boxing bouts! On metallic paper measuring 11" x 14" and personally
autographed by Emile, they are now available to the general public.
Each print is numbered with fight opponent, date and result. With all
proceeds going directly to Emile, you can purchase a piece of boxing
history and help Emile Griffith at the same time!! View entire article here:

NewsBlaze.com/story/20100704EmileGriffith.nb/topstory.html

To purchase a print, please make a check payable to Emile Griffith
for $100 (includes all shipping and handling charges) and mail to:

Emile Griffith
P.O. Box 1828
New City, New York
10956

Inquiries contact: Boxing@msn.com

See the link with an eye-catching painting by John Pennisi of illustrations of Emile Griffith.
NewsBlaze.com/pix/2010/0703/pix/Emile.jpg

Special thanks to longtime Emile friend (over a quarter-of-a-century) David "Boxing Kid" Selwyn for making this happen!
Prints of the Emile Griffith painting are a nominal $100 each big print. The Emile print is worthwhile, too, besides a work of sports art, as a likely collector's item. Again, all of the proceeds are delivered directly to the deserving Emile A. Griffitrh, Jr.

Coming soon this Summer.............

A nice, candid and always happy picture of

Emile Griffith

at a NYC

Manhattan party

at The Victoria

in 1976!

Attention: SVA Webmistress

[PLACE]

Photo here!

Filename: Emile-Griffith_1976_NYC-Party

=Stonewall Old Newz=
The Emile Griffith Gay book was bare-ly "Out"! To quote JoAnne Worley: "Borrrrrr-ing!"

Booked: "Nine... Ten... Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith"

~or the book bomb by ole Ron Rust could be subtitled~
"One.. Two... Three... This Down-for-the-Count Book is KO'd!"

Emile A. Griffith, Jr., is legendary for over a half-century in the public sports world as a 6-time world boxing champion as both a middleweight and a welterweight. In his "other world", a diametrically-opposed and down-low contrast, Emile was a determined, dedicated and diehard regular at many Gay after-hour hideaways like The Tenth of Always, Gay bars such as The Blue Bunny and Gay dance places like The Stonewall Club. All such Gay establishments that Emile championed were Mafia-owned and Mafia-run and, therefore, protective, friendly and safe! All of the goodfellas knew Emile to be the "closet case killer fighter" who wore the tightest and most revealing pants (not in the ring). None are revealed in the book. Many in the Gay community were particularly proud of Emile as, unlike 98% the other Gay or bisexual sports figures, he had the conviction and the guts to go to Gay places. By being visible, Emile promoted Gay civil rights regardless of whether he realized. Obviously, he was either Gay or bisexual. He wasn't at Gay clubs and bars on a "search and find mission". (Well, maybe he was!) Emile's simple presence spoke volumes for the betterment and understanding of the Gay community.

*

The Stonewall is where Emile ultimately -- after his repeated requests through a third party faghag -- met successful white commercial Gay male blond model Williamson Henderson. That they actually met at the now landmark Stonewall Club -- and in such a yet untold fascinating Gay way -- is a germane point of relevance and interest. Subsequent to the historic 1969 Gay Stonewall Rebellion, since his Gay interest Williamson founded it, Emile became a charter member and part bankroller of the legendary STONEWALL Veterans' Club (now "Association"). The S.V.A.'s first meeting in July 1969 was in Emile's favorite (kosher) deli-restaurant located on the street-level of the luxury apartment building The Victoria off Fifth Avenue near Union Square in Manhattan. It is where Williamson moved to from Long Island and Emile frequented. Sometimes, the champ even 'stayed overnight'! Sometimes.... Shhh! And, then again, sometimes not! The building staff constantly asked Williamson for a head's up when Emile would be visiting next so that they could catch another glimpse of him or hopefully get an autograph. Everyone on the staff knew that Williamson & Emile were an item on the "Gay menu"! Some on the all-male staff would tip off many tenants who did stake-outs in the lobby. Thus, Williamson smartly had Emile go from The Victoria garage, where he parked his car, up the elevator bi-passing the lobby level directly to the eighth floor! FYI Note: Up to this point, all of the above real-life 411 and a helluva lot more is not even hinted in the allegedly out! Gay book.

*

Since Emile and Williamson's reunion -- after the former called the latter, just like in the good ole Gay days -- Emile, after exactly a quarter-of-a-century absence (1979 through 2004), resumed via official nomination and formal election being the S.V.A. First Vice-President. Misrepresentation in the book portrayed total shock as if one morning Emile woke up and suddenly discovered that he was the Vice-President of the S.V.A. once again and that this news was printed on pink paper in red crayon as a Gay note under his pillow which was delivered by The Tooth Fairy! Whatever, it really was a welcomed surprise to have Emile back again -- at least as a former intimate friend and as an official in the S.V.A. Although Emile could not remember nearly as much as he once knew, he surely felt the welcoming, familiar and cordial vibes. Besides, others do remember in rainbow detail!

*

Many SVA-ers such as Adrienne Seiden, David Foxworth, Carole Williams and Leigh McManus -- all of whom are alive -- vividly recall Emile at Williamson's luxury apartment at The Victoria throughout the entire 1970s. Particularly recalled are all the great music, homemade foods, fun-filled Gay parties with no shortage of opportunities, booze or celebrities. Emile was wide-eyed amazed, as just one example, to meet the actual songwriter and first performer of the #1 national song "The Twist" -- no, not Chubby Checkers but -- Hank Ballad. It was at Williamson's annual wear-sumthin-red-or-dont-cum "Valentine's Party" in 1975. Hank came with a woman in red who looked like Barbra! Oh, look, there's Gay Ken Paige from "The Wiz"! Isn't that the Gay writer Russell from the New York Daily News? Hey, there's that tall (6' 6"), black, handsome Gay guy that Gay Raymond St. Jacques pretends is his "son" routine? Yeah, Sterling! And, Dave Crawford, the black secret Gay songwriter, brought the demo of the new record that he wrote and produced for Candi Staton. One of The Hines Brothers is here; it's the Gay one but I'm not sure which one! Aren't they both Gay? At these Gay-flavored parties is where many people first heard of much less met Emile Griffith. Unfortunately, none of any of this is in the out! Gay book either. Yipes! The soft book is over 90% about Emile's very long boxing career and intricate boxing details. Much of it is bor-ing! Five- or six-percent is about problems and heartaches caused by foul-mouthed, bigotted and/or shady anti-Gay relatives on both sides of Emile's fence. With literally no remaining room in the booklette, hardly anything comes "out" Gay! The book's title is like the early 1970s L:aura Lee song that Emile loved so much back in the day: ":Rip-Off"!

*

Absolutely nothing Gay -- surely no Gay male lover relationships -- is developed. Emile and Williamson's interesting and notorious involvement spanned a decade. They started in 1969 and, as one spanning sample, Williamson was front-row center at Emile's final fight in Madison Square Garden (but not final fight) in 1977 against a boxer named Christy. Bi the way, Emile won! His other three fights (not at MSG) later that year were all humbling losses. Williamson, among many loyal others, were very concerned about Emile's well-being. The EAG & WLH relationship was on/off based mostly on when it was mutually convenient and neither one was otherwise involved with another lover. Emile primarily had troubling Matthew looming and lurking, until Matty shot some guy point-blank dead in their New Jersey lovenest apartment. Emile was home at the time. Scandal! Meanwhile, Williamson had actor John, dancer Eddie, entertainer Sterling, dee-jay Gregory, model Michael, dealer David, basketball Darren, singer Donald, et al. Yes, in their on/off Gay game, Emile had met all of them and, some, many times! Hey, where are those pix? Don't lookie in the bookie! Under the umbrella of "out!", on one occasion at WLH's The Victoria apartment, they even adopted a sometimes heterosexual pasttime and swapped partners!! All four on one occasion earlier posed for a stand-up picture 4gether! Bi the way, the Emile hot Puerto Rican guy Lochard ended up in prison upstate New York!

For an entire exciting decade -- the 1970s -- of Emile and Williamson, the unimaginative yet snippy writer's only revelation is that Emile Griffith recalls that they visited Williamson's mother in Long Beach, New York,and that, afterwards, they went out! for ice cream. How Gay! Damn, is that break-through exciting news! We presume that Williamson ate chocolate and Emile ate vanilla! For your info (of course, not in the bare book), it was a free-standing, drive-in, former Carvel ice cream store but, no longer under that franchise, it was now cleverly named "Marvel". Emile even liked the name. Emile enjoyed driving up to the in-full-view place in a flashy luxury convertible. No, the car was owned and paid for by Williamson -- not Emile. The ice cream place is in Lido (not Long) Beach, Long Island, and it is still there! It was also not stated that the "fishing buddies" (though neither fished) Williamson and Emile always drove (never train or bus) to L.I. as being like a 'married couple'. Emile reasonably demanded and got his wish that no one be with them on these homestyle private trips. Williamson was apt to bring friends to everything and everywhere. And, they always drove to L.I. in the now-famous 1969 blue Cadillac "Stonewall Car"! Emile called Williamson's mother "Mommie". Like a great mother-in-law, she always specially made Emile's favorite dish: Cornish hen! Who knew -- not in this book?!

*

Although the STONEWALL Veterans' Association ("S.V.A.") is mentioned several times and c ignorantly misspelled each and every time, the writer neglects to define the S.V.A. or even says one thing that it did or does. By definition, a book is supposed to 'inform'; not this one! In this uninformative book -- despite 39 years and over 8 million verified website visits annually -- the S.V.A. at "Out!" is a blank slate. Is it a military group? Is it a retired servicemen's organization? Is it part of the U.S. Veterans Administration? Most non-Gay sports book readers would not know. Trust us, we know. The writer oddly never interviewed or queeried any of Emile's fellow Stonewall veterans -- not even Williamson. Comments on WLH by the subjective writer were ham-sandwiched after the latter fag-hagged Emile and Williamson's reunion supper at a second-rate, cheap-cost coffee shop in Chelsea -- selected by and the small tab picked up by the person serreptitiously writing a book! WLH was unaware that he was the sitting and eating target for a secret scripting. The salacious writer did report that Williamson "...took a last bite of his cheeseburger". Scintillating! Was the meat medium rare? Hot! What about the pickle? Notably present at this reunion is Emile's current boyfriend Luis Rodrigo, who is actually meeting Williamson for the first time. This is bookworthy yet not mentioned. What did they think of each other? What were their reactions? Did Luis envy Williamson? Does he still? In fact, vividly not related, both principals had their current boyfriends!!

Only SVA-ers Storme DeLarverie, referred as a "former female vocalist and male impersonator" (wtf?), and Williamson, described as "whiter-than-white" (huh?) and "Peter Pan-ish" (slurish as in fairy?), are shown in any pix (two each) in the bookbore. Storme's last name is misspelled (in two places and two times). That is irrefutably reckless as the unobservant writer has probably been to the S.V.A. website over 100 times and he has had S.V.A. flyers for years and he has received S.V.A. e-mails monthly for years -- all of which have Storme's name. Hey, can't he even copy? Yeah, you guessed it. The paperback writer even has Williamson's name wrong, two! Damn! Though they exist, there are no photos of EAG and WLH from the 1970s. Fastforward to Emile and his partner Luis Rodrigo are shown in an S.V.A. photo backed by the S.V.A. banner with film producer Dan Klores, stage director George C. Wolfe, screenwriter Stephen A. Guirgis and Williamson (who arranged this planned EAG movie project pow-wow) out! at the 2006 New York City Gay Business Expo; however, the latter four are unidentified!!!! AnDre Christie of the S.V.A. took the photo but he was wrongly not credited. Though Emile, Luis, Williamson and AnDre have been out! to dinner a dozen times and out! to other events another dozen times 4gether, you would never know any of it from the out! book.

All originally-color pictures were downgraded to cheaper-to-print but excruciatingly diminished black and white pix. We never saw the quad-colorful S.V.A. banner in dull black and white prior to this. Ugh! The classic "Stonewall Car" that Emile knows for over 39 years -- and has proudly driven with Williamson in the past and rides in for the annual New York City Gay Pride Parade -- is scarcely shown in only one photo (with Emile coming out! of the car) but the famous vehicle is inexplicably unidentified!

WLH, Storme & Emile

Williamson, Storme and Emile arriving at the S.V.A.'s post-Parade "SW-Duncheon"
[Photography by the SVA's O.P. Hal M. Weiner]

This is one of the S.V.A. photos in the disappointing Gay book on Emile. Why this
unflattering to all photo was used defies judgment. Emile is caught off-guard, acting
tentative and looking confused At least Williamson is looking out for him! In fact,
Emile just completed a 3-hour Gay parade. The book erroneously (1 of 90 errors)
describes this odd photo as "Gettin' ready for the Gay Pride Parade". Hunh? What
inaccuracy! The lazy writer should have asked one of the subjects or photographer
(who he telephoned for free photo permission) or Emile's nearby lover Luis (who the
champ is eyeing in this pic) chatting up with some younger Gay guy. The reality is the
exact opposite: this photo depicts a scene after the parade is over for the lead S.V.A.
contingency. This scene is in front of the Hudson Corner Cafe restaurant on Hudson
Street. That's the famous blue "Stonewall Car" in color not borebook black and white
that Emile is precariously exiting. The classy convertible is 'unidentified' in the book!?

.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Stonewall Newzletta 411 submitted exclusively for the S.V.A. by:

Leigh P. McManus, S.V.A. Editor-in-Chief
"The only thing 'out' is if you lay 'out' any cash for this boring book."

with Stonewall Newzletta reporter Vito Abzuzzoluccione
"Hey, it's not the worst book I've ever semi-read, but it's one of 'em!"

plus... reaction from a real closet case former boxer Matthew Samuelson:

"Yo, these two older men can be as wannabee private as they want but don't then march (really ride) in the public Gay (hello!) Pride Parade and be the Gay subject of a Gay film and a Gay book and Gay magazines and Gay interviews and, after all that and then some, then cry "We're not Gay"!? C'mon! Someone gotta be 'tupid not to know.... These two guys met in a prison about 30 years ago with a 30-year age gap and one an x-boxer and now correction officer and the other a hormone-raging tough teenage petty criminal prisoner!

...and commentary by S.V.A. Executive Committee member Mary S. Twist:

"At the last S.V.A. meeting -- with a no-show by the lying writer who had confirmed attendance to be "supportive of the S.V.A. and answer questions about his book comments" -- I read for free in the one and only complementary copy of the paperback about a half-dozen boring pages in the "out!" chapter. I am not the type to dish but let me tell you that I had to be bitch-slapped to keep from dozing! Borrrrring! Zzzzzzzzzzzz!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Happily pictured above at the Gay Biz Expo are (l-2-r): George Wolfe, Emile Griffith, Williamson Henderson, Stephen Guirgis, Luis Rodrigo and Dan Klores
[Photo by AnDre Christie]
Note: This photo is in 'that book' but AnDre is wrongly not credited.
Also, in the 1-2-3 book, this color photo is reduced to black and white.

The New York Gay Business Expo is an annual event. Since Emile and Luis were confirmed as two of the people manning the display of the STONEWALL Veterans' Association ("S.V.A.") aqnd since Dan Klores wanted evryone to get togethr regarding the upcoming Emile movie project, Williamson suggested and Dan agreed that they would all rendexvous at the expo. Pictured above are: George Wolfe, film and stage director; Emile Griffith (photo is darker than he is), the Gay subject of said movie project; Williamson Henderson, S.V.A. President and S.A.G. actor; Stephen Guirgis (wearing mid-Eastern hat), actor and writer; and Dan Klores, communications guru and film producer. It was a full-house GLBT Expo at the N.Y.C. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, New York Emile received plenty of sports-minded, curiosity and Gay attention. Althgough supposedly representing the S.V.A. for just a few hours, the always self-promoting Emile's partner Luis Rodrigo whipped out a hidden supply of 8 x 10 Emile Griffith boxing promotional photos from his sports championship years to distribute for sale. In return, the buyer also received an autograph. The S.V.A. sat by empty-handed. Dan Klores, the producer of the Emile Griffith USA-tv documentary, "Ring of Fire", joined us at the S.V.A. display site the pre-planned visit. The purpose was to discuss the planned upcoming movie based on Emile's controversial, celebrated, exciting and unique life. That is why producer Dan brought the film's director George Wolfe and its screenwriter Stephen Guirigis. They did some background interviewing of Williamson about Emile's interesting Stonewall days -- and nights! The now famous 1969 "Stonewall Car", which Emile drove yesteryear, is part of the real story -- ten long and fun years before Emile met Luis.

Emile Griffith is the guest speaker at his own STONEWALL Veterans' Ass'n

Boxing Champ Emile Griffith on the cover of a Florida T.V. magazine
Note: They front-page printed the wrong day for the movie premier!
[Courtesy of Helen A. Henderson]

Special Screening of "Ring of Fire" -- (most of) the Emile Griffith Story