Whether or not holding court docket in a flowing white marriage ceremony costume because the beaming important attraction of a homosexual delight parade, coaxing showtunes from the keys and peddles of the Wurlitzer organ on the Orpheum or sharing his enthusiasm for his huge assortment of movie show memorabilia, Vincent Astor was a puckish, irrepressible avatar of Memphis at its most distinctive and unbiased—a group icon who made historical past whilst he preserved it.
An unofficial chronicler of classic Shelby County with a particular curiosity in film theaters, the Orpheum and the LGBTQ group, Astor was “an ‘out’ homosexual man in Memphis lengthy earlier than that was socially acceptable, when that was a brave act,” mentioned the Rev. Scott Walters, rector at Calvary Episcopal Church, the place Astor was a longtime member with a deep data of the congregation’s virtually 200-year-old historical past.
“He lived a life the place he actually moved historical past ahead,” Walters mentioned.
“He was a real Memphis icon,” mentioned Brett Batterson, Orpheum president and CEO. “I actually cherished this metropolis.”
Astor, 69, was discovered useless Monday evening by church associates at his condo in Kimbrough Towers, after he had failed to answer calls or texts. He had suffered from poor well being in latest months, partly due to his diabetes, and apparently died of pure causes, in accordance with associates.
A theatrical character and keen raconteur with a brief beard, prolonged repertoire of yarns and elephant’s reminiscence, “Vincent Astor lived his life utterly unabashed,” mentioned his shut pal Whit Grace, a historical past instructor. “He was a loving, caring, beneficiant individual.”
“He could have been on the brief aspect, however he was actually bigger than life,” mentioned Memphis filmmaker and humanities advocate Mark Jones, a longtime board member with OUTMemphis: The LGBTQ+ Neighborhood Heart of the Mid-South, which Astor helped present in 1989.
“A fast wit, a pointy wit, he was at all times his personal individual,” Jones mentioned. “He didn’t change when he was with sure teams of individuals. He was at all times ‘Girl A,’ as he referred to himself.”
A lifelong Memphian and graduate of what’s now generally known as Rhodes School, Astor was acquainted to many Memphians for his position as an advocate of native historical past, which made him a frequent and indispensable presence at traditional film screenings, native historical past lectures and numerous heritage occasions. .
He was the longtime organist on the Orpheum, taking part in concert events earlier than films and different reveals on the theater’s 1928 Wurlitzer (the tune he performed greater than every other, he mentioned, was “By no means By no means Land,” from the 1954 Broadway manufacturing of “Peter Pan “). He additionally gave excursions of the theater, regaling guests with spooky tales of “Mary,” the Orpheum ghost (a 12-year-old baby supposedly struck by a trolley automobile close to the theater in 1921).
He was additionally a devoted chronicler of the historical past of film exhibition in Memphis. His lavishly illustrated 2013 ebook “Photos of America: Memphis Film Theatres” introduced the definitive historical past of town’s cinemas, from the nickelodeons of the 1900s to the film palaces of the mid-century to the multiplexes of the suburban malls. “It presents nostalgia and a contact of one thing lovely,” Astor mentioned of his ebook by him, inadvertently providing one thing of a mission assertion for his dedication by him to amassing historic memorabilia.
However Astor’s nostalgia for previous Memphis didn’t make him complacent. An “out” activist and pioneering power for significant recognition for the Memphis homosexual group, Astor wrote for such LGBT newspapers as Gaze and the Triangle Journal, spearheaded fundraising and consciousness campaigns throughout the AIDS epidemic, was a flamboyant participant in delight parades (in 2006 , he wore a tiara and a cape as “a card-carrying good fairy”) and championed drag reveals and homosexual theater (he was Scrooge in a manufacturing titled “A Queer Carol”).
Rightly happy with his efforts, Astor ensured that his affiliation with Memphis historical past will proceed lengthy after his dying. He had donated a lot of his memorabilia of him to Rhodes, the College of Memphis, and the Memphis Public Libraries. His assortment of him — together with his signature button-festooned vest — offered a basis for “Memphis Proud,” a groundbreaking exhibit recognizing the “Resilience” of Memphis’ “LGBTQ + Neighborhood” that was on show final yr on the Museum of Science and Historical past.
“Memphis Proud” made nationwide information in September when a “family-friendly” drag present and night dance occasion scheduled along with the exhibit was canceled after armed protesters gathered within the museum car parking zone to intimidate attendees. The incident confirmed that the causes Astor championed are hardly settled, even when drag reveals at the moment are, in reality, an formally acknowledged facet of native historical past: In 2019, in response to the advocacy of Astor and Mark Jones, the Shelby County Historic Fee unveiled A marker outdoors Midtown’s Evergreen Theater in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the “Miss Memphis Overview,” a “public drag pageant” supposed “to protest a metropolis ordinance banning crossdressing.”
Astor can even be a part of historical past at one of many metropolis’s most well-known websites: He shall be buried at 170-year-old Elmwood Cemetery, the place he gave excursions and dressed as notable cemetery “residents” for “Soul of the Metropolis” excursions. In reality, he already has an obelisk in place at his gravesite of him.
Kim Bearden, Elmwood government director, mentioned Astor designed his personal monument. The obelisk is constituted of grey granite and recycled materials and comprises two hinged panels {that a} customer should open to be able to see portraits of Astor. One is the extra public “Vincent Astor”; the opposite options Astor in his drag persona of “Girl A.”
“It has been up for a number of years, and Vincent was very happy with it,” Bearden mentioned. “It is a monument not simply to at least one man’s life however to the struggles of the homosexual and lesbian group of Memphis.”
She mentioned the obelisk is on the east aspect of the cemetery, not removed from the principle gate. A ham to the tip, “He needed to be near the doorway so individuals may go to his grave extra simply.”
Funeral preparations are incomplete. Canale Funeral Administrators has cost.