(source: Paramount Pictures) Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from GlamourDoll! What exactly is "camp"? Wikipedia defines it as: "an aesthetic and sensibility that regards something as appealing or amusing because of its heightened level of artifice, affectation and exaggeration, especially when there is also a playful or ironic element." In other words: too much... but in the best possible way. The term itself dates back to late 1800s Victorian times. Fanny Park (Frederick) and Stella Boulton (Ernest), both born male, performed in drag and lived as women both on and off stage. They were arrested in 1870 for "conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence" (Victorians were, unsurprisingly, no fun), but were ultimately acquitted. In a letter, Fanny described her “campish undertakings,” giving us one of the earliest recorded uses of ...

Movie Night at the Manor is always such a delight. Our devoted cinephiles and curators scour the world for the rarest movie treats with our favorite stars, including beloved movie queen, Joan Crawford.  Did you know? Joan starred in a legendary movie musical in 1939, but it had to be scrapped at the last moment, as test screenings proved much too frightening for young moppets (and many adults, too). Happily, we managed to find a print.