Queer Eye for the Moose Guys!
National telecast spotlights ‘makeover’ of 12 good-sport members -- and of Huntington, NY Lodge 318
The 12 Huntington, NY Moose “Calendar Boys” enjoyed the August unveiling of a prototype calendar for which they modeled, after personal makeovers supervised by the “Fab Five” of Bravo's Queer Eye show. The actual 2007 calendar (still in production) will raise funds toward the Moose fraternity's support of Mooseheart Child City & School. The Queer Eye show on the "makeover" of the calendar models and of the Huntington, NY Moose Family Center was to air on Bravo the evening of Jan. 17.
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> It was, to be sure, a nontraditional national forum, but a national forum nonetheless! It was to come on the evening of Jan. 17, when Bravo Television’s popular Queer Eye show--featuring five gay men who roam far and wide to make men better-groomed and rooms better-decorated--was scheduled to air an hour-long episode focusing on . . . the Moose!
Late last August, Queer Eye’s “Fab Five” stars supervised personal makeovers to a dozen diverse members of a Moose Lodge on Long Island, NY, to prepare them to be photographed for a tastefully done fundraising calendar in the style of Calendar Girls, the hit 2003 Disney/Touchstone Pictures movie.
The episode was to highlight 12 members who volunteered to pose for a mildly provocative but all-in-good-fun calendar, in order to raise money to benefit the children of Mooseheart Child City & School, our Illinois community for children and teens, founded and supported by the Moose fraternal organization.
The show’s stars and producers also supervised a complete makeover of the social quarters of the Huntington Moose facility on Long Island--redecorating from traditional and perhaps a bit dated, to new, hip and sophisticated.
The group who volunteered was quite diverse in age, occupations and interests; each man enjoyed a whirlwind day with the “Fab Five” in Manhattan receiving haircuts, personal grooming makeovers, and new wardrobes.
This young couple enjoyed the newly redecorated Social Quarters on the night of the Queer Eye taping at Huntington.
The men then participated in the photo shoot with renowned photographer Henry Leutwyler. Each member represents a different month and is in a not-fully-revealing pose. For example, Michael Silverman, “Mr. September” and an avid car collector, is posed with his 2003 yellow Chevrolet SSR convertible. Lodge Governor Steve Gabriel Jr., a retired police officer, strikes a regal pose in a royal-looking throne. Yet another member is posed with the head of a Moose covering him.
“I’ll personally try anything once, and figured that since Disney made the original movie, Calendar Girls, it couldn’t be that bad,” said Gabriel, adding, “if this becomes a huge success, what better way to have an impact on someone’s life, then to help provide the dollars needed at Mooseheart so the children can actually have a life and a future.”
The 12 Moose “Calendar Boys” are Lodge Governor Steve Gabriel, Andy Wagner, Jeff Wagner, Joseph Buscemi, Erin Frieze, Anthony Pennetti, Frank Bell Sr., Frank Bell Jr., Charlie Ford, Michael Silverman, Kevin Sulk and Ron Beccafico.
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Lodge Governor Steve Gabriel poses for a Queer Eye camera next to his calendar portrait. The 2007 calendar will be marketed at the 2006 International Convention in Chicago in late May.
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