Editing Brini Maxwell

{{short description|American drag queen}}
'''Sabrina “Brini” Maxwell''' is the [[Drag queen|drag persona]] of '''Ben Sander''', described as the "prototypical, pre-feminist, 1960s homemaker."<ref name="VV1999">{{cite web | last=Trebay | first=Guy | title=Heroine Addiction | website=[[The Village Voice]] | date=1999-11-09 | url=https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/11/09/heroine-addiction/ | access-date=2020-01-13}}</ref> Maxwell has also been described as a composite of [[Doris Day]], [[Mary Tyler Moore]], [[Auntie Mame]], [[That Girl]], and [[Donna Reed]]; the character came to prominence in the late '90s as the host of her eponymous television show on [[Public-access television|public access]] in Manhattan, and later on the national cable television [[Style Network]].

The name Brini came from a [[Stefanie Powers]] mini-series called "Deceptions" while Maxwell originated from [[Barbra Streisand|Barbara Streisand]]'s character in [[What's Up, Doc? (1972 film)|"What's Up, Doc?"]]<ref name=":0" />

==Television==

===Cable access show===

The pilot for the original ''Brini Maxwell Show'' debuted on [[Manhattan Neighborhood Network]] on January 1, 1998. The program originally started out as ''At Home with Tigs'' and centered on a drag character called Tigs Vanderveer, but the character and the show quickly morphed into the ''Brini Maxwell Show.'' The show aired for five years featuring tips, recipes, entertaining ideas, craft projects, home renovation and [[interior design]] schemes. It was produced by Sander's production company, V.R.U.S.P. Inc., and directed by Sander's mother, the actress Mary Jane Wells.<ref name=":0" /> Sanders cast many of the drag queens he met at the [[Imperial Court System|Imperial Court]] - one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world - as characters on the show, such as [[Panzi|Thom Hansen]] (aka Panzi) and Philip Stoehr (aka Philomena).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: Ben Sander (Brini Maxwell) Papers {{!}} Center Archive {{!}} ArchivesSpace |url=https://archives.gaycenter.org/repositories/2/resources/123 |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=archives.gaycenter.org}}</ref> The show had a diverse, cult following: "Brini (rhymes with ''teeny'') has received hundreds of letters and e-mail messages since the show began ... Brini has a wide following that extends beyond gay viewers. Many of those who write in are straight fans who say they tape the show for friends around the country."<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Hedges |first1=Chris |title=Part Martha Stewart, Part RuPaul; ''Brini Maxwell Show'' Offers Household Tips in Drag |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/08/nyregion/part-martha-stewart-part-rupaul-brini-maxwell-show-offers-household-tips-in-drag.html |access-date=25 November 2019 |work=New York Times |date=8 January 2000}}</ref>

In 1999, Maxwell was nominated for the Glam Award for Best TV Performer along with three other drag queens - Cookie, [[Hedda Lettuce]], and Cherry Jubilee - and on December 2 she won the honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=3rd Annual Glam Awards |url=https://www.glamawards.net/3rd-annual-glam-awards |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=the-glam-awards |language=en}}</ref> It was reported that "some 300 drag queens and their guests burst into sustained applause as Brini, dressed in an ivory floor-length skirt with a side slit, a black sweater and a Mongolian lamb's wool wrap, swooshed through the crowd at Life at 158 Bleecker Street and onto the stage to accept the award."<ref name=":0" />

===''Charming, Needs Work''===

In 2001 Sander was contacted by Amy Briamonte, east coast director of development for west coast based Termite Art Productions, a division of [[Lionsgate Television]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gaycenter.org/archive_item/ben-sander-brini-maxwell-papers/|title = Ben Sander (Brini Maxwell) Papers|date = 16 February 2018}}</ref> Briamonte and Sander developed a pitch for the show for the [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo network]] and received an order for a pilot. The pilot was produced in the summer of 2002 for a show titled ''Charming, Needs Work''. 

====Premise====
The premise for the show was Maxwell lived in an apartment that she redecorated every week. This concept was difficult to show in a pilot because it's based on the cumulative experience of seeing the changes each week. The pilot showed the transformation from un-remodeled apartment to finished and decorated space with segments about painting a super-graphic, having a piece of furniture reupholstered, making a stuffed dog using a new crafting technique featuring old concert T-shirts and a location segment with [[Kim Cattrall]] in her apartment.

===''The Brini Maxwell Show''===

After Bravo passed on the show Briamonte, Sander, and Termite Art pitched it to Stephen Schwartz and Heather Moran, newly named VP's of programming for the Style network,<ref>{{cite news |title=Trading Office Spaces |url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/trading-office-spaces-97836 |access-date=25 November 2019 |work=BroadcastingCable.com |date=11 February 2003}}</ref> then a sister network to [[E!]] Entertainment Television. The pitch resulted in an order for a 13-episode season.

====Production====
The first season of ''The Brini Maxwell Show'' for the Style network was taped in the summer of 2003 with studio production taking place on the main stage at Unitel Studios on west 57th St. in New York City. Location shoots for the season were taped over a period of six months in New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. ''The Brini Maxwell Show'' debuted on the Style network on Thursday, January 1, 2004<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gaycenter.org/archive_item/ben-sander-brini-maxwell-papers/|title = Ben Sander (Brini Maxwell) Papers|date = 16 February 2018}}</ref> at 10 p.m.

The second season went into production in the summer of 2004 and debuted in November 2005.

====Episodes====
{{Series overview
| color1     = #57c900
| link1      = #Season 1 (2004)
| episodes1  = 13
| start1     = {{Start date|2004|01|01}}
| end1       = {{End date|2004|03|25}}

| color2     = #c9007c
| link2      = #Season 2 (2005)
| episodes2  = 13
| start2     = {{Start date|2005|11|04}}
| end2       = {{End date|2006|01|20}}
}}

====Cancellation====
The show was cancelled after two seasons<ref>[https://archive.today/20120719173201/http://community.livejournal.com/brini_maxwell/28724.html brini_maxwell: Brini's show has been canceled<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> when [[Comcast]] hired [[Ted Harbert]] to helm the E! family of networks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jul-01-fi-ted01-story.html|title = Comcast Expected to Name E! Chief| website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date = July 2004}}</ref>

==Publications==
===''Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living''===
In 2004, Sander was contacted by Ron Longe, then a publicist at Stewart, Tabori & Chang, a division of [[Abrams Books]] about publishing a Brini Maxwell book. The resulting book, ''Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living'' is divided into four sections - Daily Life, dealing with the basics of life, including eating well, creating a nice environment for yourself and defining your personal style; Entertaining, preparing for hosting parties and events and menus for them; Travel, making your forays into the world smoother and more organized and Life's Happy Milestones, how to mark the important moments in your life with style and panache. 

Production on the book commenced in late 2004 with dedicated photo shoots done by photographer, Bradford Noble. The design was done by Tamar Cohen with original illustrations done by Karen Hsu. The book was published on October 1, 2005, with an initial printing of 15,000 copies. It was promoted with a book tour of the east and west coasts, including book launch parties at [[Phyllis Morris (furniture designer)|Phyllis Morris]] in Los Angeles and [[Trina Turk]] in Palm Springs. 

====Reception====
The book was featured in the [[New York Magazine]] approval matrix for November 14th, 2005 with the blurb "Buy it for the irony, keep it for the truly good advice" in the position of just below the midline between highbrow and lowbrow and almost half way past the midline between brilliant and despicable. [[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)]] said "You'll flip your wig over this indispensable guidebook from the Style network's fiercest hostess"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmQEAAAAMBAJ&q=advocate+brini+maxwell&pg=PA66|title = The Advocate|date = 25 October 2005|publisher = Here}}</ref>

==Ben Sander==

'''Early Life'''

Sander was born on July 23, 1969, at Boston Lying In Hospital in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], to Peter and Mary Jane. The first seven years of his life were spent in [[Wellesley, Massachusetts|Wellesley]], MA with his father teaching theater at [[Brandeis University]] and his mother alternately keeping house and acting in professional productions in Boston and New York as well as touring with her own one-woman adaptation of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''. In 1976 the family moved to the small college town of [[Athens, Ohio]], home of [[Ohio University]]. Ben attended elementary and middle school in Athens while his father taught in the graduate theater program there. In 1980 Peter Sander received a [[Pell grant]] and moved the family to [[Cleveland, Ohio]], where he acted as a [[dramaturge]] for [[Cleveland Play House|The Cleveland Play House]]. The Playhouse offered Ben his first opportunity to act professionally. He was cast as Bodo in a production of [[Lillian Hellman]]'s ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]''. The family returned to Athens in 1981 for two years. In 1983 Peter took a job with [[University of Missouri|The University of Missouri]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], where Ben attended Center Senior High School. Ben performed in high school theatrical productions, but eventually forsook the stage for the costume room, becoming the costume designer during his senior year, using his extensive collection of vintage clothing as costumes for the productions that year. After graduating high school in 1987, Sander attended the [[Kansas City Art Institute]] foundations program.

In 1988 the family again moved; this time to [[Hempstead (village), New York|Hempstead, Long Island]], where his father had been hired as the chair for the theater department of [[Hofstra University]]. Ben worked at various jobs in [[New York City]] and also studied fashion illustration with Veronica Galati. He then applied to, and was accepted into the fashion design program at [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in 1989. After four years of study, Sander graduated in 1993, and obtained a job at moderate dress house, BGB as an assistant designer. His job was making patterns for the samples; the company reorganized nine months after he was hired and he was let go. After that he worked at a bridal boutique, and two furriers before moving into Manhattan and developing ''The Brini Maxwell Show'' for television.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb title | 0389584 | The Brini Maxwell Show}}
*{{Official website|brinimaxwell.com}}
*{{YouTube|c=UCgoeQmZa-mIyTzI29hlNZPw}}
*[http://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=782 Brini Maxwell, Outsideleft's Happy Shopper]
*[http://www.phillygaycalendar.com/pages/video.php?id=77 Brini Maxwell interview in Philadelphia (video)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715074635/http://phillygaycalendar.com/pages/video.php?id=77 |date=2011-07-15 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Brini}}
[[Category:American drag queens]]
[[Category:Comedy television characters]]
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1998]]
[[Category:Female characters in television]]