HAROLD!

Best scene in Boys In The Band. One twink knew his history and told me that this movie was shot before but came out after Stonewall. Some queens were apparently confused as this film represented more of the closeted, pre-Stonewall lifestyle. FROM LYPSINKA: "It's my understanding that as the movie was filming, the filming was 2 blocks from where I'm sitting right now, Stonewall happened. The filmmakers were too busy to notice this symbolic revolt. Before the movie was made, there were gays who didn't like the way it portrayed gay behavior, because they had seen the hit Off Bway play. (And unfortunately, the movie focuses more on the dark side, and the play was considerably lighter in tone.) But there were gays who probably behaved in a version of this manner in large cities back in the day. And just because Stonewall happened, doesn't mean their behavior instantly changed. And there are still VERSIONS of this behavior today, in both younger and older people. There are still a lot of confused/closeted/conflicted/scared people out there, and they are acting out their fears and confusion in one way or another. You can see a documentary that covers a lot of info about The Boys in the Band and the reaction to it. It's called Making The Boys. Here it is. Also, when the movie was being filmed (on West 26th where Martha Stewart used to film and Jon Stewart's show was there back in the day, LB, between 7th and 8th Avenues) in 69, the stage show was still running. And, indeed, it's possible that when the movie was RELEASED (1970?), the stage show was still running. It was a big hit onstage. The suburban straights were very interested/amused to see how the gays behaved."