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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[music playing]

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The best thing about history is

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to be able to go back in the
past to discover yourself.

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00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:54,987
And the great difficulty
for we who are marginalized,

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be we women or
Black or gay, is you

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look at what is purported to be
history, and we are invisible.

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We don't exist.

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ROBERT CORBER: Reconstructing
the history of gays

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and lesbians is
difficult because we

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don't have archives of
letters, archives of diaries.

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What we have are archives
of arrest Records

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We're lucky if we have
an uncle or an aunt who

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was gay and can
support or help or give

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00:01:30,623 --> 00:01:33,459
you a window into our past
and where we came from.

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Often these letters and diaries

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are destroyed by
families who are

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horrified to discover that
someone in their family

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was gay.

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And so whenever you
find a diary or a set

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of letters written by
gay people themselves,

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it just opens up a world.

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[music playing]

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RENO MARTIN: From Mount
Vernon in New York,

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this is Reno Martin.

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Good morning.

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My friend Reno, he was one
of my best friends in New York,

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and I miss him.

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I told him every little
thing that I did.

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It was all letter writing.

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We felt like sisters
or sisters that were

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really brothers to the public.

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ACTOR AS DAPHNE: August
23, 1955 Dear Reno...

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I'm supposed to be doing
handwritten reports right now,

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and I've got so
much junk on my desk

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that nobody knows
what I'm writing.

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And they love to read this.

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It's like a confidential
book report.

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I look extremely readable today.

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The people on the bus were
dropping dead like flies.

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It's a camp the way I
walk around not bothered.

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I'm wearing one of
my stripette shirts.

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It looks like an Ava
Gardner blouse without tits.

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As always, Daphne.

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00:04:06,879 --> 00:04:09,481
This is so wonderful that you
were able to find these things.

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When a historian like me
hears from someone like this,

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it's just incredibly thrilling
because these sources

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are so rare.

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JOE E. JEFFREYS: Photographs
tell us one thing.

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Words tell us another.

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The thing that's brilliant
about these letters

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is that they indicate
to people that there

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are other sources that
have yet to be discovered

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and yet to come to light.

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[music playing]

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Hello!

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[applause]

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(CHANTING) Gay and proud.

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Gay and proud.

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All the queens looked
horrid except for Josephine.

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Josephine, she was a
fabulous drag queen.

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My name is Lennie, and
I'm from a very small town

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near Hershey, Pennsylvania.

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And this small town
in Pennsylvania,

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they're not too broad minded.

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It's a farming area
and very religious.

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Believe it or not, I became
the first male cheerleader

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in Hershey.

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I laugh about it now, but my one
brother was kind of embarrassed

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because everybody wanted
to go into the game

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to see the guy doing a
cartwheel with the cheerleaders.

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So I knew it was time to go.

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I left there when I was 18,
and I went to the military.

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Back in the beginning,
well, like Dorothy, I was born

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in Kansas, Wichita, Kansas.

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We lived on a little tiny
small sort of a farm.

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I mean, we had chickens,
and we had a billy goat.

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And I hated Kansas,
even as a little kid.

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We lived near a
railroad track, and I

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used to go out there and
sit by that railroad track

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and watch those trains
go by and think,

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I want to get the
hell out of here,

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even as a three-year-old boy.

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My mother was very poor.

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She was a working single mom.

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She couldn't afford
to send me to college.

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So my brother had
been in the Air Force,

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and he suggested, you know, why
don't you join the Air Force?

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See the world.

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And so I did.

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I joined the Air Force.

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And then I was shipped
to Biloxi, Mississippi.

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LENNIE: We were all the
military, my fathers,

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my brothers, everybody.

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Well, when I got in, I was on a
ship, and we had our own radio.

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Marty Ryder his name was.

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00:08:01,881 --> 00:08:04,950
He used to run shows
on the ship every year.

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00:08:05,051 --> 00:08:11,022
And he did a show called
Sound Off of 1953,

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00:08:11,123 --> 00:08:14,826
and the star of the
show was DeeDee LaRue.

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And I sang a song
and did a strip.

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I went into France
and bought a wig

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and did a lot more than
I was supposed to do.

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I was supposed to be a guy
that looked like a girl.

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So we did two shows.

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The second show I had to get an
escort to come from where I got

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dressed to go on
stage because the guys

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thought that a real girl must
have got onto the ship somehow.

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And if it wasn't, it was
the closest thing to it,

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and they were going to
try to get it, I guess.

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I got to get out of here
because at that time,

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you got thrown out.

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And thank God, within two
months, my time was up.

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ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
November 13, 1957.

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Dear Reno... did I tell you
the time I met a number

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around my neighborhood?

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It was so butch it's a camp.

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Actually he's fighting
the gay scene.

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He's really in love
with his close buddy

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who is in the Air Force.

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The things that go on in
some circles of straight life

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are enough to make
ours look prudish.

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As always, Daphne.

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[music playing]

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ROBERT: I had never been
in the South before.

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Anyway, New Orleans was an
hour and a half away by bus.

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I was given weekend
leaves, and they give you

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00:10:01,834 --> 00:10:04,269
a paper that has all of
the places that are listed

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00:10:04,370 --> 00:10:08,840
that are off limits to personnel
in the United States Air Force.

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00:10:08,941 --> 00:10:11,910
Well, of course all the
gay bars were on this list,

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so they gave me a perfect
map to find everybody

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in town that I wanted.

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So I pranced down to New Orleans
and had a wonderful time.

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Discovered a whole new
world in the French Quarter.

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GEORGE: I actually was raised in
New Orleans in a shotgun house.

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So consequently when I'm
asked when did I come out?

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I jokingly say I was
born in a shotgun house.

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We had no closets.

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I had a chifforobe,
and I've always

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been out to my knowledge.

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Basically the first time
that I remember being in drag

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and making a production of it...

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My mother always went to
the straight balls, always.

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00:11:09,068 --> 00:11:11,136
My mother never missed a ball.

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And she had this orange
taffeta ball gown,

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and I decided I was going to
put it on one day and order

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groceries from the corner.

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00:11:19,645 --> 00:11:22,580
And I literally put
this orange dress on

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and just pulled my
hair down like in bangs

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00:11:26,519 --> 00:11:29,688
and didn't put any makeup on
because I thought I was pretty.

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00:11:29,789 --> 00:11:33,191
So I called the grocery store
and I said, this is George,

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and I want to order
some groceries,

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00:11:34,460 --> 00:11:36,027
but I want to Sam
to bring them to me.

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He said, OK.

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So I ordered just
two or three things

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because it was
just at the corner.

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And he came to the door,
knocked on the door,

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and I answered the door
in my orange taffeta gown.

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And he went, little girl,
are these your groceries?

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And I went, yes, those
are my groceries.

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00:11:51,110 --> 00:11:52,077
Thank you very much.

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00:11:52,178 --> 00:11:53,511
And I closed the
door, and I left.

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I went, man, this
is pretty good.

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This is crazy.

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I can get away with this stuff.

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ACTOR AS CHARLIE: Dear Reno...

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00:12:02,955 --> 00:12:06,257
Well, how do you like your
new job in New Orleans?

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00:12:06,358 --> 00:12:08,693
Are there any flames down there?

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00:12:08,794 --> 00:12:11,463
Do the queens paint very much?

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00:12:11,564 --> 00:12:12,464
Take care.

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00:12:12,565 --> 00:12:14,799
Regards from all, Charlie.

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00:12:22,641 --> 00:12:25,376
ROBERT: My first
carnival in New Orleans...

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00:12:25,511 --> 00:12:27,712
Of course at carnival
everyone goes in costumes,

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and many of the
queens go in drag.

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And a friend of mine whose
name was JoJo, and he

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asked me if I would
like to go in drag.

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I said, oh yeah.

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I didn't have a wig, though, so
he bleached my hair snow white,

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00:12:41,293 --> 00:12:45,029
and he turned me on to this guy
who made me a gorgeous gown.

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It was aqua blue velvet,
and the top part of it

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00:12:48,968 --> 00:12:52,737
was black Chantilly lace, and
it was encrusted with Aurora

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00:12:52,838 --> 00:12:56,374
Borealis And it
had a big floating

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collar and one side what's
called a portrait collar.

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It was just beautiful.

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00:13:05,417 --> 00:13:08,219
Of course, it's
absolutely jam packed.

186
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,288
I mean, you're bumper to bumper.

187
00:13:10,389 --> 00:13:14,159
It seemed like people were just
parting to let me get through.

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00:13:14,260 --> 00:13:16,161
So I was getting
a clue that, man,

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00:13:16,262 --> 00:13:17,996
you must really look
good if you're getting

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00:13:18,097 --> 00:13:20,265
a pathway opening up for you.

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00:13:21,734 --> 00:13:25,436
And that's how the whole
drag thing began with me.

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00:13:28,641 --> 00:13:31,042
In the service, you know,
there's a whole patriotic thing

193
00:13:31,143 --> 00:13:32,377
about a lot of people.

194
00:13:32,478 --> 00:13:34,879
And I was that way when I
joined but not when I came out.

195
00:13:34,980 --> 00:13:41,820
I'm not patriotic at
this point because I

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00:13:41,921 --> 00:13:43,555
finally got my discharge.

197
00:13:43,656 --> 00:13:45,156
And when I opened
the envelope, it

198
00:13:45,257 --> 00:13:47,926
was an undesirable discharge.

199
00:13:48,027 --> 00:13:50,028
That means when
you're undesirable,

200
00:13:50,129 --> 00:13:51,696
you're not just undesirable.

201
00:13:51,797 --> 00:13:53,965
You receive no benefits.

202
00:13:54,066 --> 00:13:56,201
You have no veterans
rights at all.

203
00:13:57,603 --> 00:13:58,503
The chaplain says to me.

204
00:13:58,604 --> 00:14:00,839
He said, Mr.
Bouvard, he said, you

205
00:14:00,940 --> 00:14:03,942
have given this base
the worst reputation

206
00:14:04,043 --> 00:14:06,544
of any Air Force base
in the United States

207
00:14:06,645 --> 00:14:08,680
because of your gay activities.

208
00:14:08,781 --> 00:14:10,048
So I told him.

209
00:14:10,149 --> 00:14:13,151
I said, I would have been a
great radio operator whether I

210
00:14:13,252 --> 00:14:17,622
was gay or whether
I was a unicorn,

211
00:14:17,723 --> 00:14:18,990
and I tore the discharge up.

212
00:14:22,661 --> 00:14:27,732
ACTOR: Dear Reno... remember that
number that was bats over me?

213
00:14:27,833 --> 00:14:30,869
Well, he's in New York
now and out of the Navy.

214
00:14:30,970 --> 00:14:32,537
He called me earlier this week.

215
00:14:32,638 --> 00:14:33,371
I flipped.

216
00:14:34,807 --> 00:14:38,009
The first thing he asked me
was if my hair was still long.

217
00:14:38,110 --> 00:14:39,811
His digs that scene.

218
00:14:39,912 --> 00:14:43,581
Then he asked me about
my Liz Taylor eyes.

219
00:14:43,682 --> 00:14:45,950
Mary, I cracked.

220
00:14:46,051 --> 00:14:48,553
That same night I did
a cleaning of the brows

221
00:14:48,654 --> 00:14:52,924
and started a slight application
of mascara for that Liz effect.

222
00:14:54,326 --> 00:14:57,095
I met him at a YMCA
where he was staying

223
00:14:57,196 --> 00:14:59,364
this was 12 applications later.

224
00:15:09,909 --> 00:15:11,442
I'm James Bingood.

225
00:15:13,045 --> 00:15:15,280
And if you don't
know who that is,

226
00:15:15,381 --> 00:15:16,714
you won't want to watch this.

227
00:15:16,815 --> 00:15:20,451
[laughter] And you
probably don't.

228
00:15:25,291 --> 00:15:30,695
Yeah, I made a movie, and I
was a drag queen, a fashion

229
00:15:30,796 --> 00:15:33,731
designer, costume maker.

230
00:15:33,799 --> 00:15:34,832
I did a lot of stuff.

231
00:15:37,002 --> 00:15:40,405
I think I've always
been unique, maybe

232
00:15:40,506 --> 00:15:42,974
because in Madison all
my life I've played

233
00:15:43,075 --> 00:15:45,076
alone because I was different.

234
00:15:45,177 --> 00:15:50,081
[laughter] And I just got to
accept, well, that's life.

235
00:15:50,182 --> 00:15:51,316
I didn't turn gay.

236
00:15:51,417 --> 00:15:52,583
I was born gay.

237
00:15:55,087 --> 00:15:56,654
I mean, I had the paper doll.

238
00:15:56,755 --> 00:15:57,689
I had girly toys.

239
00:16:00,159 --> 00:16:03,094
When I first saw those
cartoons of little buildings

240
00:16:03,195 --> 00:16:05,530
like they have them, I
put them in my movie,

241
00:16:05,631 --> 00:16:07,298
and they were like
skyline, and then

242
00:16:07,366 --> 00:16:11,102
there's little yellow
windows and the blue sky.

243
00:16:11,203 --> 00:16:14,739
First time I saw that, that's
where I knew I wanted to be.

244
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:16,674
There was nothing
like that in Madison.

245
00:16:18,310 --> 00:16:20,411
So I got here.

246
00:16:26,919 --> 00:16:28,152
ACTOR: Dear Reno...

247
00:16:28,253 --> 00:16:30,588
New York's hotter
than a firecracker,

248
00:16:30,689 --> 00:16:32,323
and I'm not referring
to the weather.

249
00:16:34,793 --> 00:16:36,761
That's been pretty hot
too, come to think of it.

250
00:16:43,335 --> 00:16:45,870
JAMES: When I came to New
York, it was like the movie

251
00:16:45,971 --> 00:16:47,438
version of New York City.

252
00:16:49,675 --> 00:16:52,377
It's sparkled,
and it was colors,

253
00:16:52,478 --> 00:16:55,546
and you could practically
feel yourself ready to do

254
00:16:55,647 --> 00:16:56,948
some Gene Kelly dances.

255
00:16:58,617 --> 00:16:59,650
Maybe it was the fashions.

256
00:17:02,621 --> 00:17:04,655
Women had big skirts
that would "shk."

257
00:17:06,959 --> 00:17:08,693
The minute I
stepped off the bus,

258
00:17:08,794 --> 00:17:10,628
I felt I was where
I was meant to be.

259
00:17:10,729 --> 00:17:11,562
It was fabulous.

260
00:19:46,852 --> 00:19:50,788
ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
September 24, 1957.

261
00:19:50,889 --> 00:19:55,760
Dear Reno... Josephine was with
me at the Valley Sunday night.

262
00:19:55,861 --> 00:19:57,762
I was with my
number from Jersey.

263
00:19:57,863 --> 00:20:01,666
We all danced and danced
and danced and danced

264
00:20:01,767 --> 00:20:03,534
and danced and danced.

265
00:20:05,270 --> 00:20:08,573
My number had to catch the
12 o'clock busted at 42nd,

266
00:20:08,674 --> 00:20:12,243
so me and Baker cruised
the streets for a while.

267
00:20:12,344 --> 00:20:14,312
I felt bummy and
didn't feel like going

268
00:20:14,413 --> 00:20:16,914
home to bed to prepare
for work the next morning.

269
00:20:28,293 --> 00:20:31,662
ACTOR AS DAPHNE: Well, let
me tell you what happened.

270
00:20:31,763 --> 00:20:33,764
We spotted this
hot-looking blonde

271
00:20:33,865 --> 00:20:35,499
on the corner of the Bali.

272
00:20:35,601 --> 00:20:39,170
He looked at us and did one
of those famous retakes.

273
00:20:39,271 --> 00:20:40,471
We couldn't read him for shit.

274
00:20:42,574 --> 00:20:46,143
Josephine said let's ditch,
so she asked for a cigarette.

275
00:20:46,245 --> 00:20:48,613
He was much smiles.

276
00:20:48,714 --> 00:20:51,082
He said he was looking
for a good time.

277
00:20:51,183 --> 00:20:53,784
Well, my dear, you
never saw two party

278
00:20:53,885 --> 00:20:56,587
girls go into action so fast.

279
00:20:56,688 --> 00:20:58,856
We took him to Joey
Ferrara's place.

280
00:20:58,957 --> 00:21:02,627
Naturally he insisted
on walking behind.

281
00:21:02,728 --> 00:21:06,564
We didn't exactly look like
any of his college chums.

282
00:21:40,632 --> 00:21:42,333
GEORGE CHAUNCEY: You know,
to have a queen in a bar was

283
00:21:42,434 --> 00:21:45,369
a very risky thing because
the laws against bars

284
00:21:45,470 --> 00:21:46,203
serving gay people.

285
00:21:47,773 --> 00:21:51,842
The mere presence of a
lesbian or gay man in a bar

286
00:21:51,943 --> 00:21:54,745
meant that bar was disorderly
and could be shut down.

287
00:21:58,750 --> 00:22:01,585
You'd be taken to jail
and charged with some kind

288
00:22:01,687 --> 00:22:02,620
of obscenity laws.

289
00:22:05,257 --> 00:22:08,893
The safe route was
you don't come out,

290
00:22:08,994 --> 00:22:12,196
but these drag queen
was really out there

291
00:22:12,297 --> 00:22:14,065
and took a lot of chances.

292
00:22:16,068 --> 00:22:21,138
And that way led often times
to violence, being beaten up.

293
00:22:24,543 --> 00:22:27,778
ACTOR AS CHARLIE:
September 16, 1957.

294
00:22:27,879 --> 00:22:32,650
Dear Reno... Saturday night,
I decided to go to the Cork.

295
00:22:32,751 --> 00:22:34,518
They didn't even
want to let me in.

296
00:22:34,619 --> 00:22:36,120
Later Daphne came
in, and she had

297
00:22:36,221 --> 00:22:37,955
to go through the same thing.

298
00:22:38,056 --> 00:22:42,526
New York is very
hot, cops all over.

299
00:22:42,627 --> 00:22:44,695
Hardly know queens paint.

300
00:22:44,796 --> 00:22:45,496
They have to be careful.

301
00:22:47,666 --> 00:22:49,266
Love your friend, Charlie.

302
00:23:04,716 --> 00:23:11,689
CLAUDE: First time I went in
drag, I was with Billy, Daphne,

303
00:23:11,790 --> 00:23:13,023
and with Josephine.

304
00:23:15,260 --> 00:23:17,094
We were the freaks.

305
00:23:19,064 --> 00:23:21,031
That's what they
called us, the freaks.

306
00:23:23,368 --> 00:23:27,204
We had shaved eyebrows
that went up to here.

307
00:23:27,305 --> 00:23:31,175
They were penciled on and
the eyeliner and eyelashes

308
00:23:31,276 --> 00:23:32,042
that went on forever.

309
00:23:33,545 --> 00:23:36,547
We were as close to being
female as you could get.

310
00:23:38,683 --> 00:23:45,156
I was 15 in a black lace
and sequined strapless

311
00:23:45,257 --> 00:23:51,262
dress that I borrowed from a
hooker and gold-sequined pumps

312
00:23:51,363 --> 00:23:54,565
that I also borrowed
from a hooker.

313
00:23:54,666 --> 00:23:56,467
The only thing that
was mine was my hair.

314
00:23:58,003 --> 00:24:02,940
We all got into a taxi cab
in our respective drags

315
00:24:03,041 --> 00:24:06,277
to be taken out
to the Cork club.

316
00:24:08,013 --> 00:24:10,181
ACTOR: Claudia's back in town.

317
00:24:10,282 --> 00:24:11,949
She was in Florida, you know?

318
00:24:12,050 --> 00:24:14,051
She's back on the
scene with Josephine.

319
00:24:14,152 --> 00:24:16,387
I saw them both at the Cork.

320
00:24:16,488 --> 00:24:20,357
The Cork is quite the scene
for pancaked faces again.

321
00:24:20,459 --> 00:24:22,626
I'm in the mood to
paint like crazy

322
00:24:22,727 --> 00:24:24,562
and make an appearance
there tomorrow night.

323
00:24:29,935 --> 00:24:32,403
ROBERT: The cork
club I went to often.

324
00:24:32,504 --> 00:24:34,939
It was the place to go.

325
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:36,674
That's where... come
to think of it,

326
00:24:36,775 --> 00:24:39,643
that's where I saw
Josephine and Claudia a lot

327
00:24:39,744 --> 00:24:41,912
was at the Cork club.

328
00:24:42,013 --> 00:24:45,316
Josephine and Claudia,
they were the upper echelon

329
00:24:45,417 --> 00:24:46,851
of drag queens.

330
00:24:48,753 --> 00:24:52,790
In the club was a
section in the back

331
00:24:52,891 --> 00:25:00,831
where there was four booths,
and in those booths is where

332
00:25:00,932 --> 00:25:03,233
the drag queens, we all sat.

333
00:25:03,301 --> 00:25:05,836
But drag queens were accepted.

334
00:25:05,937 --> 00:25:08,105
Drag queens were accepted.

335
00:25:08,206 --> 00:25:08,939
Man, come on.

336
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:10,574
Sit down over here.

337
00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:11,775
Sit over here with us.

338
00:25:11,877 --> 00:25:12,576
Come on.

339
00:25:12,677 --> 00:25:13,377
You drink?

340
00:25:13,478 --> 00:25:14,979
What do you want to drink?

341
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,517
Only thing I had ever heard
of was I'll have a 7 and 7.

342
00:25:19,618 --> 00:25:22,219
You get him a 7 and 7.

343
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,955
You get my pretty young
thing here a 7 and 7.

344
00:25:26,658 --> 00:25:28,993
And I got a 7 and 7.

345
00:25:29,094 --> 00:25:30,494
ACTOR AS CHARLIE: Dear Reno...

346
00:25:30,595 --> 00:25:33,130
Well, Rose, did you
receive my three letters?

347
00:25:33,231 --> 00:25:35,833
Have I gotten in
the swing again?

348
00:25:35,967 --> 00:25:37,868
I went to the Cork
Club this past weekend,

349
00:25:37,969 --> 00:25:41,305
and you should see the
trade that was there.

350
00:25:41,406 --> 00:25:42,106
Gorgeous.

351
00:25:43,475 --> 00:25:45,242
Josephine was there.

352
00:25:45,343 --> 00:25:48,746
Josephine looks very good
since she lost all that weight.

353
00:25:48,847 --> 00:25:51,949
She told me she had written
you a four-page letter.

354
00:25:52,050 --> 00:25:54,318
Have you answered her?

355
00:25:54,419 --> 00:25:56,086
Your friend always, Charlie.

356
00:25:57,722 --> 00:26:01,158
Josephine was one of the most
famous queens from Brooklyn.

357
00:26:29,054 --> 00:26:31,455
She was a fabulous
drag queen, beautiful.

358
00:26:37,629 --> 00:26:42,399
And his hair was pulled
back, Chinese, bangs,

359
00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:45,135
and an enormous black ponytail.

360
00:26:53,311 --> 00:26:55,913
Josephine needed
to have a sponsor

361
00:26:56,014 --> 00:26:59,350
because she came from the
Dominican Republic illegally.

362
00:26:59,451 --> 00:27:03,821
But I owned beauty shops,
so I sponsored her,

363
00:27:03,922 --> 00:27:08,859
and she did become a citizen
working as a hairdresser.

364
00:27:13,665 --> 00:27:17,701
ACTOR AS JO BAKER:
November 19, 1956.

365
00:27:17,802 --> 00:27:20,371
Dear Reno... how are you?

366
00:27:20,472 --> 00:27:23,140
I wrote you a four-page letter
dishing you all about the drag

367
00:27:23,241 --> 00:27:24,108
and everything.

368
00:27:24,209 --> 00:27:25,476
You didn't get it?

369
00:27:25,577 --> 00:27:28,178
Well, anyway, I hope
you get this one.

370
00:27:28,279 --> 00:27:31,382
So you're still looking
for romance, eh?

371
00:27:31,483 --> 00:27:33,584
Well, the scene is off.

372
00:27:33,685 --> 00:27:34,518
Forget about it.

373
00:27:34,619 --> 00:27:38,055
There's no happiness for a fag.

374
00:27:38,156 --> 00:27:40,391
I'm out today with Claudia.

375
00:27:40,492 --> 00:27:41,659
I walked in.

376
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,160
The door were all opened.

377
00:27:43,261 --> 00:27:46,797
I picked out four gorgeous
sweaters and flew out.

378
00:27:46,898 --> 00:27:49,600
Well, what a scene.

379
00:27:49,701 --> 00:27:51,935
I'm starting my winter
collection already.

380
00:27:52,037 --> 00:27:54,672
Love, Jo Baker,

381
00:27:54,773 --> 00:27:55,973
There was lots of things that I

382
00:27:56,074 --> 00:27:59,677
didn't like about
Josephine, one thing

383
00:27:59,778 --> 00:28:02,046
that he was a kleptomaniac.

384
00:28:02,147 --> 00:28:05,649
And I hope you're not alive,
Josephine, and hearing this,

385
00:28:05,750 --> 00:28:07,985
but a lot of these
guys from Brooklyn

386
00:28:08,086 --> 00:28:11,055
would steal anything that was
not nailed down, literally.

387
00:28:13,358 --> 00:28:14,058
They were wild.

388
00:28:16,027 --> 00:28:18,062
I mean, they were very
glamorous and everything,

389
00:28:18,163 --> 00:28:21,632
but truthfully, both
Josephine and Claudia

390
00:28:21,733 --> 00:28:25,202
had the same problem
with their hands

391
00:28:25,303 --> 00:28:26,970
on other people's belongings.

392
00:28:41,486 --> 00:28:44,722
ACTOR: Just a demented
note to say hello.

393
00:28:44,823 --> 00:28:46,457
I saw Josephine.

394
00:28:46,558 --> 00:28:50,227
We got very dishy,
mostly about the drag.

395
00:28:50,328 --> 00:28:52,963
You remember that
famous fringe place?

396
00:28:53,064 --> 00:28:55,365
You know the one
where we mopped?

397
00:28:55,467 --> 00:28:58,335
Well, Frankie and
Josephine went there

398
00:28:58,436 --> 00:29:01,305
and mopped on the whole
boat of silver lame

399
00:29:01,406 --> 00:29:03,841
and the whole bolt of gold.

400
00:29:03,942 --> 00:29:05,142
Isn't that a camp?

401
00:29:05,243 --> 00:29:08,345
All this dish put me
on the kick, you know?

402
00:29:08,446 --> 00:29:11,281
I can't see spending
all that loot for drag.

403
00:29:11,382 --> 00:29:13,751
Those lucky bums got
everything for nothing.

404
00:29:16,121 --> 00:29:19,823
CLAUDE: There was once a
place called Brooks Costumes.

405
00:29:21,826 --> 00:29:25,362
Brooks Costumes was
the biggest contributor

406
00:29:25,463 --> 00:29:29,266
to drag queenism in America.

407
00:29:29,367 --> 00:29:33,604
There's a picture in my mind of
Josephine, and he went in there

408
00:29:33,705 --> 00:29:37,841
and waited till the owner of
the place went to the back

409
00:29:37,942 --> 00:29:39,843
to take a leak.

410
00:29:39,944 --> 00:29:44,882
And he went in and grabbed this
enormous white ostrich feather

411
00:29:44,983 --> 00:29:46,283
fan.

412
00:29:46,384 --> 00:29:53,357
Picture a 5 foot 9, Hispanic man
with no eyebrows running down

413
00:29:53,458 --> 00:29:59,163
the street with a white
ostrich fan that was taller

414
00:29:59,264 --> 00:29:59,963
than he was.

415
00:30:04,836 --> 00:30:07,237
No, [inaudible], I don't think.

416
00:30:35,033 --> 00:30:38,068
ACTOR AS JO BAKER:
November 19, 1957.

417
00:30:38,169 --> 00:30:43,841
Dear Reno... oh, last night I
was coming home in the rain,

418
00:30:43,942 --> 00:30:47,611
and this kid followed me with
an umbrella and a suitcase.

419
00:30:47,712 --> 00:30:51,715
So I stopped, got under the
umbrella with him not bothered,

420
00:30:51,816 --> 00:30:53,383
and started to dish.

421
00:30:53,484 --> 00:30:56,553
Well, anyway, he's
my neighbor, and he's

422
00:30:56,654 --> 00:30:59,289
in this play "My Fair Lady."

423
00:30:59,390 --> 00:31:00,991
Isn't that a flip?

424
00:31:01,092 --> 00:31:01,992
He's a little gay.

425
00:31:03,828 --> 00:31:05,596
I think he could be a
stead bang or something.

426
00:31:05,697 --> 00:31:07,130
I called Billy Baker.

427
00:31:07,232 --> 00:31:09,366
She surprised you
haven't written her.

428
00:31:09,467 --> 00:31:11,702
She's my silver bugle
sheath for Phil's.

429
00:31:13,605 --> 00:31:14,838
Love, Jo Baker.

430
00:31:17,675 --> 00:31:23,347
Josephine had Billy Baker
make him a silver lame

431
00:31:23,448 --> 00:31:29,653
and rhinestone dress with
fringe that hung down,

432
00:31:29,754 --> 00:31:31,588
whatnot, and the fan.

433
00:31:34,826 --> 00:31:36,627
You could see him clear
across the ballroom.

434
00:31:38,796 --> 00:31:39,963
ACTOR AS BILLY
BAKER: Dear Reno...

435
00:31:40,064 --> 00:31:42,966
I've been very busy
with Josephine's dress.

436
00:31:43,067 --> 00:31:44,968
It came out sensational.

437
00:31:45,069 --> 00:31:46,937
I could not get to
see her that night,

438
00:31:47,038 --> 00:31:48,805
but I heard from Daphne
she looked gorgeous.

439
00:31:51,309 --> 00:31:54,111
The drag was supposed
to be on a stick.

440
00:31:54,212 --> 00:31:55,946
Take good care and write soon.

441
00:31:56,047 --> 00:31:58,115
Always, your friend, Billy.

442
00:31:59,417 --> 00:32:05,656
Billy Baker... his real
name was Billy Norton Jr.

443
00:32:05,757 --> 00:32:07,991
LENNIE: He was a very
good dress maker.

444
00:32:08,092 --> 00:32:08,992
He made a few of mine.

445
00:32:10,428 --> 00:32:14,765
They were spectacular
beaded gowns, just brilliant.

446
00:32:14,866 --> 00:32:19,069
I inherited one from Lynn
Carter, which I treasured.

447
00:32:23,608 --> 00:32:28,712
I met Billy because Billy
could sew and sew well.

448
00:32:28,813 --> 00:32:33,817
He had a sewing machine, and he
would make a living doing that.

449
00:32:33,885 --> 00:32:38,322
He will make you a
knock-out dress for $10.

450
00:32:41,893 --> 00:32:43,427
They were lined up
around the block.

451
00:32:45,463 --> 00:32:46,663
ACTOR AS BILLY BAKER:
Please forgive me

452
00:32:46,764 --> 00:32:49,599
for writing this in pencil,
but I'm at my new place

453
00:32:49,701 --> 00:32:51,935
and didn't even
have writing paper.

454
00:32:52,036 --> 00:32:54,871
I am very happy to hear
that you are working.

455
00:32:54,973 --> 00:32:57,307
I am also working.

456
00:32:57,408 --> 00:33:01,678
A dress designer I know got a
gorgeous seven-room apartment

457
00:33:01,779 --> 00:33:03,747
next to the Hotel Pierre.

458
00:33:03,848 --> 00:33:06,216
He's the one I'm working for.

459
00:33:06,317 --> 00:33:08,318
Always, your friend, Billy.

460
00:33:12,090 --> 00:33:16,526
Billy Baker,
Daphne, and Josephine,

461
00:33:16,627 --> 00:33:17,928
we were joined at the hip.

462
00:33:20,898 --> 00:33:21,965
We found each other.

463
00:33:23,334 --> 00:33:24,768
We found each other.

464
00:33:30,008 --> 00:33:34,144
We found where we all belonged,
and we belonged together.

465
00:33:36,881 --> 00:33:39,316
ACTOR AS BILLY BAKER: Well,
enough dishing for now.

466
00:33:39,384 --> 00:33:42,319
I'm putting a picture of
Josephine in this letter.

467
00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:45,889
I hope that you receive it
and someone doesn't mop on it.

468
00:33:45,990 --> 00:33:47,657
Your friend always, Billy.

469
00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:51,728
Oh my gosh.

470
00:33:54,932 --> 00:33:55,999
That's Josephine.

471
00:34:01,105 --> 00:34:06,777
I did his hair, the
wig for this dress.

472
00:34:06,878 --> 00:34:12,582
He stood there, and it was
nude chiffon with beads on it,

473
00:34:12,683 --> 00:34:18,221
a few beads on it, and white
draped over the breasts,

474
00:34:18,322 --> 00:34:22,559
over the hips, and over
the ass, and strategically

475
00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:26,630
placed so that you
couldn't really quite

476
00:34:26,731 --> 00:34:28,565
see what you needed to see.

477
00:34:30,101 --> 00:34:31,968
Josephine, oh my God.

478
00:34:44,348 --> 00:34:46,249
I think it was
[inaudible] apartment.

479
00:34:48,586 --> 00:34:50,921
You must always remember
that when you're dealing

480
00:34:51,022 --> 00:34:53,824
with drag queens in
situations like this,

481
00:34:53,925 --> 00:34:55,258
they can't dress at home.

482
00:34:57,995 --> 00:35:05,435
Him with his Spanish father
seeing his son walk out, no.

483
00:35:08,739 --> 00:35:10,040
Not happening.

484
00:35:23,921 --> 00:35:28,825
TERRY: I was born in
the east in a very small

485
00:35:28,926 --> 00:35:36,926
town with a population of 350.

486
00:35:37,735 --> 00:35:39,803
I never felt good about myself.

487
00:35:39,904 --> 00:35:44,474
I can remember being
embarrassed, terribly

488
00:35:44,575 --> 00:35:49,246
embarrassed and hating
myself because I

489
00:35:49,347 --> 00:35:50,547
wasn't like my brothers.

490
00:35:54,752 --> 00:36:00,023
When you grow up and
you have a father who

491
00:36:00,124 --> 00:36:02,559
says to you that
you're worthless,

492
00:36:02,660 --> 00:36:03,860
you're never going
to be anything,

493
00:36:03,961 --> 00:36:05,829
you're never going to
have a life, what are you?

494
00:36:05,930 --> 00:36:06,830
Who are you?

495
00:36:06,931 --> 00:36:08,231
I don't know you,
I wish you'd never

496
00:36:08,332 --> 00:36:10,467
been born, blah, blah, blah...

497
00:36:10,568 --> 00:36:12,702
If you're told that
long enough as a child,

498
00:36:12,803 --> 00:36:13,737
you start to believe it.

499
00:36:17,975 --> 00:36:21,444
I've always hated
myself to the point

500
00:36:21,546 --> 00:36:28,151
that it kills my
desire to do well.

501
00:36:28,252 --> 00:36:30,620
It sort of plays off on that.

502
00:36:30,721 --> 00:36:37,127
It sort of says, well, you're
not good enough to do this.

503
00:36:37,228 --> 00:36:39,029
You'll never... why
are you doing this?

504
00:36:39,130 --> 00:36:40,397
There's no point in that.

505
00:36:40,498 --> 00:36:42,966
You have to fight that, or I
had to fight that all the time

506
00:36:43,067 --> 00:36:47,871
constantly regardless of
whether I was in drag or out,

507
00:36:47,972 --> 00:36:51,141
you know, because I
didn't feel worthy.

508
00:36:51,242 --> 00:36:53,043
That's the word I'm looking for.

509
00:36:53,144 --> 00:36:56,012
I never felt worthy of anything.

510
00:37:01,252 --> 00:37:04,321
And whether it had anything
at all to do with my deciding

511
00:37:04,422 --> 00:37:07,257
to have the transition,
I don't know.

512
00:37:07,358 --> 00:37:08,959
I'm not smart
enough to know that.

513
00:37:12,230 --> 00:37:12,929
There.

514
00:37:15,566 --> 00:37:18,668
Not bad for an old man of 98...

515
00:37:18,769 --> 00:37:21,471
I'm not 98 for Christ's sake.

516
00:37:21,572 --> 00:37:22,739
What am I?

517
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:27,277
1990... I was born 1924.

518
00:37:27,378 --> 00:37:28,078
How old am I?

519
00:37:30,982 --> 00:37:32,449
Still got beautiful
legs, though.

520
00:37:36,287 --> 00:37:37,854
You realize how old am I?

521
00:37:37,955 --> 00:37:40,590
1924, quick.

522
00:37:40,691 --> 00:37:42,092
94.

523
00:37:42,193 --> 00:37:43,360
And I've lived here 64.

524
00:37:45,096 --> 00:37:48,098
And the landlord says when
is that old son of a bitch

525
00:37:48,199 --> 00:37:49,666
going to kick the
bucket? because he

526
00:37:49,767 --> 00:37:50,734
wants to get more money.

527
00:37:52,670 --> 00:37:57,007
Don't you think that
$256 a month is not fair?

528
00:38:07,151 --> 00:38:10,654
Tish, to me, is a nickname
because my last name

529
00:38:10,755 --> 00:38:11,621
is Tischette.

530
00:38:14,125 --> 00:38:15,659
So then when I was
working the nightclubs,

531
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:17,827
they said, oh, use Tish.

532
00:38:17,928 --> 00:38:19,596
You're going to wind
up using it anyway.

533
00:38:25,936 --> 00:38:28,004
I'm from Connecticut.

534
00:38:28,105 --> 00:38:31,808
I've got two sisters
and four brothers

535
00:38:31,909 --> 00:38:33,610
who are French Canadian.

536
00:38:33,711 --> 00:38:37,280
[french]

537
00:38:37,381 --> 00:38:39,849
First of all, I'm
the oldest one.

538
00:38:39,950 --> 00:38:42,819
When my father died,
he left me with five

539
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:45,522
brothers and sisters
younger than me,

540
00:38:45,623 --> 00:38:46,923
which meant I brought them up.

541
00:38:50,494 --> 00:38:55,231
And they all got married and got
lovely children and everything.

542
00:38:55,333 --> 00:38:56,199
I'm Uncle Joe.

543
00:38:57,768 --> 00:38:58,601
Hey, Uncle Joe.

544
00:38:58,703 --> 00:39:00,303
I said, where?

545
00:39:00,404 --> 00:39:03,840
And they say, oh, stop now
because they've all seen me.

546
00:39:03,941 --> 00:39:07,344
You know, they know what Uncle
Joe does or did because I've

547
00:39:07,445 --> 00:39:09,546
seen them in the audience, and
they've come to the audience

548
00:39:09,647 --> 00:39:10,347
to see me.

549
00:39:13,417 --> 00:39:18,154
ACTOR AS DAPHNE: Josephine got
me all hopped up on drag again.

550
00:39:18,255 --> 00:39:21,591
We were having coffee at the
Waldorf about 4 o'clock.

551
00:39:21,692 --> 00:39:24,194
And some butch-looking
rube comes over

552
00:39:24,295 --> 00:39:28,765
and asks us if we know where you
can get big-sized high heels.

553
00:39:30,701 --> 00:39:33,770
Well, that immediately
set the drag ball rolling.

554
00:39:33,871 --> 00:39:37,006
We were sitting with this
psychiatrist we met in the bar,

555
00:39:37,108 --> 00:39:39,175
much the eyeglass number.

556
00:39:39,276 --> 00:39:42,712
He's making a study of
characters like ourselves.

557
00:39:42,813 --> 00:39:44,114
Very nice, though.

558
00:39:44,215 --> 00:39:46,149
Bought us drinks and everything.

559
00:39:46,250 --> 00:39:48,718
He was giving us the whole
dish on the gay scene

560
00:39:48,819 --> 00:39:50,920
and the old Greek times.

561
00:39:51,021 --> 00:39:53,723
I'm sure I was born
in the wrong era.

562
00:39:53,824 --> 00:39:56,059
I think I would have mapped
much more in a toga than

563
00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:57,527
in nell pink tea pants.

564
00:39:59,663 --> 00:40:01,798
The scene was really
on in those days.

565
00:40:03,701 --> 00:40:05,335
As always, Daphne.

566
00:40:09,373 --> 00:40:11,775
The drag scene in the
1950s in New York would

567
00:40:11,876 --> 00:40:14,310
have largely been
private parties, which

568
00:40:14,412 --> 00:40:15,979
were high-risk activities.

569
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,948
Could have easily and
were frequently raided.

570
00:40:19,049 --> 00:40:21,050
I mean if you're just going
to make too much noise

571
00:40:21,152 --> 00:40:24,320
or if your neighbor saw these
oddly dressed people coming

572
00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:26,623
up and down the stairs, right?

573
00:40:26,724 --> 00:40:29,926
In bars and clubs, the
clubs it was happening in

574
00:40:30,027 --> 00:40:32,262
were primarily
heterosexual clubs

575
00:40:32,363 --> 00:40:35,231
that were protected by what
the old-time performers called

576
00:40:35,332 --> 00:40:36,032
the boys.

577
00:40:38,402 --> 00:40:40,470
There's something
we call a gay tax,

578
00:40:40,571 --> 00:40:44,274
and the gay tax is
because it is so desired.

579
00:40:44,375 --> 00:40:45,108
You pay more.

580
00:40:46,877 --> 00:40:48,545
So there was a heck
of a lot of money

581
00:40:48,646 --> 00:40:51,815
to be made in opening and
running these gay bars

582
00:40:51,916 --> 00:40:54,517
and also showcase
places like the 82.

583
00:40:56,921 --> 00:40:59,889
But it was illicit
money, so who does that?

584
00:40:59,990 --> 00:41:00,757
The mafia.

585
00:41:10,167 --> 00:41:12,802
No, when I came to New York,
I went to work in a nightclub

586
00:41:12,903 --> 00:41:16,339
called the Moroccan Village,
which was on 8th Street

587
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,107
and owned by the mafia.

588
00:41:20,945 --> 00:41:23,646
When I used to work in the
club and I sit back there

589
00:41:23,747 --> 00:41:25,882
and I look in the back and
I would see two or three

590
00:41:25,983 --> 00:41:29,219
guys sitting with the owner,
they were either the police

591
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,722
department or they were
guys from the mafia

592
00:41:32,823 --> 00:41:36,192
because the mafia had
their hands in everything.

593
00:41:38,562 --> 00:41:40,063
As long as they're
treated as well

594
00:41:40,164 --> 00:41:42,832
and they were content with
us, we were content with them.

595
00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:45,368
Well, we had to be content
with them, but you know.

596
00:41:47,571 --> 00:41:52,242
I think the mob saw it as
an easy money-making scheme

597
00:41:52,343 --> 00:41:55,512
because they didn't overpay us.

598
00:41:55,613 --> 00:41:57,046
You may be sure of that.

599
00:41:58,549 --> 00:42:03,253
And I think it was a good match
because the gay people were

600
00:42:03,354 --> 00:42:06,523
easy to control,
really, I would think,

601
00:42:06,624 --> 00:42:10,059
more so than an ordinary
group, wouldn't you say?

602
00:42:32,016 --> 00:42:34,751
JOE E. JEFFREYS: There are
certain performers today

603
00:42:34,852 --> 00:42:37,520
who were around in
the '50s and '60s

604
00:42:37,621 --> 00:42:40,823
who still get very upset
if you call drag queens.

605
00:42:40,925 --> 00:42:42,792
I was not a drag queen.

606
00:42:42,893 --> 00:42:44,661
I was a female impersonator.

607
00:42:44,762 --> 00:42:46,563
I was a female mimic.

608
00:42:46,664 --> 00:42:49,632
I was a female illusionist.

609
00:42:49,733 --> 00:42:52,135
A drag queen was somebody
who walked around

610
00:42:52,269 --> 00:42:55,572
the street in a dress
and may have been turning

611
00:42:55,673 --> 00:42:57,407
tricks or whatever, right?

612
00:42:57,508 --> 00:43:02,478
A female illusionist, female
impersonator, a female mimic

613
00:43:02,580 --> 00:43:03,279
was an artist.

614
00:43:04,748 --> 00:43:07,050
GEORGE: Glamorous
female impersonators...

615
00:43:07,151 --> 00:43:08,952
It was high gloves.

616
00:43:09,053 --> 00:43:10,086
It was boas.

617
00:43:10,187 --> 00:43:11,354
It was furs.

618
00:43:11,455 --> 00:43:13,222
It was heavy, chunky jewelry.

619
00:43:14,892 --> 00:43:15,925
You're a vocalist.

620
00:43:16,026 --> 00:43:17,794
You're a stripper.

621
00:43:17,895 --> 00:43:19,796
You had a craft that
you had perfected.

622
00:43:21,932 --> 00:43:24,233
ROBERT: I don't like the
word drag queen, actually.

623
00:43:24,335 --> 00:43:26,736
It was a detrimental term
to me from the beginning.

624
00:43:26,837 --> 00:43:30,273
And I use it myself now,
and I still don't like it,

625
00:43:30,374 --> 00:43:31,374
but everybody else does.

626
00:43:31,475 --> 00:43:33,977
So if it's acceptable,
I'll use it, you know,

627
00:43:34,078 --> 00:43:36,879
if it makes you understand
more what I'm talking about.

628
00:43:39,083 --> 00:43:40,883
I always call myself
a femme mimic.

629
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,287
A female impersonator got paid.

630
00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:47,390
We didn't get paid.

631
00:43:47,491 --> 00:43:49,892
Nobody gave us a dime.

632
00:43:49,994 --> 00:43:51,027
This was a freebie.

633
00:43:52,396 --> 00:43:57,133
Whatever drag we were
wearing we stole.

634
00:44:00,270 --> 00:44:01,037
That's it.

635
00:44:02,606 --> 00:44:03,306
We stole them.

636
00:44:04,875 --> 00:44:08,678
[music playing]

637
00:45:20,584 --> 00:45:21,284
Let's see.

638
00:45:31,095 --> 00:45:33,763
[laughter]

639
00:45:35,365 --> 00:45:38,034
JAMES: Somebody told
me about the 82 Club.

640
00:45:38,135 --> 00:45:40,937
And I auditioned,
and they hired me.

641
00:45:41,038 --> 00:45:42,472
And then they told
me I'd have to get

642
00:45:42,573 --> 00:45:48,311
a gimmick because I had a
little bulge in my [inaudible]..

643
00:45:57,054 --> 00:45:59,555
GEORGE: It was a very
plush, lush nightclub

644
00:45:59,656 --> 00:46:01,124
down on the Lower East Side.

645
00:46:01,225 --> 00:46:03,392
And it was a very
nondescript opening.

646
00:46:03,494 --> 00:46:08,331
It was just a canopy over
a double door with stairs

647
00:46:08,432 --> 00:46:10,099
that went downstairs.

648
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:11,667
It just goes way down.

649
00:46:11,769 --> 00:46:13,569
It just seems like
they go forever.

650
00:46:13,670 --> 00:46:14,937
And you are in a basement.

651
00:46:16,507 --> 00:46:19,642
GEORGE: And once you went down
the stairs, you had to walk

652
00:46:19,743 --> 00:46:21,911
into the club to see the stage.

653
00:46:22,012 --> 00:46:25,047
And the stage was sort of raised

654
00:46:25,149 --> 00:46:27,183
up in the middle of all this.

655
00:46:38,929 --> 00:46:41,264
Fabulous, it really was.

656
00:46:41,365 --> 00:46:45,301
They did about 10 acts,
and it was a funny show.

657
00:46:45,402 --> 00:46:47,103
The place was packed.

658
00:46:47,204 --> 00:46:49,539
TERRY: And there were
four dressing rooms, two

659
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:51,741
large ones and too small ones.

660
00:46:53,177 --> 00:46:54,744
You know, you would just come
in and put on your makeup

661
00:46:54,845 --> 00:46:56,813
and get in your costume and
wait for the show to start.

662
00:46:58,448 --> 00:47:01,818
We would walk up ramps
behind a closed curtain,

663
00:47:01,919 --> 00:47:05,121
and when the overture would
play, the curtains would open,

664
00:47:05,222 --> 00:47:06,689
and then the number would start.

665
00:47:23,874 --> 00:47:27,743
GEORGE: It was girls, drag
queens, and butch lesbians.

666
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,982
The butch lesbians were the
waiters in the nightclub.

667
00:47:33,083 --> 00:47:35,117
The real girls were in the show.

668
00:47:35,219 --> 00:47:38,321
Then the rest were drag queens.

669
00:47:38,422 --> 00:47:40,957
And we used our
own singing voices.

670
00:47:41,058 --> 00:47:44,360
If we sang like this, you
raised it an octave or two

671
00:47:44,461 --> 00:47:46,195
and sang like that.

672
00:47:46,296 --> 00:47:48,764
GEORGE: You had to
be a live performer.

673
00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:50,666
You were not
allowed to lip sync.

674
00:47:50,767 --> 00:47:53,703
You were not allowed
to impersonate

675
00:47:53,804 --> 00:47:55,371
another live performer.

676
00:48:02,679 --> 00:48:04,647
JOE E. JEFFREYS: There's
a long list of celebrities

677
00:48:04,748 --> 00:48:06,249
that came to the 82.

678
00:48:06,350 --> 00:48:08,084
You can hardly name
somebody who wasn't

679
00:48:08,185 --> 00:48:09,151
there at one time or another.

680
00:48:13,490 --> 00:48:17,760
TERRY: Liz Taylor, Richard
Burton, Warren Beatty.

681
00:48:17,861 --> 00:48:22,031
HENRY: Natalie Wood
and Debbie Reynolds.

682
00:48:22,132 --> 00:48:23,599
I mean, the Gabors came in.

683
00:48:23,700 --> 00:48:25,668
The Kennedys came in.

684
00:48:25,769 --> 00:48:28,237
TERRY: Judy, of
course, was there.

685
00:48:28,338 --> 00:48:30,706
Salvador Dali
would come in and do

686
00:48:30,807 --> 00:48:36,178
sketches on napkins and send
them in the back to Ella-Funt.

687
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:37,980
And Ella-Funt would go,
oh, what is this shit?

688
00:48:38,081 --> 00:48:39,482
She'd throw it and throw
it the garbage can.

689
00:48:39,583 --> 00:48:42,218
She must have thrown away over
200 Salvador Dali sketches.

690
00:49:14,251 --> 00:49:16,752
GEORGE: Adrian was
a show stopper.

691
00:49:16,853 --> 00:49:19,121
I mean, when she
concocted that act

692
00:49:19,222 --> 00:49:22,591
and brought out the head of St.
John the Baptist on a platter,

693
00:49:22,693 --> 00:49:23,526
people went insane.

694
00:49:23,627 --> 00:49:26,329
[applause]

695
00:49:28,298 --> 00:49:30,566
The audience was not very gay.

696
00:49:30,667 --> 00:49:33,035
It was all, like, tourists.

697
00:49:33,136 --> 00:49:34,437
The people that were
coming to the shows

698
00:49:34,538 --> 00:49:35,371
were your mom and dad.

699
00:49:37,307 --> 00:49:40,543
They were heterosexual
couples, by and large.

700
00:49:40,644 --> 00:49:42,611
They would bring through
literally tour buses.

701
00:49:47,384 --> 00:49:50,519
It was just people had
heard about this hootsie show

702
00:49:50,620 --> 00:49:53,622
where the women were all men.

703
00:49:53,724 --> 00:49:55,624
And the economics
of that had to do

704
00:49:55,726 --> 00:50:00,196
with straight people on a night
out gawking at gay people.

705
00:50:00,297 --> 00:50:01,664
HOST: Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

706
00:50:01,765 --> 00:50:02,598
Mr. Ty Bennett.

707
00:50:02,666 --> 00:50:03,532
[applause]

708
00:50:03,633 --> 00:50:04,867
TY BENNETT: I'm
quite sure you know

709
00:50:04,968 --> 00:50:06,569
your reputations were
shot to hell the minute

710
00:50:06,670 --> 00:50:08,004
you came in this joint.

711
00:50:08,105 --> 00:50:09,405
So now that you're
here, relax and enjoy

712
00:50:09,506 --> 00:50:11,173
it or we'll lock the doors
and make you one of us

713
00:50:11,274 --> 00:50:12,274
or just make you.

714
00:50:12,376 --> 00:50:13,376
I think that's what
the hell you all need.

715
00:50:13,477 --> 00:50:14,176
I'm not sure.

716
00:50:14,277 --> 00:50:15,011
You know what they say.

717
00:50:15,112 --> 00:50:17,313
If you can't lick 'em join em.

718
00:50:17,414 --> 00:50:19,081
I licked them and I joined
them, and here I am.

719
00:50:19,182 --> 00:50:21,150
[laughter]

720
00:50:21,251 --> 00:50:25,121
It was hard to watch because
the drag queens would circulate

721
00:50:25,222 --> 00:50:28,224
in the crowd at certain
points in the show,

722
00:50:28,325 --> 00:50:31,427
and the guys much more than
the women... the guys were like,

723
00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:33,362
[gasp], don't touch me.

724
00:50:33,463 --> 00:50:36,565
You know, I mean,
very visceral kind

725
00:50:36,666 --> 00:50:42,905
of reactions where you could
see the stigma in the air.

726
00:50:43,006 --> 00:50:43,739
You know, it was visible.

727
00:50:45,842 --> 00:50:48,644
So it was a performance
by stigmatized people

728
00:50:48,745 --> 00:50:52,114
for the normals.

729
00:50:58,321 --> 00:51:03,359
In spite of being mob run,
we all felt rather protected.

730
00:51:05,529 --> 00:51:07,296
ESTHER NEWTON: It was a
way for them to survive.

731
00:51:07,397 --> 00:51:11,067
I mean, survival in this
world was a big deal.

732
00:51:11,168 --> 00:51:12,802
It wasn't something you
could take for granted.

733
00:51:14,371 --> 00:51:17,406
TERRY: The general
manager at the 82 Club

734
00:51:17,507 --> 00:51:19,542
who was Pete Petillo.

735
00:51:19,643 --> 00:51:22,044
His sister was Anna.

736
00:51:22,145 --> 00:51:25,448
She was married
to Vito Genovese.

737
00:51:25,549 --> 00:51:27,216
GEORGE: Who I later found
out was the head of the mob

738
00:51:27,317 --> 00:51:29,285
of New York and New Jersey.

739
00:51:29,386 --> 00:51:30,553
It was Anna's club.

740
00:51:32,823 --> 00:51:35,458
TERRY: Anna was a
very nice person.

741
00:51:35,559 --> 00:51:38,194
She and I got along
very well together,

742
00:51:38,295 --> 00:51:40,696
and she did good things for me.

743
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:45,267
I tried to be a gay man.

744
00:51:46,870 --> 00:51:49,105
I couldn't be a gay
man because I didn't...

745
00:51:51,041 --> 00:51:54,143
I wasn't attracted
to gay men sexually.

746
00:51:56,980 --> 00:52:02,885
So I thought, well, then
let's do this transition

747
00:52:02,986 --> 00:52:04,520
because that's the
only way you're

748
00:52:04,621 --> 00:52:07,456
going to have any peace in
your life in the years to come.

749
00:52:09,759 --> 00:52:11,727
I had been at the 82
for a couple of years

750
00:52:11,828 --> 00:52:16,332
before I even started thinking
about making my transition.

751
00:52:18,168 --> 00:52:24,240
And I didn't feel like I could
afford to go to the transgender

752
00:52:24,341 --> 00:52:26,142
guru of the time.

753
00:52:26,243 --> 00:52:28,444
And apparently I
told that to Anna

754
00:52:28,545 --> 00:52:31,680
because she said, well, I'll
send you to my personal doctor.

755
00:52:33,550 --> 00:52:35,151
He's over in Brooklyn.

756
00:52:35,252 --> 00:52:36,552
I'll send you over there.

757
00:52:38,455 --> 00:52:42,258
I went, and he treated
me for 18 months.

758
00:52:42,359 --> 00:52:46,695
And he would give me
a shot once a week

759
00:52:46,796 --> 00:52:51,734
and give me the pills
you take every day,

760
00:52:51,835 --> 00:52:54,270
and he didn't charge me a cent.

761
00:52:54,371 --> 00:52:57,139
Not only that, he
arranged for my surgery.

762
00:52:59,709 --> 00:53:03,245
I took two years of
thinking about it.

763
00:53:03,346 --> 00:53:06,215
I took the hormones
for 18 months

764
00:53:06,316 --> 00:53:09,919
before I decided
whether to do it or not.

765
00:53:10,020 --> 00:53:14,456
You see, there were some
who thought, you know,

766
00:53:14,558 --> 00:53:18,160
that it was just the worst
thing you could do because they

767
00:53:18,261 --> 00:53:23,532
called it self-mutilation,
and they dug up

768
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:25,768
words like that to describe it.

769
00:53:25,869 --> 00:53:32,441
But I thought, yeah, maybe,
but it's going to allow

770
00:53:32,542 --> 00:53:34,843
me to have the life I want.

771
00:53:34,945 --> 00:53:37,413
So to me, it's not mutilation.

772
00:53:37,514 --> 00:53:45,514
It's rearrangement so that I
can live my life as I wish.

773
00:53:56,266 --> 00:53:59,902
ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
February 7, 1958.

774
00:54:00,003 --> 00:54:01,904
Reno Zambambansteen.

775
00:54:03,607 --> 00:54:07,142
Well, here's Hedda again
giving you the latest dish.

776
00:54:07,244 --> 00:54:10,379
This lady is a tramp,
but unlike the song,

777
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:14,183
she does dish the dirt
with the rest of the girls.

778
00:54:14,284 --> 00:54:16,518
There's a young
ex-Marine beauty working

779
00:54:16,620 --> 00:54:18,520
here out on the platform.

780
00:54:18,622 --> 00:54:20,055
I think he digs me.

781
00:54:20,156 --> 00:54:22,491
He's staring at me right now.

782
00:54:22,592 --> 00:54:26,061
Maybe it's the paint
I'm wearing, full face.

783
00:54:26,162 --> 00:54:28,430
He said hello today
when he came in.

784
00:54:28,531 --> 00:54:29,231
I nearly fainted.

785
00:54:30,634 --> 00:54:32,635
I thought he didn't like me.

786
00:54:32,736 --> 00:54:34,270
As always, Daphne.

787
00:54:41,344 --> 00:54:43,979
A lot of other more
gender-conforming gay people

788
00:54:44,080 --> 00:54:45,748
were kind of horrified
that all straight

789
00:54:45,849 --> 00:54:48,017
people would think this is
what all gay people were like.

790
00:54:49,386 --> 00:54:50,919
REPORTER: What do
other homosexuals think

791
00:54:51,021 --> 00:54:53,088
about the so-called queens?

792
00:54:53,223 --> 00:54:54,957
What are their feelings
about themselves

793
00:54:55,058 --> 00:54:56,058
and their place in society?

794
00:54:58,295 --> 00:55:00,696
We think the swish or the queen

795
00:55:00,797 --> 00:55:03,932
represents actually a
small minority within

796
00:55:04,034 --> 00:55:06,602
the whole homosexual grouping.

797
00:55:06,703 --> 00:55:10,506
But to the public, this
is the stereotyped view

798
00:55:10,607 --> 00:55:13,575
or picture by which all
homosexuals are judged,

799
00:55:13,677 --> 00:55:14,376
it seems.

800
00:55:15,745 --> 00:55:18,547
These people actually,
in most cases,

801
00:55:18,648 --> 00:55:22,184
are not even liked by the rest
of their homosexual brethren

802
00:55:22,285 --> 00:55:25,921
because they have perhaps
rejected themselves,

803
00:55:26,022 --> 00:55:28,757
and they feel that
society has rejected them.

804
00:55:30,727 --> 00:55:33,162
Drag queens were
revered and reviled.

805
00:55:34,597 --> 00:55:38,334
It was a form of embodiment
of what gay people loved

806
00:55:38,435 --> 00:55:41,337
about being gay and
what people hated

807
00:55:41,438 --> 00:55:43,839
themselves for about being gay.

808
00:55:45,608 --> 00:55:46,475
ACTOR AS CHARLIE: Dear Reno...

809
00:55:48,178 --> 00:55:50,346
As you must know by
now, Jo and I have not

810
00:55:50,447 --> 00:55:52,281
been seeing much of each other.

811
00:55:52,382 --> 00:55:54,616
When we do, it's on the sneak.

812
00:55:54,684 --> 00:55:57,152
Her sister and brother caught
us at the diner one night,

813
00:55:57,253 --> 00:56:00,622
and they both laid Jo out
about being seen with me.

814
00:56:00,724 --> 00:56:05,194
She told Jo to stay away from
me because I look like a girl.

815
00:56:05,295 --> 00:56:08,564
So now when I call, I
have to give a phony name.

816
00:56:08,665 --> 00:56:10,265
Your friend always, Charlie.

817
00:56:55,545 --> 00:56:58,747
[italian singing]

818
00:57:31,748 --> 00:57:33,882
ACTOR: Jerry's in
jail for four months.

819
00:57:33,983 --> 00:57:36,618
She was caught in drag
at the Wagon Wheel.

820
00:57:36,719 --> 00:57:38,253
Her friend Shelly
was working there

821
00:57:38,354 --> 00:57:40,055
in drag as the hatcheck girl.

822
00:57:40,156 --> 00:57:41,857
She's that pale redhead.

823
00:57:41,958 --> 00:57:43,158
Remember her?

824
00:57:43,259 --> 00:57:45,194
She's always in the can too.

825
00:57:45,295 --> 00:57:47,362
The cops had known Jerry.

826
00:57:47,464 --> 00:57:49,064
She was sitting at
a table with Shelly

827
00:57:49,165 --> 00:57:50,933
when the bulls pinched her.

828
00:57:51,034 --> 00:57:53,202
They never knew a
girlfriend was a fraud too.

829
00:57:54,737 --> 00:57:55,971
Poor Jerry.

830
00:57:56,072 --> 00:57:57,005
She'll be out in the spring.

831
00:59:38,241 --> 00:59:42,511
Choosing to even temporarily
give up the power that

832
00:59:42,612 --> 00:59:47,916
was invested in them by
being born men was huge,

833
00:59:48,017 --> 00:59:52,955
but it also kind of
challenged the whole concept

834
00:59:53,056 --> 00:59:53,889
of patriarchy.

835
00:59:55,291 --> 01:00:02,197
When girls take on boys
roles, we call them tomboys,

836
01:00:02,298 --> 01:00:04,032
and we admire them.

837
01:00:04,133 --> 01:00:07,235
But the boy who is a sissy
is always stigmatized,

838
01:00:07,337 --> 01:00:09,905
and it has something
to do with stepping

839
01:00:10,006 --> 01:00:15,043
out of a role that is
associated with a certain kind

840
01:00:15,144 --> 01:00:15,844
of privilege.

841
01:00:15,945 --> 01:00:16,878
Why would you do that?

842
01:00:16,980 --> 01:00:17,679
You must be sick.

843
01:00:19,882 --> 01:00:21,583
And I think that
for many Americans,

844
01:00:21,684 --> 01:00:25,954
that was very disturbing,
and the evidence is

845
01:00:26,055 --> 01:00:28,523
its association or its
understanding as a kind

846
01:00:28,625 --> 01:00:31,560
of pathology, a mental illness.

847
01:00:35,865 --> 01:00:40,535
They shipped me to a place
called Bellevue Hospital.

848
01:00:43,239 --> 01:00:45,273
By then I was closing in on 16.

849
01:00:47,043 --> 01:00:55,043
And they put me in a place
called PQ5, the whacko ward,

850
01:00:55,284 --> 01:00:56,618
because I was gay.

851
01:01:06,095 --> 01:01:10,165
And every day I had to
have a sit-down session

852
01:01:10,266 --> 01:01:14,603
with the shrink, and
all they wanted to do

853
01:01:14,704 --> 01:01:15,537
is get their paycheck.

854
01:01:17,173 --> 01:01:20,475
Well, why did you run away,
blah, blah, blah, blah?

855
01:01:20,576 --> 01:01:22,711
Because I wasn't having
a whole lot of fun

856
01:01:22,812 --> 01:01:24,413
being beaten up every day.

857
01:01:24,514 --> 01:01:25,213
That's why.

858
01:01:27,917 --> 01:01:35,857
They finally released me
because after a certain point,

859
01:01:35,958 --> 01:01:37,092
they can't keep you.

860
01:01:37,193 --> 01:01:39,461
I haven't done
anything but run away.

861
01:01:41,230 --> 01:01:46,168
The only phone number I could
remember was Bobby Perez.

862
01:01:46,269 --> 01:01:48,303
Bobby Perez was Josephine Baker.

863
01:01:50,973 --> 01:01:51,973
Tell me where to meet you.

864
01:01:52,075 --> 01:01:54,276
She said, tell me
where to meet you.

865
01:01:54,377 --> 01:01:57,979
And I hooked up again with
Josephine and with Daphne

866
01:01:58,081 --> 01:02:03,752
and with Billy Baker,
and then I started

867
01:02:03,853 --> 01:02:08,423
turning tricks because I had
no other source of income.

868
01:02:13,496 --> 01:02:14,963
So I had to.

869
01:02:15,064 --> 01:02:19,234
It was a matter of, well, do
you want to be hungry or you

870
01:02:19,335 --> 01:02:20,669
do not want to be hungry?

871
01:02:20,770 --> 01:02:21,470
Pick one.

872
01:02:23,673 --> 01:02:26,408
And then I found out
that I could make lots

873
01:02:26,509 --> 01:02:30,312
more money if I did it in drag.

874
01:02:37,653 --> 01:02:40,355
ACTOR: Claudia's back on
the scene with Josephine.

875
01:02:40,456 --> 01:02:45,460
They mopped four paste-ons from
the Metropolitan Opera House.

876
01:02:45,561 --> 01:02:48,530
They sold one to Terry,
one to Ricky from Brooklyn,

877
01:02:48,631 --> 01:02:50,065
and kept the other two.

878
01:02:57,774 --> 01:02:58,473
Oh.

879
01:03:48,024 --> 01:03:49,558
ACTOR AS JOSEPHINE
BAKER: Dear René...

880
01:03:49,659 --> 01:03:52,694
Well, the latest
seed was that Claudia

881
01:03:52,795 --> 01:03:55,430
and I mopped at the Met.

882
01:03:55,531 --> 01:03:56,832
Ha!

883
01:03:56,933 --> 01:04:00,635
35 paste-ons, all
gorgeous... white,

884
01:04:00,736 --> 01:04:03,972
red, brown, black,
every color you

885
01:04:04,073 --> 01:04:05,874
could think of, the end wigs.

886
01:04:07,376 --> 01:04:10,078
There's a white one
that's down to the ass.

887
01:04:10,146 --> 01:04:13,849
Most of them flew
already for $75 or $50.

888
01:04:13,950 --> 01:04:17,552
I have a blonde paste-on
ponytail that's fab.

889
01:04:17,653 --> 01:04:19,054
Ah!

890
01:04:19,155 --> 01:04:21,890
Well, I'm going to bed
now, so write soon.

891
01:04:21,991 --> 01:04:22,691
Good night.

892
01:04:22,792 --> 01:04:23,825
Josephine Baker.

893
01:04:25,795 --> 01:04:28,597
PS... burn this letter please.

894
01:04:28,698 --> 01:04:29,998
That Met scene
was in the papers.

895
01:04:31,634 --> 01:04:32,334
Don't dish.

896
01:04:34,704 --> 01:04:37,072
We were working again at
Loew's State on Broadway,

897
01:04:37,173 --> 01:04:39,875
and Josephine Baker came
backstage with another queen

898
01:04:39,976 --> 01:04:43,211
named Claudia with
this bag of wigs,

899
01:04:43,312 --> 01:04:46,848
beautiful lace-front
wigs, which are the most

900
01:04:46,949 --> 01:04:48,283
expensive kind of wigs.

901
01:04:51,621 --> 01:04:53,622
So a lot of the
people in the show

902
01:04:53,723 --> 01:04:56,291
bought wigs because
they were expensive wigs

903
01:04:56,392 --> 01:04:57,759
selling for much less.

904
01:04:59,095 --> 01:05:02,564
You could buy, you know,
$1,000 wig for $70.

905
01:05:02,665 --> 01:05:04,532
So we immediately...
I bought one,

906
01:05:04,634 --> 01:05:06,935
Lynn Carter brought one,
a few of the other people.

907
01:05:08,337 --> 01:05:11,673
Two days later, the
police come back stage.

908
01:05:33,396 --> 01:05:35,263
Of course, we didn't know
where the wigs were from.

909
01:05:35,364 --> 01:05:39,634
So they arrested everyone who
had bought a wig on possession

910
01:05:39,735 --> 01:05:40,502
of stolen property.

911
01:05:43,072 --> 01:05:44,172
We went to jail.

912
01:05:48,144 --> 01:05:50,946
[sirens]

913
01:05:53,015 --> 01:05:55,951
INTERVIEWER: Police have
recovered 17 of the 33 wigs

914
01:05:56,052 --> 01:05:58,453
allegedly stolen from
the Metropolitan Opera

915
01:05:58,554 --> 01:06:01,589
three months ago by two
young men who sold them

916
01:06:01,691 --> 01:06:04,459
for fancy dress-ball adornment.

917
01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:08,897
Police revealed Wednesday that
the arrest of Robert Perez, 23,

918
01:06:08,998 --> 01:06:13,301
hairdresser, and Claudia Diaz,
22, a waiter, for burglary

919
01:06:13,402 --> 01:06:15,470
in connection with
the wig lifting.

920
01:06:15,571 --> 01:06:17,706
According to authorities,
Perez and Diaz

921
01:06:17,807 --> 01:06:20,976
heard about a gay Thanksgiving
costume ball in Harlem

922
01:06:21,077 --> 01:06:25,413
and decided to get the wig
concession by hook or crook.

923
01:06:25,514 --> 01:06:28,683
They gained entry into the Met
by imitating ballet dancers

924
01:06:28,784 --> 01:06:32,420
arriving for a rehearsal
and danced off with $3,000

925
01:06:32,521 --> 01:06:33,488
worth of headpieces.

926
01:06:33,589 --> 01:06:34,289
Yes.

927
01:06:40,196 --> 01:06:45,567
One, we did not get
in with the dancers.

928
01:06:48,671 --> 01:06:51,373
They still don't know
how we got in there.

929
01:06:51,474 --> 01:06:52,941
Do you have a piece
of paper and a pencil?

930
01:06:55,478 --> 01:07:01,449
These were all gates, and
each one of these gates

931
01:07:01,550 --> 01:07:03,084
was enormous.

932
01:07:03,185 --> 01:07:07,422
Each one had a lock,
and they used to use

933
01:07:07,523 --> 01:07:10,125
these to move in scenery.

934
01:07:11,894 --> 01:07:19,894
Some idiot in this thing didn't
have the brains to make sure

935
01:07:21,670 --> 01:07:27,108
that they were locked,
and the one in the middle

936
01:07:27,209 --> 01:07:28,209
was left unlocked.

937
01:07:32,515 --> 01:07:34,049
And then we went up the stairs.

938
01:07:35,818 --> 01:07:41,056
And after the last steps,
I was standing stage level,

939
01:07:41,157 --> 01:07:45,560
and I stepped out onto the
stage of the Metropolitan Opera

940
01:07:45,661 --> 01:07:50,465
House, and I stood there looking
up at that enormous chandelier,

941
01:07:50,566 --> 01:07:52,200
and I got my cookies off.

942
01:07:54,003 --> 01:07:54,702
I did.

943
01:07:54,804 --> 01:07:56,871
I got my cookies off.

944
01:07:56,972 --> 01:07:59,107
Josephine said,
what are you doing?

945
01:07:59,208 --> 01:08:04,379
I said I am saving this memory.

946
01:08:04,480 --> 01:08:05,447
That's what I'm doing.

947
01:08:08,050 --> 01:08:09,918
We went upstairs
one more flight,

948
01:08:10,019 --> 01:08:13,288
and it was the wig room,
and I kicked the door open.

949
01:08:15,891 --> 01:08:17,759
We went out the
same way we came in.

950
01:08:19,562 --> 01:08:20,261
Very simple.

951
01:08:22,331 --> 01:08:25,266
We started selling some of them,
the ones that we didn't want.

952
01:08:27,803 --> 01:08:28,903
Some were in Brooklyn.

953
01:08:29,004 --> 01:08:30,305
Some were in New Jersey.

954
01:08:30,406 --> 01:08:32,140
Some were the Jewel Box Revues.

955
01:08:32,241 --> 01:08:33,908
Some were at the 82 Clubs.

956
01:08:35,744 --> 01:08:40,582
And one idiot ratting
out the whole thing.

957
01:08:40,683 --> 01:08:45,453
We gave them back
synthetic, cheap wigs,

958
01:08:45,554 --> 01:08:47,455
and cops didn't
know the difference.

959
01:08:53,095 --> 01:08:54,863
So the best they
could do was the guys

960
01:08:54,964 --> 01:09:02,737
for breaking and entering, which
is a year at Rikers Island,

961
01:09:02,838 --> 01:09:04,639
which is a whole other thing.

962
01:09:09,512 --> 01:09:14,382
This wig I'm holding here was
part of "Rigoletto," the opera.

963
01:09:16,719 --> 01:09:18,520
This is a 60-year-old.

964
01:09:18,621 --> 01:09:20,155
INTERVIEWER: Why do
you still have it?

965
01:09:23,325 --> 01:09:29,430
Part ego, part
here New York police.

966
01:09:31,167 --> 01:09:35,670
You couldn't find your
way out of a closet,

967
01:09:35,771 --> 01:09:40,808
and two faggots have both
outsmarted all of you,

968
01:09:40,910 --> 01:09:43,478
and you still don't
know how we got in.

969
01:09:47,616 --> 01:09:50,685
ACTOR AS JOSEPHINE:
October 27, 1957.

970
01:09:50,786 --> 01:09:54,455
Dear Reno... well, the
ball is this Friday

971
01:09:54,557 --> 01:09:57,926
at the MacAlpin Hotel, and
I don't know what to wear.

972
01:09:58,027 --> 01:10:00,228
I have a blonde
wig that's the end.

973
01:10:00,329 --> 01:10:02,964
And I want to pull a blond
scene with a blue dress,

974
01:10:03,065 --> 01:10:07,235
but I heard everybody will be
there, so I'll wear the gold.

975
01:10:07,336 --> 01:10:09,137
Well, that's all the
dish for a while.

976
01:10:09,238 --> 01:10:10,905
I have to start
douching for tonight,

977
01:10:11,006 --> 01:10:12,907
and I have to cut my
lashes now before I forget.

978
01:10:13,008 --> 01:10:14,909
Write me soon.

979
01:10:15,010 --> 01:10:16,878
Love always, Josephine.

980
01:10:20,516 --> 01:10:24,118
A drag ball is
when a party is held

981
01:10:24,220 --> 01:10:27,322
and everybody comes dressed
as the opposite sex.

982
01:10:31,827 --> 01:10:38,299
There were maybe 10 or
12 different drag balls.

983
01:10:40,769 --> 01:10:43,638
A special permit that would
allow this type of thing

984
01:10:43,739 --> 01:10:46,341
to happen for one
night at that venue.

985
01:10:48,143 --> 01:10:52,380
CLAUDE: And what they were
were an excuse for all of us

986
01:10:52,481 --> 01:10:56,851
to get into drag, and we did.

987
01:10:59,088 --> 01:11:00,788
We took advantage of it.

988
01:11:00,889 --> 01:11:03,591
ACTOR AS CHARLIE:
August 3, 1961.

989
01:11:03,692 --> 01:11:08,763
Dear Reno... well, there's
two drags the same night,

990
01:11:08,864 --> 01:11:11,532
Mickey Marlowe's and Daisies.

991
01:11:11,634 --> 01:11:14,335
Marlow got a fantastic
ballroom with water

992
01:11:14,436 --> 01:11:15,870
fountains and chandeliers.

993
01:11:15,971 --> 01:11:18,106
It's really gorgeous.

994
01:11:18,207 --> 01:11:21,276
Daisies got her permit
already and the ballroom.

995
01:11:21,377 --> 01:11:24,612
She's not dishing yet
where it's going to be.

996
01:11:24,713 --> 01:11:26,714
I'd love to make them both.

997
01:11:26,815 --> 01:11:28,316
Do you think it's possible?

998
01:11:28,417 --> 01:11:30,551
If I don't lose 30 pounds,
I'm not going to none of them

999
01:11:30,653 --> 01:11:31,686
in drag.

1000
01:11:31,787 --> 01:11:33,554
I'll just go painted.

1001
01:11:33,656 --> 01:11:34,656
Love, Charlie.

1002
01:11:41,330 --> 01:11:44,532
Yeah, Dayzee Dee's
Thanksgiving Eve Costume Ball.

1003
01:11:47,936 --> 01:11:55,843
My drag name is Dayzee
Dee, and I ran those balls

1004
01:11:55,944 --> 01:11:57,345
for seven or eight years.

1005
01:11:59,081 --> 01:12:04,585
The very first ball, I
printed 1,500 tickets.

1006
01:12:04,687 --> 01:12:09,157
I figured if we sell 600
or 700, we'll be lucky.

1007
01:12:09,258 --> 01:12:16,764
That ball, we had between 1,2000
and 1,500 the very first year.

1008
01:12:16,865 --> 01:12:20,101
GEORGE: This picture here
is when we went to Dayzee

1009
01:12:20,202 --> 01:12:22,070
Dee's ball in Brooklyn.

1010
01:12:22,171 --> 01:12:25,873
That's Bubbles and me
and Brandi Alexander.

1011
01:12:25,974 --> 01:12:26,841
It was a fun night.

1012
01:12:28,744 --> 01:12:31,879
TERRY: Everybody who was
anybody in the drag world went.

1013
01:12:35,751 --> 01:12:36,851
LENNIE: There I am on stage.

1014
01:12:40,022 --> 01:12:42,290
This is what Billy
Baker made for me.

1015
01:12:42,391 --> 01:12:43,191
That was in '62.

1016
01:12:48,464 --> 01:12:50,531
Here's Tish, me and Tish.

1017
01:12:54,970 --> 01:12:56,771
It was elegant, number one.

1018
01:12:56,872 --> 01:12:59,173
It wasn't draggy,
draggy, faggy, faggy.

1019
01:13:00,642 --> 01:13:02,276
They were giving
out first prizes

1020
01:13:02,378 --> 01:13:05,380
for the most beautiful wardrobe,
first prize for the most

1021
01:13:05,481 --> 01:13:06,881
beautiful hairstyle.

1022
01:13:06,982 --> 01:13:08,216
Everything was elegant.

1023
01:13:09,818 --> 01:13:12,520
CLAUDE: Everybody walked
around and paraded.

1024
01:13:12,621 --> 01:13:18,292
It was like somebody had
opened a gigantic pair of doors

1025
01:13:18,394 --> 01:13:23,798
and threw them open, and
all these crazy people

1026
01:13:23,899 --> 01:13:30,204
and the way they looked
were suddenly filling...

1027
01:13:30,305 --> 01:13:34,942
Literally filling this
gigantic place in drag.

1028
01:13:40,382 --> 01:13:42,450
And at the end
we'd see which one we

1029
01:13:42,551 --> 01:13:44,852
would name the queen of the
ball or the king of the ball

1030
01:13:44,953 --> 01:13:45,653
or whatever.

1031
01:13:47,956 --> 01:13:52,860
Terry Noel, she came to
my ball and won first prize.

1032
01:13:52,961 --> 01:13:55,096
She was beautiful,
very beautiful.

1033
01:13:57,833 --> 01:13:58,699
It was really fun.

1034
01:14:04,006 --> 01:14:07,475
Dayzee's drag ball was
not the only drag ball.

1035
01:14:12,614 --> 01:14:15,016
GEORGE CHAUNCEY: In Harlem,
there was a very vibrant

1036
01:14:15,117 --> 01:14:17,585
gay society, as they called it.

1037
01:14:17,686 --> 01:14:21,389
It was a very visible
culture, especially

1038
01:14:21,490 --> 01:14:22,757
in the African American press.

1039
01:14:26,995 --> 01:14:28,663
MICHAEL HENRY ADAMS: You
know, you had all these spots

1040
01:14:28,797 --> 01:14:31,065
in Harlem that were
known to be patronized

1041
01:14:31,133 --> 01:14:35,570
by gays and as much
gay activity in Harlem

1042
01:14:35,671 --> 01:14:37,205
as you had in Greenwich Village.

1043
01:14:38,774 --> 01:14:43,678
And the thing that struck
me was the discovery

1044
01:14:43,779 --> 01:14:46,948
that the most
luminous luminaries

1045
01:14:47,049 --> 01:14:49,383
of the Harlem Renaissance
were all gay and lesbian.

1046
01:15:12,007 --> 01:15:13,241
ACTOR AS DAPHNE: Dear Reno...

1047
01:15:13,342 --> 01:15:16,244
All the queens are
selling for Phil Black's.

1048
01:15:16,345 --> 01:15:17,979
It will be at the
Rockland Palace.

1049
01:15:18,080 --> 01:15:19,547
Where else?

1050
01:15:19,648 --> 01:15:22,817
There are so many
new nels in town.

1051
01:15:22,918 --> 01:15:27,255
But as Josephine says, they all
fade into the crowd at a drag.

1052
01:15:27,356 --> 01:15:29,891
I'm going to paint
like crazy tonight.

1053
01:15:29,992 --> 01:15:32,059
Nobody even noticed
me last night.

1054
01:15:32,160 --> 01:15:33,127
Very next!

1055
01:15:33,228 --> 01:15:36,998
But tonight... As always, Daphne.

1056
01:15:49,511 --> 01:15:53,681
Phil Black was a
female impersonator

1057
01:15:53,782 --> 01:15:57,251
that was kind of a celebrity
in the gay world at that time.

1058
01:16:11,033 --> 01:16:13,668
And the queens started making
their dress for next year

1059
01:16:13,769 --> 01:16:15,803
as soon as they got
home that night.

1060
01:16:15,904 --> 01:16:18,105
It was like their life.

1061
01:16:34,489 --> 01:16:37,058
They went crackers.

1062
01:16:39,895 --> 01:16:43,164
Like we were at a move premier
in Hollywood waving to us

1063
01:16:43,265 --> 01:16:44,465
and throwing kisses.

1064
01:16:44,566 --> 01:16:46,567
And there was no prejudice.

1065
01:16:46,668 --> 01:16:47,835
It was wonderful.

1066
01:16:53,041 --> 01:16:56,711
And that's one of the things
that makes this so interesting

1067
01:16:56,812 --> 01:17:02,683
to me is that it is both the
first time in American history

1068
01:17:02,784 --> 01:17:06,821
when you have African Americans
and whites interacting

1069
01:17:06,922 --> 01:17:08,623
in a non-clandestine way.

1070
01:17:11,860 --> 01:17:15,129
This was a place where
all the races mixed.

1071
01:17:17,299 --> 01:17:18,666
So this was kind
of an integrated

1072
01:17:18,767 --> 01:17:19,700
space, which was unusual.

1073
01:17:22,504 --> 01:17:27,675
And it's also then one of
the first instances in which

1074
01:17:27,776 --> 01:17:30,444
ordinary heterosexuals
have some experience

1075
01:17:30,545 --> 01:17:35,216
of an interaction with gays
without any hostile judgments.

1076
01:17:38,654 --> 01:17:42,023
CLAUDE: I felt at home,
I feel, at the drag ball

1077
01:17:42,124 --> 01:17:44,759
because I was no
longer the weirdo.

1078
01:17:47,396 --> 01:17:53,868
I belonged, which I had not
belonged anywhere before that.

1079
01:17:57,706 --> 01:18:00,574
ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
October 26, 1955.

1080
01:18:00,676 --> 01:18:04,378
Dear Reno... just a
few lines to say hello

1081
01:18:04,479 --> 01:18:06,447
and a word or two to let
you know that I haven't

1082
01:18:06,548 --> 01:18:09,083
forgotten completely about you.

1083
01:18:09,184 --> 01:18:12,520
My God, with the upcoming
drag, I've been in such a spin.

1084
01:18:12,621 --> 01:18:15,656
I haven't had any time to
dish or anything with you.

1085
01:18:15,757 --> 01:18:18,693
As a matter of fact, I'm very
upset and a little nervous

1086
01:18:18,794 --> 01:18:20,361
about some dish I
heard about myself.

1087
01:18:23,899 --> 01:18:27,535
Daphne, he had
the most beautiful

1088
01:18:27,636 --> 01:18:31,439
pair of legs you have ever
seen on anyone in your life.

1089
01:18:33,775 --> 01:18:37,144
I know women that would give
their souls for legs like that.

1090
01:18:39,548 --> 01:18:46,587
They came up to here, and
there wasn't a hair or a bump

1091
01:18:46,688 --> 01:18:50,191
or a [snort] on them anywhere.

1092
01:18:50,292 --> 01:18:50,991
They were gorgeous.

1093
01:18:53,662 --> 01:18:54,895
ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
Many of the girls

1094
01:18:54,996 --> 01:18:57,531
have been saying they don't
think I'll map as a blonde.

1095
01:18:57,632 --> 01:18:59,700
I'm beginning to wonder myself.

1096
01:18:59,801 --> 01:19:01,035
It is a shocking change.

1097
01:19:02,704 --> 01:19:05,940
Everything will depend
on my makeup job.

1098
01:19:06,041 --> 01:19:08,776
If worse comes to worse, I'm
fucking all respectability

1099
01:19:08,877 --> 01:19:11,846
and I'm shaving off
my complete browettes.

1100
01:19:11,947 --> 01:19:13,881
There's nothing like
that Lana Turner

1101
01:19:13,982 --> 01:19:16,150
pencil line of gorgeousness.

1102
01:19:16,251 --> 01:19:17,118
Fuck Liz Taylor.

1103
01:19:17,219 --> 01:19:19,053
I want to be a bum that night.

1104
01:19:19,154 --> 01:19:20,688
As always, Daphne.

1105
01:19:23,825 --> 01:19:27,828
He had a silver lame dress
made that was like this.

1106
01:19:29,231 --> 01:19:30,898
It was also like this.

1107
01:19:32,267 --> 01:19:35,803
But on this side here hidden
where you couldn't see it,

1108
01:19:35,904 --> 01:19:39,039
there was a zipper that
opened up and opened...

1109
01:19:39,141 --> 01:19:42,176
Literally opened
up to the hip line.

1110
01:19:42,277 --> 01:19:45,713
And he stood there, and
the woman he stood...

1111
01:19:45,814 --> 01:19:47,815
Opened his legs,
there were the legs.

1112
01:19:49,584 --> 01:19:56,190
And it was like, oh my God,
and people would freak out,

1113
01:19:56,291 --> 01:19:57,458
and he looked fabulous.

1114
01:19:58,827 --> 01:20:03,330
He was wearing two wigs
because the person who

1115
01:20:03,431 --> 01:20:10,004
was supposed to do
his hair dumped him,

1116
01:20:10,105 --> 01:20:13,941
and he had everything
but the hair.

1117
01:20:16,077 --> 01:20:22,583
And I wound up putting two
blonde wigs on his hair,

1118
01:20:22,684 --> 01:20:24,418
the hairline showing, but...

1119
01:20:30,559 --> 01:20:38,559
With great big... and he looked
amazing, absolutely amazing.

1120
01:20:42,404 --> 01:20:45,739
[music playing]

1121
01:20:53,949 --> 01:20:54,648
Oh shit.

1122
01:21:08,296 --> 01:21:08,996
Yeah.

1123
01:21:12,033 --> 01:21:12,733
Oh.

1124
01:21:14,803 --> 01:21:18,639
[crying]

1125
01:21:22,410 --> 01:21:23,077
Oh.

1126
01:21:31,086 --> 01:21:33,187
Oh shit.

1127
01:21:47,769 --> 01:21:55,769
I suddenly feel as though
somebody had just stabbed me

1128
01:21:56,978 --> 01:22:04,978
because I remember that night,
and I remember putting the wigs

1129
01:22:06,888 --> 01:22:11,959
on him and pinning them
down, and his own hair

1130
01:22:12,060 --> 01:22:14,161
was as black as black can be.

1131
01:22:17,966 --> 01:22:18,933
Oh God.

1132
01:22:25,340 --> 01:22:30,511
I have to keep in
mind that that's over.

1133
01:22:34,883 --> 01:22:37,384
That's over and finished.

1134
01:22:43,992 --> 01:22:48,896
And I'm sorry that it's over and
finished, and you have no idea.

1135
01:22:59,274 --> 01:23:03,243
ACTOR AS DAPHNE:
November 20, 1957.

1136
01:23:03,345 --> 01:23:07,948
Dear Reno... well, it's me
again, star reporter of the New

1137
01:23:08,049 --> 01:23:10,384
York gay set rat race.

1138
01:23:10,485 --> 01:23:12,386
I'm going steady
with this number Bob

1139
01:23:12,487 --> 01:23:13,988
from my neighborhood.

1140
01:23:14,089 --> 01:23:18,025
Ella, I've had numbers that dug
me, numbers that featured me,

1141
01:23:18,126 --> 01:23:20,594
and others that were
even bats for me,

1142
01:23:20,695 --> 01:23:23,230
but this one takes the cake.

1143
01:23:23,331 --> 01:23:25,799
He calls me constantly,
and when we're together,

1144
01:23:25,900 --> 01:23:28,702
it's much kissing me
every two minutes,

1145
01:23:28,803 --> 01:23:31,405
holding my hands
on trains, buses,

1146
01:23:31,506 --> 01:23:35,476
movie houses, lobbies, and
just about everywhere we go.

1147
01:23:35,577 --> 01:23:38,612
To put it mildly,
he's demented for me.

1148
01:23:38,713 --> 01:23:40,381
Much kisses and
claiming he can't

1149
01:23:40,482 --> 01:23:42,483
sleep or eat ever since we met.

1150
01:23:42,584 --> 01:23:44,485
And, Mary, I love it.

1151
01:23:44,586 --> 01:23:45,919
I never felt so cunty.

1152
01:23:47,355 --> 01:23:49,056
I actually miss him
and his compliments

1153
01:23:49,157 --> 01:23:50,124
whenever he's not around.

1154
01:23:51,593 --> 01:23:55,362
He came upon me like a shot
in the arm, the kind I needed.

1155
01:23:56,865 --> 01:23:58,565
As always, Daphne.

1156
01:24:52,954 --> 01:24:55,923
We all used to
laugh about old age.

1157
01:24:56,024 --> 01:24:57,424
I said, don't worry.

1158
01:24:57,525 --> 01:25:00,227
I have a house in Pennsylvania.

1159
01:25:00,328 --> 01:25:04,865
Well all go there, and we can
spend the rest of our lives

1160
01:25:04,966 --> 01:25:06,700
reminiscing, but we're not
going to do that until we're

1161
01:25:06,801 --> 01:25:09,903
in our 70s or maybe 80s.

1162
01:25:10,004 --> 01:25:12,239
We're still going to
be living in New York.

1163
01:25:15,543 --> 01:25:22,382
And then starting in 1983, I
guess, the first AIDS cases.

1164
01:25:26,087 --> 01:25:28,388
MAN: Gary, Tate.

1165
01:25:36,464 --> 01:25:37,998
MAN: My friend Micah.

1166
01:25:40,568 --> 01:25:41,902
And they knew it.

1167
01:25:42,003 --> 01:25:43,036
They knew it was
going to happen.

1168
01:25:50,778 --> 01:25:55,782
TERRY: Were a lot
of them who did.

1169
01:25:55,884 --> 01:26:03,884
MAN: Steven, Samuel,
Mike, DeRost.

1170
01:26:41,829 --> 01:26:44,131
I met Geno in New
York when we were

1171
01:26:44,232 --> 01:26:46,333
at Loew's Theater on Broadway.

1172
01:26:46,434 --> 01:26:50,136
And he was in the audience
several different times.

1173
01:26:50,205 --> 01:26:54,041
He sent notes back to me, and
we became very good friends.

1174
01:26:56,611 --> 01:27:00,380
After I got out of the New
York, I moved to San Francisco

1175
01:27:00,481 --> 01:27:05,118
with Geno, and we lived
on Guererro Street

1176
01:27:05,220 --> 01:27:06,486
close to the Castro area.

1177
01:27:07,889 --> 01:27:09,256
I just loved Geno.

1178
01:27:09,357 --> 01:27:10,891
I thought he was a
beautiful person.

1179
01:27:13,628 --> 01:27:18,265
Geno and I went to be tested for
HIV, and we both were positive.

1180
01:27:21,936 --> 01:27:23,570
And there was no
cure for it then.

1181
01:27:27,075 --> 01:27:29,543
Geno two years
later died of AIDS.

1182
01:27:35,383 --> 01:27:38,518
The reason I lost my right leg,
it's because of a blood clot.

1183
01:27:39,954 --> 01:27:42,289
I don't do that well
on the prosthetic,

1184
01:27:42,390 --> 01:27:44,791
but I'm OK on the wheelchair,
and I can get around.

1185
01:27:44,892 --> 01:27:47,494
And I still clean my own
house and do my own cooking.

1186
01:27:50,331 --> 01:27:53,634
And luckily I'm still here
many years afterwards.

1187
01:28:00,975 --> 01:28:02,009
(ON PHONE) OK.

1188
01:28:02,110 --> 01:28:05,212
Jerry I know is coming
over on the 12:30 ferry,

1189
01:28:05,313 --> 01:28:07,347
so just whenever.

1190
01:28:07,448 --> 01:28:09,883
Whatever you want to do,
just deal with it, OK?

1191
01:28:09,984 --> 01:28:10,751
MAN: (ON PHONE) All right.

1192
01:28:10,852 --> 01:28:12,786
I want... I'll shave here...

1193
01:28:12,887 --> 01:28:13,720
Yeah.

1194
01:28:13,821 --> 01:28:16,657
MAN:... and nail
down my eyebrows.

1195
01:28:16,758 --> 01:28:18,825
Yeah, because everybody else
is putting on the whole face

1196
01:28:18,926 --> 01:28:20,460
but carrying the
wig and the clothes

1197
01:28:20,561 --> 01:28:21,528
over to the thing, whatever.

1198
01:28:35,710 --> 01:28:42,449
The summer of '68, I won
Miss Fire Island 1969.

1199
01:28:42,550 --> 01:28:44,584
It'll be my 50th
anniversary of winning.

1200
01:28:52,827 --> 01:28:55,996
Today, the drag queens
are still drag queens,

1201
01:28:56,097 --> 01:28:58,432
and some of the older drag
queens are still there,

1202
01:28:58,533 --> 01:29:00,867
and there's a younger
bunch of drag queens.

1203
01:29:02,470 --> 01:29:03,370
MAN: Gorgeous.

1204
01:29:03,471 --> 01:29:04,571
[applause]

1205
01:29:04,672 --> 01:29:05,539
Nice.

1206
01:29:05,640 --> 01:29:07,341
You've got that
lipstick on pretty.

1207
01:30:32,393 --> 01:30:34,795
MICHAEL HENRY ADAMS: When I
first came out in Akron, Ohio,

1208
01:30:34,896 --> 01:30:37,297
I would meet all
these drag queens,

1209
01:30:37,398 --> 01:30:40,367
and they all just
seemed to love me.

1210
01:30:40,468 --> 01:30:44,771
And to my consternation
and discredit,

1211
01:30:44,872 --> 01:30:47,574
I would be on the street, and
there would be some drag queen,

1212
01:30:47,675 --> 01:30:49,376
and she would
start waving at me.

1213
01:30:49,477 --> 01:30:52,045
And I would just want to sink
to the sidewalk and think,

1214
01:30:52,146 --> 01:30:55,081
oh no, she's going to
come over because I

1215
01:30:55,183 --> 01:31:00,287
didn't want to
experience the scorn

1216
01:31:00,388 --> 01:31:03,123
of being gay by association.

1217
01:31:03,224 --> 01:31:05,592
I felt like, you know, I
could hide in plain sight,

1218
01:31:05,693 --> 01:31:06,993
but these people
were not hiding.

1219
01:31:12,333 --> 01:31:13,700
MC: Can you Imagine?

1220
01:31:13,801 --> 01:31:16,937
She somehow has been Miss
Fire Island for 50 years,

1221
01:31:17,038 --> 01:31:18,004
but she's only 13.

1222
01:31:20,608 --> 01:31:23,477
JOE E. JEFFREYS: The queens at
that point crossing the line

1223
01:31:23,578 --> 01:31:25,278
was dangerous.

1224
01:31:25,379 --> 01:31:28,348
It was against the grain of what
society was telling them they

1225
01:31:28,449 --> 01:31:31,351
should do, who they should be.

1226
01:31:31,452 --> 01:31:33,420
So you have to
admire their bravery

1227
01:31:33,521 --> 01:31:36,256
and courage to do such
a thing, much less

1228
01:31:36,357 --> 01:31:38,091
put themselves on stage.

1229
01:31:38,192 --> 01:31:39,693
But it also tells you
then how committed

1230
01:31:39,794 --> 01:31:42,863
they were to the art form,
to what it was that they

1231
01:31:42,964 --> 01:31:45,365
wanted to present to the world.

1232
01:31:51,572 --> 01:31:53,106
They were performing
this resistance

1233
01:31:53,207 --> 01:31:54,808
and they were making
political statements

1234
01:31:54,909 --> 01:31:57,978
and they were sort of lobbying
and fighting for social change

1235
01:31:58,079 --> 01:32:00,514
and for acceptance by the
very fact of existing.

1236
01:32:02,149 --> 01:32:04,885
JAMES: It can't be
something you want to do.

1237
01:32:04,986 --> 01:32:08,421
It has to be something
you have to do.

1238
01:32:08,523 --> 01:32:13,827
It's to speak to people
and say something,

1239
01:32:13,928 --> 01:32:15,428
make them see something.

1240
01:32:20,001 --> 01:32:23,670
This is the most
fucked-up fucking world.

1241
01:32:23,771 --> 01:32:25,238
It's just nothing's right.

1242
01:32:26,641 --> 01:32:28,675
Nothing's right.

1243
01:32:28,776 --> 01:32:33,346
[laughter] Well, Judy was good.

1244
01:32:34,882 --> 01:32:37,884
We should throw a drag march.

1245
01:32:37,985 --> 01:32:40,887
We should throw a drag march.

1246
01:32:40,988 --> 01:32:45,559
[drums]

1247
01:32:45,660 --> 01:32:46,693
[applause]

1248
01:32:46,794 --> 01:32:49,362
MC: There are so many
legends on this stage.

1249
01:32:49,463 --> 01:32:50,864
Are you ready?

1250
01:32:50,965 --> 01:32:54,334
[thunder]

1251
01:33:07,481 --> 01:33:10,650
MICHAEL HENRY ADAMS: Just to be
gay in general costs something

1252
01:33:10,751 --> 01:33:13,253
and particularly in the past.

1253
01:33:13,354 --> 01:33:16,189
And the one thing
that I discovered

1254
01:33:16,290 --> 01:33:18,692
was that so many
people had spent

1255
01:33:18,793 --> 01:33:22,295
a lifetime hiding from most
people who they really were.

1256
01:33:24,165 --> 01:33:26,666
And yet in their
80s and 90s they

1257
01:33:26,767 --> 01:33:29,636
were coming to the
realization that if they

1258
01:33:29,737 --> 01:33:33,006
didn't reveal their
stories to someone,

1259
01:33:33,107 --> 01:33:33,974
they would die with them.

1260
01:33:34,075 --> 01:33:36,443
(CHANTING) Gay rights!

1261
01:33:36,544 --> 01:33:37,744
NIH need us!

1262
01:33:37,845 --> 01:33:39,145
Got no...

1263
01:33:39,246 --> 01:33:43,049
We did it, and
nobody gives a shit.

1264
01:33:43,150 --> 01:33:44,351
MICHAEL HENRY ADAMS:
It's now or never.

1265
01:33:44,452 --> 01:33:47,454
I mean, I don't want her
stories to die with me either.

1266
01:33:47,555 --> 01:33:50,290
MAN: I believe in the gay power.

1267
01:33:50,391 --> 01:33:52,759
I believe in us
getting our rights

1268
01:33:52,860 --> 01:33:56,730
or else I would not be out
there fighting for our rights.

1269
01:33:56,831 --> 01:33:58,198
Revolution now!

1270
01:34:06,741 --> 01:34:09,643
GEORGE: I was in full drag, and
these two little young queens

1271
01:34:09,744 --> 01:34:10,844
came up to me.

1272
01:34:10,945 --> 01:34:13,313
And they said, you know,
we don't realize what you

1273
01:34:13,414 --> 01:34:17,417
older gay men went
through that allows

1274
01:34:17,518 --> 01:34:20,387
us to do and be as we are now.

1275
01:34:20,488 --> 01:34:23,823
And it was very nice
to hear that because we

1276
01:34:23,924 --> 01:34:25,358
thought nothing of
doing it because we

1277
01:34:25,459 --> 01:34:26,860
were doing it for ourselves.

1278
01:34:26,961 --> 01:34:28,328
We didn't realize
that we were doing

1279
01:34:28,429 --> 01:34:29,663
it for the next generations.

1280
01:34:35,169 --> 01:34:40,373
People fought and risked
their lives and, in some cases,

1281
01:34:40,474 --> 01:34:43,343
lost their lives to
win what we've won.

1282
01:34:58,025 --> 01:35:00,627
RENO MARTIN: Well, it looks
like it's just about time to end

1283
01:35:00,728 --> 01:35:02,295
our rendezvous for today.

1284
01:35:02,396 --> 01:35:05,832
This is Reno Martin saying
thanks for listening.

1285
01:35:05,933 --> 01:35:08,768
[music playing]

1286
01:35:56,150 --> 01:35:59,185
This is Reno Martin saying
so long until tomorrow

1287
01:35:59,286 --> 01:36:01,621
when we'll rendezvous
with the stars.

1288
01:36:11,999 --> 01:36:13,733
ACTOR AS BILLIE: Dear Reno...

1289
01:36:13,834 --> 01:36:15,869
Please forgive me for
not writing sooner.

1290
01:36:17,872 --> 01:36:21,708
I feel awful, Reno, not being
able to say goodbye to you.

1291
01:36:21,809 --> 01:36:24,944
I didn't find out you
left until days after.

1292
01:36:25,045 --> 01:36:26,980
I didn't even have your address.

1293
01:36:27,081 --> 01:36:29,149
I called up Daphne and got it.

1294
01:36:29,250 --> 01:36:31,818
Well, Reno, take
care of yourself

1295
01:36:31,919 --> 01:36:34,320
and forgive me for
not writing you.

1296
01:36:34,421 --> 01:36:35,555
I miss you.

1297
01:36:35,656 --> 01:36:37,090
Your friend, Billy.

1298
01:36:38,392 --> 01:36:40,126
INTERVIEWER: Whatever
happened to Billy?

1299
01:36:41,495 --> 01:36:42,195
He was murdered.

1300
01:36:54,041 --> 01:36:58,211
This kid, when he found
out, went to the kitchen,

1301
01:36:58,312 --> 01:37:00,413
grabbed a knife, and
stabbed him to death.

1302
01:37:02,316 --> 01:37:07,887
It made me sick to think that
you survived everything else

1303
01:37:07,988 --> 01:37:11,124
from strangers and
tough times, whatever,

1304
01:37:11,225 --> 01:37:14,360
and now the closest person
to you is going to kill you.

1305
01:37:29,810 --> 01:37:31,344
ACTOR AS JOSEPHINE: Hi there.

1306
01:37:31,445 --> 01:37:33,713
Sorry I couldn't write sooner.

1307
01:37:33,814 --> 01:37:36,216
Here's hoping to find
you in good spirits.

1308
01:37:36,317 --> 01:37:39,786
Well, the beach is
marvelous to say the least.

1309
01:37:39,887 --> 01:37:43,623
The weather is fantastic,
every night so far in the 80s.

1310
01:37:43,724 --> 01:37:44,724
Very romantic.

1311
01:37:46,227 --> 01:37:48,094
There's so much loot
to be made down here

1312
01:37:48,195 --> 01:37:51,631
if you're a call girl, but I'm
afraid I threw in the heels

1313
01:37:51,732 --> 01:37:53,566
for a while.

1314
01:37:53,667 --> 01:37:56,369
Well, René, I have
to close for now.

1315
01:37:56,470 --> 01:37:57,937
I'll write you soon.

1316
01:37:58,038 --> 01:37:59,572
Regards, Josephine.

1317
01:38:03,978 --> 01:38:05,245
CLAUDE: Josephine died of AIDS.

1318
01:38:07,248 --> 01:38:15,088
And when he died,
his family refused

1319
01:38:15,189 --> 01:38:18,524
to let any of his friends
come to the funeral.

1320
01:38:22,029 --> 01:38:27,033
If I had known in time,
I think his mother

1321
01:38:27,134 --> 01:38:28,835
would have let me come.

1322
01:38:31,338 --> 01:38:36,109
And I blame myself
a lot for that.

1323
01:38:36,210 --> 01:38:41,681
I lost track of
who I really was,

1324
01:38:41,782 --> 01:38:45,351
and that's something that
I live with every day.

1325
01:38:49,823 --> 01:38:51,624
I don't want to talk
about that any more.

1326
01:39:10,177 --> 01:39:11,377
ACTOR AS CHARLIE: Dear Reno...

1327
01:39:11,478 --> 01:39:13,446
Glad to hear you're doing well.

1328
01:39:13,547 --> 01:39:14,981
Your friends called.

1329
01:39:15,082 --> 01:39:18,217
I told them you moved
to California for good.

1330
01:39:18,319 --> 01:39:22,388
As for settling down to pipe
and slippers, forget it.

1331
01:39:22,489 --> 01:39:26,960
Once a "bomatza,"
always a "bomatza."

1332
01:39:27,061 --> 01:39:29,729
Well, I must dash.

1333
01:39:29,830 --> 01:39:33,366
Take care, stay
well, and write soon.

1334
01:39:33,467 --> 01:39:35,535
Your friend always, Charlie.

1335
01:39:46,880 --> 01:39:48,514
ACTOR AS DAPHNE: Dear Reno...

1336
01:39:48,615 --> 01:39:50,383
I'm typing this
letter at work, and

1337
01:39:50,484 --> 01:39:52,752
the only reason I'm not
writing it out in longhand

1338
01:39:52,853 --> 01:39:54,354
is to fool my boss.

1339
01:39:54,455 --> 01:39:56,956
He thinks I'm doing
my regular work.

1340
01:39:57,057 --> 01:39:59,225
Remember that beauty, Ace?

1341
01:39:59,326 --> 01:40:01,260
Well, he was back in town.

1342
01:40:01,362 --> 01:40:03,096
He digs Josephine.

1343
01:40:03,197 --> 01:40:06,699
He asked about her
and you, of course.

1344
01:40:06,800 --> 01:40:09,435
They all asked about you.

1345
01:40:09,536 --> 01:40:13,239
I've really got to be going
now, it's way past my time.

1346
01:40:13,340 --> 01:40:16,342
And besides, this documentary
is practically long

1347
01:40:16,443 --> 01:40:18,611
enough for book publication.

1348
01:40:18,712 --> 01:40:21,047
I'm hoping you are in fine
health and good spirits

1349
01:40:21,148 --> 01:40:22,548
when this autobiography arrives.

1350
01:40:23,951 --> 01:40:25,918
La de da for now.

1351
01:40:26,020 --> 01:40:28,921
Love, as always, Daphne.

1352
01:40:53,647 --> 01:41:00,219
My name is Michael Alagna,
but my real name is Daphne.

1353
01:41:08,429 --> 01:41:11,964
[music playing]