Contents:
HOW 1967 CHANGED GAY LIFE BRA: ‘I THK FOR MY GENERATN, WE’RE STILL A LTLE B UNEASY’
When I began my send year rearch project on media reprentatn of homosexualy, the thought of utilisg the rourc at the Bill Douglas Centre never even crossed my md. I foced specifilly on media reprentatns the perd between the Wolfenn Report and s remendatns to crimalise homosexualy 1957, and the Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 which crimalised homosexualy. Released 1961, ‘Victim’ was the first English-speakg film to al wh the topic of homosexualy, and explicly mentn the word self.
The plot follows a succsful married barrister Melville Farr who risks his reer and reputatn to unver a gang of blackmailers who are extortg money om both Farr and other homosexual men. Through the filmmakers portrayal of Farr (played by the popular heart-throb Dirk Bogar) and the other extorted men, they aimed to legimise homosexualy and highlight the hypocrisi of the law, as they believed that enuraged blackmail by harned crimals on nocent, rpectable men.
Runng om 1965-8 the sketch followed two flamboyant and d gay out of work actors played by Kenh Williams (also starrg the Carry On films) and Hugh Paddick, acpanied by Kenh Horne, who would act as their ic foil. The diari of Kenh Williams were particularly revealg of behd the scen tensns the show, and his growg dissatisfactn wh the overtly mp character as one of the only reprentatns of homosexualy at the time. Furthermore, transcripts om the show held the BDC explaed the e of double entendre and ‘polari’- a lexin ed by gay men theatre the 1930s, but which had extend to the Brish gay subculture the 1950s/60s- Julian & Sandy.