I n late June 1994, hundreds of thoands of lbians, gay men, drag queens, bisexuals, queers of all kds, and their iends, fai, and supporters nverged on New York Cy to memorate and celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall rts. The memorative celebratn was unrwrten by a number of anizatns and rporatns, one of which, Out magaze, sold T-shirts wh the followg upbeat msage: âStonewall 25: New and Improved for the 90s.â What might be new or improved about a 1990s Stonewall beme a matter of ntentn over that weekend. As a challenge to the rabow-drenched official Stonewall para past the UN, ACT UP/NY anized a untermarch (nservatively timated by New York Cy police at 10,000) which posters prottg the mercializatn of this historil marker as a rather cynil improvement on the origal joed those cryg the ongog and adly attentn to AIDS. Lbian Contradictn of San Francis, for example, hand out stickers that read âQueer Liberatn: A Movement Not A Market,â while another graphic listed the many mastream and lbian or gay bs unrwrg the Gay Gam next to a glargly blank list of bs supportg lbian and gay civil rights. I offer this anecdote
Contents:
- GAY HISTORY – OCTOBER 13, 1950: FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS “ALL ABOUT EVE” OPENED IN THEATERS
- ALL ABOUT EVE (1950): GAY READG (LGBTQ, GAY, LBIAN, TEXT, SUBTEXT)
- ALL ABOUT EVE: HOW IT BEME CULT MOVIE (GAY TEXT AND SUBTEXT, LGBTQ)
GAY HISTORY – OCTOBER 13, 1950: FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS “ALL ABOUT EVE” OPENED IN THEATERS
All About Eve, the Bt Picture Osr wner of 1950, is fed by the sensibily of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, a heterosexual ( fact, womanizer) wrer-director. Yet, the film and s star, Bette Davis, have been champned by gay viewers. elevatg the film to both high mp and inic stat. The whole film is stamped wh an sir-gay atmosphere, both text and subtext. The most loyal viewers have been ted gay mal, who mt have related to the text's self-ntaed theatril i, smart dialogue (wh memorable l), and sharp actg by a terrific ensemble (the film sred 5 actg nomatns, wng one for Gee Sanrs). As other crics have noted, the passg of time has only ma All About Eve seem even more alert, more clever, and more entertag. Some have even suggted that All About Eve uld be done wh an all-male st, whout losg any of s be. (The same n be said about Stage Door, The Women, Auntie Mame, and Who's Aaid of Virgia Woolf? and Travels Wh My Aunt) Some scene are more ronant than others wh their double-entendr. When Margo fds out that her lover-director Bill is gog to Hollywood to do a picture Unr Zanuck, the head of Fox (which produced All About Eve), she throws a tantm, acpanied by a throwaway gay le: "Zanuck, Zanuck, Zanuck--what are you too, lovers? He repli: "Only some ways." Then there is the character of the acerbic cric, Addison DeWt (played wh panache by Gee Sanrs, a hetero actor who won the Bt Supportg Actor Osr). The wty and bright DeWt--"that venomo fishwife"--is seen by some as a more typil character that the gay Brish actor Clifton Webb uld and should have played. In fact, Zanuck and Mankiewicz nsired Webb for the part, after the latter excelled himself the 1944 Lra (another movie that uld be rema wh an all-male st). Webb was extremely popular star at the time, strikg box-office gild for Fox his Mr. Belver edi (Cheaper by the Dozen) DeWt is an rrigible athete, who exprs himself an Osr Wil mo. DeWt's self- loathg, clarg at one pot his "abily to love and be loved," reprented a typil view of some gay men as they saw themselv--and were seen by the larger society. This was a stereotypil attu that would prevail up to and cludg The Boys the Band, the 1968 play and the 1970s versn of . * all about eve gay *
Not only did rema popular theatril re-issu and later on televisn, but eventually beme a cult film, particularly among gay fans who intified wh Davis’ Margo Channg’s larger-than-life personaly. The story of an unrstudy schemg to replace the star has been referenced everythg om the hilarly excsive Showgirls (1995) to Pedro Almodovar’s Osr®-wner All About My Mother (1999), while the entire plot was recycled, wh an all-male st, for the 1995 gay porn vio All About Steve.
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950): GAY READG (LGBTQ, GAY, LBIAN, TEXT, SUBTEXT)
* all about eve gay *
All About Eve (film) Lavenr Sre: Homosexualy and Cold War Films. All About Eve is beloved among gay dienc for s mpy w and s pictn of genred petn the theater. In spe of s appeal to the LGBTQ muny, however, some crics and scholars have noted the film's ambivalent and d pictn of homosexualy.
ALL ABOUT EVE: HOW IT BEME CULT MOVIE (GAY TEXT AND SUBTEXT, LGBTQ)
<p>In my nocence, I expected a sprightly gay versn of All About Eve, says <strong>Peter Bradshaw</strong>. But oh, no</p> * all about eve gay *
While is impossible to say whether the film tak an explicly homophobic stance or whether is at all ncerned wh homosexualy, All About Eve serv as an example of a film that looks curly at genr and sexualy 1950, a year when the Hays Co reigned supreme Hollywood, and a fear of munism and homosexualy pervad. Unr the Hays Co, homosexualy uld never be explicly addrsed a film, but that didn't prevent filmmakers om makg oblique allns to . Addnally, somethg known as "The Lavenr Sre" was takg place Ameri at the time of All About Eve's release, and was characterized by the viewpot that the homosexual liftyle was nnected to a sympathy wh Communism.
Durg the Cold War, homosexuals and their sceptibily to munist leangs were the subject of this particularly poted scty. " Furthermore, the crics pos that Addison DeWt is a homosexual as well, and that the "improbable" qualy that he believ he and Eve share is queerns.
Corber wr, "Eve's queerns, which nsists of a batn of femy and lbianism that unsettl homophobic stereotyp, directly ratified the mol of womanhood that beme domant the Cold War era. " Corber is terted disptg the notn that All About Eve is an explicly homophobic film. Yet, the film and s star, Bette Davis, have been champned by gay viewers.