One of the biggt challeng facg silent film historians today is this, “Whout sound, jt how are you supposed to tell if your favore silent era film star was gay?” Whout sound, there’s no tell-tale lisp; no guttural bulldog growl mblg om an otherwise mure, dove-whe throat. The qutn of silent era sexualy has ed […]
Contents:
- SILENT FILMS, RATED BY GAYNS
- WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
SILENT FILMS, RATED BY GAYNS
* silent film era gay *
Banned 1920, only a agment surviv of Different om the Others (1919), an "Enlightenment Film" promotg tolerance of homosexualiy, wh a fe st head up by the great Conrad Veidt.
He has been llectg news clippgs on homosexual suicis triggered by Paragraph 175, a German law crimalizg homosexualy, & which the nazis ma good e of a uple s later. He ponrs the nam of great men history who were gay, & builds his own self-teem sufficiently to meet wh & beg a relatnship wh a very young man, Kurt (Frz Schulz), who is voted to classil mic & uld benef by a mentor. Franz is himself gay but neverthels feels no qualms threateng other gay men to obta sh, the notor Paragraph 175 makg very easy to threaten homosexuals wh imprisonment or Korner's se, at the very least, the loss of his reer as a ncert vlist.
For an "enlightenment" film this wasn't all that enlightened, & dangeroly close to a plea for tolerance of perasty rather than homosexualy between nsentg adults. Although only a few overtly gay films are known to survive om the silent era, the world-wi history of homosexualy the cema do beg wh the silent era, & is que extensive on one or another level. Fotten silent film players clu Ray Bourbon who was a stunt double & drag performer films of the early 1920s, & who afterward performed as a drag edian a travellg gay actg troupe.
WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
Ever sce the silent film era, Hollywood beefke photos have tillated both female and gay male fans. Here we beg our seri celebratg gay, bisexual, and straight movie stars wearg next to nothg at all. * silent film era gay *
In Lrel & Hardy's The Soilers (1923) set the Alaska gold sh, we see a prissy wboy mcg about the stage (see also Lrel & Hardy's Gay Cema for their broar cultural ntributns).
One n't help but spect that this beg a film directed & produced by a woman, Alice Guy, had somethg to do wh s surprisg gree of liberal acceptance of homosexualy, the flamg stereotype of Algie's character notwhstandg. In one of the earlit exampl of extreme hatred for homosexuals on the screen, when Charlie's ceptn is revealed, a fistfight ensu, & the men who'd urted him allow him to drown a well. He adored novelty & jt & took an opportuny to sert a b of gay romance The Eclipse: The Courtship of the Sun & Moon (L'Eclipse du Soleil en ple e lune, 1907).
Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (Das Tagebuch eer Verlorene, 1929) rporat gay imagery, cludg reform school girls bed together, & harlots dancg wh one another, bis havg Louise Brooks experience a "pile up" of girls. Also predatg Pandora's Box is The Four Horsemen of the Apolypse (1921) which clus cintal gay imagery, cludg a butch-femme uple the dience for a drag show at a Paris club; & Twelfth Night (1910) om Shakpeare, which Olivia falls love wh Vla. Based on a novel by Herman Bang, had earlier been filmed as The Wgs (Vgarne, 1916), about a bisexual artist's mol who has two people vyg for his attentns, the gay artist, & a Counts.