‘Couldn’t believe I was seeg ’: Home movi offer rare glimpse of gay life St. Louis 1945 | STLPR

Contents:

• ‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945
• POOL BOYS: THE SUMMER GAY SCENE AT THE RAVEN POOL NEW HOPE
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY MAN KICKED OUT OF POOL ALLEGEDLY BEE OF 'APPROPRIATE' SWIMSU: 'IF SMELLS LIKE HOMOPHOBIA, 'S HOMOPHOBIA'
• BLUE MOON RORT FOR GAY MEN
• A GAY MAN YOUR POOL
• TOM HOLLAND’S THE CROWD ROOM GAY SEX SCENE SPARKS APPALLG HOMOPHOBIC BACKLASH

‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945

Dozens of gay men gather for a pool party a seclud spot Hillsboro, Missouri. Louis filmmaker Geoff Story has begun weavg the films to a documentary, “Gay Home Movie. ” It offers a rare glimpse to a largely visible world, a time when same-sex relatnships were not only looked at as immoral — they were a gay man, Story is fascated by the brtle, flickerg scen that clu a uniformed World War II soldier kissg another man.

Louis’ ‘hairdrser to the stars’Watch a clip om the 1945 home movi of gay men at a pool stumbled upon the films the mid-1990s, a half century after the pool party, at an tate sale.

POOL BOYS: THE SUMMER GAY SCENE AT THE RAVEN POOL NEW HOPE

”‘I kept my inty separate’Richard Eaton talks about beg a gay man mid-century St. Several people who aren’t the home movi n ttify to what was like to be gay mid-century St. In the '60s, Eaton remembers lookg over his shoulr as he ventured to gay bars like Mart’s, near Unn Statn.

Gay life, like all life St. The only Ain-Amerins the pool party footage are wearg whe uniforms, servg food to the other elaborate gathergs likely were nied to gay men who were not wealthy and whe, Psaczyk said. Betty Neeley said she was never the closet and that her mother even drove her to first gay bar.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

The hntg imag are nfirmatn that gay men did live and love at a time when no one dared to even speak of same-sex attractn.

Havg ma the rare fd of a pictn of queer life durg a time when beg found out as LGBT uld almost every aspect of your life, Story has started piecg together parts of the home movi to Gay Home Movie.

GAY MAN KICKED OUT OF POOL ALLEGEDLY BEE OF 'APPROPRIATE' SWIMSU: 'IF SMELLS LIKE HOMOPHOBIA, 'S HOMOPHOBIA'

"Related | The Circle Illumat Swzerland's Post-WWII Unrground Gay SceneSce stumblg on the rerdgs, Story has ma an attempt to fd anyone om the pool party who might still be alive today and willg to talk about .

"Story, a gay man himself, was reportedly ptivated by the scen the film, some pictg uniformed soldiers kissg other men, the fleetg happs of the scen a poignant force. Every year, gay men fan out farther and wir for summer fun. Wele to the Pool at the you don’t know the Pool, ’s probably bee you’re not gay, boozy or particularly randy, or preferably all three.

But ’s been a summertime staple for gay men om Philly, New York, New Jersey and parts of what is monly lled “Pennsyltucky” for s — New Hope’s crown jewel when to summer gay tourism.

BLUE MOON RORT FOR GAY MEN

When a gay man texts “I’m gog to the pool, ” ’s no mystery which one — ’s not his pool, or a pool, but the Pool.

But if you’re gay and not sippg mojos at the Chelsea Atlantic Cy or whiffg poppers Rehoboth, you’re at the Pool — part of a bed gay bar/motel operatn — baskg s glisteng bawds. 3, which is everyone else — a loose llectn of sociable gays summoned to the water as if by gravatnal pull, neon pool noodl potg skyward. It’s like circle time at gay summer, gays are assiatg at a faster pace than ever before.

When a gay uple mov to the hoe next door, the neighborhood … boys will be boys, and this will never change: At certa tim, the tribe wants to vort s own playpen. Which brgs back to the Pool, which is ground zero for heat-stricken gay men Philalphia and surroundg unti who lack accs to a beach hoe. It has always applied to gay men.

A GAY MAN YOUR POOL

The abbreviated story of how the Bucks County burg beme a sort of gay-and-gltered Plymouth Rock go somethg like this: First me the nvas artists the 1930s and ’40s; soon after, retail shops pched their tents to piggyback off the scene’s growg (and marketable) diversy. Meanwhile, a flourishg theater scene emerged, fed by Bucks County Playhoe darlgs like Angela Lansbury, Grace Kelly and Liza Mnelli (as ins, gay, gayer and gayt).

“From there, people began buyg summer hom, and wh that me the muny om New York and Philly, who found their way to New Hope, ” says Daniel Brooks, founr of the gay-tourism anizatn New Hope Celebrat.

” By the 1980s, thanks to the so-lled “Goln Triangle” of gay nightclubs — the Raven, the Cartwheel and the Prelu — New Hope had tablished self as a “Gayborhood” well before the term was ed for 13th and Loct. ” Beyond providg juicy burgers (a scene that fi crly — gay men eatg rbs?

TOM HOLLAND’S THE CROWD ROOM GAY SEX SCENE SPARKS APPALLG HOMOPHOBIC BACKLASH

“It’s a summer rual, ” says Philly gay-event producer Josh Schonewolf, who go every season. Here, I meet 58-year-old Dan Schaffer, who’s bt explaed as a gay Rolox wh a pulse — the go-to guy if you want to know someone, or jt want the latt dish on who’s dog what (and to whom).

Prerved, spots like the Pool are an endangered speci; gay mecs like New Hope and Key Wt are cle (or, perhaps more accurately, “gog straight”). And if my afternoon here is any ditn, fledglg gays like myself aren’t turng up the numbers need to sta this place two s om now, when all the geriatrics check to the John C. What happens when lennials are left to choose between Grdr and a by-then-forlorn symbol of once-upon-a-time gay culture?

The Pool may be a summer “rual” for young gays, but ’s a route for everyone else. Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.