Homosexual

Duration: 2000

Year Published: 1964

Creator: KRON-TV News and Documentary Department

Complete Record: Pan of San Francisco skyline as viewed from Yerba Buena Island or a boat. Homosexual culture referred to as subculture. San Francisco referred to as “Free City of the West.” Closer view of San Francisco looking down on the main business area perhaps from Nob Hill looking out towards Yerba Buena Island. Street scene, MS of man crossing some garbage on the curb and passing into a coffee shop, Chuckers. This is possibly a coffee shop in the Tenderloin. City is further described as seldom shocked by freedom and exhibitionism. For decades, San Francisco has offered female impersonators as “tourist fare.” CU of man having make-up applied. MS of female impersonator applying make-up herself in front of mirror. Upswept glasses, elaborate hair rising into a tangle of ostrich feathers. The impersonator turn slowly towards the camera then flips head and feathers back toward the Deco mirror. Great gesture of hauteur. Homosexuality brought into politics when a candid for mayor (Russell L/ Wolden) suggested the mayor in office had made San Francisco a homosexual haven. Three young men cross in front of camera against a building that says “Bay Meadows” and to another building across the street that looks like some government building with a high arch. Scene of female impersonator in heels, black swimming suit and metallic boa, dancing in a club. Shot of man walking to his car (a style-setting Karman Ghia) parked on a hilly curb. [NOTE: Thinking of filmmaker Kenneth Anger’s Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965) and the strong connections it makes between a man’s body and his car.] The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, internally designated the Type 14, was a 2+2 marketed from 1955 to 1974 by Volkswagen in coupe and convertible bodystyles — strong mechanicals, evocative styling by the Italian carrozzeria Ghia, and hand-built bodywork by German coach-builder Karmann. It became the most imported car in the U.S. American industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague selected it for his list of the world's most beautifully designed products. Text of this part of the film talks of the gay man passing as straight. The lesbian completely passes as female homosexual and no one would know her sexual affiliation. Woman is shown crossing a busy SF city street (unidentifiable). The heterosexual world exists virtually unaware of the gay world. The Gay World has its own nightlife, its own organizations. Scene in a bar where light is dim and back lit figures are seen with translucent bar glasses and cigarette smoke. This is later revealed to be the Jumpin Frog. It has its own styles and its own stores. Shot shows display of clothing. Over shot of a couple of men dancing -- one in plain clothes and the other in Hawaiian garb, the narrator says that gays have their own divertissements, their own gathering places, and entertainments, etc. Shot of men sunning on what appears to be some sort of raised median strip near highway. Another shot of same place shows monumental plinths and sculpture as if this might be a public park of some kind. The community forms newspapers and newsletters. CU shot of three issues of the Citizens News. The community publishes its own guidebooks and tourist books that tell homosexual where to find places that welcome homosexuals. CU shot of such guides. They maintain there own libraries: CU of book titles -- Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition (Derrick, Sherwin Bailey), Strangers in Our Midst: Problems of the Homosexual in American Society, Alfred A. Gross, including magazines like Go Guys., fetish publications, etc. Jumpin Frog Bar seen from outside. Interior scenes with narration that such gay bars last only a couple of years because of shut downs by local communities, but early $12,000 a month, and on weekends $1000 a day. CU strong bare arms with beer and wine glasses and other shots that express bar life and dark, hidden spaces. MS shot of butts on bar seats. On the day the Jumpin Frog was shut down there were 34 other gay bars operating in San Francisco. Gay culture has often been called “the Furtive Society.” The scenes and shots inside the Jumpin Frog Bar illustrate this. Very CU of furtive eyes of a man dragging on a cigarette. MS shot of two women talking behind a screen so that we only see their silhouettes and a bouquet of flowers on the table. The discussion is about how the stereotypes of a viewer can misidentify he person they are looking at as homosexual. CU shot of a man talking behind a screen so that we only see his silhouettes and his smoking a cigarette . The discussion is about how a man can lead a double life as straight and gay. Maurice B. Spotswood, Psychiatrist in private practice, as well as with UCSF Medical School, and Ruth M. Maguire, a psychoanalyst in New York City are brought together in a discussion about what “causes” homosexuality. While their discussion -- alternating locations and various CU and MS shots -- is liberal, non-blaming but caught up in Freudian psychology and development where clinical thinking was in 1964. Cu and MS shots of men talking behind screen in silhouette, and an extended conversation of MS and CU shots of two women talking behind screen in silhouette. The topic is how did they know they were homosexual? Street scene probably in the Castro. Identifiable landmarks are: Old Joe’s Place and G & H Grocery (24th and Castro). LS Street scene with VW bus and bug; and others. CU inside unmarked patrol car at 24th and Castro. SF Police have a 8-man detail that investigates sex crimes. Theses crimes are divided into (1) rape and (2) all other that includes lewd phone calls, pornography, and homosexual acts. The driver says that the main trouble spots are places where “they” congregate and places where “they” commit their sex acts in public places -- theaters, parks, etc. Playgrounds and theaters are places they often patrol. Through the windows of the unmarked police car are the following businesses: Red Robin, Emerald Hotel, Fosters, El Cerrito Apartments, Minerva Cafe, and others. Setting shot of Lafayette Square and various LS views. View of the outside of the men’s room where many homosexual acts are committed. This is a major trouble spot for the police. Within twenty minutes, 9 men have entered the men’s room to make homosexual contacts. There are shots of families and children playing and sitting, enjoying the sun. Police truck ordered by the plain clothes officers, and two men are arrested inside the men’s room, handcuffed and taken to the van in front of very curious children who are playing on the sand and swing sets. The van lets off a dramatic cloud of exhaust as it takes off. Golden Gate Park men’s room is the next stop for the plain clothes officers. LS shot of bus on busy park street. LS men’s room. Two men are cuffed together and taken to police vehicle. CU of officer putting cuffs on wrist of the men. Middle-aged salesman and young army officer home on leave. LS of police and felons walking to police car. MS officers and felons next to police car. One officer tells the military man that his wife might not find out about this, but his company commander will. Shots of traffic outside the police car, and CU inside the police car. POV driving down streets from Golden Gate Park. Inter cut shots of men’s cuffed hands which seem to be communicating with one another. CU felons talking with police in car. Arrival at police station (which one?). Shots of interior of police station. Men are booked in. CU a large (cell) key being handed off. Back out in the streets, landmarks include: The Nevada (open 6 am) . Mission Street “girlie” shows -- “Ding Dong Dollies.” More bar scenes: The Anxious Asp, Cadell Place, Doan Room, Cask, Frolic, etc. POV driver of the police car seems to be on Mission Street going away from the Ferry Building. “Mason News Co.”: Sign reads: “8mm Art Film and Supplies, Magazines and Pocket Books, Party Records & Art Picture, Art Slides.” Turk Cocktails, Hotel Hilary, Boston Hotel, Fez, Blue and Gold. Another aspect that interests the police relative to sex crimes is a person called “a fruit hustler.” Street scene with young hustler. Cops interviewing him. Looks like the Tenderloin. A fruit hustler preys almost totally on homosexuals. LS of police with this young man, then MS as they ask him questions and take down data. Fruit hustlers take homosexuals into areas where they are robbed, severely beaten, or murdered. Group of young men followed by camera as they weave in and about people on the street, and cross traffic. Police stop and interview these young men. The narrator is describing perpetrators who do pickups in parks and on the street, then murder their pickups. LS of Tenderloin gathering spot. Sign carried by a man reads: “ Jesus Christ, Prayer, the Holy Bible, and patriots, our Nation’s only Hope.” Really a good shot of a group of seedy, milling people. MS inside a Tenderloin cafe. This scene takes place in a very low lighting setting. This bar lost its liquor license and then became a coffee house called Chuckers. It is owned and operated by Paulus Lauras. Three female impersonators and African American and a gay man being served drinks. MS, two patrons at a bar while Philippine man serves them in paper cups. Narrator is talking about that there are 500 to 300 gay hustlers who prey on gay men in San Francisco. View looking down at table where six of individuals are sitting with their drinks and cigarettes. CU of individuals at tables and Paulus (a female impersonator) who talks to the camera. LS and MS of street scenes in the Tenderloin. Individuals walking on sidewalks, cars parked, cars on the street, etc. Shoe Shine set up on curb. Back to cops walking their beat not in uniform. Then they are inside their car and we see POV, the street scene. On the street there is a shot of cops interviewing a man on the street. There is a CU of one of the cops offering his ID, his badge. CU sign “All New Bondage” with blinking light “Gay.” Evening street scene. Illuminated sign for Cal Auto> Film returns to silhouetted conversations between two women and two men. Hunt Street in San Francisco’s South of Market Area. The Hunt Club, that is the City Clinic. CU of sign on outside of building with clinic hours, etc. This is where venereal diseases are treated and tracked. CU looking down on clerk’s hand and she writes data. Camera pulls back to MS to show clerk talking with client. Director , Dr. Ella Spock (name unclear), of the center shown at her desk looking through a microscope. She gets up and walks to a refrigerator and then to the door. Narrator informs us that Venereal Disease Records are kept strictly confidential. 75% of all syphilis and 20 % of gonorrhea cases are in the gay community. The Chief of the Disease Control Bureau of San Francisco, Department of Public Health, is Dr. Irwin Bratt. He sets the rules and protocols for the clinic. He is shown MS with arm resting on his desk. He talks about the spread of disease. Interview goes between CU and MS. There is a cut to Dr. Spock at her microscope again. All homosexuals are concerned about their health and the spread of disease. Camera shot above and looking down on secretary at Daughters of Bilitis which sustains a public magazine, The Ladder. A general kind of office view is given. Some hands are inside a frame CU doing the binding on their magazine. {The Daughters of Bilitis is the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. It was formed in 1955 in San Francisco. The group was conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were considered illegal and thus subject to raids and police harassment. The group disbanded after 14 years.] The Mattachine Society, Inc. office door is shown in CU. [The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, was one of the earliest homophile organizations in the United States, probably second only to Chicago’s short-lived Society for Human Rights (1924). Harry Hay and a group of Los Angeles male friends formed the group to protect and improve the rights of homosexuals. Because of concerns for secrecy and the founders’ leftist ideology, they adopted the cell organization of the Communist Party. In the anti-Communist atmosphere of the 1950s, the Society’s growing membership substituted a more traditional ameliorative civil rights leadership style and agenda for the group’s early Communist model. Then as branches formed in other cities, the Society splintered in regional groups by 1961.] The inside of their office is shown. A man stands next to a rotary printing press. The society publishes a magazine to 2500 individuals and also publishes books on homosexuality. Harold Call is the Director of this group. He is shown sitting on a couch in his office. Camera moves to MS. He is seen talking across a desk from Executive Secretary, Don Lucas. There is a fairly lengthy exchange about their support for the homosexual community. Scene shifts back to the two undercover policemen and a third man. They walk along the street in front of the State Hall of Justice building whose logo is given a CU, and then they walk in. As narrator talks about to what extent society will allow homosexuals function in a heterosexual world, a party scene with what seems to be an aisle with heterosexuals on either side is shown while several female impersonators and costumed men cavort down the center. Reprise of the two psychiatrists talking. Maurice B. Spotswood, Psychiatrist in private practice, as well as with UCSF Medical School, and Ruth M. Maguire, a psychoanalyst in New York City. Ending shot is of camera high above a man walking alone down a parking lot. The camera pulls back to show man becoming smaller and park setting more clear.