In the Life: Ep. 806, "Lights, Camera, Activism! IV"

[Music] on this edition of In The Life whether it's on camera off camera behind the scenes or making a scene gay men and lesbians are using film and television to tell their stories and state their case all this and more on in the Life America's lesbian and gay cultural news [Music] magazine in the life is funded in part by the H van amaran Foundation additional support provided by Michael a lepin Jeffrey B sorif James pepper Amy Zimmerman and Tanya Wexler Jonathan B Sheffer and Christopher barley Barry skovgard and mark wilinsky the Lily aen Claus Foundation the Gil Foundation the Michael Palm Foundation the rainbow endowment the Terry K Wabi charitable trust the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice and the annual support of in Theif members like [Music] [Applause] you welcome to in the life and our annual film and video episode hi I'm Katherine Linton we bring you this program from the new home of PBS's Flagship station 13 W NE here in New York now back in the 1970s media Guru Marshall mclan coined the phrase the medium is the message well if that's true then the message from television and movies today is that gay culture has moved from the margins to the mainstream of popular entertainment and whether or not in front of the camera or behind the scenes gay men and lesbians are bringing a new sensibility to large and small screens all across America I don't even try to shock people anymore I try to make people laugh um and I've always tried to make people laugh the trick is to shock people in a new way with some kind of humor gay people always have a good sense of humor I think and I think all comedies have good gay audiences over the past few years major Studios have produced a number of box office hits with their Tinseltown version of gay life but long before Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon there were several pioneering Distributors that were marketing many more films about gay subjects in our first segment correspondent Jonathan capart visits the companies that broke through industry barriers to bring us what is now known as the gay and lesbian film genre Robin and Serena are going to be there and you know how lesbians make us really nervous ever since he saw Basic Instinct and that was years ago well I couldn't decide between coffee or cocktail well guess what one let it all go John let these strong loving men heal you if you're a fan of gay and lesbian Cinema there's a good chance you've seen a film from independent Distributors like strand releasing jerde Fett film it's kind of complicated or first run features I'm a big supporter of strand releasing you know if they release the movie I go see it you have a girlfriend yeah his name's Danny before mainstream Hollywood capitalized on the value of the gay audience with films like the bird cage In-N-Out and Philadelphia a small group of film companies were defining that very Market by offering audiences honest and challenging images of gay and lesbian life movies like edge of 17 that still have a lot of gay sex in them still find it very difficult to get distribution uh mainstream Distributors are are afraid of movies like that so we need companies like Strand and J to Fett to continue to to put out these movies did you put on my clog no um I I mean I just like I opened it up I wanted to see what it smelled like you did and we kiss right there in the street and it's a moment we talk about for years later how we never believed in love at first sight until we met each other but we release has to be different than what the studios release uh and and the other the studio owned independent so we're always looking for something that's a little controversial that's very different that pushes the boundaries a little bit is this it's a joke right it's not supposed to be funny it's not one major player in the gay film industry started off in auspiciously in San Francisco 22 years ago a disillusioned film student decided to take matters into his own hands in 77 I took over a theater an old ramshackle theater downtown in San Francisco called The Strand started programming um daily change double features triple features the sort of thing all types of subject matter including gay subject matter Thomas was soon joined by another film buff whose love of be movies drew a steady following to the classic theater it had really great series and one of the best ones that I programmed was AIP series American International pictures which were the you you know ' 50s and 60s sort of exploitation pictures they were the horror films and the Beach Blanket Bingo pictures we got home together suits me in 1991 strand moved to Los Angeles and began producing films depicting the psychology of the AIDS crisis strand's original film soon gained a reputation for brutal honesty and experimentation in terms of like the living in and Via Opia and frisk in its own way I think that those films were addressed saying you know AIDS in a very timely manner it's still a crisis going on but there is a different urgency now and I think that it was really it was really critical the way that we you know had those issues out right then for people to see day and lesbian films have settled into this kind of more comfortable state where they can just make films about everyday life and make films that are comedies as opposed to making those edgier films New York's Museum of Modern Art recently celebrated strand's 10th anniversary with a month-long retrospective featuring 25 of strand's most influential films we wanted to recognize both their contribution to the perception of gay Cinema in this country and also to applaud their expansion into uh adventuresome International Cinema as well it's incredible that a small company like strand has gotten a retrospective here at the Museum of Modern Art it's it's it's inspiring to all the rest of us who are working away in our Lofts or our garages trying to make small films there's a love of film there in the way in which they re-released really classic movies or or I think they were just a wonderful and very kind of like diverse company r e d while strand emerged as an indie player on the west coast new york-based first run features was also beginning to tap into the gay and lesbian Market I think that almost from the outset of the company's for we started Distributing films um that that were specifically for um gays and lesbians that was Miss Callahan's girlfriend what do you mean didn't you notice that lady in the car she's the one who brings Miss Callahan to school every morning maybe cian doesn't have a car maybe they're roommates yeah cuz they're leses in the mid 80s we started to to look at actually doing more entertaining fiction feature films um gay lesbian you know feature films and we were so successful with that we continued to really concentrate on that so what's his name what's he do his name is Brendan we run a cafe together Brendan not Brendan with the dark eyes and the permanent 5:00 shadow Brendan yes I know him you do yes he comes to my men's group your men's group well it's exclusively gay product we're the only company that is strand co-founder Mike Thomas recently branched out with his own Distribution Company J def Fett films the company's first release relax it's just sex was discovered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998 I told you that first night that I cannot make a commitment not yet I mean I I was in a 9ye relationship with the same woman I what strand Zera Fett films and first run features have come a long way since the early 90s and they've been seeing greater and greater success at the box office however all of the Distributors agree that a bigger box office revenue isn't always the main criteria When selecting material the incredible um payoff for our my job at least is that I I I'm able to bring to the marketplace you know quality gain lesbian titles and that's really an important thing personally for me being an openly gay film distributor I think is very important as an industry statement lowbudget films kind of off-the-wall films and mainstream gay films can all coexist and be brought out according to what's reasonable and cost effective we don't turn up our noses at something because it's a small film all I ask for is your honesty and your sperm I don't even ask for your love every boy Des not if you're gay not if you're what okay what okay homosexual a fala hi I'm Mitchell Anderson being out on the job isn't easy whether you're on a set in an office or on an assembly line but there are places to find support today more and more companies have gay employee groups if you are dealing with issues of coming out you might want to contact the National Coming Out project to find the link go to in thee life's website at inth Theif tv.org [Music] the name John Waters used to be some Anonymous with lowbudget off-the-wall films or has he sometimes described them trashy yet over the years even this Maverick writer producer and director has become more and more dare we say it mainstream yet for Waters that only means devising new ways to shock his audience and as correspondent Scott Hollman shows us nothing pleases him more filmmaker John Waters first earned his reputation as a shocking director with his early work entitled Pink Flamingos I like movies is Terrorism if a movie could make someone murder somebody I think it's a great movie I don't think any movie has ever made anybody want to murder somebody for real it's they had bad parents or bad things happened to them you can't just blame a movie but if a completely normal person could walk in a movie and they' leave and make him kill somebody even though I would hate for that to happen it must be a pretty good movie water's style may have evolved in the 27 years since ping flamingos was filmed but he still enjoys making audiences blush and maybe even question their own definitions of Comedy Waters titled his most recent film pecker here's the pitch the Hollywood pitch you have to go in and get their attention quickly right pecker is the R-rated Rags to Riches comedy about a goofy cute bluecollar kid in Baltimore who works in a sandwich shop and takes pictures of his loving but very peculiar family on the side are you pecker yeah I am hi I'm Rory we're his parents hi I'm from New York city where dri an art gallery I'm in town for a meeting with the Baltimore Museum and I saw your flyer he gets discovered accidentally by a New York art dealer and turned into an art star in New York and how it totally wrecks his happy bluecolor life in Baltimore I love your look and how he gets his life and reputation back and how the New Yorkers learn to like the His World New York is certainly a part of John waters's life as is Los Angeles but despite being well accepted by the so-called Hollywood EST establishment Waters chooses to make his home here in Baltimore Maryland my love affair with Baltimore it's complicated um Baltimore to me is what inspires me there's certain street corners I I ritualistically go to the day before I start to write a movie I love New York a lot of my social life is here insane people here know they're insane and use their Insanity for style and career in Baltimore the ones that are the most insane really think they're normal also in Baltimore gay and straight and everybody hangs out together way much more I like it where you don't know who's what where everything's mixed where people can still change they can come in if they want rather than come out I don't care um it's it's much more interesting to [Music] me Baltimore is also where Waters chooses to make his films including hairspray crybaby and cereal mom after hairspray which was made at new line I had what was perceived as a hit and um so it was the only time in my life that all the Hollywood Studios would have let me do whatever I wanted I should have made a snuff movie while I had the chance but um I made a Hollywood movie through imagine films called crybaby which was a hard film to do because it was a completely a musical with um original music and dancing and lip syncing and everything it was like a 50s musical yes two drops of falling falling from my eyes Serial Mom was my much more Lush it was about Suburbia about upper middle class Suburbia and how violence can breed from that upper middle class kind of [Applause] [Music] cleanliness while wat's films do not have overtly gay themes his gay sensibility is apparent through the subtle and not so subtle overtones in many of his scripts being gay is too easy for me being gay now is in every movie so I have to twist that even I have to to do a joke on that to make it gay incorrect Waters also has a Twist on gay America that you may find shocking I thought being gay when I was growing up the privilege was you didn't have to go in the army or get married because you were gay and now you have to fight for it so that's what I mean by gay incorrect I can't imagine no matter how much in love that I would want to walk down the aisle in a mock ceremony I hate straight wedings much less gay ones I have no desire it's like a Hallmark greeting card hell um it's it's something that I'm for everybody has the right to do it God knows I mean heterosexual people get married seven times and fail why can't gay people I'm not strict I don't think there should be rules in any culture that's the only problem sometimes I have with gay culture is it's gay correct just like um Liberals are politically correct or Republicans are Republican correct I like to break rules no matter who makes them and I like to break them with humor even in the most vile of his films there is a sweetness about that you're ratted hair is preventing yet another student's geometry education actress Ria fikin also makes her home in Baltimore she has seen a very different side of John Waters both as a close friend and at work on the set of hairspray I met John Waters when he was a kid and I was just a little more than a kid seriously I think before he had a camera as time has gone on we have gotten closer he has this kind of humor that is with him all the time it's how he sees the world so even when he's working on a movie he sees things in a very humorous way whether it's changes in water style audience Trends or both his Works have certainly moved more into the mainstream over the years in fact he was even recently asked to lend his voice talents to a gay themed episode of The Simpsons I could wrap a bow around you and slap on a price tag disarm them through laughter when the whole family sit around at 7:00 and watch The Simpsons and have that on there that is really how culture can change everybody's attitude by making them laugh that's the only way you can ever change someone's opinion whether or not one appreciates John wat's films few could argue that his style is a unique part of the entertainment industry he is very caring as a director because he doesn't ever seem to embarrass the talent or bully the talent or the technical people for that matter he always seems to go up and talk to you privately about how he wants you to do it so that if you haven't done it right it's not something everybody in the world hears I don't even try to shock people anymore I try to make people laugh um and I've always tried to make people laugh the trick is to shock people in a new way with some kind of humor gay people always have a good sense of humor I think and I think all comedies have good gay audiences because gay people have had to laugh um to get through all the hassles in life more than any other minority I think that humor has gotten them through their bad times I've always said that if we can laugh at the worst thing that ever happened to us because we're gay we'll be the strongest minority of all [Music] for filmmakers especially those who have yet to achieve the recognition of a John Waters film festivals have always been a crucial place to Showcase new work but they also provide something else a space for a community to come together and that is exactly what's happening in the Eastern European country of Hungary where a small but growing Festival has become an important social and cultural Gathering Place for that country's emerging Gan lesbian movement filmmaker Alisa lebau was invited to hungary's Capital to show her own work as part of the Budapest gay and lesbian Film Festival she filed this report for in the [Music] Life Budapest is a grand old central European city on the banks of the Dano River birthplace of France's list B La BTO and perhaps most notoriously jaaja Gabor recently Budapest has developed a small but thriving gay and lesbian Community one that hopes to grow in numbers and visibility welcome to the fourth annual gain lesbian pride festival from Budapest the rally is happening right behind me and you can hear it it's a 4-day cultural arts festival with panel discussions parties every night films from 10: in the morning to 10: at night and of course the Gay Pride March there's a lot of preparation that goes into this 4-day event which operates out of the central European University on a shoestring budget with an all volunteer staff this event is of crucial importance for the formation of of the community because uh living in Hungary as a gay or lesbian person is for for most of the people is is like um not having a mirror this is the central event of Gabe and lesbian G and lesbians in Hungary gay life in Hungary is centered in budapes just totally this is the only city where they can come out and and have jobs as well we have gays only in Budapest of course all gays moves here because they can't live in a Countryside and they are all here they have to come out here as part of the festival filmmakers like myself were invited to go on a special gay bus tour of Budapest on the hot pink Barbie bus where we learn more about the past and present underground cruising sites of Budapest than about any organizing activity of the gay and lesbian movement this park on the right is the cruising area of Buddha and lately people prefer coming here than to the P cruising areas because it's relatively safe uh on this Square there there was a toilet which was also a game eating Place uh young people today are sometimes shocked uh to hear that uh 10 15 years ago gay men used to meet other gay men in public toilets but there was uh practically no other opportunity in Hungary you don't speak about being gay or or lesbian so I think invisibility is a big issue in Hungary you don't come out to your colleagues do don't come out to your neighbors your parents your family um so people haven't got um you know any idea about what what it takes to be gay or lesbian I met with the national Ally acclaimed Hungarian poet Adam nadji in the art gallery of the festival to discuss the situation for gays and lesbians in Hungary there are a few people who who who are openly gay but certainly a small number and um very few still of of the how should I say of the popular or famous people they they they are they're usually shy to come out so some leading actors or or media personalities who we know to be gay and maybe many people know them to be gay yet they wouldn't speak as such or they wouldn't publicly Acclaim that that they were gay we have if you like a funny definition of what is a secret here in this town now a secret is not something that nobody knows a secret is something that everybody knows but everybody knows that it's a [Music] secret the film festival has also inspired a gay pride March and in a country where being closeted is practically a way of life I was surprised that anyone showed up but they did in fact several hundred people marched well I think there are going to be a lot of people who come but um there are going to be you know some kind of incito either they are going to dress in drag that's one of the options I think a lot of people did that last year or they might just ask uh the cameraman or the camera persons not to shoot them tell what people who did that last year last year I had my sunglasses on and my baseball cap and still my grandmother said I saw you on TV so this year I thought like you know if they saw me last year and basically everybody knows I don't think it's a big deal my name is H I'm from Hungary uh I lived in a smaller town here but uh I moved here two days ago so I live here now welcome to Budapest oh thank you is this your first gay pride March yes yes last year there was a gay pride here and I was here but I didn't go here because I didn't there it was very Pro that there was many many people to enjoy to Joy us the joy to the crowd and it was a crowd I think it was a real much there was a long period of a totalitarian rule here in in this country under communism before that there was a very strongly right-wing period uh during the two Wars and and maybe those have left their Mark and so maybe we are now where Denmark was 30 years ago or where Holland was 40 years ago the great change came in 8990 when the Communist Regime collapsed and then gay bars could could could open and everybody felt Freer it wasn't legally punishable before I have to say that in all F the Communist Regime decriminalized homosexuality many years before it collapse but to be out you know that only came with the collapse of [Music] Communism after four days and nights of serious movie goinging panels and bus tours I was treated to an amateur drag show in club capella that was as good as any I've [Music] seen with cultural events like the Gay and Lesbian Festival I'd like to think Budapest could become home to an even more open and active lesbian and gay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] community to discuss the stories you see on in the Life visit our website and the in the Life Forum tell us and other viewers your thoughts at www.in thee. G still to come on in theel life the winner of our fourth annual short film and video contest and a look at get Bruce a new film about the funniest man in Hollywood you know that yeah but first while gay images on the big screen might not please some conservative groups this is nothing compared compared to the battle they wage over what is broadcast into your living room Tanya Barfield has the story on the battle for the box but let this filth come into our classrooms that's fine and you wonder what's wrong with America you wonder what's wrong with America who like really cares if you're gay it's like barely nobody knows in the world it's like what's what's the big whoop last year we told you about a documentary called its Elementary which was initially produced for teachers to discuss tolerance of gay people in primary and secondary [Music] schools in 1992 my son was about to start Public elementary school and I started to be concerned about what kinds of messages he was going to be getting in at school about the kind of family that he came from the more I thought about it the more I realized that what he was going to be exposed to in the official curriculum was going to be nothing it was going to be silence complete invisibility that gay and lesbian people existed looking for a way to build understanding and tolerance among teachers and students Deborah chesnov decided to make its Elementary together with co-producer Helen Cohen she embarked on a 4-year project we set out across the country and we found six schools four Public Schools two Independent Schools where teachers were doing some kind of lesson that included an awareness of lesbian and gay people or anti-gay discrimination and we took our cameras in the classrooms and observed we thought the contribution that we could make would be to demystify for people for educators and parents what it would actually look like if a third grade teacher walked into the room and said today we're going to talk about lesbians and gay men like when I think of G I think of someone like working a boy walking funny like a girl once the film was completed chasnoff and Cohen traveled to 30 cities to screen and promote it people who were in The audiences of these big premieres got really excited and inspired and they would say to us I'm going to take this film to my son's school and I'm going to sit down with the principal and make her watch this film and they did there was a feeling of inspiration and I think you can't watch the film without feeling U motivated to do something and the the response went teachers and parents see it is usually what can we do here it was accepted it was respected which is was what we were looking for from this is wonderful we need more documentaries like this you know this is change my attitude towards what gay and lesbian people are feeling its Elementary soon began winning awards at film festivals as word of the film spread so did the Press coverage well we were were amazed we kept getting you know feature story written about us reviews written about us and they were all incredibly positive and I kept waiting um and then finally one day I somebody forwarded me something from some rightwing organization ranting and raving about this film and then I would say in the fall of 97 it started coming and it was a deluge the video is basically an infomercial for the homosexual agenda and it's an infomercial for homosexual marriage before we knew it it seemed like its Elementary had become the poster child for the religious right we were what was wrong with America and you should send your money now to stop its Elementary as far as activists are concern the younger a child can be introduced to homosexuality the better schools are also promoting gay and lesbian pride month as shown in this video another resource for homosexual supporters to recruit sympathy from the children this summer amidst protests from conservative groups the documentary aired on numerous PBS stations across the country okay we'll take comments and questions at the end of the story here we go asha's moms with its Elementary reaching a greater audience through public television reaction to the film intensified the center for reclaiming America has encouraged people all over America to contact their stations and request that they not show it however I also believe there was pressure put on those stations to show its Elementary so I believe that um if that's what it takes is pressure that's what we need to be doing what glad did we met with uh a lot of PBS stations either in person or on the phone and explained why this programming is important and that and basically we negated what some of the things that Jerry fought was saying and some stations who were on the fence about it decided to go ahead and air it for those of us who are Christian conservatives we have many issues that we fight we fight abortion and the two hot buttons that I particularly work on are abortion and the homosexual agenda one of the ways the right is responding to the broadcast of its Elementary is by demanding that public television stations air a response program they produced called suffer the children the battle in this country between those holding to traditional morality and those espousing Hedonism has reached a fever [Music] pitch we think that over a period of time we cover both sides of many many issues Ward Chamberlain has played a prominent role in public television for over 30 years and helped draft the original charters for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting we are very uh hesitant here at this station to respond to a pressure group that says look you that was a one-sided program now you present our side on the air we believe that their side if it's at all reasonable will over a period of 6 months or whatever it may be will be represented in in an appropriate way on our station to encourage debate many public stations that aired its Elementary also presented their own onair discussion of the film here in San Francisco we also had a local program wrapped around its Elementary Mary bitterman is president of public station KQED in San Francisco which was instrumental in bringing its Elementary to public television what we did was to invite seven parents into the studio who had never seen the program before who came from different walks of life uh they had uh different attitudes about what children should be taught in school different religious attitudes what they call different family values even although what we found is that they shared a great deal in common including the love that they had for their children sitting next to somebody in class who is gay and finding out about it is not going to make you gay just who decided that it's the business of the public school in this case on teaching homosexuality as it was presented in that film what I heard was a promotion of Tolerance and I think that tolerance is a human value it's a family value it's a moral value my mothers mean so so so so so much to me I have two mothers two moms is pretty nice well it's more than pretty nice it's really nice I saw its Elementary at a concerned women for America meeting there were mothers in that room that were crying after that video because they were disturbed about what's happening to our children that our children are being propagandized what we receive in public broadcasting is on the same day per program uh somebody saying I think this program is very conservative I will no longer support you and somebody saying this program is so flamingly liberal I will no longer support you and it's the identical program so it does bespeak the diversity of the American people while its Elementary aired on over 90 stations it was not shown in over 20 States we certainly recognize that there would be colleagues who would elect not to show the program and we have respect for those colleagues whether they showed that program or any other program that we present we elected not to uh there's a great deal of sovereignty and Independence per station where every station makes its decision for the community it serves local decisions on programming point out the true nature of public TV and also indicate its greatest vulnerability commercial broadcasters they're afraid of their advertisers and their Advertiser will run away we're not afraid of that in public television but what we what some managers are afraid of is the is the pressure through Congress and through their own legislatures in various states that can bring pressure on the station I think that what steals everyone in public television and what can make us more resilient in the future is a diversity of support sources that it should never be all government it should never be all Foundation all Corporation or in some communities even all viewers because sometimes viewers can band together and say we are the viewers who give you money disregard the other viewers and we can't do that because we hold public licenses and whether people watch and listen to to our stations and are members or they're not members we still need to Accord their interests and their needs absolute consideration I feel the public broadcast system has an obligation to give a balanced look I don't know yet if they will give us that opportunity its Elementary serves as the latest barometer in the rights effort to influence public television and points to the challenge some stations face when airing controversial programs we continue to try to judge programs on their Merit not only on their Merit not only their quality as a television program but whether there's a particular segment of our audience out there that would be interested in this particular kind of program doesn't have to be everybody we're able to take on issues in a way that doesn't just do the 30 second sound bite but really allows us to bring difficult issues to the air with sufficient time to debate them we'll get one of those emails or one of those letters in the mail and it's very upsetting and then I just have to look over at the the relative size of our hate mail and our fan mail and be reassured that the vast majority of people who have seen this film have been elated to see it and to say what can we do about this so that our kids don't have to grow up the way we did we call ourselves a public television stations so that means that we're supposed to serve the public all the public we come a long way in public television in matters of lifestyle and programs that deal with sexual orientation uh we always uh I think we're ahead of commercial stations in playing those kinds of programs and we and we should be we should be [Music] while the battle for the Box continues over public television on another Network a popular game show features a gay man whose sexual orientation and talent for comedy is no secret audiences might be somewhat familiar with Bruce fanch from the new Hollywood Squares there he is the headwriter and has a fabulous spot sitting just to the left of who Goldberg okay Bruce if the sky is pink all the time where are you my house the amazing part is every time we get research reports I look at them to to see you know I'm waiting for the one report that says get that off the show who does he think he is and so far it's all been very positive they like me I mean they really like me in fact the uh CBS affiliate in Dallas called and said we want some more promos for the show get that gay guy he's he's funny we like him down here and I thought Dallas they like me in Dallas oh ohar he's a secret Square I was at the Salt Lake City airport and there were all these old Mormons from a retirement home who stopped their Jitney to have their picture taken with me and I was thinking do they have any idea who I am I mean you know years from now when they look at this photo here's all these old morons in this raging Queen what are they going to think but you know it's not that it's I'm on TV how anyone got banch into a square when his life and work are anything but is a mystery this word Smith for the Stars not to mention the last nine Oscar telecasts is now the subject of a new documentary called get Bruce in the film America is introduced to the work the wit and even the t-shirts of Bruce fanch truer words were never spoken Bruce bruy bruy bu bruy baby Bruce bru bruy bruy baby what do you do tell us what you do when you need a good life you need a [Music] good you're and you want to shine shine baby before I moose H better and good to your shant to your shant don't be [Music] obuse the title really refers to the fact that every single person in Hollywood who has to get up and speak on an award show or at a charit charitable event the first thought that comes into their head is get Bruce what I tell people is he was was looking to do another movie about a fabulous Queen behind the scenes and he got at his directory of fabulous Queens behind the scenes and he got to the v's before anybody would say yes I said look I'll I'll do the directing and the camera and all that part and you supply the Stars which he did and you got that funny Bruce banch writing some of the stuff for everyone he's the funniest guy every time you see an award show no matter which one the Oscars the Tony's the Emmys he's the guy who's responsible for nearly all the material true man as far as I know Bruce has literally been involved with every every event every charitable event and every award show that I've ever been involved in so I I didn't know that you allowed to do one without him frankly part of the way that people view me is because of how Bruce has written for me basically I'll find out what it is I'm supposed to do and where I'm supposed to be and I I'll call Bruce and say hello dear hello you know uh bill has asked me to do his 50th birthday you know that ah the big Radio City bad the Radio City big badge with many many interesting people on the bill um what uh what shall I do first I think you should come out and say good evening I'm colen Powell anyway it's really good to be here truly cuz some of us are from Hollywood yes where they think Rwanda is the name of a talk show host la baby if you can't be a star at least you can be a star witness anyway and I work with these people the first thing you have to do is is be a listener I have to get their speech pattern and also I have to kind of glom onto their personality to figure out what their their Persona is when they're on stage and um so that requires a lot of sitting back and patiently observing them it also means a lot of homework I have to pay attention to them when I'm not with them uh you know look at all their movies their shows whatever it is to kind of get who they are and then figure out how I'm going to to to put stuff words in their mouth for years I never said a word that Bruce didn't charge me for in fact Bruce was the first man to put something in my mouth that actually made us both money what amazes me is that all of these stars who have so much invested in creating themselves have uh uh allowed the world to know that they didn't do it by themselves and that you know they have maintenance they have I'm part of their maintenance crew I knew uh that for a fact that people had no idea whatsoever that somebody actually wrote what seemed to be spontaneous remarks that there was an actual writing process in what whoopy Goldberg says at the Oscars or Billy Crystal says you know every year you know my first call is to Bruce once I know that you know he's he's there then you know like a baseball team we're strong up the middle well actually one of the entrances we were going to do was the crying game that they wouldn't let us do wasn't it that that year we thought you would come out in Drag and have an Oscar hanging between your legs that was your idea that was my idea your hand keeps creeping up her thighs you h a spot that's just a DOT on this Dame those eyes those thighs surprise it's The Crying Game it's The Crying Game hey I didn't order that yeah right it's strange when you have a documentary done about about yourself and uh I recommend it to everyone because it's a cathartic experience you discover that things that you you thought had sorry there was somebody from the cast of A Bug's Life was visiting you can guard your life just so much and and you when you open it up to a documentari and you have to be willing to take the consequences it's always been a pillar for the community for uh for the gay community always been you know uh a wonderful a wonderful role model and for Jews really more of an embarrassment I got to say that uh different communities different reactions I've never been comfortable with the idea of being a role model because uh uh I think that role models should get laid a whole lot more than I do he's too much of a muppet to be a role model though I think I don't know I guess in a way because I I don't live a compromised existence I think that that just as a de facto role model for a lot of people who do and who would like to change he's extremely decent and ex what he's done for the AIDS cause in this country is immeasurable when AIDS happened I um I got busy I got I did what I could do which was organize fundraisers with people in Show Business I always say this but it's true I find myself breaking down for no reason like an old Buick I think it's because I've just lost so many people it's rare that I get to express myself I write comedy you know I write jokes and people die every day and I'm there and I write jokes so it's very tough sometimes to let it out it's embarrassing to have a catharsis in front front of all of you but I've never heard Judy Garland so so I guess to a certain extent I've always wanted to be out front and perform and you know be the center of attention but I haven't had that hasn't been the primary you know that hasn't been the primary need finding uh clothes that fit has been the primary need and I failed there so I did this shant your shant don't be OB I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman part of her power being she was a bad Butch who made women unravel come undone at the seams like Wonder Woman beneath their armor was desperate I knew I never should have gotten involved with that woman but somewhere inside she moved me to another country and I started speaking in languages I had never learned one of the most effective tools in the fight against AIDS is having the right information facts about prevention and treatment if you want more information on AIDS and communities of color contact the National black leadership Commission on AIDS or the national minority AIDS Council for these and other links to organizations working in the battle against AIDS check out our website at in theel tv.org this is Pamela sne for in [Music] Theif each year in the Life reserves a spot on our program to showcase the work of an upand cominging film and video artist hoping to provide exposure to Works about the gay and lesbian experience that may find few other broadcast Outlets to do this we hold our own annual short film and video contest and the winner of this year's competition is a film about a young woman who pursues her dreams of becoming an athlete despite the stigma of being called a tomboy tomboy is an autobiographical short film and it's about uh it's just about wanting to play sport that's really what it's about and it's about this battle that can be overt or it can be covert um that keeps little girls from getting to play sports tomboy was definitely my very first film uh personal films are tough they're they're hard I mean they they really allow you to share something big that you know is authentic you know it's authentic because it's your authentic experience I remember the heav steady Thrill of the swing legs pumping my heart thumping leaning back on the upswing to see the clouds straining into the downswing and laughing out loud keeping wild time like a crazy pendulum and never slowing my momentum don't swing too high teacher's voice trying to shoot us girls from the sky never tell an athlete she cannot go hi I was born a tomboy here I'm trying to outrun mom and her lace Patrol mom thought I would play with Barbie she envisioned ballet ribbons black patent leather I felt like I was in drag my sister and I were supposed to let my brothers carry the heavy stuff the story went that we could get muscles or a hernia that could keep us from having kids that did not stop me I like my [Music] muscles I remember the name calling Tomo D even from my own brothers and sisters none of us knew what the words meant but they were not encouraging [Music] mom used to say I walked like a farmer she tried to teach me to walk like a lady even put books on my head but I was unswayed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but all he [Music] could I was not encouraged to seek a future in sports but I found a future there I found a free college education a national championship and an audience with the president I found a career as a pro sports writer and I created the only women's sports page in the nation it's sort of a visual aid for other aspiring tomboys tomboyism a wholesome Del and rushing about at full speed playing at active games climbing trees rowing boats and making mud pies 1876 the Oxford English [Music] Dictionary from all of us at in the life thank you for watching and we'll see you next time New York City he can dance and make [Music] romance that's when I fell in love with just one glance he was shot and so was I and now I know we'll never ever say goodby o want to and what do you do oh tell us what do you do when you need a good life you need a [Music] good and you want to shine sh baby before I moose better good to your shant to your shant don't be [Music] up in the life is funded in part by the H van amaran Foundation additional support provided by Michael a lepen Jeffrey B sorif James pepper Amy Zimmerman and Tanya Wexler Jonathan B Sheffer and Christopher barley Barry skovgard and mark wilinsky the Lily aen classus Foundation the Gil Foundation the Michael Palm Foundation the rainbow endowment the Terry K Wabi charitable trust the Mitchell Gold company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and Prejudice and the annual support of in Theif members like you [Music]