Bonus Video! The Lost Gay Language of Polari
Hello there!
Whew, lots to talk about in this week's bonus video. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my question last week about Dirk Bogarde not publicly coming out -- I really appreciate all your insights. And big thanks to patron James for the link to Dirk's fascinating interview with Russell Harty, there's a link to the full thing below.
Also thanks to patron Lin for pointing out the importance of Polari, a secret slang used by queer people up until around the 1960s! There's a great Rowan Ellis video about Polari and there's a link to that below as well.
And one more thank-you to patron Karin for recommending the wonderful Julian and Sandy sketches, which employed Polari in a way that was so popular that they're sometimes blamed for its demise! (I think that's a bit of a stretch, personally -- my feeling is that Polari faded away as it became less urgent to evade detection.)
An additional topic for this week's video: The Victim Letters, a collection of quite moving letters about how the 1961 film changed the lives of people who saw it. Some remarkable details, including one story that really changed how I think of buying a ticket for a movie.
And one more thing: We'll be watching Victim on a livestream starting today (Sunday the 10th) at noon pacific/3pm eastern on Twitch -- hope you'll join us for that! It's at http://twitch.tv/mattbaume
Julian and Sandy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHPej0crz8U
Russell Harty interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfeDhkJ-w_8
Rowan's Polari video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvdxfLTk80Y
Comments (6)
Here's a link to a short BBC documentary about Polari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol8MIXWouiY
Polari does still pop up here and there; Transport for London, who run the tube network, have used Polari in their campaigns celebrating Pride month. It's also worth noting Polaris itsself also takes words from other minority communities, including Italinate, Romany, Irish, Cockney, and Yiddish: https://x.com/twobeathearts/status/1664655162168733697
I don’t think they’re as big or plentiful as they once were but Wizard of Oz conventions are still a thing. A few are listed here. https://www.ozclub.org/calendar/ I didn’t know they were a secret place for queer people to meet but do remember seeing “Friends of Dorothy” gatherings being listed as events on cruise ships, right alongside “Friends of Bill W” for the AA folks.
Oh wow fascinating, I didn't know those conventions still happened! They're probably not so much a clandestine gay thing anymore -- that was relayed to me by a friend who was going to them in the 90s.
just a really off off off tiny topic, but I can't resist. Russel Harty was the chat show host who was slapped by Grace Jones, live on air in the 80s: https://youtu.be/iz_UHLfZKAA?si=cqzTnoQ1did2krlS
Oh wowwww I didn't realize it was the same guy but of COURSE it is