He and his co-director, Beth Prusaczyk, have found relatives of some of the men, but none of the men themselves. Since stumbling on the recordings, Story has made an attempt to find anyone from the pool party who might still be alive today and willing to talk about it. Related | The Circle Illuminates Switzerland’s Post-WWII Underground Gay Scene
“Queens and president’s wives and movie stars – he was always around fancy places and fancy things,” Susie Seagraves, Walton’s niece, told St. The films were bought at the estate sale of Buddy Walton, who was a preferred hairdresser to celebrities in the 40s. The film will explore the time period of the movies, where invisibility was imperative to survival.
Having made the rare find of a depiction of queer life during a time when being found out as LGBT could ruin almost every aspect of your life, Story has started piecing together parts of the home movies into Gay Home Movie. Louis Public Radio.ĭecades-old home movies show men in the summer sun, dancing with one another and kissing at a private pool party in 1945, ephemeral freedom radiating from them. A new documentary is under production after filmmaker Geoff Story made a unique discovery at an estate sale in St.
