mattbaume
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Sept Feedback! British camp classics, weird musicals, and queer horror
🕑 Added 2023-09-01 16:00:21 +0000 UTCHello there!
Here's a Q&A/feedback video for September, and ohhhh boy do I have a lot to share this month. Lately you've been sending me a lot of suggestions for stuff that I should check out, and I have to say you all have wonderful taste -- so I'm going to pass many of those recommendations right back along to everyone else. Those recommendations range from campy British plays-turned-into-films, pantomime, queer horror with a particular emphasis on Hitchcock's homos, and a fascinating 2002 film called 8 Women that's a gorgeous throwback to Hollywood's classic golden-age comedies -- no small feat, considering it's French. And more!
I'm really delighted to find that members of this Patreon have such similar taste in fun pop culture history, and I hope you all enjoy each others' recommendations! Please keep sending 'em in, and I'll keep passing 'em along!
(Also, just a quick correction -- in the video, I say that the new Some Like it Hot video is coming this Sunday, Sept 6, which is wrong -- it should say Sunday Sept 3rd. Sorry about that!)
- Ian McKellan discussing pantomime: https://youtu.be/so6O0p7c2ME
- Jeeves & Wooster episode with drag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZA4C86C7xg
- What a Performance! ... a 1997 documentary about British camp comedians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lI3B8Ns7ko
- Curse of the Queerwolf: https://tubitv.com/movies/517786/curse-of-the-queerwolf
- 8 Women (streaming free on Kanopy if you have a US library card): https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/11677934
- A song from Cop Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmlOo3EdPcY
- Trailer for Radioland Murders, a real hoot if you love old radio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG4ONzna2Eg
- Remember WENN, also a hoot for fans of 40s radio: https://watch.plex.tv/show/remember-wenn
- Can't believe I forgot to mention On the Air, a bananas sitcom from David Lynch set at a 1950s TV station: https://vimeo.com/user84405163
- A clip from Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5xJW-jHI24
Comments
Matt Baume
Oh whoops! Thanks for the correction.
Fillory
The musical Juno, based on the play by Séan O'Casey, is actually not by Leonard Bernstein - it's by Marc Blitzstein.
Shannon Stewart
I loved "Remember WENN." So glad that it's now finally streaming after being MIA since AMC abruptly canceled it.
Bunny Galore
Awww amazing , and very timely. I’ve just joined the patreon, love the documentary, what a performance! It’s made me come to the conclusion that in the UK, we love a camp, funny, warm men , but you have to wear a suit. The only exception seems to be Julian Clary in the last 50 years. Plus pantomime is indeed so hard to describe. I’m a drag artist but also pantomime dame. In fact I did Britain’s Got Talent last as part of a pantomime Dame group Damenation , and I often wonder what the rest of the world thinks of this, but the description of the Muppet show. (which was filmed. I think at Elstree in the UK in the 70s soooo you can really feel the English theatre and pantomime family influence. And it’s still a TV studio. The BBC use it a lot, including the long-running soap opera, EastEnders) it’s a wonderful analogy, so it is indeed like the Muppet show doing a fairytale… a great way of putting it. Love the channel and I’ve learnt so much and I’ve recommended the birdcage video to friends in the cast of La Cage aux Folles revival that’s at Regents Park open air Theatre at the moment in London
Nicole Brett
Also look up Carlotta first transgender woman on Australian tv was on a show called beauty and the beast and was in a drag troupe called les girls who used to travel around services clubs and entertain straight audiences.
Nicole Brett
Very 1970s Australia comedy found it scary when I was a little kid
Nicole Brett
https://youtu.be/1c8XootJfSA?si=b-v7VBJYppBcQ-jV.
Nicole Brett
Love 8 women
Nicole Brett
Look up Aunty jack
Nicole Brett
Australia does as well
Matt Baume
Haha I mean the title alone makes it a must-watch for me
Matt Baume
It's weird that I haven't done Victor/Victoria yet! Definitely high on my list to get to.
Matt Baume
Oh my God, another weird musical series?! I can't believe there are so many of these!
Matt Baume
Oh yes absolutely -- though I don't think his stage shows were quite so interactive, it's a very similar vibe. Pee Wee really calls back to kids' shows of the 50s that were themselves a reference to Vaudeville, which hasn't really existed here in a long long time. But Pee Wee definitely kept that traditional alive.
Matt Baume
Ooh this is new to me! Adding it to my watch list.
Matt Baume
Oh wow I had no idea that existed!
Matt Baume
Oh wow I adore this. It's mind-boggling.
Matt Baume
Oh wow I HAVE to listen to that now. Thank you for the tip!
David Kirk
I love the polari Julian and Sandi use.
David Kirk
This clip shows the film over does the reveal that the characters late love was a woman but I do love “it takes all sorts, dear” as it kind of sums up the overall theme of the movie. The solidarity and community found amongst people society deems outsiders. https://youtu.be/ff5Ffj9FXls?si=fuYxR6A5qBzLZElJ
David Kirk
British music hall was full of drag. Including a lot of male impersonators. Like Vesta Tilly and Hetty King. In the British Kitchen Sink Drama The L-Shaped Room (1962) set amongst the community of outsiders who get together in a London boarding house Cicely Courtneidge plays a retired former music hall male impersonator.this is also one of the earliest sympathetic portrayals of an explicitly lesbian characters in British film. https://youtu.be/E_Ggz-iAxsA?si=IenlEFX6xhgeroWA
Bear
Can't believe you didn't know about 8 Femmes until now but happy that you did stumble upon it now. I was kinda obsessed with it when it came out and I'm pretty sure I can still sing along to most of the songs from it. But I would then also recommend François Ozon's Sitcom, a black comedy/satire on the topic of family values from the 90s. With the cavet/warning that, well, it is a French black comedy so uh. Certainly an acquired taste.
Simon Batchelor
Enjoyed the what a performance video.
Simon Batchelor
Love panto. Jokes that work for all ages with jokes that the kids don’t get and visa versa. We have also had drag performers that are more embraced by all generations. When I came out my Grandfather gave me a recording of a radio comedy from the 1960s called round the Horne, who had 2 gay characters called Julian and Sandi, love it.
Zardogs! Zardogs!
You mentioned Victor/Victoria so casually I wondered if you'd already done it. My personal knowledge of gay bars is separate, starting in the 90s until recently and all the talk of lesbian bars closing. Because of the last video, I watched The Blood of a Poet. Loved it. Did you see how Barbette was a last minute change in the Wiki?
Jackie Schneider
Can't wait for Victor/Victoria, it's definitely a favorite of mine. There's a proshot of the 1995 Broadway adaptation (also starring Julie Andrews) that was filmed in English for Japanese television that I recommend tracking down. With regards to queer horror, it might be worth looking into the movie "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker", it features a positive portrayal of a gay character amongst the VERY Oedipal storyline, plus Don Mancini (the creator of the Chucky franchise who is also gay) has put quite a bit of queer content in the later sequels and especially the Chucky TV series.
Darren Simon
The Cop Rock clip reminded me of Eli Stone. George Michael shows up in the 1st episode and then again the series as himself a few times. I love JLM's performance in this series. Not sure you've covered it as its so recent.
Steve McLean
Would Pee Wee's Playhouse be something close to panto here? Broad comedy, audience reaction etc
Mark Wood
I know you will also--if you don't already know it--love "First a Girl," a British "Victor Victoria" precursor, from 1935. Starring plucky Jessie Matthews. I think it might also provide a clue to the answer about whether the Britons have long felt more at home with drag than Americans.
Paul Anderson
The closest thing to Pantomime I can think of is towns with circus schools that put on showcases or spawn local companies. Those students often learn classic Panto and Commedia on top of circus skills. The result is free wheeling audience oriented intimate shows using whatever talents are at hand.
Christine Cameron
Along the lines of Cop Rock, there was the mini series Blackpool (called Viva Blackpool when it aired on BBC America) in the UK (with fantasy musical numbers) that had a very short lived (7 episodes filmed but only 2 aired), Hugh Jackman-produced US version, Viva Laughlin. https://youtu.be/9vtonEFBeZk
TBoneSF
If you do a deep dive on Victor/Victoria be sure to track down the blu-ray/dvd version that has the commentary track with Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards (RIP). It's a really great listen and has some valuable insight into the issues they had getting it made. Edwards also notes the one change he regretted making to the script out of fear the studio wouldn't allow it. It makes the line "I still don't care" much more meaningful.
