Descriptions:
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
Another video that took me longer to release than expected, mainly because it got blocked for copyright reasons – the section about 1961’s Victim was the culprit, I had to edit it down. Huge thanks to the Lasso Group which holds the rights to Dream A40 for allowing me to use so many clips from the film.
The other reason was that I had to do more research for this one than usual because it spans such a huge amount of time. Please tell me if you prefer me to concentrate on just the short films or if all the historical context is appreciated.
The Lloyd Reckord quotes and some biographical details were taken from Stephen Bourne’s book “Black in the British Frame”.
And now, a ton of links for you:
Dream A40 can sometimes be found on the BFI Player or on Prime. It was released on a BFI DVD titled Encounters (which also includes Vapors and Come Dancing!) which sadly seems to be out of print. Lloyd Reckord’s first short “Ten Bob In Winter” can be watched here: https://replay.bfi.org.uk/video/d365dc62-7e81-5668-a0e2-148163291687
You can watch “The Colour of His Hair” on director Sam Ashby’s Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/198909579
The short film “Putting On The Dish”, with its dialogue entirely in the gay slang Polari, can be found right here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8yEH8TZUsk
Here’s a very interesting article about gay spies in the 50s, one of the main reason why the British government was so obsessed with gay men: https://gay45.eu/secrets-in-the-closet-gay-spies-in-intelligence/
If you are into audio dramas, the BBC produced one about the making of Victim (1961):
The BBC also produced a whole five-part podcast about the 1998 case of the Bolton 7: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0kqbqw2/episodes/player
For the background music, I used Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie no. 1, Schubert’s Impromptu no. 3 in G flat major, and Domenico Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonata in B minor.
Thanks for watching!