by Douglas Messerli
Tom Palazzolo (director) Gay for a Day / 1976 [11 minutes]
Shot a year before Arthur J. Bressan’s far
superior celebration of Gay Pride Day in several US cities, Gay USA, Tom
Palazzolo’s 1976 documentary Gay for a Day is a rather desultory and
amateurish view
The film was shot along the parade route on Halsted Avenue, with far
less elaborate floats and costumes than we have seen since, including in the
Bressan multi-city celebration of the following year.
Basically, Palazzolo just points and shoots, sometimes catching gay men
in drag simply being confused about where they are to enter the parade. But at
other times he catches bits and pieces of funny conversations such as a man in
drag announcing himself as married to his gay friend and as having gotten her
entire set of clothes for only $5.00—the one presumed as impossible, the second
as only somewhat improbable. At another point a young man hides behind what
appears is his straight girlfriend, fearing evidently being seen at such an
event; at one moment we can hear her mentioning his parents—presumably people
who would not approve.
A
couple of cute boys dressed in outlandish 70s attire sit on the back of a
Cadillac eating Fruit Loops. A pair of straights express their feelings that
they think the parade is beautiful for permitting them to watch people stand up
for human rights, “whether they be black or gay, yellow, or crippled—whatever,”
certainly not quite the precise sentiments we might express today, but truly
well meant. “They are just as deserving for their civil rights as any other
group,” the male concludes.
A
few gawkers appear appalled at what they are witnessing and someone eventually
throws an egg at Palazzolo while he shoots one of the Pride floats. Soon after,
his lens glimpses a man wearing a T-shirt declaring “White Power,” with a Nazi
insignia in between the words; but since the man appears to be black, we have
to presume it’s a statement of sarcasm.
Finally, it’s clear just from the title the director gives the film,
“gay for a day,” that not everyone has yet fully assimilated the lessons of
Stonewall, just six years earlier. These individuals, it suggests, are not all
yet fully out of the closet, openly celebrating their gayness just for a day.
Any such documentary filmmaking, however, is crucial if we are to
understand our full history as LGBTQ+ beings.
Los Angeles, November 16, 2023
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (November
2023).
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