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Formed in Los Angeles in the early 1960s by cinematographer Ray Harrison and a group of his queer friends, the Gay Girls Riding Club (GGRC) became an underground sensation in the pre-Stonewall Southern California gay rights movement. Alongside the many elaborate social events produced by the group that made them a powerhouse of gay social life and culture well into the early 1980s, they also produced a series of elaborate and campy short film satires of popular movies. Typically screened at gay bars and private events, GGRC films paired underground, guerilla-style filmmaking with outrageously irreverent spectacle. Their subversive take on such Hollywood classics as Jules Dassin’s Never on Sunday (1960), José Quintero’s The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) and Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) were important mid-century representations of cis-gendered drag culture. In a way, GGRC helped lay the foundation for the hugely successful drag culture scene popularized by RuPaul’s Drag Race. The Archive is pleased to present the Club’s first four camp classics presented in new digital restorations.
Introduction adapted from program notes by Todd Wiener.
Restorations courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.
Always on Sunday
U.S., 1962
Always on Sunday abandons scene-for-scene recreations of the Jules Dassin international hit Never on Sunday (1960), and plays like a much shorter gender-bending comedy sketch with only a light contextual nod to the original classic.
DCP, b&w, 9 min. Director: Connie B. Demille of the Gay Girls Riding Club.
The Roman Springs on Mrs. Stone
U.S., 1963
A Broadway actress past her prime worries away her lonely days in a Hollywood Hills villa until an ad for a gigolo service brings the handsome young Paolo into her life. Confident in her newfound happiness she throws a “coming out” party for her new beau where everything takes a comically dark and jealous turn. This GGRC sendup of the big-screen version of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961), from a novel by Tennesee Williams, revels in broad comedy while showing off a touch of their surreal side.
DCP, b&w, 20 min. Director: Connie B. Demille of the Gay Girls Riding Club.
The Spy on the Fly
U.S., 1967
In this James Bond spoof like no other, swinging Secret Agent 0069 must keep secret plans for a new atomic bomb from falling into enemy hands while they’re being transported up the California coast. Donning drag for the assignment, he sets out on a road trip that includes stops at a few Los Angeles night spots and culminates at Finocchio's Club, San Francisco’s then drag mecca. Vintage location shooting as well as a surprising amount of fisticuffs and car chases show the GGRC’s dedication to production value even with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks.
DCP, b&w, 44 min. Director: Ray Harrison. Screenwriter: Ray Harrison. With: Warren Freming.
What Really Happened to Baby Jane
U.S., 1963
GGRC pulled out all the stops for their hilarious homage to Robert Aldrich’s grand guignol of fame, family, resentment and revenge. Featuring an almost all-drag cast, What Really Happened to Baby Jane rivals its inspiration for sheer over-the-top pathos even as it enshrines the infamous original as a key queer camp text. Again, the camera work, editing and score all make clear that while GGRC’s productions may have been a diverting social activity for its cast and crew, these were no amateurs with many of its members also Hollywood professionals.
DCP, b&w, 32 min. Director: Connie B. Demille of the Gay Girls Riding Club. With: Freida, Rozz Berri.
Support for the screening is provided by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation Queer Screening Endowment and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation.
