Home movies of a Midwest gay pool party in 1945

Thanks OP, interesting.

Midwestern copycats. My pool parties were LEGENDARY.

Great glimpse into yesteryear when gays couldn't come out but some were brave enough to anyway. I salute them!

Great thread, thanks for posting. Love the photo of the young woman on the Harley.

Very interesting. I think it's amazing - what was it like back then - so interesting.

Back then sisters consumed lots of leche but hardly any drugs. Today it is the other way around. Back then sisters loved men and hated fish. Today it is the other way around.

Luv Miss Gurl with the turban. We still do that on Fire Island.

The man who was a high school guidance counselor was hot! I would have had a crush on him.

Fabulous find, OP!

I like these threads. Thanks op!

Can we get the actual film?

Great backstory glad to see this piece of history has been found and is being preserved.

That kiss was lovely but I could feel the oppressive humidity just watching that clip.

r11 Perhaps it was a homemade porno and these were just the snippets between the scenes?

Gurls just wanna have fun

Interesting.

Was it raided by Miss Blue?

Big deal.

Look! An early shot of Erna.

Their grandmothers all knew the score, even if their moms and dads were in denial.

In all seriousness, imagine what being gay/lesbian must've been like in St. Louis, MO in the 1940s. It was tough enough in cities like NY, LA and SF. The fact that these guys said "fuck it, we're going to socialize and have fun" was quite brave, considering the society they lived in and the fact that they had to be completely secretive about it.

R19 probably, and they had lived long enough to know it shouldn't matter

I wonder what the boys would have said or done if someone from the future appeared and said "please be advised that about 70 years from now, but not until then, these films will be seen by anyone who wants to view them."

My guess is they would have loved the idea, and maybe even been more expressive.

Thanks, OP. Good stuff.

Not many gym bunnies. (Thank, G-d)

Where are the sleeve tattoos?

Can someone post the picture of their “nephews,” the queens who celebrated Thanksgiving in 1970 at their harvest gold dining room wearing Mary Tyler Moore sweaters?

We had a thread on them about a year ago.

amusing amateurs

I'm supposed to get excited about a 17-second movie clip? I want to speak to your manager.

surprised they had color home video back in 1945

Did they shave their balls back then?

The kiss was really hot.

Why wasn't I invited?

While it was nice of the person who bought the home movies to share a bit of it, they don't really have the copyright. They certainly don't have to share it, but the copyright belongs to the person who filmed the party, whoever in the world that might be.

More, more, more!

It was more fun back then when it was secret and dirty.

That's interesting, r32. I always thought that copyrights expire after a period of time if not renewed; I could be wrong but at some point old photos and films expire into the public domain, right?

It might also matter whether or not the material is being used for commercial gain, as opposed to just being made public.

This is copied from centerforhomemovies.org:

Many sellers of original home movie materials in markets such as eBay proclaim as a selling point that the films are “Public Domain” (PD) — strongly suggesting that the winner of the auction will have full rights to exploit the material free of any copyright encumbrance. In the United States, this claim is simply false, due to provisions in the US 1976 Copyright Act, which removed the requirement that materials be registered in order to receive copyright protection.

Home movies generally fall under the heading of “Unpublished Works,” and as such are automatically protected for a term 70 years after the death of the author. In the common instance where the maker of the film is unknown, the term is 120 years after creation — so as of 2014, only home movies shot by individuals who died before 1944 could be in the public domain. Otherwise, the heirs to the film material enjoy copyright ownership for some time to come.

Most home movies, therefore, will still be protected by copyright for many years, and are not in the public domain. Copyright is not automatically reassigned with sale or transfer of physical custody; it resides with the original creator or owner until they explicitly assign those rights to someone else.

Practically speaking, however, in the case of orphaned, unidentified home movies, the old adage that “possession is nine-tenths of the law” could probably be stretched to 99-100th’s, because it is so unlikely that the re-use of such footage would be noticed or challenged by someone with a valid and verifiable claim of ownership. This means that home movies may be re-used in new projects in relative safety; even so, documentarians who wish to use orphaned home movie materials may encounter objections from legal counsel or clearance specialists who prefer to have evidence of explicit rights clearance, which may be impossible to acquire.

Conducting due diligence—which might include researching the source of the footage and trying to identify and reach out to possible owners, creators, or their potential heirs, and carefully documenting any such efforts—helps minimize the risk of using orphaned material without clearance.

Sadly no black gays were invited to the parties. Only black help. So imagine that you are a black man living in Jim Crow South. One of the few jobs you can get is being a butler to a gay man, serving his white gay friends, and knowing that the community would never accept these gay men as gay men. But because you are black you are a second class citizen even to these men.

Liberation has always been allowed for American rich white men, no manner their sexual orientation. The ugly truth is that it's still that way today. Well Roy Cohn would be happy.

I recall in the 1980s that my local film developer would not develop pictures of Gay outings, even perfectly innocent ones. I’d get the developed pictures back, and have to look through the negatives to see if he skipped any.

r32 I'm sure he's no longer with us.

R50, then the copyright goes to his heirs, e.g., nephews, neices, etc. My point was, and this even applies to some museums and historical societies, the possession of an object does not give you copyright. If the owner of the home movie in question decided to upoad or sell complete copies of it I could copy it and have just as much claim to copyright as he does. It is not a case of finders-keepers. Look at what happened to the guy who set up the camera so that a monkey could take a self-portrait.

^^Sorry, meant R40

It was in Hillsboro which is quite a drive out south of St Louis. Now its connected by freeway but I imagine back then 1/4 day journey each way but VERY secluded..

[quote]Home movies generally fall under the heading of “Unpublished Works,” and as such are automatically protected for a term 70 years after the death of the author. In the common instance where the maker of the film is unknown, the term is 120 years after creation

Wow, and thanks, r37. That seems extremely generous regarding very old images that were never published. How do you even track down the origin of images or films created 70 years ago, let alone 120?

The law as you relate it seems harsh for documentary historians. I wonder what lobby pushed for that big time span? Families of artists expecting to find "unpublished" works in the floorboards? Filmmakers who left lots of cuttings in a big box for the grandkids?

Let’s not jump to conclusions, guys. There’s actually no proof this is a “gay” pool party. Straight men were more affectionate with each other back then. These guys are likely straight and just horsing around for the camera. Their wives are probably inside preparing food.

R44, I'm not sure who pushed for the 1976 copyright law in Congress. But there was another law passed by Congress in 1998, which was heavily pushed by the Walt Disney Company. It was nearing the time when the copyright on the first versions of Mickey Mouse was about to expire and those would become public domain, and anyone would have been able to use them and make money with them.

Disney lobbied hard for the extensions, and successfully, and this held onto copyright of Mickey Mouse for another 20 years. As a result 1998 law was derisively called "the Mickey Mouse Law" by detractors.

"The 1998 Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever end is earlier. Copyright protection for works published before January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date." (Wikipedia)