With so much fear woven into our popular culture, revenge porn can develop shocking new scenarios as one fantasizes about today's enemies of the people perishing in a moment of abject terror. How, for instance, would Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III feel upon realizing that, instead of being "raptured," he had been borne aloft in a fierce firenado which burned his scrawny body to a crisp? Would the horror of seeing his skin turn black as he became a 21st-century tar baby deliver any kind of moral clarity to Stephen Miller as his body slowly disappeared beneath the surface of the La Brea Tar Pits?
Karma can be a real bitch. So, for that matter, can climate change. Mexican and Australian firefighters recently traveled to the United States to help battle the raging fires in Northern California. A recent article on Nature.com entitled "Higher Temperatures Increase Suicide Rates in the United States and Mexico" offered an ominous prediction:
"We project that unmitigated climate change (RCP8.5) could result in a combined 9–40 thousand additional suicides (95% confidence interval) across the United States and Mexico by 2050, representing a change in suicide rates comparable to the estimated impact of economic recessions, suicide prevention programs, or gun restriction laws."
More than 125 years since the wireless telegraph was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1893, ongoing developments in computer technology have improved the power of communications to link the world. According to Wikipedia:
"The use of the SOS signal was first introduced in Germany as part of a set of national radio regulations, effective April 1, 1905. These regulations introduced three new Morse code sequences, including the SOS distress signal. In 1906, at the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention in Berlin, an extensive collection of Service Regulations was developed to supplement the main agreement, which was signed on November 3, 1906, becoming effective on July 1, 1908. The first ship to transmit an SOS distress call appears to have been the Cunard liner RMS Slavonia on June 10, 1909, according to "Notable Achievements of Wireless" in the September 1910 Modern Electrics. However, there was some resistance among the Marconi operators to the adoption of the new signal."
"The letters represented by the SOS signal were chosen as a sequence that is easy to recall and transmit. It is not, as is commonly believed, an abbreviation for 'Save Our Souls,' 'Save Our Ship,' or any other phrase. As late as the April 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, the ship's Marconi operators intermixed CQD and SOS distress calls. However, in the interests of consistency and water safety, the use of CQD appears to have died out thereafter."History teaches us that different eras choose different scapegoats. Some, however, remain constants. A conservative right-wing preacher is now blaming "the Gays" for the devastating fires in Northern California. As Tevye says during one of his conversations with God in Fiddler on the Roof, "I know we are Your chosen people. But once in a while, can't you choose someone else?"
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Last month, the San Francisco Jewish Film (in association with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival) screened 1924's City Without Jews accompanied by Sascha Jacobsen and the Musical Art Quintet. As noted on the website for the Jewish Virtual Library:"The City Without Jews is a 1924 Expressionist film by Austrian filmmaker H. K. Breslauer, based on the novel of the same title by Hugo Bettauer. The novel and film predicted the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the following decades. The original pressing of Bettauer's novel, published in 1922, became a wide success and sold over 250,000 copies. The film premiered on July 25, 1924. Shortly after the premiere of the film Bettauer was murdered by Nazi party member Otto Rothstock, who was quickly released from jail after public outcry surrounding his conviction."
"The City Without Jews film was shown in public for the last time in 1933 at the Carré theater in Amsterdam as a protest against the rise of Hitler's Germany. In 2015 a copy of the film in good condition was discovered at a flea market in Paris. A crowdfunding campaign was launched by the Austrian Film Archive to restore the film, to which over 700 people contributed a total of $107,000. The film was digitally restored and re-released in early 2018."
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| A scene from City Without Jews |
Although, in the past, Jews had been kicked out of Egypt and the Russia Empire, City Without Jews (which is set in the 1920s) offers an eerie warning about the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany. A simple outline of the film’s plot includes the following details:
Following World War I, jobs in the mythical republic of Utopia have grown scarce and the dollar has gained strength against its currency. After the Christian Social Party rises to power, its leader (a rabid anti-Semite named Dr. Schwerdtfeger) is faced with a dilemma. With Jews being blamed for the bad economy, the spread of disease, and assorted other problems, he gets a law passed in the National Assembly which decrees that, by the end of the year, all Jews must leave Utopia. Word of the new law is met with great enthusiasm by the Aryan population. A well-known anti-Semitic capitalist even offers to give Utopia a loan in the amount of $100 million.
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| Horrified Jews in Utopia read the decree stating they must leave their country in a scene from City Without Jews |
Utopia’s Jews begin their painful journey to a new home, with many hoping to resettle in Zion. However, without Jews to support a key part of Utopia’s economy by purchasing consumer goods and working in factories, cultural life withers. Cafés get converted to beer halls. Inflation and unemployment continue to rise as businesses relocate to cities like Budapest and Prague. Nations cut their diplomatic ties with Utopia. Tourism (a key part of its economy) drops precipitously.
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| A couple bids a tearful farewell in a scene from City Without Jews |
Personal relationships also suffer severe stress. A rabbi and his congregation must leave their beloved synagogue. A beloved family cook cannot bear to become estranged from the Jewish vendor she adores. A young woman whose father voted in the National Assembly to banish the Jews is cruelly separated from her lover (a Jewish artist named Leo Strakosch). Soon, Jewish bankers outside Utopia are refusing to do business with the country’s banks, leaving Aryan businesses in a precarious financial position. Posters start appearing stating “You’ve thrown out our prosperity with the Jews.”
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| Deported Jews board trains to leave their homes in Utopia in a scene from City Without Jews |
The only way for Utopians to turn their economy around is for the National Assembly to rescind its law banishing the Jews. Leo (who has returned from Paris with forged documents identifying him as a French painter named Henri Dufresne) and his beloved Lotte conspire to get the law overturned. Part of Leo’s plan is to disseminate leaflets (that have been printed by a fictitious group called the Union of True Christians) advocating the return of the Jews. In order to achieve a 2/3 vote in the National Assembly, they get Bernard (an anti-Semitic member of the Assembly) so drunk that he falls asleep and misses the vote.
As the film ends, Leo is being honored as the first Jew to return to Utopia while Bernard (Hans Moser) finds himself locked in a psychiatric institution in an asymetrically designed cell. As Bernard becomes increasingly paranoid and delusional, his hallucinations make him believe that he is being threatened by numerous Stars of David.
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| Bernard (Hans Moser) feels threatened by the Star of David in a scene from City Without Jews |
The sad truth is that the Nazis murdered approximately 65,000 Viennese Jews. Not one of them was honored as "the first Jew to return." Nor did any of the others quickly turn around and come back to live under their oppressors.
The screening of City Without Jews at the Castro Theatre was introduced by the chief restorer from the Austrian Film Archive, Nikolaus Wostry, who described how the lost film was found and how a professional network of film archivists was able to crowdfund the resources necessary to underwrite the film's beautiful restoration. In the final sequence of City Without Jews (which differs from Bettauer's book) text appears onscreen explaining that:
"In this moment of the highest distress Councillor Bernard awakes from his dream, finds himself in the tavern at a very late hour, and says to the baffled Volbert: ‘Thank God that stupid dream is over. We are all just people and we don't want hate. We want life. We want to live together in peace.'"The following clip allows you to watch the restored print of City Without Jews with Spanish subtitles.
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It's no secret that, with Mike Pence as Vice President, much of the social progress made by LGBT people and other minorities during the past 50 years is under attack. Trump's MAGA goons feel empowered to act out their homophobia in violent outbursts against lesbians and gay men. Years of resentment festering within the warped minds of conservatives and aspiring thugs have led to numerous hate crimes whose political importance is unmistakable. In his recent article for PinkNews entitled "Turkey Won’t Return to Eurovision Because of LGBT Contestants," Nick Duffy noted that:- Although it is legal to be gay in Turkey, the LGBT community faces high levels of public stigma and oppression that have worsened under President Recep Erdogan. The country was a staple at the Pan-European music contest from 1975 up until 2012, when it abruptly withdrew citing disagreements with the rules. In 2013, Finland’s entry (Krista Siegfrids) kissed a female back-up dancer on stage as an equal marriage protest during her track ("Marry Me"), which allegedly prompted Turkey to scrap all broadcasts of the competition entirely.
- There have been plenty of LGBT+ moments at Eurovision over the years to enrage censors, with Russia and China both clashing with organizers over gay content. After Conchita Wurst’s win in 2014, Russian lawmakers called for the country to drop out of the "Eurovision Sodom show." Vitaly Milonov (who masterminded Russia’s "gay propaganda law") called for Russia to withdraw from the contest due to its gay content.
- During Eurovision 2018, a Chinese broadcaster was stripped of the rights to air the contest after censoring the performance of Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy (which featured a same-sex dance couple). China’s Mango TV allegedly blurred out rainbow flags being waved by people in the crowd at the event elsewhere in the show. The European Broadcasting Union registered its objection by stripping Mango TV of its rights to the contest.
Over several decades, The Parlour has served as a drinking hole, living room, pick-up joint, and destination for gay men and lesbians who arrive in San Francisco hoping to start their lives anew. Unlike Cheers, The Parlour may not be the the kind of place where everyone knows your name. The first full-length play written by the creative team at LCTC, Come Here Often uses a curious gimmick to anchor the bar's importance to the local LGBT community by setting the action in three different decades.
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| The cast of Left Coast Theatre Company's Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
In the summer of 1978, San Francisco is still celebrating the historic election of Harvey Milk as the first openly-gay member of the city and county's Board of Supervisors. Castro Street is flooded with new arrivals in town who are eager to live in a city where gays are not reviled and there is hope for a brighter future. However, by year's end, Milk will have been assassinated by Supervisor Dan White, forever changing the course of LGBT history.
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| Carole Swann (Lou) with the cast of Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
In 1978, The Parlour's bartender is Noah (Terry Maloney Haley), whose clients include:
- Peg (Carole Swann) a politically-aware lesbian who dresses like Annie Hall and brings her friends Maggie and Beth to The Parlour. Peg came to San Francisco from New York after her father forced her to marry a man when she was 18. Peg is not interested in taking shit from anyone.
- Mike (David Boyll) is a 1970s hippie who doesn't really want to get involved in anything stressful.
- Johnathan (Jeremy Judge) is a young, naive, and apolitical man who fled to San Francisco after being kicked out of his Southern California home by homophobic parents.
- Roberto (Ryan Engstrom) is a gay Puerto Rican who left New York and moved to San Francisco with his African American lover, Stephan (Paul Renolis), in search of a friendlier and less stressful social climate.
- Maggie (Wera von Wulfen) is a butch lesbian who is eager to hit the streets and fight back against gay bashers who beat up on her friends.
- Dido (Christian Heppinstall) is an aging trans woman who dispenses practical wisdom to the younger people who frequent the bar.
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| Terry Maloney Haley, Ryan Engstrom, David Boyll, Paul Renolis, Christian Heppinstall, and Wera von Wulfen in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
When Danny (Edgardo Vega) witnesses Johnathan getting beaten up in the Castro by some straight guys, he brings the terrified gaybashing victim to The Parlour, where Johnathan's wounds are tended to by Noah and Dido (who discourages Maggie and her friends from provoking more violence).
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| Christian Heppinstall (Dido) and Jeremy Judge (Johnathan) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
Fast forward to 1998, nearly a year after Ellen DeGeneres made headlines by coming out of the closet on her television show. Unfortunately, on October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die on a fence outside of Laramie, Wyoming. For those who have survived the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis and, thanks to new drug regimens, are living with a "manageable disease," Shepard's brutal murder is a devastating reminder of what can happen to LGBT people who live in small towns.
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| Christian Heppinstall (Dido) and Terry Mahoney Haley (Noah) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
Although Dido has passed on, her ghost still haunts The Parlour. The new bartender is a confident trans man named Zeke (Nic Sommerfeld) whose patrons include:
- Ralph (Stefin Collins), a crude, leering heterosexual who is turned on by watching lesbians kiss. Constantly fantasizing about lesbian sex, Ralph is always eager to help a newly-arrived gay woman who needs a place to stay (although he has a nasty way of turning their relationship into something bordering on indentured servitude).
- Allison (Mary Cait Hogan) is a wide-eyed young woman who arrives from a small town in Missouri and accepts Ralph's offer to help. While Lou (Carole Swann) has developed a crush on Allison, Allison has fallen in love with Roxie, who has lost all interest in the kind of charitable acts necessary to sustain a relationship with a needy young woman. If Allison can't come up with her share of the rent, there will be no relationship with Roxie.
- Lou is a butch, hotheaded, and extremely jealous lesbian who gets 86'd from the premises after threatening to go after someone with a baseball bat.
- Roxie (Wera von Wulfen) is a lipstick lesbian whose slickly manipulative people skills may have been picked up while observing Ralph in action.
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| Mary Cait Hogan (Allison), Stefin Collins (Ralph), and Nic Sommerfeld (Zeke) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
By 2018, same-sex marriage has been legalized by the United States Supreme Court but, following the election of Donald Trump, the social and political advances made by LGBT people are experiencing increased pushback along with homophobic acts of violence that have the potential to force many people back into closeted lifestyles. In an era of heightened sensitivity to political correctness, The Parlour's owner/bartender, Jonny (David Boyll), goes out of his way not to discriminate against anyone who enters the premises.
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| David Boyll (Jonny) and Paul Renolis (Cartier) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
Come Here Often begins in 2018, as a young black gay man named Cartier (Paul Renolis) tells Jonny about his plan to attract new business with a social media PR campaign. The ageing bartender feigns interest, knowing all too well that the business is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. If Jonny can sell the building, he could fund a comfortable retirement for himself in Guerneville.
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| Edgardo Vega (Antoine) and Ryan Engstrom (Alec) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
When two drunk, straight women enter The Parlour to check the place out for a future bachelorette party, Claire (Mary Cait Hogan) and Debbie (Emily Keyishian) are titillated by the bitchy repartee they witness between Alec (Ryan Engstrom) and Antoine (Edgardo Vega), two drag queens on their way to perform at another bar. Unfortunately, the women's behavior angers Jonny, who asks them to leave and hold their party somewhere else (suggesting that they might feel a lot more comfortable renting a suite at a local Marriott). A video of his rant that gets posted online quickly leads to trouble (an older Johnathan reappears in 2018 with a surprising plot twist that saves The Parlour from going under).
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| Emily Keyishian (Beth), Jeremy Judge (Johnathan), and Paul Renolis (Cartier) in a scene from Come Here Often (Photo by: Jon Bauer) |
Directed by Chris Maltby (with costumes by Hal Dubiel), the large ensemble does an impressive job of jumping in and out of characters from three different decades, thereby making Come Here Often resemble a diorama depicting life inside a gay bar.. I was especially taken with the performances by Ryan Engstrom, Wera von Wulfen, Nic Sommerfeld, Carole Swann, and Christian Heppinstall.
Following Johnathan's gaybashing, the first act rises to an emotional climax as the patrons of The Parlour face the audience and voice their inner hopes and fears. Although deeply poignant, this choral effect (in which an increasing number of characters talk over each other's voices) needs some judicious trimming in order to prevent it from becoming counterproductive.
Performances of Come Here Often continue at the EXIT Theatre through August 18 (click here for tickets).
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