Untold Decades: Seven Comedies of Gay Romance
Collection Description
This collection includes seven one-act plays: 1920s: ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, 1930s: THE RIVER JORDAN, 1940s: BILL BATCHELOR ROAD, 1950s: ODD NUMBER, 1960s: FOG, 1970s: FAIRY TALE, 1980s: POUF POSITIVE. UNTOLD DECADES is a unique concept: seven one-act plays, each in a different setting with different characters, which together trace the romantic comedy of gay male love over seven decades of the twentieth century. From the secret sophistication of the international gay scene in the ’20s through such variations as the poverty of the ’30s, wartime revelry of the ’40s, Cold War paranoia of the ’50s, ghetto ritualization in the ’60s, coming of age in the post-liberation ’70s, to the plague-filled ’80s, these plays range widely in style and tone. But all display the deft touch and dazzling insights of a masterful comic mind. 1920s: ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE: A writer and a fan are flattered and embarrassed when acquaintances try to fix them up at a black-tie party. 1930s: THE RIVER JORDAN: To earn a little money Ray goes with rich men but only when sufficiently drunk. His regular client, John-Bo, is giving him up to get married, and John-Bo’s friend Aegis arrives to take him to the wedding rehearsal. Ray persuades Aegis to take him home, and they continue to see each other. But after a trip to Europe together, Ray worries that Aegis will desert him when they arrive in New York. Ray, who still has to get drunk to have sex, has difficulty grasping that Aegis is in love with him and has no intention of letting him go. 1940s: BILL BATCHELOR ROAD: Bill and Bob entertain young troops who are to be sent overseas to fight. They keep photo albums and correspond as often as possible. The young men put down Mrs B Batchelor as next of kin so that Bill and Bob will be notified if they’re killed. When the father of one of the dead soldiers arrives, seeking to discover who Mrs B Batchelor is, he is stunned to learn that his son took part in gay parties and sex. 1950s: ODD NUMBER: Brad and Edgar realize they’re in love. Brad is in the Air Force and has a few months left to serve. An officer arrives at the house, which belongs to a lesbian couple who have been entertaining men from the air base, and the neighbors have reported it. The officer is a closeted gay man and blackmails Brad in return for not reporting him. 1960s: FOG: Fag and Stud meet up in Central Park. Stud describes how when he first arrived in New York as an intellectual he couldn’t find a partner, so he took up body building. Now he can’t find a partner because men are afraid of him. 1970s: FAIRY TALE: Sphinx & Amos, a country-pop duo, are the gay equivalent of Simon & Garfunkel. After their breakup, Sphinx pursued an unsuccessful acting career in Hollywood. Amos has finally had his first solo concert, and Leon, his manager, has arranged a surprise for him afterwards: Sphinx who has seen the error of his ways and wants them to get back together again. 1980s: POUF POSITIVE: Bob, a playwright, tries to cheer up his ex-lover, Robin, who has AIDS. But the only thing it seems that will really cheer Robin up is for Bob to write a funny AIDS play.
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“UNTOLD DECADES is a truly original work. Mr Patrick seems to have resolved the modern ambiguities of the word ‘gay’; all the encounters he depicts — whether prissy or poetic, romantic or raunchy — are gay, nay hilarious.” —Quentin Crisp
“A fascinating epic.” —Michael Musto, The Village Voice
“You will read them at one sitting. A toast to Mr Patrick, who reminds us that being gay is fun.” —The Lambda Book Report
“These remarkable plays constitute a comic history of our tribe.” —Armistead Maupin
Author(s)
Robert PatrickRobert Patrick is a gay playwright, poet, lyricist, and short story writer and novelist. He was born Robert Patrick O'Connor in Kilgore, Texas on September 27, 1937. He is the author of over 60 plays. The first of these, THE HAUNTED HOST, was produced in 1964 and premiered at the Caffe Cino. Mr. Patrick was actually forced to appear in the play himself with fellow playwright William M. Hoffman because he could find no actors willing to appear in a gay-themed drama. During the 1960s Mr. Patrick was a pioneer in the Off-Off Broadway movement and gay theatre, with over 300 productions of his plays being held during this decade in Manhattan alone. He won the "Show Business" Award in 1969 for JOYCE DYNEL, SALVATION ARMY, AND FOG. That same year his play, CAMERA OBSCURA was produced on PBS, starring Marge Champion. A 1974 production of HAUNTED HOST marked the debut of Harvey Fierstein. Years later, Fierstein included a recording of Patrick's monologue, POUF POSITIVE on his CD, This Isn't Going to Be Pretty. POSITIVE was also filmed by Dov Hechtman in 1989. The year 1974 also saw international success for the play KENNEDY'S CHILDREN, earning actress Shirley Knight a Tony Award, and also the first season of gay theatre in the UK, to which Mr. Patrick contributed three plays. MY CUP RANNETH OVER (1976) was commissioned by Marlo Thomas, who co-starred in the play with Lily Tomlin. It became the most produced of his plays. T-SHIRTS, first produced in 1979 and starring Jack Wrangler, was later chosen as the opening piece for William M. Hoffman's Gay Plays: A First Anthology. BLUE IS FOR BOYS (1983) was the first play about gay teenagers, and weekends in honor of the play were declared by Manhattan borough presidents in 1983 and 1986. THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES was the first gay play presented by the City of New York. HELLO BOB is an account of Mr. Patrick's experiences with the production of KENNEDY'S CHILDREN. It was the last play he directed before leaving New York. Other works by Robert Patrick include UNTOLD DECADES (1988), a history of gay male life in the U.S. told in a humorous vein, and TEMPLE SLAVE, about the early days of Off-Off Broadway and gay theatre. He has also ghostwritten several screen and television plays, contributed poems and reviews to Playbill, FirstHand, and Adult Video News, and had his short stories included in numerous anthologies. He has also appeared in the documentary Resident Alien with Quentin Crisp and also in the videos O is for Orgy: The Sequel, and O Boys: Parties, Porn, and Politics, both produced by the O Boys Network. He has most recently written his memoirs, Film Moi. Robert Patrick currently resides and works in Los Angeles, where he has lived since 1993.
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
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