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Title:

The Funny Tape [promotional video]

Date:
November 1993

Synopsis

Hosts: Kate Clinton, Charles Busch, Garrett Glaser, Karen Williams.  Featured guests: Lily Tomlin, Frank Maya, Sara Cytron, Georgia Ragsdale, Doug Stevens & the Outband, the Flirtations, Dick Sargent.

Summary:  Promotional video for In the life, highlighting comedic moments from its first season. Host Kate Clinton, broadcasting from Times Square studios, opens with a monologue discussing the presentation of lesbians on talk shows and the San Francisco earthquake. Commercial parodies include a mock commercials for Stonewall commemerative action figures, a mock compilation video titled That's adult entertainment!, and gaydar. Stand-up comedians featured on the video include Frank Maya, Sara Cytron and Kate Clinton, and there is also a pantomime performance from Georgia Ragsdale. Lily Tomlin performs a tribute to Vito Russo, and an archival clip of her as Judith Beasley is also featured. Musical acts include Doug Stevens & the Outband and the Flirtations, who perform Mr. Sandman. Host segments with Charles Busch feature the actor playing a variety of characters, including classic movie diva, Mary Dale. A segment spotlights Dick Sargent, who discusses Bewitched. In a host segment, Garrett Glaser discusses Entertainment tonight, coming out in Hollywood and criticisms of gay actors, and another host segment features Karen Williams discussing country-western music. The Was he or wasn't he? segment considers rumors of Michelangelo's homosexuality.

Note:  Some audio content removed due to copyright restrictions.
45:35 - 25:35: Tony Bennett, "Stranger in Paradise"
47:03 - 47:35: Bette Midler, "Strangers in the Night"

<  More In the Life video extras

Episode Title:

"Surviving the Past"

Synopsis

Featured guests: Martin Gill, Craig Lowe, Charles Busch, Liza Minnelli.

Summary: The first episode of season 19 begins with an In the States segment focusing on Florida and considers the tensions between the state's religious conservatives and its gay-friendly beach communities. The segment examines the push for legislative equality in the state, and features interviews with openly gay mayor Craig Lowe and foster parent Martin Gill as he challenges the state's ban on gay adoption. The A Conversation with… segment features Charles Busch talking to Liza Minnelli about her career and role as a gay icon.

Episode Title:

"A Festival of Film"

Synopsis

Featured guests:  Johnny Symons, Pratibha Parmar, Margaret Cho, The Cliks, Charles Busch, John Schlesinger.

Summary:  The final episode of season 16 focuses primarily on the world of film. It begins with a visit to the 10th Annual Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, with a prominent focus on Ask Not, Johnny Symons' documentary about the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. The next segment is about It's Still Elementary, a documentary that revisits the students from It's Elementary. Pratibha Parmar's film, Nina's Heavenly Delights, is also showcased. Next, Margaret Cho discusses the U.S. Air Force's proposal to develop a "gay bomb," a chemical weapon that would cause homosexual behavior in enemy soldiers, followed by a spotlight on The Cliks, a documentary about the gender-queer, trans Canadian punk band. In a rebroadcast of a segment from episode 505, Charles Busch interviews director John Schlesinger.

Note:  Some audio content removed due to copyright restrictions.
56:15-56:47: Bette Midler, "Chapel of Love"

 

Episode Title:

"Building on the Past"

Synopsis

Featured guests: Kate Clinton, Katherine Linton, Barney Frank, Rachel Tiven, Charles Busch.

Summary:  This episode is a reversion featuring segments from previous episodes as well as new segments. Excerpts from episodes 401, 504, 804 and 805 spotlight Barney Frank, LGBT Native Americans, deaf LGBT couples, the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, To Wong Foo… Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, and the connections between Judy Garland's death and the Stonewall Riots. Rachel Tiven also provides an update to a segment from episode 601 about the Defense of Marriage Act's effect on bi-national couples.

Note: Some audiovisual content removed due to copyright restrictions.
53:19 - 54:00: Judy Garland, "Get Happy"
54:24 - 55:44: PJ Harvey, "A Place Called Home"

Episode Title:

"Gender Revolution"

Synopsis

Host: Charles Busch.  Featured guests: Helen Boyd, Betty Crow.

Summary: This episode is a reversion featuring segments from previous episodes as well as new segments. Excerpts from episodes 602, 1008, 1312 and 1406 explore such topics as gender choices for intersex people, transgender community issues, views on gender identity, transgender marriage in the United States, and the life of Billy Tipton. Another segment profiles an LGBT student leader at Vanderbilt University.

Note: Some audio content removed due to copyright restrictions.
53:34 - 55:34: Ingo Herrman, "Space Tango"

 

Episode Title:

"Pride in Action"

Synopsis

Host: Kate Clinton.  Featured guests: John Paul Sanchez, Emily Frerichs, Charles Ignacio, John Catania.

Summary: The episode begins with a segment about medical student John Paul Sanchez serving his Bronx community. Next is a rebroadcast of the segment about Emily Frerichs, originally from episode 1504. The Real to Reel segment is about The Lady in Question is Charles Busch, Charles Ignacio and John Catania's documentary about the actor and playwright.

Episode Title:

"The Right to Love"

Synopsis

Host: Charles Busch.  Featured guests: Catie Curtis, Deborah Dickson, Kate Clinton.

Summary: This episode is a reversion featuring segments from previous episodes as well as new segments. Excerpts from episodes 1102, 1210, 1309, 1312, 1401 and 1406 cover such subjects as health care issues in same-sex marriage, Catie Curtis, gay truckers, PFLAG, and the documentaries, Venus of Mars and Ruthie and Connie. Kate Clinton offers ideas on how to become an active member of your community, and during the interstitials, six couples discuss how they met and fell in love.

Note: Some audiovisual content removed due to copyright restrictions.
47:47: Clip from Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House (2002)
53:51: Dolly Parton, "Here You Come Again"

Episode Title:

"History & Humor" [repeat]

Synopsis

Host: Katherine Linton.  Featured guests: Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Alison Bechdel, Robert La Fosse, Tanya Barfield, Chatles Busch, Tom Schumacher, Ennis Smith.

Summary: This episode is a rebroadcast of episode 1004, originally broadcast January 2001. The episode spotlights such figures as Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Alison Bechdel, Robert La Fosse, Tanya Barfield, Charles Busch, Tom Schumacher and Ennis Smith.

Episode Title:

"History & Humor"

Synopsis

Host: Katherine Linton.  Featured guests: Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Alison Bechdel, Robert La Fosse, Tanya Barfield, Chatles Busch, Tom Schumacher, Ennis Smith.

Summary: The first segment focuses on gay pioneers Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny, followed by a spotlight on Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, whose character, Mo, provides the episode's celebrity ID. The Out Artists Speak Out segment features Robert La Fosse and Tanya Barfield, and the In the News segment covers the World March of Women and the Lambda Literary Foundation's writer's conference. The next segment is a rebroadcast of segment from episode 502 about Nazi persecution of homosexuals. The In the Arts segment covers Charles Busch's Broadway show, Tale of the Allergist's Wife, as well as the TV movie, What Makes a Family. The next segment spotlights Tom Schumacher of the Walt Disney Company. A look at Ennis Smith's work with the LIFEbeat organization follows.

Episode Title:

"In the Life's 5th Anniversary"

Synopsis

Host: Katherine Linton.

Summary: The final episode of the fifth season is a retrospective on the first five years of In the Life, hosted by Katherine Linton. It begins with a history of the program, including footage of Bob Dole criticizing its funding, and its evolution from variety show to newsmagazine program. Clips from each episode of the first season are featured, as well as from episodes 301 and 302. Kate Clinton discusses the early days of the program in an interview, followed by more clips from previous episodes. Darius de Haas introduces a retrospective segment on art and performances featured over the course of the series, followed by interviews with Charles Busch and Garrett Glaser. The episode includes an in memoriam tribute to notable figures featured on In the Life, and ends with more clips from previous episodes.

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