GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE DECEMBER 24, 1993

ENTERTAINMENT

Lesbian bar served more than beer

Last Call at Maud's Cinematheque Jan. 6 at 7:30 pm Jan. 7 at 9:20 pm

by Gayle Franco

Paris Poirier's Last Call at Maud's is a loving and lively documentary that chronicles the San Francisco gay scene from the post-war era through the Stonewall riots, the intensity of the women's movement and gay liberation of the 70s, the devastation and harsh reality of the AIDS epidemic and ends with the conservative politics of the 80s.

The setting is Maud's Study, perhaps the longest-running lesbian bar in the world, that opened in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district in 1966 and served its last customer in 1989.

Viewed from a lesbian perspective that draws from a wealth of photographs, home movies, and news headings, first-time director Poirier brings to life the recollections of the many women interviewed throughout the film. Maud's owner, Rikki Striecher, shares her introduction to women's bars during the World War II

heyday, through the necessary yet comical methods of beating the raids by flashing lights to signal the patrons to switch from samesex dancing to lesbians dancing with gay men, and the days when it was illegal for a woman to tend bar in California.

Her candid stories of this secret sorority reveal a long-hidden side of lesbian culture.

Lesbian activists and lovers for 40 years Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, founders of the first major lesbian organization, Daughters of Bilitis (1955) and authors of Lesbian/Woman are interviewed throughout. They describe the climate of fear permeating their 1950s and early 1960s underground world, revisiting the pre-Stonewall reality when gay bar raids were a frequent pastime of police throughout the country. San Francisco's present police commissioner, Gwenn Craig, speaks about gay bars and discrimination in the 1970s and 1980s. Writer Judy Grahn explains the links between the early bar scene and the evolution of today's lesbian culture. Author on lesbian sexuality JoAnn Loulan shares her provocative insights on sexual politics, and a

Dykes to Watch Out For

WOMEN'S

JUNE, I'M HOME!

GOOD.

Women enjoy each other's companionship at "Jane Jones," a Los Angeles women's bar, circa 1942, in the documentary film Last Call at Maud's.

variety of Maud's customers remember the past, ponder the present, and predict the future for themselves and their community.

HELLO, MY GORGEOUS BABES! DID THIS

ONE JUST GET HIS

NOPE. YOU'RE JUST IN TIME.

DIDY CHANGED?

Last Call at Maud's, winner of the 1993 Reel Affirmations Film Festival's Best Documentary Feature and San Francisco's 1993

WE SAVED IT FOR YOU SO YOU COULD FEEL INCLUDED IN OUR INTIMATE MOTHERCHILD BOND.

HNH.

Cable Car Award, is showing at the Cleveland Cinematheque, Thursday and Friday, January 6 and 7.

OH, I INVITED HARRIET AND ELLEN OVER FOR DINNER TO CELEBRATE WINNING THE ELECTION-IS THAT OKAY?

YOU'RE KIDDING, RIGHT?

CLARICE, THIS PLACE IS A DISASTER AREA! ALL WE HAVE TO EAT IS LEFTOVERS AND BREAST MILK, AND EVERY ARTICLE OF CLOTHING I OWN IS COVERED WITH BABY BLURP!

WORK

176

SHIT! MY SUIT!

WAAH!

THERE THEY ARE.

HI. TONI!

Eco-LIPES

Dr. Seur

600

GAGN

SWIPES

DON'T PANIC-WE BROUGHT DINNER.

OH! WELL COME ON IN, THEN. AND CONGRATULATIONS COUNCILWOMAN!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? MY LOVER'S A POLITICIAN.

THE RACE WAS A LITTLE TOD CLOSE FOR COMFORT! I WAS AFRAID WE'D ALL BE EATING TRADITIONAL VALUES FOR BREAKFAST WHEN YOUR OPPONENT GOT THOSE TWO BLACK MINISTERS TO SUPPORT HIS HOMOPHOBIC CAMPAIGN.

TO YOUR YOUNGEST CONSTITUENT!

WELL, I'VE BEEN DOING REAL COALHEY, ELLEN! ITION WORK FOR YEARS, WITH MY JOB AT SAY HELLO SOCIAL SERVICES. I THINK THE AFRICANAMERICAN, VIETNAMESE, AND NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES KNOW THEY CAN TRUST ME OVER THAT RACIST PINHEAD ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, NO MATTER WHO I SLEEP LATH.

SHRIEK!

I BETTER TAKE HIM, CLARICE. IT'S TIME FOR A FEED.

HERE'S TO CITY HALL. WHAT BETTER WAY TO FIGHT IT THAN TO JOIN IT?

EHH...

WHAT'S NEXT, ELLEN? CONGRESS?

OH, I DUNNO. I WAS SORTA THINKING IT MIGHT BE NICE TO HAVE A KID FIRST.

MAF

223

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