WEBVTT
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:0

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(film projector whirring)

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♪♪

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(narrator)
This is one of my favorites.

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I imagine them entering
the photo booth

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and drawing the curtain.

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A closet
where two women in 1940

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could safely display
their love for each other

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away from disapproving eyes.

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They look
into the camera, smile,

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lean into each other,

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declare with their bodies
their inseparability.

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A secret language of touch,
or not so secret.

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They express their affection
in a familiar way.

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Norm, the butch, hugs
and holds Dorrie, the femme.

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When the camera is turned on
we all pose for it.

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The high school graduate.

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The athlete.

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Domestic bliss.

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If we photograph it,
it\'s normal.

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The pose of young, loving
couples everywhere.

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I notice a Band-Aid
on Dorrie\'s index finger,

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the feminine ring
on her \"marriage\" finger,

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the delicate lady\'s watch
peeking out

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from under the sleeve
of her blazer.

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Norm is butch sophisticated.

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Man\'s sports jacket, ascot,
large boutonniere.

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Where were they going
all dressed up?

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Norm is 20 years old.

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♪♪

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Norm and Dorrie pose
as a couple for the camera

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even outside the photo booth.

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But Dorrie wasn\'t
Norm\'s first love.

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That was Ruth.

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\"February 27, 1939.

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\"Dearest Norm,

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\"It is now 10:00 A.M.

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\"Just two hours ago you started
on your way to Florida.

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\"You know, as I walked away
from the bus,

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\"I got such a sinking feeling

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\"that I just couldn\'t
wave goodbye.

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\"I guess a lump got
caught in my throat

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\"somewhere or somehow.

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\"Gee, but its lonely.

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\"Can you imagine
I miss you already?

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What are the next 10 days
going to be like?\"

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(chuckles)

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\"Well, good-looking,

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\"I had better close, and with
a prayer in my heart,

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\"have a good time

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\"and get a swell sun tan.

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\"All my love, Ruthie.

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A kiss.\"

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An actual little
kiss mark there.

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\"P.S. Miss you
terribly already.\"

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♪♪

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\"March 6, 1939.

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I got the job at Wards!\"

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I\'m assuming
that\'s Montgomery Wards.

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\"All by my lonesome too.

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\"I\'m not so dumb now, am I?

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\"You know,
I was beginning to think

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\"I didn\'t have anything
worthwhile,

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\"but now I feel
just the opposite.

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\"I\'m going to work
for the swellest person too.

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\"A girl, about 25,
I imagine.

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\"My typing test wasn\'t so hot.

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\"In fact, I made more errors
but had a better speed.

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\"I have to go down
tomorrow morning

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\"and take
a medical examination,

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\"but I think I\'m healthy
enough to pass, don\'t you?

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My salary will be
$14 per week.\"

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Wow.

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\"You know, now maybe...
maybe we can move

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and get a decent apartment.\"

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(film projector whirring)

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\"Miss Norma Roos,

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\"would you do me the honor
of sitting at your side

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\"at the Barney\'s
Chez Paree Thursday?

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Mary X.\"

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Um, \"To, N.R.\"

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In parenthesis,
\"Not Responsible.\"

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\"Dear Norma, your change
of decision has hurt me deeply,

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\"but I\'m consoled by the fact
that I found out

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\"how fickle you are
before it\'s too late.

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No, I will not hold you
to your first decision. M.\"

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It\'s a little broken heart.

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♪♪

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(narrator)
Finally, there was only

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Norm and Virginia.

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There is our image

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and then there istheimage.

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Lives visible.

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(film projector whirring)

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(train rumbling)

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(man #1)
It might be too heavy, yeah.

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It\'s not, uh,
it\'s something you want--

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See how this--
See that wobble?

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(man #2)
Oh, yeah, no,
I know, that\'s...

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(narrator)
Norm, Virginia,
and their friends

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carried cameras
with them everywhere.

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The film camera was
the smart phone of its day.

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♪♪

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Their snapshots assert:
I am here,

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standing in public space,
I belong.

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The Kodak Brownie camera
was cheap and ever-present.

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These women were
among the millions of people

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who looked into the viewfinder,
pressed the shutter release,

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and snapped a photo.
It was that simple.

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By the end of the 1940s,

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two billion snapshots were taken
annually in the U.S.

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Without the Brownie camera,
I couldn\'t see this:

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an image of a community.

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♪♪

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In the 1940s,
the pinup was everywhere,

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the idealized woman
for all to see.

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Usually in a bathing suit
justifiably undressed.

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Red lips, red nails,
breasts, legs:

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the sexualized woman\'s body
for the male gaze,

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which in the 1940s
was a soldier.

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These images say:

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this is who and what
you\'re fighting for.

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But here are women posing
for women.

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They mimic the pinup,
but it\'s... queer.

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This woman has the muscles of
an athlete and sensible shoes.

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Here that come hither look of
the pinup isn\'t there.

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She relates to the woman gazing
at her through the viewfinder.

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The snapshot captures a real
relationship between two women.

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These two lesbians strike
the classic feminine pose:

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hands on hips,
pelvis thrust forward.

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But their sturdy shoes,
cotton socks,

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bathing suits covering more
than they reveal

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are not a man\'s fantasy.

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These two women assume
the ritual pose of the pinup,

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yet at the same time they imply
their difference from it.

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Lesbians lived in two worlds.

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They were both of mainstream
culture and apart from it.

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A lesbian with a camera is
a woman looking at other women.

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And the women being looked at,

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are aware they are being watched
by a woman.

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It wasn\'t only the femme
in front of the camera.

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The woman who is the subject

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of many of the snapshots
is butch.

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By taking this photo,
the femme behind the camera

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shows her desire for a woman
the culture says is unlovable.

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And these posing butches
expand our idea

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of what woman
is worthy of our gaze.

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(woman)
Rosie was the butchest woman
I ever saw.

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To work, she wore men\'s pants
with pleats, men\'s shoes,

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men\'s socks,
and a golf shirt

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with the short sleeves
and the two buttons,

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but with a men\'s white t-shirt
underneath it.

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She wore her hair back
in a pompadour D.A. like Elvis.

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She had a diamond pinkie ring
and a big watch.

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She would say to me,
\"never confirm it, kid.\"

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There was no mistaking
what she was,

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and some people
were terrified of it,

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other people freaked out
by it.

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(film projector whirring)

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\"This gay life for me,
no other will do.

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\"It\'s here in my heart,
ever so true.

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\"Some say it\'s odd
and some say it\'s queer,

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\"but gay to me,
will it always appear.

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\"I love a girl
and she loves me.

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\"We live apart,
but ever so near.

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\"Someday after
we\'ve made the test

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\"we will be carried
on our great quest.

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\"There will be hardships
along life\'s ways,

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\"but the sun will outshine
our darkest of days.

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\"Together we\'ll be
in ecstasy wrought,

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\"just as those before us
were caught.

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\"The hill we must climb
is rugged and steep.

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\"Our tender-felt struggle,
our courage we keep,

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\"Like a torch leading
to heaven

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\"our God is on high.

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\"The stars are God\'s chain
to help us arrive.

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\"Our goal is not endless
nor courage in vain,

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\"just recognition
for that which we aim.

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A life of forgiveness
is all we recommend...\"

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(chuckling)
\"...command.

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(both chuckling)

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Is this too much to ask
or demand?\"

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Damn.

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♪♪

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(narrator)
There are many frames here.

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The frame of the snapshot,

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which carries a surprising
amount of information:

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the month and year it was shot,

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the camera that was used,
even history.

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And there is always
the frame of culture.

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Baseball, for instance.

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During World War II,
many Chicago lesbians played

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for the National Girls
Baseball League,

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for the Parichy Bloomers and
the Tungsten Sparks.

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The field they played on

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is now under
the Eisenhower Expressway.

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There was a culture
of domesticity.

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In their Chicago bungalow,
Norm and Virginia

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went about
their day-to-day lives

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invisible to all
but their friends.

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♪♪

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There was a culture
of beaches.

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On the lakeshores of Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin,

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they escaped the bustle
of Chicago,

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their working class jobs,

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families they lived with
during the economic hardships

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of the 1930s and the housing
shortages of the 1940s.

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♪♪

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There was a culture of bars,

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in basement rec rooms,

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down hidden alleys,
behind unmarked doors.

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\"October 1, 1941

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\"Dear Norm,

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\"Well, it looks like I\'m off on
the wrong track again.

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\"I just got home
from Pearl\'s.

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\"As I walked in
I bumped into Gibby,

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\"accidently, of course.

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\"She was pretty well tanked,

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\"so we started talking
and drinking some more,

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\"and before I knew it
I paid back a debt

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\"I owed her at Lily Lake.

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\"About nine o\'clock,
in walked Helen,

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\"Bobby, and the Blond Bomber.

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Bobby\'s a pretty swell kid,
isn\'t she?\"

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(narrator)
They were outsiders
who created

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their own tight community
and culture.

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♪♪

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\"There is one thing
I\'m quite positive of,

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\"and that is this:

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\"when a person is led on,

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\"shall we say,
for quite some time

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\"and the opposition gets
stronger and more forceful,

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\"the third party\'s feelings
are either shattered

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\"or maybe they become
just a little bit fonder

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\"of the first party
involved in the triangle.

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\"It doesn\'t make sense but
it all adds to this:

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\"my feelings towards you
have changed considerably.

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\"It isn\'t just liking you
what hurts;

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\"it\'s the fact that
my falling in love with you

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\"that gives me a different
outlook on things.

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\"If you knew how I suffer,
when I don\'t see you,

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then maybe you\'d come around
more often.\"

18:21.042 --> 18:23.018
(narrator)
Norm, Virginia and their friends

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lived outside the frame
of mainstream culture,

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which made them invisible...
until I re-frame.

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These photographs complicate

18:34.834 --> 18:37.602
my idea of
the pre-Stonewall closet.

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Many images were shot
in public places.

18:41.542 --> 18:43.602
In the 1940s and 1950s,

18:43.626 --> 18:45.935
women danced together
at parties,

18:45.959 --> 18:48.975
held hands as
they walked down the street.

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No one gave them
a second look.

18:51.542 --> 18:56.602
Lesbians being implausible
were invisible.

18:56.626 --> 18:59.834
♪♪

19:17.876 --> 19:20.999
(film projector whirring)

19:27.999 --> 19:30.975
\"I often dreamed
of things like this,

19:30.999 --> 19:32.975
\"and wondered how it would feel

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\"to have some dream
like you to kiss,

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\"and then awake to find
it was not real.

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\"Now I have found,
to my regret,

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\"How wonderful
that real kiss was.

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\"For now, all that...
that I must forget

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\"\'Cause you say
it was not for us.

19:53.417 --> 19:56.393
\"I know you cared,
for you showed me that,

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\"but you already
have someone who is dear.

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\"So all I\'ll get,
will be a friendly pat,

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\"while I keep repeating
I\'ll always be near.

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\"For perhaps someday
you may regret

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\"that you\'ve sent me
on my way.

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\"And maybe you\'ll call me back
and say you can\'t forget,

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and ask me to come back
to you forever and a day.\"

20:37.167 --> 20:38.975
(narrator)
It was the law.

20:38.999 --> 20:44.643
Three pieces of women\'s clothing
had to be worn at all times.

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When cops raided a lesbian bar,

20:46.834 --> 20:48.602
the bartender
would pick up the phone

20:48.626 --> 20:51.393
and word went out to bars
down the line.

20:51.417 --> 20:55.975
A pre-arranged song would
blast out from the jukebox.

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Women knew what that meant.

20:58.292 --> 20:59.810
Butches slipped into the alley

20:59.834 --> 21:02.975
and turned their fly-front
trousers around,

21:02.999 --> 21:06.975
zippers in the back like
the slacks a proper woman wore.

21:06.999 --> 21:10.292
(train passing)

21:17.626 --> 21:19.518
(woman)
I grew up in a Polish family,

21:19.542 --> 21:23.768
the oldest of six children.
I knew I liked women,

21:23.792 --> 21:27.268
but I didn\'t know
how to act on my feelings.

21:27.292 --> 21:28.185
One night I told my dad

21:28.209 --> 21:29.975
that I was different
from my sisters,

21:29.999 --> 21:33.894
and he said,
\"Yeah, you\'re in college.\"

21:33.918 --> 21:37.810
And I said,
\"No, I\'m different.

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I\'m not going to marry.
I like girls.\"

21:41.751 --> 21:45.518
My father just looked at me
and he opened his wallet

21:45.542 --> 21:47.018
and handed me a $20 bill.

21:47.042 --> 21:49.935
He said, \"I don\'t know how
to help you.

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Maybe a cabbie will know
where to take you.\"

21:52.834 --> 21:55.226
So I got in a cab
and asked the driver

21:55.250 --> 21:59.226
to take me to a place
where lesbians hung out.

21:59.250 --> 22:01.768
He told me those places
were dives.

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Prostitutes and gangsters
went there.

22:04.292 --> 22:07.751
It wasn\'t a place
for a nice girl like me.

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(narrator)
A gathering of friends.

22:15.999 --> 22:19.226
To eat...

22:19.250 --> 22:22.185
to drink...

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to celebrate the holidays

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in 1940s rented,
windowless halls.

22:27.500 --> 22:32.125
♪♪

22:33.584 --> 22:34.975
Hidden from exposure,

22:34.999 --> 22:37.975
they document a different kind
of family,

22:37.999 --> 22:40.975
separate from families
that rejected them

22:40.999 --> 22:43.768
or did not even know
their secrets.

22:43.792 --> 22:47.751
♪♪

23:31.751 --> 23:34.393
\"January 14, 1947

23:34.417 --> 23:36.226
\"Dear Norm,
this is to let you know

23:36.250 --> 23:38.976
\"that there is going to be
a party this Saturday night,

23:39.000 --> 23:40.975
\"January 18, at Pauline\'s.

23:40.999 --> 23:44.143
\"Bring your friends,
and let\'s make it a gay party.

23:44.167 --> 23:45.685
\"If you want to find out
the time

23:45.709 --> 23:46.975
\"you can call her Saturday.

23:46.999 --> 23:50.435
\"The phone number
is Sheldrake 8888.

23:50.459 --> 23:53.935
\"She is a W.A.C., and will
get in Saturday morning.

23:53.959 --> 23:55.643
\"I suppose you can come to
the party

23:55.667 --> 23:56.975
\"at any time you want.

23:56.999 --> 23:59.059
\"Try and make it if you can.

23:59.083 --> 24:01.500
As ever, Marce.\"

24:03.876 --> 24:08.999
(narrator)
In kitchens, in living rooms...

24:10.542 --> 24:15.476
in basement rec rooms,
away from the bars.

24:15.500 --> 24:18.143
Through the 1940s,

24:18.167 --> 24:21.435
and 1950s,

24:21.459 --> 24:25.975
and 1960s...

24:25.999 --> 24:28.000
they danced.

24:30.999 --> 24:33.268
They talked.

24:33.292 --> 24:35.542
They laughed.

24:38.417 --> 24:40.834
They played.

24:44.834 --> 24:47.042
They kissed.

24:49.250 --> 24:52.292
And they drank.

24:53.999 --> 24:59.226
(woman)
Women in the gay scene,
I should tell you about that.

24:59.250 --> 25:03.268
There was a lot of emotional
and physical deaths.

25:03.292 --> 25:06.975
Yeah, drinking, suicide.

25:06.999 --> 25:08.018
They were into
scooters.

25:08.042 --> 25:10.101
Three women
smashed themselves up,

25:10.125 --> 25:12.602
into walls, into buses.

25:12.626 --> 25:17.000
A lot of us just opted out,
got married.

25:17.999 --> 25:21.999
But, still... we existed.

25:52.876 --> 25:56.727
(narrator)
The Polaroid camera
was invented in 1947.

25:56.751 --> 26:01.143
You watched the image
materialize out of nothing.

26:01.167 --> 26:02.975
The photograph was blank,

26:02.999 --> 26:06.975
and then a few minutes later
it was visible.

26:06.999 --> 26:09.083
Magic.

26:10.999 --> 26:13.975
(woman)
The bar scenes weren\'t
innocuous.

26:13.999 --> 26:16.975
And even there,
even among lesbians,

26:16.999 --> 26:19.975
rejection if you didn\'t
play the role,

26:19.999 --> 26:22.894
that whole butch/femme
role playing.

26:22.918 --> 26:25.975
If you didn\'t,
you were peculiar.

26:25.999 --> 26:28.792
A minority of one.

26:29.334 --> 26:31.768
(narrator)
If you were a working class
lesbian

26:31.792 --> 26:35.975
you had to choose,
butch or femme.

26:35.999 --> 26:39.792
Not to choose
was not to be trusted.

26:41.999 --> 26:45.143
In the 1950s,
to be a lesbian meant

26:45.167 --> 26:49.310
you were the object of hate
and fear.

26:49.334 --> 26:52.975
The butch was
a lesbian made visible,

26:52.999 --> 26:58.083
visible to be harassed--
lezzie, homo, dyke.

26:59.125 --> 27:01.059
Visible to be arrested.

27:01.083 --> 27:05.975
Visible to be fired
from her job, beaten up.

27:05.999 --> 27:12.626
But also, visible
to one another, to be found.

27:38.250 --> 27:42.975
The celluloid based snapshot
was a limited resource.

27:42.999 --> 27:46.476
You had a finite number of shots
on each roll.

27:46.500 --> 27:49.727
Most of the rolls shot
by Norm and Virginia

27:49.751 --> 27:52.417
had only 10 exposures.

27:53.000 --> 27:55.852
They dropped the film off
for processing

27:55.876 --> 27:59.268
and waited a week
to see the results.

27:59.292 --> 28:03.018
Their snapshots were developed
by an actual person,

28:03.042 --> 28:05.101
a stranger in a lab.

28:05.125 --> 28:08.018
They had to be careful about
what they shot.

28:08.042 --> 28:14.918
Sexually explicit images,
that was dangerous.

28:17.959 --> 28:21.894
A photograph created through
an analog process

28:21.918 --> 28:24.393
is a material object.

28:24.417 --> 28:26.810
You hold it in your hands.

28:26.834 --> 28:29.643
It has size and weight.

28:29.667 --> 28:35.959
It can be bent, torn,
lost, destroyed.

28:36.626 --> 28:38.059
(camera shutter clicks)

28:38.083 --> 28:40.685
It also has longevity.

28:40.709 --> 28:42.685
The oldest photograph
in the box,

28:42.709 --> 28:46.727
an image of Norma
as a child in Chicago,

28:46.751 --> 28:50.185
is almost 100 years old.

28:50.209 --> 28:54.584
How long will my selfie last?

28:57.542 --> 29:01.975
We look into the camera,
smile... or not.

29:01.999 --> 29:02.852
(camera shutter clicking)

29:02.876 --> 29:05.810
These women look into
the lens...

29:05.834 --> 29:09.059
directly... at me.

29:09.083 --> 29:13.518
And I look back at them
across the decades.

29:13.542 --> 29:16.268
I\'m drawn to these snapshots,
to these women:

29:16.292 --> 29:22.435
their youth, their beauty, their
joy of being together.

29:22.459 --> 29:23.310
(camera shutter clicks)

29:23.334 --> 29:24.975
They\'re at ease with each other,

29:24.999 --> 29:28.393
using the camera
to document their lives,

29:28.417 --> 29:30.059
a visual autobiography

29:30.083 --> 29:34.417
that Norm and Virginia
threw into a box.

29:37.042 --> 29:40.975
On the surface,
their story is ordinary.

29:40.999 --> 29:43.101
They show off their car,

29:43.125 --> 29:46.894
proudly display a birthday cake,

29:46.918 --> 29:49.626
picnic with friends.

29:51.667 --> 29:52.727
(camera shutter clicks)

29:52.751 --> 29:54.975
Yet with a difference.

29:54.999 --> 29:58.351
The pregnant wife is
a lesbian clowning around.

29:58.375 --> 29:59.393
(camera shutter clicks)

29:59.417 --> 30:03.560
Couples pose with their dog,
not their child.

30:03.584 --> 30:04.435
(camera shutter clicks)

30:04.459 --> 30:06.560
Of the more than
2000 snapshots

30:06.584 --> 30:09.143
only eight include children.

30:09.167 --> 30:12.250
(camera shutter clicks)

30:17.542 --> 30:19.643
These are personal images.

30:19.667 --> 30:22.852
I don\'t always know
their meaning.

30:22.876 --> 30:25.810
As much as I want to enter
the photographs,

30:25.834 --> 30:29.059
step into their world...
I can\'t.

30:29.083 --> 30:31.667
(camera shutter clicks)

30:33.667 --> 30:34.310
(camera shutter clicks)

30:34.334 --> 30:40.852
A snapshot that is not mine
is a story I can\'t always read.

30:40.876 --> 30:45.959
(film projector whirring)

30:48.083 --> 30:50.975
If I had only
this one snapshot,

30:50.999 --> 30:55.185
if I had found it in a bin
at a thrift store,

30:55.209 --> 30:59.185
I might think they were sisters
or best friends.

30:59.209 --> 31:02.268
Would I assume
they were lovers?

31:02.292 --> 31:07.975
I do because of this one,
and this one, and this one.

31:07.999 --> 31:08.976
(camera shutter clicks)

31:09.000 --> 31:13.226
Out of context,
one snapshot is insufficient.

31:13.250 --> 31:15.518
It\'s the box of snapshots,

31:15.542 --> 31:18.975
the sheer number
that gives them meaning.

31:18.999 --> 31:22.975
They aren\'t just friends
or sisters.

31:22.999 --> 31:25.268
They are lovers.

31:25.292 --> 31:30.334
(film projector whirring)

31:55.999 --> 31:58.476
The photographs could have
ended up here...

31:58.500 --> 32:02.810
lesbians in a box,
nameless, forgotten,

32:02.834 --> 32:07.935
one more piece of detritus
from lives long gone.

32:07.959 --> 32:11.751
♪♪

32:13.000 --> 32:18.918
Every culture has its time
then dies away.

32:25.167 --> 32:27.643
But the photographs survive,

32:27.667 --> 32:34.417
an archive of a community,
an autobiography of lives lived.

32:35.125 --> 32:37.560
We can\'t experience the past,

32:37.584 --> 32:40.226
but we can hold
a photograph,

32:40.250 --> 32:43.975
a gift from that past.

32:43.999 --> 32:46.518
My history.

32:46.542 --> 32:49.834
♪♪