There were many gay bars in the 30's, especially in Greenwich Village and Harlem, the White Horse Inn gay bar in Oakland Los Angeles was open from 1933 until now, surprisingly it was one of the few gay bars that were not raided during the McCarthyism of the 50's.
I cant get enough of this tune "All washed Up" and the Vitaphone Orchestra playing it,which carries on playing in the back ground as the scene progresses to the changing rooms.
One minute jolsen is embarrassingly retro blackface, the next he is smirking at the Catholic censors in a forward thinking ultrahipness! That shot almost tanked the whole movie.
Usually I see the same type of comments on old movies but not this one so I will add it. Ah the good old days! Simpler times :) when men were men etc etc
Interestingly, this was fairly commonly seen in those days. Especially among the artists and intellectuals who were responsible for film, gay acceptance was becoming more and more accepted. It was only when the Heys Code was enacted that it all reversed. The code dictated that any homosexual depicted on film must be punished and vilified for their homosexuality. A lot of the homophobia we deal with today comes from the religiously motivated codes, not tradition or old times values. Up until stonewall, we were just trying to get back to that relative golden age of acceptance.
@@kilgoretrout9523 this was also a great hit in Germany. Many bands "camped up" songs in their versions. Of course that stopped in 1933 when gays were sent to concentration camps.
Homosexuality is obviously old hat at the Wonder Bar, not just for Al Jolson but also for Dick Powell. Note his nonchalance at seeing the dancers and his knowing smirk after the famous quote. Neither of these men are any stranger to this phenomenon.
@@lekmirn.hintern8132 I did so some research on Dick Powell and come to find out that he did have an actual gay affair with another male actor, which I think is cool.
@@lenovovo I don't think it's either 'cool' or 'uncool', it's just what people do, like eating and sleeping. Nowadays it's like we care more about what someone does with their crotch than about what they do with their brain. Strange. I've never heard that story about Powell, but in any case I've always liked him -- he's a smart comic actor in the '30's who transitioned into a perfect noir actor in the '40's (see MURDER MY SWEET, it's terrific) and who died far too young.
FWIW, Wonder Bar is from 1934. This would have been one of the last films released before the Motion Picture Production Code, AKA the Hays Code, began to crack down on "immoral" material in the movies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code
That was Dick Powell, who wasn't a conductor but a singer/actor. But the real problem is that the music you hear is a pre-recording, the band not actually playing. There's often problem in musicals syncing the on-screen band's fingering, and dancers' movements, to the audio replay.
I don't know if a recording of the tune exists outside the film, as it was not in the original stage musical. It's an instrumental dance tune called "All Washed Up." We only hear a chorus and a half. The fellow says, "May I cut in?" at bar eleven. At bar twenty-five Inez (Dolores del Rio) enters the club and by bar twelve of the second chorus the camera has followed her into her dressing room, she's closed the door, and we can no longer hear the band.
It's in reference to the Motion Picture Production Code guidelines enforced in 1934. Basically you couldn't have anything considered obscene in your movie like sex, violence, language. It was censorship and a sort of precursor to the MPAA's Rating System that we have today (G, PG, PG-13, R)
many movies after that Hayes-Code (see wikipedia) came up, couldn't show anymore rape, killing, torture (often show only shadow), nudes, pregnance, homosexuality (a great example: PEYTON PLACE). Those movies after had to been flexible or having a creative script to tell a story. Thats why Paul Newman's character in THE CAT ON THIN HOT ROOF were not gay. - even spoken words weren't allowed.
The bandleader is Dick Powell, one of the most popular romantic leads in 30s musicals. The MC, who says "Boys will be boys," is, of course, the great Al Jolson. The man who cuts in is Demetrius Alexis. The fellow he cuts in on may be John Marlowe; his age would be about right. I can't tell who the woman is, as there are so many uncredited actresses in the film. and all of the young women have blonde bobs as they were in the choruses of the various numbers.
