Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay at the Movies

by Patrick E. Horrigan

In 1973, a sweet-tempered, ferociously imaginative ten-year-old boy named Patrick Horrigan saw the TV premiere of the film version of Hello, Dolly! starring Barbra Streisand. His life would never be the same. Widescreen Growing Up Gay at the Movies traces Horrigan’s development from childhood to gay male adulthood through a series of visceral encounters with an unexpected handful of Hollywood movies from the 1960s and 1970 Hello Dolly!, The Sound of Music, The Poseidon Adventure, Dog Day Afternoon , and The Wiz.

Genres: LGBT, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Patrick E. Horrigan received his BA from The Catholic University of America and his PhD from Columbia University. He is the author of the novel PENNSYLVANIA STATION (Lethe Press), about a troubled romance between a closeted architect and a much younger gay rights activist in mid-1960s New York; PORTRAITS AT AN EXHIBITION (Lethe Press), about a young man’s search for the meaning of life amid a gallery of old master portraits; and WIDESCREEN DREAMS: GROWING UP GAY AT THE MOVIES (University of Wisconsin Press), an analysis of several popular films from the 1960s and 70s. His one-act play, MESSAGES FOR GARY: A DRAMA IN VOICEMAIL, composed entirely of answering machine messages received by the activist and socialist scholar Gary Lucek, was a critically-acclaimed hit of the Third International Fringe Festival. With his husband, the actor and writer Eduardo Leanez, he co-wrote the solo show YOU ARE CONFUSED! about the relationship between a gay Venezuelan boy and his charismatic mother. He and Mr. Leanez are the hosts of ACTORS WITH ACCENTS, a recurring variety show on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Since 1993, he has taught English at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. He lives in Manhattan.

Reviews

[Corinne Blackmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this work, which combines autobiography with film and queer criticism, Patrick Horrigan represents how films such as "Hello, Dolly," "The Sound of Music," "Dog Day Afternoon," "The Wiz," and "Funny Girl" (among others) shape and are shaped by his queer boyhood. A self-proclaimed sissy from a large Catholic family that makes well enough good on its pretenses to be a happy and supportive family, Horrigan endures bullying, isolation, and the anxious tolerance of his mother and father for ways of his that are clearly "gay." In response, Horrigan develops an elaborate and active fandom for musicals, figures like Barbra Streisand, and becomes an accomplished pianist who learns the arts of conversation and inquiry from his memorable piano teacher. Throughout the book, however, one continues to wonder about the implications and the consequences of the fact that LGBT youth do not have entertainments directed towards them and thus must invent a place for themselves in entertainments that have different subject matters and agendas. On the one hand, it is remarkable to what extent queer culture has managed to make movies like "The Wizard of Oz" or "Funny Girl" their own; on the other, one cannot help but wonder if the bullying and isolation would be ameliorated if we lived in a culture in which LGBT children and adolescents could see themselves on the cultural mirror.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story reminds me of my best friend. He could have written it, which cracks me up.