KNOWhomo

RSS

Posts tagged with "lillian hellman"

Nov 13
LGBTQ* History Behind The Story THE CHILDREN’S HOUR (You can watch the trailer to the film version here) On 20 November 1934, Lillian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour opened on Broadway to rave reviews and sell-out audiences. It told the story of two Scottish schoolteachers, Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie, accused of lesbianism by one of their students, and was based on an actual case in 19th-century Scotland. The play was filmed in 1962 as The Loudest Whisper (also released as The Children’s Hour), in which the heroine’s epiphany is that she is, indeed, a lesbian, necessitates (as was the Hollywood tradition of the time with any gay character) that she die (in this case, suicide). In reality, however, the two women in Scotland brought a successful legal action against the woman who had spread the original rumors. The notoriety of the case led the British authorities in the following year (1812) to debate the possibility of sex between two women.  Their conclusion? Not Possible. (text from: Baker, Michelle, and Stephen Tropiano. Queer Facts: the Greatest Gay and Lesbian Trivia Book Ever. London: Arcane, 2004) Additional Info from Tumblr http://justlikegmpavalentine.tumblr.com/: For those who have the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, The Children’s Hour is going to be airing on November 19, 2011 at 10:15 PM, eastern time.

LGBTQ* History Behind The Story

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR

(You can watch the trailer to the film version here)

On 20 November 1934, Lillian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour opened on Broadway to rave reviews and sell-out audiences. It told the story of two Scottish schoolteachers, Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie, accused of lesbianism by one of their students, and was based on an actual case in 19th-century Scotland. The play was filmed in 1962 as The Loudest Whisper (also released as The Children’s Hour), in which the heroine’s epiphany is that she is, indeed, a lesbian, necessitates (as was the Hollywood tradition of the time with any gay character) that she die (in this case, suicide).

In reality, however, the two women in Scotland brought a successful legal action against the woman who had spread the original rumors. The notoriety of the case led the British authorities in the following year (1812) to debate the possibility of sex between two women. 

Their conclusion? Not Possible.

(text from: Baker, Michelle, and Stephen Tropiano. Queer Facts: the Greatest Gay and Lesbian Trivia Book Ever. London: Arcane, 2004)

Additional Info from Tumblr http://justlikegmpavalentine.tumblr.com/:

For those who have the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, The Children’s Hour is going to be airing on November 19, 2011 at 10:15 PM, eastern time.

Posted 1 year ago

144 notes

lgbtq, lillian hellman, the children's hour, scottland, play, queer, theatre, lesbian, film,