LGBTQ+ Pride Started for Me As a Child

Jan Wahl

Gay Pride started for me as a child. But it was mixed with anger and resentment towards a society that didn’t get it. My mother was raised in Waukegan, Illinois. It was the 1940s, and her family owned a boarding house where they lived. Mom’s two earliest friends were the kind, gentle men who rented the top rooms. When she was around six, they suddenly left her life forever. You know where this is going. The two men were forced out of town for being a gay couple. My furious grandmother carefully explained it to my mother, and though it was a challenge to comprehend at first, mom grew to join her own mother as they burned with anger. I heard this story my entire life and watched my mom walk the walk of someone determined to fight for LGBTQ rights.

I grew up in a showbiz world in West Los Angeles. My parents found it easy to have gay friends and colleagues. In the land of movies, TV, theatre, and the rest, the late fifties and sixties amazingly seemed free to this liberally raised, showbizloving kid. When I started collecting early movie magazines and demonstrated a fierce passion for Hollywood history, Mom introduced me to designers, technicians, writers, costumers ... people who had worked in the Business or still did.

I have warm memories of a couple who worked as an art director and a joke writer, another who filled me in on costume design. We would trade classic Photoplay magazines and other memorabilia while I soaked in their world. Sometimes we’d have tea at homes, or would often meet up at a Hollywood Boulevard bookstore to browse the latest.

These were gays and lesbians, and I was lucky to know them. Add to this my father’s hobby of big band drums. We had a kit in our living room, and those jam sessions were part of this time. Just like Some Like It Hot, there were some great gal musicians, and guys, who would stop by to play Goodman, Ellington, and Miller. Of course, there were always straights mixed in, but this was a delicious stew of intelligent and worldly folks.

Theatre was a big part of life for me, then and always. One of the first shows I ever saw was Annie Get Your Gun, music by Irving Berlin and starring Mary Martin and John Raitt (known later as Bonnie’s father). I loved the strong character of Annie Oakley, as I grew to love all strong women in musicals, from Mame to Fanny Brice. Later, when I worked as a stage manager on the PBS show Over Easy, I got to know the real Mary, a closeted lesbian and a wonderful performer. When she would warm up the studio audience with the song “Getting to Know You” from The King and I, everyone was in love with her, including me.

One of my recent favorite shows was at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre earlier this month. The Book of Mormon brings me back every time, and this was my third time laughing and loving this unusual musical. Written by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, it tells the tale of Mormon boys on a journey to Africa. Though some may find it shocking and offensive, I think it is extraordinary, hip, and very funny. Even the Church itself buys ads in the Playbill, reminding us that if we liked this, we’ll love the real thing! Right.

Sam Nackman portrays Elder Cunningham, a part made famous by Josh Gad in the original production. Sam recently spoke with me

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