The Films of the Gay Girls Riding Club - Enzian Theater

The Films of the Gay Girls Riding Club

Spearheaded by filmmaker Ray Harrison, the Gay Girls Riding Club (GGRC) took California’s 1960s underground gay scene by storm with drag spoofs of classic Hollywood films. These pioneering DIY takes on films like WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE and ALL ABOUT EVE provide an essential snapshot of mid-century drag culture that would feel right at home with the dreamy work of Mike and George Kuchar. AGFA, in partnership with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, is thrilled to present this overlooked chapter of queer cinema—preserved from the only known 16mm film elements in existence.

What Really Happened to Baby Jane?

1963, USA, 31 minutes, Directed by Ray Harrison, Unrated

Created by the GGRC less than one year after the massive box office success of Bette Davis’ and Joan Crawford’s histrionic horror flick Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? One might ask the question can you out camp a camp classic! And the answer is a resounding yes!

All About Alice

1972, USA, 68 minutes, Directed by Ray Harrison, Unrated

The queens are back, and this time the GGRC is setting their spicy-flair on sending up Joesph L. Mankiewicz Oscar®-winning cat-fight classic All About Eve! “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night”.

Restorations courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive, UCLA Film & TV Archive and The Outfest Legacy Project.

“With non-stop scenery-chewing and scrupulous attention to original sources, the GGRC’s movies play something like West Coast variants of early Kuchar brothers parodies.”
– LIGHTINDUSTRY.ORG
“Typically screened only at gay bars and private events, the GGRC films were seemingly epic in production value considering their underground guerilla-style origins and their outrageously irreverent (and illegal) seizure of heteronormative locations and spaces.”
– THE LIGHTBOX FILM CENTER
“Sensations within California’s burgeoning homosexual underground.”
– NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
“The Club’s [Baby Jane] hilarious take on Robert Aldrich’s grand guignol of fame helped to establish the Crawford-Davis vehicle as a key camp text by both lampooning and celebrating its excesses with devilish flair.”
– UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE