As we continue to celebrate the Bay Area Reporter's 50th anniversary, each week we'll take a nostalgic look at a highlight from each year's issues.
The cover of the May 1, 1971 B.A.R. doesn't even have a headline, just a photo of two men dressed in headdresses of feathered plumage. The subsequent two-page thread, 'David, Gary & Friends: High Camp in the Afternoon," fails to provide a location or last names of the host pair, who performed drag numbers as nuns.
Their friends Eileen and Fred performed a parody of Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy duets, but "Eileen's hat was so big, poor Fred had trouble getting next to her."
Gary seems to have "brought the house down" with his banana-tossing Carmen Miranda finale. The hand-typed un-bylined article is typical of the B.A.R.'s first year, comparable to a high school mimeographed newsletter, yet precious in its sweet naiveté.
Enjoy the article, photos, and more, including gossip, horoscopes, Connie's 'Evening Out' at The Mint, a review of a cabaret show at The Savoy-Tivoli, 'Auntie Mildred's Gourmet Capers,' and a vintage Sweet Lips column, in the B.A.R. Archives.
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