Thanks to a surplus of election endorsement ads, the October 29, 1987 issue of the B.A.R. expanded to 68 pages. Along with political news, the lengthier arts section focused on the boom in 'gay and lesbian' literary subjects and reviews, from lesbian theater history to works by James Broughton and a debut novel by Christopher Bram.
Coincidentally, on a nearby page is a write-up of a biography about gay film director James Whale, whose life would serve as ripe fodder for a later Bram novel, Father of Frankenstein.
Also of historical note is a fascinating feature on the work of Bill Walker, whose collections for the then-named San Francisco Bay Area Lesbian and Gay Historical Society (renamed later) led to the preservation of the very issue discussed here.
Yes, so much history remains on pages, print and digital.
Read this issue at archive.org/details/BAR_19871029
Browse the archives at https://archive.org/details/bayareareporter
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