fallof55.com Blog

Dear Friends,

I’m very excited to announce the upcoming Kentucky premier of THE FALL OF ‘55!

We show the film TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27th at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. It shows at 6 p.m. in the Rader Hall Theater, Room 112.

Special Thanks to Mike Esposito, the Director of Student Activities for helping coordinate the screening, and Toni Hobbs for doing a great job promoting the screening.

I’ll be introducing the film and doing audience Q&A afterward.

Hope to see you in Kentucky!

Talk soon,
Seth

Dear Friends,

I received this email from Alan Virta, our historian on THE FALL OF ‘55. I thought you might be interested as well!

Talk soon,
Seth

PBS Fronline will use 4 images from our Lyman Wilbur collection on their program next Tuesday night (Oct 13) which is about the war in Afghanistan. The slides can be seen now in a rough cut preview on the Frontline website HERE.

Alan Virta, Head of Special Collections and Associate Professor
Boise State University, Albertsons Library (Boise, Idaho)

UPDATED OCTOBER 7 WITH NEW DETAILS

Dear Friends,

I want to welcome members of the American Folklore Society — to Boise and to this website. The group is having its international conference in Boise October 22-26, and the city’s 1955 Morals Drive is a part of the program.

Conference members will have an opportunity to watch THE FALL OF ‘55 on Friday. After that, I appear for a talk with DR. JEANETTE ROSS, In the film, Dr. Ross talks about an oral history project she led discussing Boise in the 1950s. She will be able to talk more some of her observation, and may join me for some audience questions.

Then, a very noteworthy panel will discuss the Morals Drive in further depth. The group includes THE FALL OF ’55’s Historian ALAN VIRTA, along with LGBT Historian DR. PETER BOAG and former Idaho Supreme Court Justice BYRON JOHNSON, who appear in the film. It also features former Supreme Court Justice and Idaho Attorney General WAYNE KIDWELL and Grammy-nominated Singer/Songwriter and Boise native ROSALIE SORRELS. Johnson, Kidwell, Ross and Virta have all previously appeared in post-film discussions about the scandal, and they had excellent things to say.

Virta formerly worked for the Library of Congress, and he and I spent five years researching the cases. He also presents a slide show, “The Gay History in Idaho,” which has shown throughout the state.

Boag also wrote the forward for the most recent re-printing of the book, “The Boys of Boise.” Kidwell and Johnson both attended Boise High in the mid-1950s, and were friends with some of the people involved with the events. I’ve never heard Rosalie Sorrels speak about this, although I’m confident she will add great perspective. I’m very much looking forward to meeting her.

I think members of the American Folklore Society are in for a treat. Organizer Polly Stewart has gathered an impressive collection for this session. It should be a very insightful afternoon! Kudos, Polly!

More details about the conference are below and HERE.

Talk soon,
Seth

FRIDAY, 1:30—3:30 PM
Media Session: The Fall of ’55 (film, 82 min.), by Seth Randal
(Sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer and Allies Section; the History and Folklore Section; and the Politics, Folklore, and Social Justice Section; see also 13-03) Summit

Joe Goodwin (Ball State University), chair

Seth Randal (Boise, Idaho); Jeanette Ross (Boise, Idaho)

FRIDAY, 3:45—5:45 PM
Forum: An Engineered Panic: Boise’s Homosexual Scandal of
1955-1956
(Sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer and Allies Section; the History and Folklore Section; and the Politics, Folklore, and Social Justice Section; see also 12-03) Summit

Polly Stewart (Salisbury University, emerita), chair

Peter Boag (Washington State University); Byron Johnson (Boise, Idaho); Wayne Kidwell (Boise, Idaho); Rosalie Sorrels (Boise, Idaho); Alan Virta (Boise State University)

CONFERENCE DETAILS

Dear Friends,

Alan Virta’s slide show, “The Gay Life in Idaho,” is coming back to Boise — this coming Tuesday, October 5th at 5:30 p.m. in the BSU Student Union Room Simplot D. The slide show is for the BSU BGLAD group and anyone else interested in Idaho’s gay history going back to the 1890s! The slide show spends about five minutes talking about the Morals Drive, including the “Boys of Boise” book. It also shares a lot of other stories from Idaho LGBT history that you probably haven’t heard before.

I first met Alan Virta, the historian for “THE FALL OF ‘55,” when I attended a presentation of “The Gay Life in Idaho” back in 2000. After that, we collaborated on the research for the Boise Morals Drive. He had already done some background research for the slide show, and it was possible to get a running start on the broader research I needed to do for the film.

Alan says the best place to park for those without BSU parking stickers is the parking garage at Lincoln and University. Hope you can make it!

Talk soon,
Seth