Warhol superstar and trans icon Holly Woodlawn (Trash, Women in Revolt) gets another bite of the cherry with the re-release of the Academy Film Archive remastered 1972 Robert J Kaplan comedy camp classic Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers. Woodlawn stars alongside fellow fabulous Warhol associate Tally Brown as a goofy aspiring actress, Eve Harrington, from Kansas who moves to New York in search of fame and fortune. There she meets eccentric, Divine-like, real estate agent Mary Poppins (Tally Brown) who tries to fix her up with a room-share with various zany characters. Whilst doing so, Eve resides at the infamous Chelsea Hotel. As well as the weirdo potential room-mates, everyone else Eve meets is off-the-scale freaky. We follow Eve from sketch to sketch as the characters get weirder and weirder. Amongst the oddballs she encounters are a peculiar film producer Rhett Butler (also played by Woodlawn), identical lesbian twins Baby and Jane Hudson (Katherine and Margaret Howell), a leery acting coach called Walter Mitty (David Margulies) and Joe Buck (Sonny Boy Hayes), a dwarf wrestler. With the singing voice of Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin playing an unseen telephone operator, this film is a veritable smorgasbord of fabulous oddness.
Kaplan’s unashamedly daft musical has all the elements of classic early 1970s comedy film-making. Short on plot, it’s more of a sketch show in the vein of timeless British comedians Benny Hill, Dick Emery or the Monty Python team – with added queerness. All the colourful parts are named after characters from famous films or books. Woodlawn is excellent as the hapless, naive Eve, her awkward, clumsy, almost rubber like body language a joy to watch. Her timing is excellent and her wonky facial expressions reminded me of the British comic legend Mark Gatiss. This was the first film to star a trans-woman. Brown is also fabulous, constantly accompanied by two scantily clad beefcake assistants. Look beyond the wonderful characters and outfits and you’ll see lots of great shots of early 1970s New York. A fun step back in time.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
Labels: 1972, 2024, Holly Woodlawn, Robert Kaplan, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
