August 17, 2021
Let Jeffrey Schwarz experience one of the strangest and most forgotten episodes in Hollywood history.
As a documentary filmmaker, Schwarz made his career raking the attics of Tinseltown to find the lost – often bizarre – stories of showbiz history. His films “I Am Divine,” “Tab Hunter Confidential,” “Vito,” and “The Fabulous Alan Carr” all told stories of LGBTQ people in movies, often emphasizing how they had to hide their sexuality or fight against the currents of religion. homophobia in society. Schwarz’s latest film, “Boulevard! », Has its world premiere at the Outfest on August 17th.
‘Boulevard!’ tells the story of a musical version of the movie classic “Sunset Blvd. Although it was conceived some 30 years before Andrew Lloyd Webber made his Broadway debut. This earlier version, commissioned by Gloria Swanson who starred in the original film, would have served as her big comeback on stage. To write the show, Swanson brought in movie star / lyricist Richard Stapley and lounge pianist Dickson Hughes, two young showbiz talents … and a secret gay couple. For a year, the three plotted Swanson’s adaptation of “Sunset Blvd”. before a strange love triangle torpedoed the whole project.
Using rare stock footage and recordings, plus new interviews with Hollywood historians Mark Saltzman, David Del Valle and Robert Osborne, “Boulevard! Tells the story of the ill-fated musical, a story so strange it could have happened on ‘Sunset Blvd.’
Only in Hollywood, guys. We caught up with Schwarz for an exclusive preview of the film, plus a chat about his origins, the crazy history of the musical, and the gay love story at the center of it all. ‘Boulevard!’ premieres at Outfest on August 17th.
Video editing: David Beerman.
