Filmmaker takes on ‘50s scandal
BOISE – Just over 50 years ago, an anti-homosexuality frenzy gripped Boise that destroyed lives and reputations.
Now, a young Idaho filmmaker has a documentary premiering at a New York film festival that looks at just what happened in the fall of 1955, how it affected Boise and some of the people directly involved, and lessons that can be learned from it all.
The scandal was documented in the 1965 book “The Boys of Boise,” but it occurred long before 30-year-old filmmaker Seth Randal was born. Randal was in high school in nearby Nampa when he first read the book, and was saddened to discover such a wrenching chapter in his home state’s history.
“What happened here 50 years ago is still worth talking about,” Randal said. “The ‘Boys of Boise’ book is still checked out regularly at the library … but it’s still a little hush-hush in the community. In many ways, this is Boise’s secret shame, even though it’s not that much of a secret.”
The scandal, which began with arrests on Halloween night in 1955, first exploded with news that a homosexual sex ring in Boise had victimized up to 100 young boys – charges that never proved true. Eventually, the investigation evolved into charges against adult homosexuals, some of whom were convicted and received long prison terms.
The Web site for Randal’s film, www.fallof55.com, is topped with a quote from a 1967 CBS News report: “The people of Boise tried to ‘stamp out’ homosexuality. They discovered it couldn’t be done. In the learning process, everybody suffered.”
Randal, who lived in North Idaho for three years as a North Idaho College student and beginning producer for KXLY-TV nearly a decade ago, has since built a career as a television producer in Idaho Falls and then in Boise. He first envisioned the documentary as a half-hour TV program, but it evolved into more.
“This was perhaps the biggest scandal ever to hit Boise, and it’s something that to this day many people don’t like to talk about,” Randal said.
He noted that when the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise published a look back at the case in 1995, it was hit with an unsuccessful invasion-of-privacy lawsuit that twice went to the Idaho Supreme Court, by a Boisean who objected to the publication of a 40-year-old court document.
Alan Virta, historical adviser for the film, is the head of special collections at the Boise State University library and a former Library of Congress archivist.
“This is not a movie version of the book by any means,” Virta said. “This is a totally independent thing.”
Randal traveled to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and around Idaho to find people directly involved in the events and document their stories.
“It was really quite interesting, kind of a history detective sort of story,” Virta said.
He recalled digging through old newspapers, deeds, powers of attorney and genealogical records with Randal. “He has research skills that many graduate history students would envy,” Virta said of the young man who never finished his NIC degree.
The movie includes interviews, documents, photographs and lots of vintage footage of Boise in the 1950s. It will premiere Saturday at 6 p.m. at “Newfest” in New York City, an annual gay and lesbian film festival. Randal said he’s hoping for showings at other film festivals, along with a special showing later in Boise and perhaps others in the region.
Randal said gay people still face fear and distrust in Idaho, though debates now are more likely to focus on gay marriage and legislative proposals. “I think it’s unfortunate that people are so scared of their friends and neighbors and sons and daughters and grandchildren,” he said. But he added, “I don’t see myself as an activist, I see myself as a storyteller, and a storyteller who in this case is digging up some new information on a much talked-about and controversial part of our history.”