**************************************************************

Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 23:59:20 -0500

From: hamish

Subject: Re: My own private Thamesmead

 

Thanks. Your reply meant a lot to me.

My partner just called from a seminar he's doing this weekend. It was

nice to hear his voice. Who knows where this will go? It's like I want

to date but I don't want to lose him. Yeech. It sounds so cheesy to

spell it out like that. I guess that's better, though, than mentally

slapping myself on the wrist for what I'm thinking while leading an

inauthentic life.

I'll keep you posted. BTW, where are you writing from? Most of my

eMailing have been with friends in the city (Toronto) who I just don't

have the time to see. I haven't actually used it much over distance.

-hamish

**************************************************************

Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 14:38:41 -0800

From: Nathan

Subject: Re: my test letter -Reply

 

Thanks much... I think, however, you might find that I wrote an entry to the

guest book last fall...perhaps november. Kudos on the webpage, too. It was

really fabulous to see, and I enjoy reading the updates, although hopefully

there will be cause to update the merchandising page in the near future. I

fear that since it has been so long since the film's release, that the

opportunity to really capitalize on the film may have been lost. There are,

to be sure, many people who are still interested in merchandise. I just hope

they can figure something out soon! Cheers to all!

*nathan*

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 16:48:35 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Re: My own private Thamesmead

From: hamish

 

>After many years of telling myself that I could live without the kind of

>relationship Jamie and Ste have, the movie moved me to believe that not

>only did I want a loving, romantic relationship, but that it was one of the

>most important needs in my life.

Interesting, as last night my partner and I were discussing our excitement

at being single again, out of our cycle of his depending on me to solve his

problems and my trying to 'fix' him. "Freedom" kept coming up, and it got us

both charged. We knew that that freedom lived out there in fantasy, but it

was something we weren't willing to miss out on. We had to create a new

possibility for ourselves, whether as a couple or not. We also readily

admitted that we want to be together, too. It's too scary to imagine giving

up the relationships we have with each others' families, our friends, our

home, our history, and, most importantly, each other.

>Yes, the movie is sort of an ideal and I

>realize that, but the movie force me to begin looking for that sort of

>relationship. I haven't found it yet, but I have made some wonderful

>friends.

The second part of my one and only pretentious Nietzsche quote ("All ideals

are dangerous because they denigrate and stigmatize what is actual") brings

the point around: "Šthey are poisons, which, however, as occasional

medicaments are indispensible." The ideal of Jamie and Ste is a good check

on how satisfying the reality we've made is, whether or not we're in a

relationship.

>Another aspect of the film that affected me was the way, both explicit and

>implied, that Jamie is treated by his peers at school. It is true that gay

>students' lives can be hell in schools, especially here in the US. It has

>got to be difficult for teens to deal with their sexuality, much less come

>out, if adults are still in the closet. This realization has blown the

>door off my walk-in closet and that may be the most significant impact of

>the movie on my life.

Yeah. I think "Beautiful Thing" hits home 'cause my teens were the time when

all those feelings were erupting and I had no way of even listening to them

for what they were."No, Hamish, you don't want to be friends with him if you

feel THAT strongly about it." I remember some guy from the hockey team

saying calling me a fag under his breath as I passed him in the hall once. I

don't know where he got the idea from, but in a way I wish he kept calling

me it again and again until I heard him.

Letdown that the guys in the movie aren't gay, eh? My best friend and I are

getting together this weekend and take a leap into writing a play, with the

aim of presenting it later. I look forward to being a gay man representing

myself as such.

-hamish

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 16:10:28 -0500 (EST)

From: CARMEN

Subject: Re: OXAIDS page

 

 

On Fri, 24 Jan 1997, Shaun  wrote:

>

> BTW the OXAIDS page looks good :o)

>

WHERE????

I've been pointedly not looking at the site for the last few days,

because I was visiting it a bit TOO often, and decided that I had better

give Davie and Andi a chance to actually do some thing new, and also I

didn't want to overdose on Beautiful Thing (I had a really nice song

wrecked for me that way once, Spanish Train by Chris de Burgh: Our local

radio station had a real thing for it several years back, and every time

I turned onthe radio, within two songs... THERE IT WAS AGAIN! (ARRGH!) I

have the song on 4 (or 5?) different tapes/CD's (Yes, I am a Chris de Burgh

fan :-) !) and I still fast-forward past it most of the time.) So I knew

that the guestbook had finally been updated, but I hadn't checked it out

yet, but I didn't see anything new on the Latest News page since the last

time. There still isn't (I just checked), and I can't seem to find the

OXAIDS page or the Virgin bash report (probably because I think that is

accessed thru the motion picture link, and that's down for some reason

:-(, so I guess I'll have to check it out later!

**************************************************************

Date: 24 Jan 1997 14:43:28 -0500

From: John

Subject: Re: Just wondering

 

Reply to: RE>Just wondering

A production is taking place at Yale University by the Dramat (I believe)

sometime in April. A student worker of a colleague of mine successfully

auditioned as Ste. I will find out more information.

--------------------------------------

Date: 1/24/97 2:39 PM

To: John Baril

From: Beautiful Thing Email List

I was just wondering if anyone had ever heard of a production of "Beautiful

thing" being performed in the States. I never have, but then again, I live

in back end of nowhere. I wonder if it could even be done well in the U.S.

Oh well, just curious.

BTW the OXAIDS page looks good :o)

Shaun

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 16:42:18 -0500 (EST)

From: CARMEN

Subject: Re: OXAIDS page

 

Found it!

I used the URL though, since I couldn't find a link.

It's really pretty cool. You must have had a great night, Andi!

I didn't see Scott's glasses though, are they cute? :-)

Tory

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 17:14:54 -0600

From: Joe

Subject: Re: Your posting to Beautiful Thing Email List

Beautiful Thing Email List wrote:

>

> Posting of message to beautiful-thing failed.

> You are not a member of the list and the list is closed to non members.

I'm getting the postings to the list, so I'm subscribed. Why did I get

the above message?

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 18:29:06 -0800

From: Bruce

Subject: Beautiful Thing U.S. video--when?

 

 

Hello everybody! This is my first post to the list. Someone mentioned

that the video would be out in the U.S. in April. Where did you get that

information? I've visited the Sony web site several times but have never

seen any information about it coming out on video. Does anyone know if

Sony will be the company releasing the video? That would seem to make

sense since they distributed the movie here.

From the stories on this list it would appear that I am not nearly as

obsessive as some of you folks! I've only seen it three times. Actually,

I probably would have gone to see it about ten more times (at least) but it

only played here for two weeks. I was quite sad to see it go. How will I

survive until April without my Beautiful Thing fix?

Well, maybe I'm a BIT obsessive. I do have the soundtrack, the play and

a small movie poster. I've been trying to track down the screenplay but

nobody seems to have it. Any ideas? I guess I could order it directly

from the publisher in England as a last resort. I've heard you can get it

through www.amazon.com . Has anybody bought a copy from them?

I guess that's enough questions for now.

cheers,

Bruce

**************************************************************

From: David

Subject: Re: My visit to Thamesmead

Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 02:12:06 -0000

 

From: Jay

Subject: My visit to Thamesmead

Date: 22 January 1997 18:38

Via a trail of serendipity I have been able to arrange to stay 4 days in

London in the middle of March. So, I am planning to visit the Glouster,

the

Cutty Sark Tavern, and Thamesmead. Is anyone leading tours yet? Any

other suggestions of what to do while I'm there?

-----------

I'd love to meet up with anyone planning on visiting the UK, whether here

in Nottingham or in London - it's only a two hour drive south for me. We

also have a guestroom of modest proportions, complete with double bed for

those that might like to stay overnight.

Davie.

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 20:51:08 -0600

From: Dennis

Subject: Re: Beautiful Thing U.S. video--when?

 

You can get the screenplay from Borders Books or Barnes and Noble.

Does anyone know of a Beautiful Thing Desktop theme?

Dennis

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 23:48:38 -0600

From: Joe

Subject: Intro

 

Hi y'all,

Guess it's time for my intro letter on this list.

First of all, you can find out most of my personal info (and check out

my Hardy Boys book collection) at my personal web site:

I'm a college professor (communications) in West Tennessee and have

only seen Beautiful Thing once and I can't wait for the U.S. video

release. That one time alone has so affected me.

I'd read about the movie since late summer in the Advocate and Genre

and OUT Magazine, etc., and was delighted when I heard it was coming to

Memphis, about 80 miles west of here on Interstate 40. Unfortunately, it

came at the worst time of the semester and I couldn't get away.

Then, while home visiting my family (whom I am not out to) in upstate

New York, I discovered it was playing there. Problem: My folks live out

in the suburbs, I took the train home and had no transportation to a

downtown theater. Problem: My father would have to drive me there and

both my folks, knowing my obsession with films (I teach a film course

every summer and hope to include Beautiful Thing this time around) would

want to know what the film was about. (I could have been smart and said,

"Oh, it's about 90 minutes," but I resisted the temptation. <G>

Ah, but then I discovered this art theater multiplex was also showing

"Shine," the Aussie film that was getting great write-ups. In fact, it

was only in the largest 40 U.S. cities. _And_ it showed 45 minutes after

Beautiful Thing would end. Aha! So I made a big deal that I really

wanted to see this film all my faculty colleagues had been dying to see

and that I could brag about seeing it first and all that. Plus I could

easily tell them all about the film. So, off I went with Dad as

chauffeur (they have only one car and only he gets to drive it) to see

this double feature.

What an evening and what a film! I almost felt like coming out to them

when I got home! Well, I didn't, but it has led me to think about some

other choices I need to make (which I won't take time to go into here),

ones I might never had dealt with had I not seen the film.

Then I discovered (through a web search) the Beautiful Thing site and

it was almost like experiencing the film all over again. And now this

list is allowing me to experience through others' posts those great

feelings that came from this incredible film experience.

Gary

P.S. - I have a gay resources web page that is quite anonymous and I've

never shared both my "public" and gay web URLs to the same people

online, (I guess the movie and this list made me do it <G>) but here

goes:

**************************************************************

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 23:33:19 -0600

From: Kyle

Subject: Re: Beautiful Thing U.S. video--when?

At 06:29 PM 1/24/97 -0800, you wrote:

>

>

> Hello everybody! This is my first post to the list. Someone mentioned

>that the video would be out in the U.S. in April. Where did you get that

>information? I've visited the Sony web site several times but have never

>seen any information about it coming out on video. Does anyone know if

>Sony will be the company releasing the video? That would seem to make

>sense since they distributed the movie here.

>

> From the stories on this list it would appear that I am not nearly as

>obsessive as some of you folks! I've only seen it three times. Actually,

>I probably would have gone to see it about ten more times (at least) but it

>only played here for two weeks. I was quite sad to see it go. How will I

>survive until April without my Beautiful Thing fix?

>

> Well, maybe I'm a BIT obsessive. I do have the soundtrack, the play and

>a small movie poster. I've been trying to track down the screenplay but

>nobody seems to have it. Any ideas? I guess I could order it directly

>from the publisher in England as a last resort. I've heard you can get it

>through www.amazon.com . Has anybody bought a copy from them?

>

> I guess that's enough questions for now.

>

>cheers,

>

>Bruce

I was wondering the about the us video release myself Bruce...if anyone

knows if there are plans to release it on laserdisc, please let me know...

You CAN order the screenplay through Amazon Books, but I haven't tried it

yet. I think it's US $13.95 (for the movie screenplay) I'm also trying to

track down a Beautiful Thing movie poster, but no luck so far :(

Kyle

**************************************************************

From: David McKelvey <dazee@ozemail.com.au>

Subject: Hello Everybody too !

Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 17:22:48 +1100

 

Hello Everybody :)

I thought I'd just drop in to say Hi from Australia. Brisbane actually.

This is also my first post to the "BT" list. Does that make me a virgin?

Probably not!

I first saw Beautiful Thing at the BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

(about Oct 1996) with whatsisname, the writer of the play and screenplay

(Jonathan ?). He spoke to the audience after the screening and answered

questions from the floor. Needless to say there were only two words I

could think of to describe the film .... 'Beautiful Thing'.

The second time I saw the movie was at its premiere in Brisbane at the

Classic Cinema. The local gay and lesbian counselling service (known as

GLWA) was holding a fundraiser that night so we had a very queer audience

indeed, who all loved it to bits. It was like seeing it in fast-forward

mode because I had seen it once before and LOVED it. The time seemed to go

so quickly, the second time around, but I enjoyed it, nevertheless.

So far I've only seen it twice. I think that's enough for me.

A few titbits about me: I've lived in West End in Brisbane for 13 months

and love it. I get a buzz out of helping my fellow queer family members,

so that's why I'm a volunteer telephone counsellor for GLWA and also a Home

Care volunteer for the Queensland AIDS Council. I'm employed by the Student

Union at the Queensland University of Technology, where I work in the

Welfare Department.

Oh, and I'm pretty excited about going to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi

Gras Party this year, for the first time! Thats not bad at the ripe young

age of 35.

Catch U later

Love,

David