The Childrens Hour - 9780228021193

The Childrens HourAuthor(s): Julia Erhart\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, Canada\nImprint: McGill-Queen's University Press\nISBN-13: 9780228021193, 978-0228021193\nSynopsis\nBased on a play by Lillian Hellman, The Childrens Hour [tel] was the first mainstream commercial American film to feature a lesbian character in a leading role. It centres on a teacher at a girls school (Shirley MacLaine) who is accused of harbouring feelings for her co-worker (Audrey Hepburn) and depicts the intense moral panic that ensues. Produced in the social climate of the Lavender Scare, the film reveals deep insights into the politics of sexuality and censorship in midcentury America, only a few years before more visible struggles for queer liberation.\n\nThe director, William Wyler, lobbied hard to get the film made after an earlier straight-washed version in 1936. The tense road to production included debates about whether to eliminate mentions of lesbianism from the scrip.