# What are the great traditional stereotypically gay musicals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057 "2013-08-01T06:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057/21 "2013-08-04T04:43:44Z")
[Gay tests](http://www.miloop.com/film_view.aspx?movie=2433) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057/22 "2013-08-04T16:51:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And everybody yells back, “I hate that character on Community!” > > Is this some secret gay code or are you really not aware that it’s “Clang! Clang! Clang!”? Trolley bells [clang](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clang). They don’t chang. Really. I don’t get it. Big oops…I didn’t pay dues on my Gay Card last month and got the word wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057/23 "2013-08-04T17:28:13Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Yes, it is “clang.” And off the top of my head, from “Meet Me in St. Louis” An incredible slice of backstage Technicolor Hollywood-version Americana of a time that never was, with the script by, of all people, former Marx Brothers writer Irving Breecher. And directed by Vincente Minnelli, who Garland married upon completion because, according to Hollywood legend, he made her look so beautiful in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057/24 "2013-08-04T17:46:43Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > [Sticking it to Mel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOQ4JxPDXIU) Who knew that rainbows could fly? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057/25 "2013-08-04T18:39:20Z")
I didn’t have my copy of Mann’s book around when I made my last post, so when I got the chance I looked in it to see what he said about Minnelli. And his name wasn’t in the index. How could that possibly be? Because I picked up the wrong book and looked in the wrong index. Do not get old. I’m warning you. Anyway, here’s what Mann has to say about his gay sensibility [pp276-7]: > [@](#): > > _Meet Me in St. Louis_, his masterpiece … is made up, once again, of elements ordinarily used as backgrounds [orchestration, sets, costumes] to plot, but which here become the focus… > > Minnelli’s homosexuality was not treated by the industry as the same kind of “open secret” that Cukor’s was. This despite the fact that Minnelli, a former Broadway costume and set designer, was far more effeminate in manner and style… > > In other words, Minnelli made films in a manner profoundly \*different \*from others… [critic Matthew] Tinkcom wrote that “the very anonymity of production, in addition to the anonymity for sexuality” allowed “the corporate structure of MGM [to] inadvertently provide the gay makers of camp Freed musical with a venue in which work.” [italics in original] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-traditional-stereotypically-gay-musicals/665057.md?page=1)