Though you may not recognize Tracy Baim right off the bat, this Chicago great has been an integral part of the Chicago LGBTQ community for decades, and chances are that you have read something she has penned, heard her voice on Public Radio or picked up a copy of the publication she co-founded in 1985. As an author, a producer and executive editor/co-founder of Windy City Times, Baim has been an integral part in LGBT Media both in Chicago and on a national stage. As a recipient of many cultural and journalism awards, including the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame (1994) and Community Media Workshop’s Studs Terkel Award (2005), Tracy Baim has been the eyes and ears of the community for the last 25+ years.
This week, Baim is taking to the red carpet herself as a Co-Producer of “Scrooge and Marley,” a gay take on the Dickens classic. Taking a few minutes to speak with The L Stop during what is sure to be a busy week with a new book AND movie both debuting, she talks about her latest conquests in the community.
It is the start of the Christmas Season and just in time for the Chicago Premiere of the new film you are producing, “Scrooge and Marley.” I am interested in what makes this adaptation of the Dickens-great different from all of the others?
There have been a couple hundred adaptations of “The Christmas Carol” on stage, film and other ways. But as far as we know in film, this is the first full length feature that is mainly focused on the LGBT community. There are some straight characters, but it is predominantly gay and lesbian. We wanted a very traditional telling of the story but strong characters that are both gay and lesbian. People think that because it is a gay film they should expect something very campy or comedy but it really is a very dramatic retelling of the story.
There is a great cast in this film, one that shows very strong Chicago roots. How did you guys go about finding these actors to fit the roles?
Well, each of them had a different route to us. A few of the people had connections to the folks in production so we started with Megan Cavanagh, Rusty Schwimmer, Ronnie Kroell and Becca Kaufman who all had connections to someone associated with the production. As time went on, Tim Kazurinsky, Bruce Vilanch and the rest of the team came together through those connections. Our local casting director Heather Schmucker put out a nationwide call for an actor, most importantly a gay actor, to play the lead role of Scrooge for which we were lucky to find David Pevsner.
Did you do all of the filming in Chicago as well?
We filmed in what we called the “12 Days of Christmas,” the brutal 12 days in May where we shot the entire film. We had 13 different locations and 12 days to pull it off.
Bruce Vilanch is a riot- do you have any good stories of him from those 12 days?
Well, what’s funny is that he only had to be on set 3 days- most of which took place upstairs at Mans Country Bathhouse; which he had actually performed at in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. The upstairs is an old Disco that is still in tact and was used for filming, thanks to Chuck Renslow. So Bruce, being from Chicago, ended up playing the owner of a Gay disco in the 1970’s that he had actually been to in the time which was a lot of fun to do. He also ad-libbed a lot of his lines, so… [laughs]
Tell me about the Soundtrack! You have BETTY, the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus and even some of your cast on there!?
Richard Knight, Co-Writer, Co-Director and Co-Producer is from a music background and selected all of the music for the soundtrack. Some of it was last minute, coming in after shooting was finished but it ended up with a great mix of songs that are in the movie itself and inspired by it as well. My true testament is my girlfriend who hates HATES Christmas music but can’t stop listening to the CD! It’s beautiful! While the process was painful at times we are really proud of it and it was a great added bonus.
This is quite a different film from the last that you produced, “Hannah Free.” What compelled you to join this project?
Both films came about quite coincidentally. I didn’t think I was going to produce another feature film again at all, but last fall Richard Knight, who writes for me, brought me this script and I really liked it. Even though I am Jewish, I liked the idea of reclaiming the holiday tradition through a gay lens. I didn’t want it to be exclusively male, I wanted it to be co-gendered and they were on board with that. It was an appealing concept that I brought to a friend of mine, David Strzepek, to bring on board as a strong Co-Producer. Once he agreed, we moved forward full force. We decided to self-distribute so that it could premiere this year (2012), but that added a whole other layer of work that was very exciting but also exhausting. In the end, it comes down to the fact that this was an opportunity to tell the community’s story the way that different ways of journalism can. Both “Hannah Free” and “Scrooge and Marley” tell that story in different ways: that we are complex people that want to see ourselves reflected in the movies.
Speaking of all of your different projects, you have been extremely busy in the last couple of years. In 2010 you published “Obama and the Gays” and you have just this month published “Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT News in America”- how was that?
[Laughs] Well yeah, that really was truly an intense undertaking… It was supposed to be a small book about a dozen or so gay newspapers and how they survived, and once I got into it, it became a huge project where I read about 30 books, and sifted through hundreds of years of news articles from everything from the New York Times to Harvard Journal. It is an incredible look back on how gay media started and how it thrived and how it is now trying to survive in this changing world. I put these books out there not to make money, but to put them out there as a point in the universe that we can assess where things are in any certain time. Whether it is Obama, or the life of Chuck Renslow, or (in this case) Gay Media, I feel very fortunate to be able to work on these projects that can hopefully stand the test of time and give people a sense of our history. I really hope people see it as more than a book about media, because it is really an overall history of the community and how we (the media) gave a voice to the tree in the forest. Many activists were journalists by default, because they were the only ones with the ability to document our community when the mainstream media failed us. So that is what the book is about: those before us, the pioneers who made sure that the history was documented for us to see know.
How do you have time?! Are there other things on the burner or should we just wait for another book to pop up?
Well I do have several books I have started, both historical and novels, but there is a draft out there of a book about Vernita Grey, so we are just waiting on that and hoping to publish that sometime next year. I do want to do more movies, but I don’t want to do any more single full length features. So either I will never do another movie or find a way to get financing for a series of films. There are definitely more books coming and the uncertainty of Producing, but my main focus is as always the Windy City Times. We are trying to adapt of the ways of where our readers and advertisers are, so the next few years for print media are definitely critical.
Watch the trailer!
Screenings
Nov. 29-Dec. 6
Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago IL 773-871-6604
Click here for tickets!
Nov. 29, Thursday, 7 p.m. Red Carpet VIP Gala
Nov, 30, Friday, 2:30 p.m. Meet & greet actors at Sidetrack, 5-7 p.m., 3349 N. Halsted
Dec. 1, Saturday, Noon, benefit for Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus
Dec. 2, Sunday, Noon, ASL interpreted and benefit for Lakeside Band
Dec. 3, Monday, 2:30 p.m. Talkback with Tim Kazurinsky after the show
Dec. 4, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 5, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Benefit for Lambda Legal of Chicago
Dec. 6, Thursday, 2:30 p.m.
For more info, visit the Scrooge & Marley website.
Or check out the Facebook Page
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About Lauren
Lauren was born and raised in South Minneapolis and like many other innocent midwesterners got sucked into the black hole of Chicago politics 4 years ago. As the LGBT Coordinator for the Gery Chico for Mayor Campaign she attempted to take on the entire city and hasn’t looked back since. Now working for a communications firm, she spends her extra time running around with cases of PBR playing in different sports leagues, hosting couchsurfers from all over the place, and deciding how she is going to change the world. A simple lady at her core, she has decided that the first person to send her an edible arrangement must be the one.
looking forward to seeing this
Posted by Anna | November 28, 2012, 12:37 pm