Trans Narratives
"Chews through all genres—screwball comedy, musical, drama, you name it. Manoeuvred by Woodlawn’s extremely physical performance, it becomes an admixture of a sincere type of vaudeville. It’s both subversive and light; countercultural but unafraid to reference."—Dylan Rowen, Rough Cut
New 4K DCP Restoration!
Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn plays Eve Harrington, a small-town girl from Kansas who tries to make it big — or at least find a roommate — in New York in this long-lost madcap movie musical extravaganza from filmmaker Robert J. Kaplan. Along the way she’ll get tangled up with everyone from wrestlers to crunchy granola lesbians on her way-too-relevant quest to find secure housing.
One of the very first films to be built around a trans actor, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers is a comedic tour-de-force for Woodlawn, then fresh off of making Trash and Women in Revolt! for Paul Morrissey. With a memorable supporting performance from fellow Warhol Superstar Tally Brown as Mary Poppins and voice cameos from the likes of Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, this should’ve become a huge midnight movie sensation, but instead faded into obscurity and has sat unseen for the past 50 years. Its recent rediscovery and restoration by the Academy Film Archive is cause for celebration — and a timely reminder that trans people have always been on the screen.
