Robey

For example, directly in between where the Department of Education sits today and where the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is now used to be a slave market called Robey's Tavern.

Democracy Now! 2009

You'd better go outside and see that no one comes near that motor-car, while I hurry along to the place they call 'Robey's.'

Good Old Anna Marie Belloc Lowndes 1907

Robey began asking him questions about the play that had changed Robey's life: "He gave me a 10-minute recap about the creation of the play and his life," Robey says.

Marshall Fine: Making Gay History -- Again Marshall Fine 2011

With his new documentary, director Crayton Robey has created a superbly crafted artifact, rich in theater, film and gay history.

Penelope Andrew: Gay Icons and American Dreams in New Documentary: Making the Boys Penelope Andrew 2011

Robey began asking him questions about the play that had changed Robey's life: "He gave me a 10-minute recap about the creation of the play and his life," Robey says.

Marshall Fine: Making Gay History -- Again Marshall Fine 2011

Initially hoping to focus on the play itself, Robey found himself immersed in a world he knew little about -- the life of the gay community in the closeted days of the 1950s and 1960s.

Marshall Fine: Making Gay History -- Again Marshall Fine 2011

Robey's film captures the exuberance of 1960s Hollywood, when Crowley was a frequent guest at the Malibu beach house of actor Roddy McDowall, famous for his star-studded parties.

Penelope Andrew: Gay Icons and American Dreams in New Documentary: Making the Boys Penelope Andrew 2011

Robey juxtaposes the play, film and playwright within the decade of the 1960s, which began with the hope of JFK's election, was radicalized during the Civil Rights movement and transformed by provocative, off-Broadway theater, and ultimately, was rocked by the Stonewall riots, which erupted on the night of Judy Garland's funeral.

Penelope Andrew: Gay Icons and American Dreams in New Documentary: Making the Boys Penelope Andrew 2011

Director Crayton Robey's ambitious new documentary Making the Boys, about The Boys in the Band -- both the play (1968) and the film (1970) -- chronicles the life, times and resonance of a cultural phenomenon and imparts the bittersweet story of its author, Mart Crowley.

Penelope Andrew: Gay Icons and American Dreams in New Documentary: Making the Boys Penelope Andrew 2011

"I was questioning my sexual identity, hanging out with my best friend -- who was going to be my boyfriend, but I didn't know it at the time," Robey says, sitting in the lobby of the Tribeca Grand hotel.

Marshall Fine: Making Gay History -- Again Marshall Fine 2011