Boise’s 1955 scandal returns to the spotlight in Pocatello
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POCATELLO – A scandal that sparked a sweeping investigation, sent 16 people to court and exposed a dark chapter in Idaho history will be the subject of a free film screening in Pocatello.
“The Fall of ’55,” a documentary about the 1955 Boise homosexuality scandal, will be shown at Idaho State University’s Bengal Theater on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Sexuality and Gender Alliance is hosting the free screening to mark the documentary’s 20th anniversary.
In 1955, allegations of a sex ring preying on teenage boys sparked a moral panic in the Boise community, and resulted in prosecutions against consenting gay adults. By the time it was over, 16 people were prosecuted.
Two decades after the film’s release, filmmaker Seth Randal tells EastIdahoNews.com the story is still an important one for more Idahoans to be aware of.
“(The documentary) shows a controversial part of our history, and it’s important for us to understand history and why things happened so we don’t repeat them,”” Randal said.
Randal first heard about the case in the 1990s when he was in high school. A family friend told him about it and it piqued his curiosity.
A 1965 book about the scandal called “The Boys of Boise” fascinated him, but he eventually turned to the primary sources.
“At one point, I had thought maybe I would write a play about this or something like that, because it was a really fascinating story that was not well known or well understood,” Randal said.
But to write a play, he realized that he would have to do a great amount of research to make it historically accurate to the 1950s.
“And at that point, if I’m going to do all that research, why not just tell the real story?” Randal said. “So I went about making a documentary instead.”
Today, Randal said learning the story could help people slow down when emotions are running high and lead them to “ask questions and try to understand better what’s really going on.”
“With the film though … different viewers will come away with different perceptions,” Randal said.
The screening at ISU will take place at the Bengal Theater at 6 p.m. Additional screenings are scheduled in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and possibly in Boise.
Watch the trailer in the video above. Visit the website to learn more.