Monday evening Rebel Cutie and I went to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at DC's annual "Screen on the Green." I even got to break in my picnic backpack as we broke out some hummus, couscous, cheese, fruit and my signature curried tuna salad.
When we first met up on the steps of the National Gallery just past 6:30, the Mall didn't seem too crowded, but a steady stream of arrivals by nightfall saw blankets covering nearly every square inch of grass at least as far back as 7th Street, and a fair amount of dusty footpath as well.
After our picnic supper, while waiting for dusk to fall and the film to begin, we pulled out some mail-order furniture catalogs and oohed and aahed over gorgeous wood and leather furnishings, like the fabulous queer boys we are.
The movie outside--on what turned out to be a pleasantly cool and clear summer evening, with a beautiful near-full moon rising over the edge of the Mall--was a wonderful experience. It was only very slightly marred by the mildly tipsy group two blankets behind us who decided to talk back to the screen, chat on their cellphones, and debate with others around them their right to be as obnoxious as they wished. Over the course of the film, they did quiet down to the point that it became easier to ignore them and focus on the film.
I hadn't been to Screen on the Green in several years, and I'm really glad that Jeff suggested it, giving me the opportunity to enjoy a classic film with him--and several thousand of my fellow Metro DC residents. Next week, The Postman Always Rings Twice.
