Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers

dir. Robert J. Kaplan

Starring: Holly Woodlawn, Bette Milder, Meg Wittner, Tally Brown, Lily Tomlin

1972 // 1 hour 22 mins // Digital Projection // English

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, Scarecrow 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.