The Dog Page #3

my prick is little, right?

So that's where I got

the nickname Little John,

and them-being my mother

was a Basso, B-A-S-S-O...

I used the name Basso so people

would know I was Italian.

RUBIN:
Are any people going

to try to get marriage licenses?

RUBIN:
John? Fine.

Now, a lot of what we do

is playing to press.

This is supposedly,

aside from my terror,

a very up action.

We're happy...

MAN:
Everybody

take some ups.

[Laughter]

MAN:
Give me a "G"!

"Gil!

Give me an "A"!

"All!

Give me a "Y"!

"Y"!

WOJTOWICZ:
Weddings, to me,

is a holy institution.

Love is a holy institution, OK?

If I love somebody,

I want to marry that person.

I want to make a commitment

to that person,

and in straight society,

the way you do that

is getting married,

and I don't see why gays

can't do that.

Oh, this is definitely

the Marriage Bureau.

Your mother and dad

want to get married?

Are they gay?

Oh, I'm sorry.

We can't help you.

CROWD:
Gay power!

[The Zombies

"Time of the Season" playing]

What's your name?

What's your name?

Who's your daddy?

Who's your daddy?

Is he rich?

Is he rich like me?

WOJTOWICZ:
I met Ernie

June 6, 1971.

It was St. Anthony's Feast,

and he was in what we call

semi-drag.

He had pants on,

but he had makeup on, OK,

and he was with two gay priests.

So I went over,

and he caught my eye

because, like I told you,

I'm one of those guys

when you first meet somebody,

you become infatuated with them,

and the first time I saw Ernie,

I knew I had to have him.

So we went

to 250 West 10th Street,

and this is the first time

that we had sex together,

which means I f***ed Ernie, OK,

and then after that,

our relationship started, OK?

I would bring him roses

every week,

and I would come here every week

and take him out.

LIZ EDEN:
I met John

at St. Anthony's Feast,

and we sort of hit it off

right away.

He was very, very romantic,

never forgot a date,

never forgot a birthday,

Christmas,

anniversary, or anything.

In the beginning,

it was a dozen roses

almost every time

we saw each other.

MAN:

I first met Liz Eden in 1966.

Liz sort of dressed like a guy,

but like a girl

because in those days,

there were strict laws

about dressing like women.

She always had a loud,

loud, loud mouth.

The wallpaper would curl off the

walls when she started cursing.

Liz was the center

of every scene,

and she had a lot of energy.

She was a great dancer.

He had a portable record player,

and he would play records

over and over...

Judy Garland or Carmen Miranda

and all of that.

He loved that,

and then I remember

at the gay firehouse

on Wooster Street,

Liz saying this Vietnam veteran

was in love with him,

and I saw this guy,

and he was short.

I said, "He's tiny next to you.

"What are you going to do

with him? He's tiny."

"Oh, but he loves me,"

and blah, blah, blah.

He was sort of a troll,

and he loved her.

There's a troll that loved her.

WOJTOWICZ:
OK. After I first met

Ernie, I started to court him.

I knew that he sold his body

because he told me about that

to support himself.

We had a relationship.

We got closer

and closer together.

I fell in love with him

more and more,

and that's why I wanted

to get married,

and he was against us

getting married,

but, like I said, I convinced

him into getting married.

EDEN:

[Telephone rings]

BIFULCO:
I got a phone call

from my priest,

the guy who married me.

He says to me,

"Carmen, there's going to be

"a wedding coming in December.

You're going to get

an invitation for this wedding."

I go, "Who's getting married?"

He says, "Are you ready

for this? You ready?"

and he told me,

"John is going to get married

to someone in the Village."

I said, "What do you mean,

getting married to someone?

What kind of marriage?"

and he told me,

"He's marrying a guy,"

who was Ernie.

OK. You ready?

Testing 1,2,3,4,5, right?

Action?

OK. Now, in the old days,

this bar was called

What's In A Name Caf, OK?

We had the wedding reception

here and the wedding.

A gay priest came in, right?

He did the ceremony.

We were married.

GAA filmed it

for the archives, OK?

The cops from the 6th precinct

over here came out and say,

"What the f*** is going on

out there?"

EDEN:
And the cops came out,

congratulated us,

thinking we were all girls.

The whole wedding party

was all guys,

and when we came out for

the reception, they found out.

They said, "Hey, we didn't know

this was all happening."

I said, "Neither

did the priest."

WICKER, VOICE-OVER: I didn't

know John, but I heard

there was going to be

this wedding, and I said,

"I have to videotape this,"

because, first of all,

I don't think I'd ever heard

of a gay wedding at that point,

and not only was it

a gay wedding,

but the mother was going

to be there,

which was also sort of like,

"Oh, wow, what would

the mother be like?"

WICKER:
You are

the groom's mother?

Yes.

And how do you feel today?

Is John your only son, or...

How about the rest

of your family?

Will they be attending?

Any reason for that, or...

OK. Well, I hope

everything goes well,

and thank you very much.

WICKER, VOICE-OVER:

John was the apple of her eye.

You could just see this woman

just loved her son so much

that almost anything he did

would not cause her

to reject him.

[Organ playing Wagner's

"Bridal Chorus"]

WOJTOWICZ:
Ernie bought

the most expensive dress

he could find on Grand Street.

Cost like almost $1,000,

so he could look regal

and drive what we call

all the butch numbers crazy.

So I said, "Well,

he'll get over that bullshit."

So I put on my army uniform

with all my medals

to drive all the girls crazy.

So it's always that rivalry,

and that's how it is

in the gay life.

Everyone tries to one-up

the other one,

and each one wants to be

the star,

but there's only one star,

and that's me.

WANDEL:
Mother did get

a little looped

by the end of the evening here.

The other thing I remember

about the wedding is,

John was kissing everybody,

everybody.

I mean, when I say kiss,

I don't mean peeks.

I don't mean like

you kiss the bride

on the way out of the church.

I mean, he was kissing

everybody.

WOJTOWICZ:
OK. After the

wedding ceremony on December 4,

we lasted to April,

and then we broke up, OK?

The reason we broke up is

because we kept having arguments

and fights because he wanted

the sex change operation,

and what a lot of people

don't understand

is that I didn't want Ernie

to have the sex operation.

Now, I, at the time,

was interested

in a guy with big tits

and a little dick,

but Ernie wanted to be a woman,

and in the beginning,

I didn't realize how badly

he wanted to be this woman.

NEWTON:
There were a lot

of people back then

who had had sex changes,

and Liz was always talking

about having a change

and how enjoyable it would be

and how wonderful it would be

to be a woman.

They both tried very hard

to have a life,

but I don't think

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