Circus of Books (2019)

Circus of Books: Directed by Rachel Mason. With Karen Mason, Barry Mason, Micah Mason, Rachel Mason. In 1976, Karen and Barry Mason had fallen on hard times and were looking for a way to support their young family when they answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Larry Flynt was seeking distributors for Hustler Magazine. What was expected to be a brief sideline led to their becoming fully immersed in the LGBT community as they took over a local store, Circus of Books. A decade later, they had become the biggest distributors of gay porn in the US. The film focuses on the double life they led, trying to maintain the balance of being parents at a time when LGBT culture was not yet accepted. Their many challenges included facing jail time for a federal obscenity prosecution and enabling their store to be a place of refuge at the height of the AIDS crisis. Circus of Books offers a rare glimpse into an untold chapter of queer history, and it is told through the lens of the owners’ own daughter, Rachel Mason, an artist, filmmaker and musician.

“u0026quot;Circus of Booksu0026quot; tells the story of the eponymous gay pornographic store and itu0026#39;s unexpected owners. While it gives some interesting looks into the important role it played for gay liberation in the region, and some inside to the business, this Netflix documentary focuses too much on the personal life of its gorgeous owners, leaving the audience short of the most intriguing parts of this otherwise intriguing story.”