Circus Of Books

Documentary filmmaker Rachel Mason explores a slice of gay history – and a walloping wedge of family lore – with her slightly scattershot but utterly absorbing film "Circus of Books."

The title comes from the name of the book store Mason's parents, Karen and Barry Mason, ran for more than three decades. When the Masons bought the store, it was known as Book Circus, and it had fallen on hard times. The Masons themselves had been trying to make ends meet when they became "distributors" for Larry Flynt's "Hustler" magazine – a title that could not be provided to sellers via traditional routes thanks to so-called "smut laws" that criminalized sexually explicit material. With a truck, the high energy that Barry Mason brought to everything, and Karen Mason's sense of drive and responsibility, the young couple made a success of their new venture, and when the opportunity to buy the store arose they seized it.

As Rachel and her brothers recall, the nature of the family business was shrouded in mystery. They were instructed to answer questions about it in terms as vague and general as possible. Even during the documentary's filming, as it turns out, there were secrets coming to light, as Rachel's surprise at learning about her mother's early career in journalism and a list of adult film titles produced by the Masons long ago – titles like "Confessions of a Dick Slut #2" and "First Class Tits" – demonstrate. ("You made these?!" Rachel exclaims in astonishment; not long after, we're assured that the kids "never saw any of these movies.")

It was by distributing porn movies that the Masons became friends with '70s porn sensation Richard Stryker, and Stryker is on hand in this film to offer commentary (and show off an action figure named for him). Others – such as LGBTQ rights activist Alexei Romanoff and "RuPaul" star Alaska Thunderfuck (who was, at one point, an employee at Circus of Books) also appear, among others, and we hear about the role gay bookstores played back in the day. Similar to gay bars, they were safe spaces – not just places to procure prom or a hookup, but social nexuses that allowed non-heterosexual people a place of their own to know they were not alone. That, in an era of intense anti-LGBTQ persecution, was life-saving.

Though Barry and Karen had no problems with gay people or gay erotica (aside, that is, from the potential for legal trouble thanks to Reagan-era anti-porn campaigns), it was a different story – for Linda, at least – when son Josh came out during his college years. It's still an emotionally charged topic; hearing her brother explain his doubts and fears about revealing his sexual orientation to the family, Rachel tears up. Karen – described here and there in the film as a "force of nature" – had a much harder time of it, and says she still regrets things she said to her son when he came out, but once she accepted Josh for who he really was, Karen was all in: She and Barry became involved with PFLAG.

Circus of Books survived Reagan and Bush the First, as well as the AIDS crisis and the financial crash of 2008. What finally did the store in, of course, was the Internet. A brick-and-mortar store where you could get porn in the form of videos and magazines as well as condoms, lubes, and snacks, all with one-stop-shopping convenience, is, sadly, going to draw fewer customers than the even easier process of clicking a few buttons on a computer's keyboard.

It would have been worse had the history of the store disappeared along with the business itself, not least because of the highly entertaining, illuminating, and entertaining nature of the family stories that went along with it. Thanks to Rachel Mason, however, that legacy will not be lost.

- - -

Streaming on Netflix today!