Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Progressive Women of Pelham. The Pelham Examiner publishes press releases in the form received as a service to the community.

Monday, June 27^th at 7:30pm is the NEW DATE for the Pride Month community screening of CODED: The Hidden Love of JC Leyendecker sponsored by Progressive Women of Pelham. The Oscar short-listed, Tribeca Film Festival short documentary winner will be shown at the Picture House Pelham, followed by a panel discussion led by Pelham’s own Darra Gordon (Deputy President and COO of GLAAD.). The winner of the Violet Massie-Vereker Student Activist award will also be presented.

The original screening date of June 2^nd was canceled due to extreme flash flooding.

The 30-minute documentary short tells the story of legendary illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, a preeminent illustrator of the early 20th century, whose work for The Saturday Evening Post introduced iconic American visuals such as the New Year’s Baby and Santa Claus. A gay man whose frequent model was his life partner Charles Beach, Leyendecker’s early-20th century advertisements were often coded with LGBTQ imagery that quietly acknowledged a community that was forced to live and love in secret. The documentary explores Leyendecker’s legacy as a grandfather of modern advertising, connecting how today’s LGBTQ advertisements are built upon the foundation laid by his work.

Leyendecker and Beach lived in the gracious mansion that now houses Mount Tom Day Camp in New Rochelle for 37 years, from 1914 until the illustrator’s death in 1951.