Violence Mars Opening of ‘Paris’

Violence marred Wednesday night’s premiere benefit of “Paris Is Burning,” Jennie Livingston’s documentary about the “drag balls” in Manhattan’s disenfranchised black and Latino gay communities. The evening, which began with a screening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, was a benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles.

During the after-party, held at the Catch One discotheque in the Pico-Crenshaw District, a bullet from a passing automobile shattered the windows of an unoccupied car half a block from where a sellout crowd snaked around the building, waiting for admittance.

Minutes later, an intern working for the cable entertainment channel E! was mugged and beaten around the corner from the discotheque, where the parking lot had been posted with a “full” sign even before the club opened.

The intern, Deke Bond, 22, had just parked his car when he was approached by a panhandler, according to the cable channel’s reporter, Merle Ginsberg. Bond was reaching for his wallet when two men went behind him and began beating him with unknown objects.

“Even after he fell to the ground, they continued to beat him up,” said Ginsberg, “beating him in the head and kicking him.” Bond, suffering from facial lacerations, was taken by ambulance to the emergency room of nearby Midway Hospital. He was treated for facial cuts and released at 3 a.m.

The spirit inside the club, though, was celebratory instead of grim. Tickets to the party were $30, but invitations specified free admittance for anyone in drag, so much of the crowd, both men and women, wore clothes of the opposite gender. The dance floor was quickly packed, and others socialized around an elaborate dessert buffet. The amount of money raised was not available, according to APLA officials.

Guests included filmmaker Livingston; Willi Ninja, one of the featured performers in the film; APLA Executive Director Stephen Bennett, and “America’s Funniest People” host Arleen Sorkin.

The biggest celebrity disappointment was a no-show by Madonna, who was scheduled to attend the party but ended up fleeing the screening in a limousine under heavy media attack.