Summertime, and the Laughin’ Is Easy

The Huntington Beach Art Center launches its “Summer Camp: Death Takes a Holiday” series Sunday afternoon with “The Boys in the Band,” the 1970 groundbreaking comedy about a gay birthday party.

The William Friedkin-directed film was described by Randy Pesqueira, the center’s projects coordinator, as one of the first that dealt with homosexuality in ways unclouded by stereotypes, the “first full-length film to portray gay men as something other than sick.”

Up next, on July 14, is Stephen Sayadian’s 1989 “Dr. Caligari,” a kinky updating of the silent German classic, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.” The movie was made in Fullerton.

“The Loved One” will screen July 29. Tony Richardson’s 1965 comedy starring Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters and Rod Steiger is based on Evelyn Waugh’s hilarious novel about love and death at a California mortuary.

The series closes Aug. 5 with “Dr. Strangelove,” Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 comedy masterpiece about nuclear holocaust at the height of the Cold War. It stars Peter Sellers in multiple roles, offering some of his best performances.

* “The Boys in the Band” screens Sunday at the Huntington Beach Art Center, 538 Main St., Huntington Beach. 2 p.m. $4 for general admission, $2 for museum members. Part of the “Summer Camp: Death Takes a Holiday” series through Aug. 5. (714) 374-1650.