BCCLA's other activities in the 1960s included aiding in the defence of The Georgia Straight, a Vancouver-based publication, against criminal obscenity charges 1970s Gallimaufry Players' obscenity trial On October 27, 1969, a small group of professional actors, directors, and designers known as the Gallimaufry Players began a two-week run of Michael McClure's The Beard at Davie Street's Riverqueen theatre. The play, about an imaginary encounter between Billy the Kid and Jean Harlow, was replete with expletives and ended with a scene of simulated cunnilingus. On November 5, plainclothes members of the Vancouver City Police morality squad attended the performance. The following day, three members of the Gallimaufry Players and the two proprietors of the Riverqueen were criminally charged with presenting an obscene performance. All five defendants were convicted at trial on May 28, 1971, in the Provincial Court of Vancouver and fined a total of $1,250. The BCCLA launched an immediate appeal at the British Columbia County Court of Vancouver. The appeal was heard over four days in November 1971 by Judge Ladner. The police officers who witnessed the performance testified that expletives were uttered on stage, and that it was impossible to know if the actress was wearing an undergarment during the simulated cunnilingus. The defence presented a series of witnesses, including drama critics from the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province newspapers, a drama teacher, a television critic, and an Anglican minister who testified that the words and scenes described by the police officers could not be isolated from the overall context of the play. The judge found the defence witnesses to be "of a certain segment of the community and, while due consideration must and has been given to their evidence, their opinions cannot be accepted as representative of community standards" and that "the standards of decency and measure of tolerance in the Canadian community at this time could not but be offended by the realistic simulation of cunnilingus on the stage." The judge found the evidence insufficient to prove that one of the five defendants, Henry Yeagher, the Gallimaufry's stage manager, was in charge of the production at the time and dismissed the charge against him. The four remaining defendants had their fines set aside in favour of suspended sentences. The BCCLA launched a further appeal to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The appeal was heard by Chief Justice Nathaniel Nemetz and Associate Justices Robertson and