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gay culture in the 1920s

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Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily.

Contents:

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

* gay culture in the 1920s *

The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940. ”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co.

” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror. Durg the “Pansy Craze” om the 1920s until 1933, people the lbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) muny were performg on stag ci around the world, and New York Cy’s Greenwich Village, Tim Square and Harlem held some of the most world-renowned drag performanc of the time.

1920S GAY CULTURE

While watchg a screeng of Paris is Burng hosted by the Smhsonian Lato Center, I was entranced by the dazzlg participants as they peted, fiercely owng the floor their glamoro gowns. Twenty-five years ago, this famo cult documentary ptured the liv and culture of Ain Amerin, Lato, gay, and transgenr muni volved New York Cy drag * gay culture in the 1920s *

It is this fightg spir that allowed balls to thrive, and that spir liv on through today wh the LGBTQ more rmatn about the early drag ball scene, the thor remends Gee Chncey's Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890– Stabbe is a former tern the Divisn of Medice and Science and an unrgraduate stunt at the Universy of Rochter. Legislatn has long centered on gay men, maly avoidg mentng female LGBTQIA 1919 Frankl D Roosevelt, as Assistant Secretary, had begun an operatn to terme if men spected of beg homosexual through ercn to m physil acts by way of vtigators planted wh the navy.

BETWEEN WORLD WARS, GAY CULTURE FLOURISHED IN BERL

1920s Gay Culture: ✓ Meang ✓ Laws ✓ Homosexualy ✓ LGBTQIA ✓ StudySmarter Origal * gay culture in the 1920s *

More specifilly, 's about gay Berl, the gay subculture that flourished Berl the era between World War I and the rise of the Nazis, when there were nightclubs and barets that tered to a gay clientele, gay-themed theater and films and gay-oriented publitns that were sold at ksks. They advertised all sorts of events, different kds of venu and they also attracted advertisers who were really appealg to a gay and lbian nstuency, and that's also really startlg, I We asked you to suggt a performer, a sger, that we uld listen to to give some sense of the mic people were listeng to then at perhaps some of the gay clubs. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)CLAIRE WALDOFF: (Sgg German) That was Claire Waldoff, a song picked for by Robert Beachy, the thor of the new book "Gay Berl, " which is about the gay subculture Berl the 1920s and early '30s, jt before the Nazi rise to was the law regardg homosexualy the '20s and early '30s Berl?

B OF GAY ACTOR GIV RICH PORTRA OF '20S {FONT-SIZE:20PX;LOR:#999;FONT-STYLE:ALIC;MARG:0PX;MARG-TOP:10PX;}WISECRACKER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM HAINES, HOLLYWOOD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY STAR BY WILLIAM J. MANN 444 PP., $29.95 {GRID-ROW-START:2;GRID-LUMN-START:2;GRID-LUMN-END:3;}@MEDIA (MAX-WIDTH:950PX){{GRID-LUMN-START:1;GRID-LUMN-END:2;}}{BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;MAX-WIDTH:600PX;PADDG:0PX 20PX;MARG:0PX TO;FONT-FAY:'COLABORATE LIGHT','LUCIDA SANS UNI',SANS-SERIF;MARG-BOTTOM:5PX;} A{LOR:#7B1B18;} IMG{PADDG-RIGHT:7PX;}BY {LOR:#BA0600;}SANNAH R. MANL, CRIMSON STAFF {BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;MAX-WIDTH:600PX;PADDG:0PX 20PX;MARG:0PX TO;}{DISPLAY:NONE;}@MEDIA (MAX-WIDTH:950PX){{BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;MAX-WIDTH:600PX;PADDG:0PX 20PX;MARG:0PX TO;DISPLAY:BLOCK;PADDG-TOP:20PX;PADDG-BOTTOM:20PX;MARG-TOP:20PX;BORR-TOP:1PX SOLID #EBEBEB;BORR-BOTTOM:1PX SOLID #EBEBEB;}}{DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;-WEBK-FLEX-DIRECTN:LUMN;-MS-FLEX-DIRECTN:LUMN;FLEX-DIRECTN:LUMN;WIDTH:TO;-WEBK-ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-ALIGN:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-ALIGN:CENTER;ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;POSN:-WEBK-STICKY;POSN:STICKY;TOP:70PX;-WEBK-FLEX-DIRECTN:ROW;-MS-FLEX-DIRECTN:ROW;FLEX-DIRECTN:ROW;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;POSN:UNSET;} {DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG:0PX;} > SPAN{WIDTH:35PX !IMPORTANT;HEIGHT:35PX !IMPORTANT;TEXT-ALIGN:CENTER;BORR-RADI:50%;} SVG{WIDTH:25PX !IMPORTANT;HEIGHT:35PX !IMPORTANT;} .ADDTHIS_BUTTON_EMAIL > SPAN, .ADDTHIS_BUTTON_PRT > SPAN, .ADDTHIS_BUTTON_LK > SPAN{BACKGROUND-LOR:#EBEBEB !IMPORTANT;} .ADDTHIS_UNTER .ADDTHIS_BUTTON_EXPAND{WIDTH:35PX;HEIGHT:35PX;MARG:0PX;PADDG:0PX;BACKGROUND:NONE;TEXT-ALIGN:CENTER;BORR:1PX SOLID #EBEBEB;BORR-RADI:50%;LOR:#EBEBEB !IMPORTANT;} .ADDTHIS_BUTTON_PACT{DISPLAY:NONE !IMPORTANT;} {MARG:0PX 5PX;}{POSN:RELATIVE;WIDTH:100%;} P{MAX-WIDTH:600PX;MARG:0PX TO;PADDG:0PX 20PX;BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;FONT:17PX/25PX GEIA,SERIF;MARG-TOP:1EM;MARG-BOTTOM:1EM;} OL{MAX-WIDTH:600PX;MARG:0PX TO;PADDG:0PX 20PX;BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;FONT:17PX/25PX GEIA,SERIF;PADDG-LEFT:80PX;} P A, OL A, P A:VISED, OL A:VISED{LOR:#BA0600;-WEBK-TRANSN:0.3S ALL;TRANSN:0.3S ALL;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} P A:HOVER, OL A:HOVER{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6{MAX-WIDTH:600PX;MARG:0PX TO;PADDG:0PX 20PX;BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;MARG-TOP:1EM;MARG-BOTTOM:1EM;LOR:#7B1B18;}WILLIAM HA WAS NOT A VERY GOOD ACTOR, BUT HE WAS A VERY POPULAR ONE, AND HOLLYWOOD OF THE 1920S THE PRRI WERE THE SAME AS THOSE OF HOLLYWOOD TODAY--'S THE BOX OFFICE THAT UNTS. HA IS ONE OF THE NOW-FOTTEN STARS OF THE SILENT SCREEN: HANDSOME, WTY AND GOOD-NATURED, BETWEEN 1926 AND 1931 HE WAS ONE OF THE BIGGT BOX-OFFICE DRAWS HOLLYWOOD, TOP ON MGM'S ROSTER OF STARS AND ADORED BY WOMEN FILM FANS EVERYWHERE. SPECIALIZG PLAYG THE ROLE OF THE "WISECRACKER," A JOKG, LIKABLE TRICKSTER HERO WHO STARTS OUT A B OF A LOUT BUT ALWAYS LEARN HIS LSON BY THE END OF THE FILM, HA MA HIS ON-SCREEN NAME AS A ROMANTIC HERO AND HIS OFF-SCREEN REPUTATN AS ONE OF THE MOST OUTGOG, CHARISMATIC AND POPULAR FIGUR HOLLYWOOD.HA WAS ALSO GAY, AND HE SET A TREND HOLLYWOOD BY LIVG OPENLY WH HIS LOVER, JIMMIE SHIELDS. WHEN THE POLIL WATERS CHANGED AROUND THE EARLY 1930S, HA REFED TO PLAY THE STUD "GAME"--TO REPUDIATE JIMMIE, TO ENTER TO A SHAM MARRIAGE AS SO MANY OTHER ACTORS DID, TO PRETEND TO BE WHAT HE WASN'T. AND IS THIS THAT PRECIPATED HIS EARLY EX OM THE MOVI, AROUND 1934. NOW THE BGRAPHER AND JOURNALIST WILLIAM J. MANN, FASCATED BY HA'S LORFUL RISE AND FALL THE FILM WORLD AND HIS UNIQUE REFAL TO VE TO THE STUD MANDS, HAS SHAPED AROUND HIS LIFE AN TRIGUG EXPLORATN OF FIFTY YEARS OF SHIFTG TSELTOWN MOR.MANN, TAKG AN AFFECTNATE BUT REFULLY CRIL VIEW OF THE HERO OF HIS BOOK, TRAC HA'S LIFE THROUGH S MULTIPLE METAMORPHOS. ONE OF THE BOOK'S CENTRAL REVELATNS IS THAT HOLLYWOOD THE 1920S WAS A PLACE WHERE WAS POSSIBLE TO BE OPENLY GAY. HOMOSEXUALY WAS SIMPLY ACCEPTED; GAY AND STRAIGHT PEOPLE MGLED SOCIALLY AS WELL AS PROFSNALLY, AND THERE WAS A LE DIVIDG THE ON-SCREEN PERSONA OF AN ACTOR OM HIS PRIVATE LIFE. BUT WH THE ADVENT OF SOUND AND THE NSERVATIVE REACTNISM OF THE 1930S WHICH ACPANIED THE START OF THE GREAT DEPRSN, A CRACKDOWN ENSUED ON BOTH THE NTENT OF THE FILMS AND THE PRIVATE LIV OF THEIR STARS.MANN SHOWS BOTH THE LONG-TERM EFFECT OF THE FORC UPON THE MOVI--THE FAMO HAYS MORALY , WHICH NSTRAED THE MOVI TO REPRENTG A RIGIDLY FED VALUE SYSTEM WHOSE IRON GRIP DID NOT BEG TO LOOSEN UNTIL THE 1960S AND '70S--AND THE VERY PERSONAL IMPACT UPON THE ACTORS HOLLYWOOD. THE STUDS CLARED THAT BEG GAY WAS NO LONGER OKAY HOLLYWOOD, THEREBY AVOIDG THE HARSH CRICISM OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND OTHER RELIG GROUPS, AND PROVIDG SP NTROL ON THE GOSSIP NEWSPAPERS THAT WERE RAPIDLY TAKG ON AN ALARMG PENNCE. ACTORS WHO WERE MORED TO BE HOMOSEXUAL WERE ORRED TO GET MARRIED AND GIVE THE PUBLIC WHAT WANTED: A PERSONA WHO F THE ON-SCREEN IMAGE OF AN ACCEPTABLY "MANLY" MAN OR "FEME" WOMAN. MOST ACTORS ACQUICED, TO ONE GREE OR ANOTHER. WHEN HA TOLD MGM STUD HEAD LOUIS B. MAYER, A SCENE THAT HAS BEE LEGEND, THAT HE WAS ALREADY MARRIED--TO HIS LOVER, JIMMIE SHIELDS--HE FOUND HIMSELF "BOOTED OUT" OF THE MOVIE DTRY.HA'S LIFE BOTH THE MOVI AND AFTERWARD, AS "RATOR TO THE STARS," PROVIS A KEYHOLE THROUGH WHICH WE N GET A VERY TIMATE GLIMPSE OF HOLLYWOOD LIFE, GAY AND STRAIGHT, AS ONCE EXISTED BEHD THE VEIL OF SECRECY. HA KNEW EVERYONE (AND SEEMS TO HAVE HAD AFFAIRS WH MANY OF THEM). THROUGH HIS EY, AS RENSTCTED BY MANN, WE SEE THE CREASGLY HIDN WORLD OF EARLY GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE ACTORS--CARY GRANT AND RANDOLPH STT, CLTTE COLBERT AND MARLENE DIETRICH, GRETA GARBO AND RAMON NOVARRO--AND THE PEOPLE BEHD THE SCEN, SUCH AS DIRECTOR GEE COR AND JET-SETTG POSER COLE PORTER, THE TWO FOL POTS OF GAY MALE HOLLYWOOD SOCIETY THE 1930S AND 40S.THE WILLIAM HA STORY IS ALSO A LOVE STORY, ALTHOUGH S POIGNANCY DO NOT BEE FULLY APPARENT UNTIL VERY LATE HIS BGRAPHY. BOTH HA AND JIMMIE SHIELDS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN REMARKABLY PRIVATE MEN; SPE THE HUNDREDS OF HA QUOTATNS AND REMISCENC BY IENDS THAT MANN HAS DRAWN ON, MOST OF HA' MENTS TO THE WORLD FEEL LIKE "WISECRACKS"--HIS TRAMARK BRAND OF FENSIVE HUMOR--AND 'S HARD TO GET A FEELG THAT WE UNRSTAND THIS MAN'S NER LIFE. EVEN LS RMATN REMAS ABOUT SHIELDS, AND WHAT REMISCENC HIS IENDS DO OFFER SOUND RATHER MORE BOORISH THAN ENARG. (RUMOR HAS THAT HA' TRANGEMENT OM COLE PORTER, FOR STANCE, WAS PRECIPATED BY PORTER'S TCHG JIMMIE UNROLY HAVG SEX WH A SAILOR THE BH DURG ONE OF HIS ELEGANT SOIRE.)THE BGRAPHY OF WILLIAM HA IS A REMARKABLY RICH DOCUMENT OF 50 YEARS OF CHANGG HOLLYWOOD MOR, AND MANN HAS SUCCEED ADMIRABLY HIS STATED GOAL OF SHEDDG LIGHT ON THE TOO-LONG-NEGLECTED WORLD OF EARLY HOLLYWOOD GAY LIFE AND CULTURE. BUT 'S THE OTHER THREADS NNG THROUGH HA' LIFE WHICH GIVE THE BOOK S IMPACT: HA' CHANGG IENDSHIPS, HIS PASSNATE LOVE FOR HIS TERR SIGN BS, HIS TTY TREATMENT BY THE SNDAL PRS AND HIS VOTN TO JIMMIE. THROUGH THAT TIMATE, PERSONAL STORY, MANN IS ABLE TO SUCCSFULLY BRG HOME THE IMPACT OF WHAT STARTED OUT AS HIS BOOK'S CENTRAL NARRATIVE: THE SOCPOLIL STORY OF THE "STUTNALIZATN OF THE HOLLYWOOD STORY OF HOW AN DTRY CHANGED, HOW A MUNY OF ARTISTS AND EE THKERS TURNED S BACK ON S OWN THE FACE OF ANIZED, TRADNALIST PRSURE." BUT 'S THE PERSONAL TAILS THAT H HOME THIS STORY OF AN ENARG IF IMPERFECT WISECRACKER, ONE WHOSE FEW REMAG IENDS TODAY REMEMBER HIM, ABOVE ALL ELSE, NOT FOR HIS JOK BUT FOR HIS QUIET {FONT-SIZE:16.5PX;LE-HEIGHT:26PX;BOX-SIZG:NTENT-BOX;MAX-WIDTH:600PX;PADDG:0PX 20PX;MARG:0PX TO;MARG:1EM TO;} A{LOR:#7B1B18;}WANT TO KEEP UP WH BREAKG NEWS? 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In Gay Berl, Robert Beachy scrib the rise of a gay subculture the 1920s and '30s, how ntributed to our unrstandg of gay inty and how was eradited by the Nazis. * gay culture in the 1920s *

So was actually ma more dranian unr the Nazis 1935, and that remaed the law of the land Wt Germany until was fally reformed, startg the very-late So if homosexual acts were illegal Berl the '20s and early '30s, how did a gay subculture manage to flourish? And, of urse, people had nsensual sexual relatns private, so the law was difficult to what he fally end up dog - he cid that would be easier to simply observe and monor and, sence, keep tabs on spected homosexuals - spected vlators of the law - than to actually try to persecute them or prevent them om breakg the law.

And what this meant practice was that the police partment, startg the late-1880s, simply tolerated all kds of different, you uld say, public acmodatns, bars, f; eventually, large transvte balls, where obv homosexuals, or, at least, obvly spected homosexuals, uld ngregate and there was a kd of homoerotic aternizatn, you uld say, that was allowed Berl by the late 1880s, and this permted the growth of a whole work of different kds of bars and rtrants. And so blackmail beme a huge the same police missner and then his succsors and really the entire police partment, regnized that the bigger problem was not homosexual nduct, but the way which the law self actually allowed for the practice of blackmail.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

And the assumptn, too, I thk, was that prostut who make money the sex tra were also willg to make money through blackmailg the people they were - who were payg them to have that leads to, like, a whole other chapter the story, which was that there was a lot of prostutn, male prostut, gay Berl at the time.

GAY RIGHTS

So there were actually lots and lots of, we uld say, gay Nazi sympathizers who joed the SA, who joed the party, who were members of the movement, so to speak, and who also believed that bee of this figurehead, they would never actually be this was more or ls the se for the first year and a half until the summer of 1934. And of urse, the late '70s to the '80s, the timat were much, much higher but they've sort of been pegged down as people have done more rearch and done some actual archival work to tablish those Durg the 1920s and the early 1930s, there were movements to try to liberalize the anti-gay law or to elimate the anti-gay law. And his theori had this credible cultural fluence, and a lot of people - people like Thomas Mann wrote, jt passg, how pervasive the ias about the Mannerbund actually anyway, what out of is this ia that there are actually really, really sort of virile, natnalist and, as you put , proto-fascist dividuals who also happen to be homosexual.

BEACHY: Well, you know, after pletg this book and after wrg about what I thk is really the birth of morn homosexual inty and homosexual rights activism, I have trouble unrstandg why Germans still regnize the Stonewall rt or rts at the end of the '60s 1969 as the begng of the morn homosexual rights I thk the Germans need to sort of honor their own history and regnize the importance of somebody like Magn Hirschfeld and the scientific humanarian mtee found 1897, you know, almost 70 years before the begng of the so-lled morn homosexual rights movement. So I thk some ways that the Germans have almost been brawashed, and so that's - I gus that explas my ironic tone at the end of the Well, Robert Beachy, thank you so much for talkg wh Thank you so much for havg me on the show, Robert Beachy is the thor of "Gay Berl. Specializg playg the role of the "wisecracker, " a jokg, likable trickster hero who starts out a b of a lout but always learn his lson by the end of the film, Ha ma his on-screen name as a romantic hero and his off-screen reputatn as one of the most outgog, charismatic and popular figur was also gay, and he set a trend Hollywood by livg openly wh his lover, Jimmie Shields.

THE ROARG 20S AND THE BLOSSOMG OF GAY CULTURE

Mayer, a scene that has bee legend, that he was already married--to his lover, Jimmie Shields--he found himself "booted out" of the movie 's life both the movi and afterward, as "rator to the stars, " provis a keyhole through which we n get a very timate glimpse of Hollywood life, gay and straight, as once existed behd the veil of secrecy. Through his ey, as renstcted by Mann, we see the creasgly hidn world of early gay Hollywood: the actors--Cary Grant and Randolph Stt, Cltte Colbert and Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro--and the people behd the scen, such as director Gee Cor and jet-settg poser Cole Porter, the two fol pots of gay male Hollywood society the 1930s and William Ha story is also a love story, although s poignancy do not bee fully apparent until very late his bgraphy.

However, throughout 150 years of homosexual social movements (roughly om the 1870s to today), lears and anizers stggled to addrs the very different ncerns and inty issu of gay men, women intifyg as lbians, and others intifyg as genr variant or nonbary.

MOVG THROUGH NEW YORK’S EARLY 20TH-CENTURY GAY SPAC

Such eyewns acunts the era before other media were of urse riddled wh the bias of the (often) Wtern or Whe observer, and add to beliefs that homosexual practic were other, foreign, savage, a medil issue, or evince of a lower racial hierarchy.

Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men. This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay. Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women.

A GAY WORLD, VIBRANT AND FOTTEN

The creasg expansn of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a setback durg the 1980s, as the gay male muny was cimated by the Aids epimic, mands for passn and medil fundg led to renewed alns between men and women as well as angry street theatre by groups like Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer Natn.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY CULTURE IN THE 1920S

A brief history of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr social movements .

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