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AN ANALISIS OF THE TEEATMENT OF THE

HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER IN DRAMAS PRODUCED IN

THE NEW YOEK THEATRE FEOM 1950 TO 1968

& Donald L. Loeffler

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOE OF PHILOSOPHY

August 1969 11+

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to analyze the treatment of the homosexual character on the New York stage from 1950 through 1968. The study was concerned primarily with the male character who has been labeled a homosexual by the playwright and who has been presented on the stages in the established on Broadway and off-Broadway theatres in Manhattan. An evaluation of the accuracy with which the homosexual character was presented was considered.

Selected publications and scientific investigations concerning homosexuality over the past twenty years were reviewed. The presentation of homosexual characters in productions on the New York stages was surveyed. Seventy- five scripts of dramas pertinent to the study were available and were analyzed with consideration of the homosexual's attitude towards himself, the family's attitude toward the homosexual, and society's attitude toward the homosexual.

These seventy-five scripts were compared with the results of published psychological and sociological studies. The most significant conclusion of the study seemed to be that there was a positive relationship between homosexuality as understood in scientific study and the homosexuality as pre-' sented by playwrights. Whether by intuition or by a know­ ledge of scientific observation, the playwrights had presented an accurate picture of the homosexual on the stage.

The homosexual character has interchangeably played a major and a minor role in his relation to the theme and the plot of the pertinent plays of the period. No one trend seemed to predominate in any particular season. The major trends of treatment of the homosexual character in this period may be identified as: the presentation of the homosexual character for local color, the homosexual character fied as a sexual invert, the homosexual character resolving his problems by means of suicide, the homosexual character attempting to become heterosexual, the homosexual character as a third party in a love affair, the homosexual character as establishing a vanguard for his sexual rights and minority status, and the homosexual character for broad comic effect.

The homosexual character has been presented in varying degrees of caricature. He has primarily been presented in his late teens, reflecting the archetypal hero, or in his early forties, reflecting the trauma of the homosexual adjustment to middle age and the possible loss of physical attractiveness. The speech and language patterns of the Il ÖL

Donald Lee Loeffler 1970

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ili homosexual character have indicated his degree of effeminacy, his mental status, his education, and his individuality*

Psychological assessment of homosexuality has pro­ gressed from the concept of being caused by a familial relationship to a pronounced awareness of the additive rela­ tions of cultural and environmental conditions. It has progressed to an awareness that any male may develop homo­ sexual interests regardless of age or marital, socio­ economic, occupational, religious, or racial status. It has progressed to an awareness that a cure may not always be possible or necessary, but that an acceptance of self is important for the mental health of the homosexual.

The treatment of the homosexual character in drama has progressed from the offstage motivational force in the onstage action to the presentation on the stage of a labeled homosexual who is seemingly an accepted member of society. It has progressed from a satirical exaggerated caricature to the presentation of an individual who is warm, human, and compassionate. It has progressed from a character who spoke in forced inflectional stress patterns to one who utilizes his own personal syntax. It has progressed from the novelty of presenting a "shocking" character to the routine presen­ tation of just another member of complex society. Homo­ sexuality has become an acceptable topic for comedy, rather than appearing only at the opposing extremes of tragedy and farce. IV

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Charles R. Boughton, Ph.D. for his encouragement, patience and guidance in the writing of the dissertation.

Donald L. Leventhal, Ph.D. for his direction and guidance in the area of psychology.

F. Lee Miesle, Ph.D., Harold B. Ohee, Ph.D., George W. Herman, Ph.D., and the Theatre Staff of the Speech Department of Bowling Green State University for their continued interest and support in the research for this dissertation.

Mrs. Delores Sutter, Mrs. Virginia Gray, Mr. John A. Poes, and Mr. James Goetz for their valuable assistance in the preparation of the final copies of the dissertation V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTEE PAGE

I. A EEVIEW OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN CONTEMPOEAEY

MEDIA...... 1

The Publications and Scientific Eesearch

on Homosexuality ...... 2

Psychoanalytical Contributions .... 2

Psychological Contributions ...... 5

Sociological Contributions ...... 9

Theological Contributions ...... 9

Contributions in Periodicals ...... 10

Academie Contributions ...... 10

Homophile Contributions ...... lU

The Homosexual Character on the Broadway

Stage Prior to 1950 ...... 15

Homosexuality in Plays of the Twenties . 15

Homosexuality in Plays of the Thirties . 17

Homosexuality in Plays of the Forties . 18

The Increase of Homosexuality in

Contemporary Fiction ...... 22

The Increase of Homosexuality in Motion

Pictures...... 23

The Presentation of the Homosexual Character

on the Broadway Stage from 1950 to 1968 . . 29

Identified Homosexual Characters in

Plays of the Fifties...... 31 VI

CHAPTER PAGE

Identified Homosexual Characters in

Plays of the Sixties...... 34

Considerations andI nferences ...... 47

Summary...... 51

II. THE HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER AS AN INDIVIDUAL ... 53

The Relationship to Theme and Plot...... 53

The Homosexual Character as Local- Color 54

The Offstage Homosexual Character ... 56

The Unidentified Homosexual Character . 58

The Homosexual Character in a Love

Triangle...... 6l

The Homosexual Character and Tragic

Death...... 62

The Homosexual Character Attempting

Heterosexuality ...... 63

The Homosexual Character and Acceptance

of Self...... 64

The Homosexual Character as Broad

Comedy...... 66

Atypical Homosexual Characters .... 68

The Relationship to Stage Role...... 71

The Off-Stage Characters ...... 71

The Walk-on Characters ...... 71

The Supporting Characters ...... 72

The Minor Characters ...... 73 Vll

CHAPTER PAGE

The Major Characters...... 74

Homosexual Caricatures ...... 75

The Relationship to Occupationa nd Age ... 75

Racial Factors ...... 8l

Religious Factors ...... 8l

Physique Factors ...... 82

The Relationship to Speech and.S yntax .... 82

Summary...... 89

III. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE

HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER ...... 91

The Influence of Sigmund Freud ...... 91

Psychological Studies and the Homosexual

Character...... 9^-

Gebhard, Gagnon et al...... 95

Albert Ellis ...... 100

Martin Hoffman ...... 109

Homosexual Fixations ...... Il4

An Example of Homosexual Development . Il8

The Reflection of Trauma in the Homosexual

Character...... 120

The Law as a Cause of Trauma...... 120

Blackmail as a Cause of Trauma .... 121

Suspicion as a Cause of Trauma .... 122

The Relationship of the Female to the

Homosexual...... 124 vili

CHAPTER PAGE

The Sexual Activity of the Homosexual

Character...... 129

The Adolescent Homosexual Character . . 130

Summary...... 130'

IV. THE SOCIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE

HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER ...... 132

The Attitude of Society Towards the

Homosexual...... 132

The Homosexual Character in Social

Institutions...... l4l

In Prison...... l4l

In School ...... 14-3

In Business...... l44 -

In Church...... 145

The Locale Frequented by the Homosexual . . 149

The Social Behavior of the Homosexual . . . 151

The Family and the Homosexual...... 154

Mother-Son Relationships ...... 15^

Father-Son Relationships ...... • 157

Summary...... l62

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...... - . ... . l64

The Increase of Research on the Topic

of Homosexuality...... l64

A Review of the Homosexual Character on

the Broadway Stage from 1950 to 1968 . . . 165 IX

CHAPTER PAGE

A Review of the Psychological Background

of the Homosexual Character...... 170

A Review of the Sociological Background

of the Homosexual Character...... 173

The Conclusions of the Study...... 178

Some Suggestions For Future Research .... l80

The Relationship of the Homosexual

Character to the 1968-1969 Broadway

Season...... 183

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 187 X

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

I. Newspaper Articles on Homosexuality ...... 11

II. Doctoral Dissertations on Homosexuality .... 12

III. Plays with Homosexual Characters ...... 43

IV. Homosexual Occupations and Ages 1950-1960 ... 77

V. Homosexual Occupations and Ages I96O-I961 ... 78

VI. Homosexual Occupations and Ages 1961-1965 ... 79

VII. Homosexual Occupations and Ages 1966-1968 ... 80 CHAPTER I

A REVIEW OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA

The purpose of this study is to analyze the treatment

of the homosexual character on the New York stage from

1950 through 1968. The study is primarily concerned with

the male who has been labeled a homosexual by the play­

wright and who has been presented on the stages located

in the established on Broadway and off-Broadway theatres in

Manhattan. An assessment of the relationship of the

homosexual character to the theme of the play, to any type

of changing treatment, to psychological and sociological

scientific studies needs to be considered. An evaluation

needs to be made of the accuracy with which the homosexual

character has been portrayed.

This chapter presents a brief review of the psychological and sociological studies on homosexuality that have been published within the past twenty years. The diversity of opinion and conclusions concerning homosexuality will be noted. A rationale for the supposed increase of homosexuals will be given. The increase of the topic of homosexuality in various cultural media will be indicated. A review of the influence of Freudian psychology on playwrights since

1920 will be provided. A compilation of the appearances of homosexual characters in productions presented on the

Broadway stage and on the off-Broadway stage between 1950 and 1968 will be chronologically listed. 2

The Publications and Scientific Research on Homosexuality.

Over the past twenty years homosexuality has become

a topic for increasingly extensive scientific research.

The onset of this research was the publication of the Kinsey

report. The Kinsey report on male sexual behavior revealed

that 37 per cent of the total white male population of the

United States has at least some overt homosexual experience

to the point of orgasm between adolescence and old age;

25 per cent of the male population has more than incidental

homosexual experience or reactions for at least three years

between the ages of 16 and 55; 1® per cent of American males

have at least as much homosexual as heterosexual experience

during their lifetime for a period of at least three years;

10 per cent of all men are more or less exclusively homosexual

for at least three years between the ages of l6 and 55•

Finally Kinsey reported that four per cent of the white males

are exclusively or nearly exclusively homosexual throughout

their entire lives.

Psychoanalytical Contributions♦ The statistics of the

Kinsey report were questioned. Many inquiries were made into the psychological and sociological determinants of the homosexual. Psychoanalysts presented their viewpoint

^-Alfred C. Kinsey et al. , Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Saunders, I9H8), pp. 650-651. 3 on the problem of homosexuality. Dr. Edmund Bergler

Indicated that many newly declared homosexuals in the

Fifties were utilizing the Kinsey statistics as a rationali­ zation for their sexual behavior. In 1956 Dr. Bergler sought to fight and to counteract the increase in homosexuality through

the wide dissemination of the knowledge that there is nothing glamorous about suffering from the disease known as homosexuality, that the disease can be cured, and that this apparently sexual disorder is invariably coupled with severe unconscious self-damage that will inevitably show up outside the sexual sphere as well, because it embraces the entire personality.2

By 1968 the viewpoint towards homosexuality had changed. At this time Dr. Martin Hoffman suggested

that we view homosexuals as a minority group, and begin to seriously consider giving them the full legal rights and social privileges that we have finally given to some minority groups , Roman Catholics) and that we talk about giving to others. This means, among other things, we will have to: (l) abolish the penalties that now exist for certain kinds of sexual re­ lations between consenting adults in private; (2) end police activity against homosexuals, in all its forms, including use of decoys and harassment

2Edmund Bergler M.D., Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life: (New York: Collier Books, 1956), pp. 201-282. 4

of gay bars and other homosexual meet­ ing places; (3) cease firing government employees (including members of the armed forces) because they are thought to be homosexual; (4) encourage private industry to cease similar treatment of homosexual employees.3

In 1961 Doctors John and Joan Sampson reported upon the age of the onset of homosexuality:

In the human, psychologic sexuality is not differentiated when the child is born. Bather psychologic sex becomes differenti­ ated during the course of the many experiences of growing up, including those experiences dictated by his or her own bodily equipment . . . The accrued evidence strongly suggests that the beginnings of gender-specific psychologic characteris­ tics are, to an important extent, acquired, and so become manifest, very early in life, probably during, the first two and a half or three years.

Iwan Block, a pioneer European sexologist, was convinced that the direction of sexual instinct was clear long be­ fore puberty. Kinsey and his associates thought that homosexuality became dominant between the ages of five and fifteen. Freud thought that it was much earlier than

^Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968), pp. 200-201. ^John L. Hampson M.D. and Joan G. Hampson M.D., “The Ontogenesis of Sexual Behavior in Man." Sex and Internal Secretions, William C. Young, editor (Baltimore, Maryland: The Williams and Wilkins Co,, 1961), p. U06. 5 5 this. Further it has been pointed out that "all indi­

viduals are capable of learning to respond in homosexual

relationships. The realization of this potentiality is 6 often culturally determined."

In 1950 Sandor Ferenczi differentiated between what

he thought to be the active and the passive homosexual:

Only the passive homo-erotic deserves to be called inverted. Only in his case does one see the real reversal of normal psych­ ical and perhaps also bodily characteristics. He who in intercourse with men feels him­ self to be a woman is inverted in respect to his own ego; he feels himself to be a woman and this not only in genital inter­ course, but in all relations of life . . . It is quite otherwise with the true active homosexual. He feels himself a man in every respect. He is as a rule very ener­ getic and active. There is nothing effem­ inate to be discovered in his bodily or mental organization. The object of his inclinations alone is exchanged so that one might call him a homoerotic through exchange of the love-object or more short­ ly an object-homo-erotic.'

Psychological Contributions. Psychologists investigated various psychological factors and their relationship to homo­ sexuality. One of the very early psychological investigators was Albert Ellis. In 1963 Doctor Ellis stated:

5 John Gerassi, The Boys of Boise (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1966), p. 10Ö. r Morris G. Carstairs, "Cultural Differences in Sexual Deviation," Sociological Abstracts, B553Ô, XIII (January- July, 1965), P. 3287

*7 Sandor Ferenczi, Sex in Psychoanalysis (New York: Robert Brunner, 1950)> PP« 299-3OO. 6

What has "been found is that certain genetic, hormonal, and anatomic factors may all help indirectly to produce homo­ sexuality in some subjects and especially perhaps in subjects born with tendencies toward severe emotional disturbance, hor­ monal imbalance or physiologic immaturity . . . The direct causes of fixedohomosex- uality seem to be environmental.

In 1965 Doctor Ellis said that he felt that for certain homosexuals a realistic approach to social conformity would be therapeutic. He felt that since homosexuality was a learned condition, it could be unlearned.

Over the years many interested scientists have sought to find a cure for homosexuality. The most recent attempts have been associated with desensitization techniques.

Tom Kraft attempted to alter the individual concept of the sexual body image in sexual relations.

Q °Albert Ellis Ph.D., ’’Constitutional Factors in Homo­ sexuality: A re-examination of the Evidence,’’ Advances In Sex Research, Hugo E. Biegel, editor (New York: Harper and Bow, 1963), p. 186.

^Albert Ellis Ph.D., Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1965)> P • 8. 10Benjamin B. Wolman, "Interactional Treatment of Homo­ sexuality," Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, XIV (1967), P* 70

William J. DeScipio, "Modified Progressive Desensi­ tization and Homosexuality," British Journal of Medical Psy­ chology, XLI (1968), pp. 267-272. ^Tom Kraft, "A Case of Homosexuality Treated by System­ atic Desensitization," American Journal of Psychotherapy, xxi (1967), pp- 815-821. 7

In 1965 new considerations were published concerning

the homosexual. Jess Stearn wrote The Sixth Man (New York:

MacFadden-Bartell). Stearn estimated that one out of every

six adult males is a homosexual. The following year Bryan

Magee estimated that one out of every twenty persons is a homosexual in One In Twenty (New York: Stein and Day, 1966).

In 1965 Irving Bieber et al. published a major scientific

Study on homosexuality: Homosexuality: _A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals (New York: Vintage Books). Bieber's research was complimented for the scientific methodology which was employed:

Although Bieber tends to come to the same conclusions as Bergler, Bieber's research is based on extensive experiments, which are explained and evaluated in a calm, rational manner.

Evelyn Hooker gave a changed insight into the con­ cept of role playing in homosexuals. She determined that in many instances homosexuals do not exclusively play a determined male or female role in their sexual relationships.^3

In 1968 Apperson and McAdoo questioned the Bieber et. al. conclusion on the influence of the parent figure upon the male homosexual. They determined that the relationship

12John Gerassi, The Boys of Boise (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1966), p. 92. "^Evelyn Hooker Ph.D., "An Empirical Study of Some Relations Between Sexual Patterns and Gender Identity in the Male Homosexual," Sex Research: New Developments, John Money, editor (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., 1965), P* 30« 8

of the son with the father was significant "but that the

relationship of the son with the mother appeared to be

less restrictive than Bieber’s study would indicate.

Apperson and McAdoo used enlisted personnel in the United

States Army as subjects rather than inmates of a hospital

or penal institutions.

Other psychological studies were published. Emanuel

F. Hammer reported on the "Symptoms of Sexual Deviation:

Dynamics and Etiology" in the Psychoanalytic Review in

1968. His prisoner subjects showed evidence of castration

anxiety and Oedipal conflicts. George Serban M.D. reported

on the "Existential Therapeutic Approach to Homosexuality"

in the American Journal of Psychotherapy (XXII:U9l) in July,

1968. Dr. Serban based his study on the precept that a

reorientation of erotic perception In terms of the opposite

sex was needed. A further major study was published by the

Institute of Sex Research. This study by Gebhard, Gagnon,

Pomeroy and Christenson was entitled Sex Offenders (London:

Wm. Heinemann, Ltd., 1965). It was a statistical report of more than 1500 convicted sex offenders. The purpose of the

study was to determine how persons who have been convicted for sex offenses differ from those who have not been convicted for sex offenses.

^B.A. Apperson and J. McAdoo, "Parental Factors in the Childhood of Homosexuals," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, LXXIII:3 (1968), pp. 201-206. 9

Sociological Contributions. Sociologists have investigated

and published their findings on the topic of homosexuality. A

major sociological contribution was edited by Jerome Himelhock

and Sylvia Fava. This book was entitled Sexual Behavior in

American Society (New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1955)« It

contained a series of papers relating homosexuality to social

behavior. Two of these papers reflected the sociological

attitude toward the Kinsey report. In 1964 Howard S. Becker

edited The Other Side: Perspectives on Deviance (New York:

The Free Press). Two pertinent papers that had formerly

appeared in the periodical, Social Problems, were John I. Kitsuse’s

’’Societal Reaction to Deviant Behavior: Problems of Theory

and Method," and Albert J. Eeiss Jr.’s "The Social Integration

of Queers and Peers." These two studies will be reviewed

later in this study.

Theological Contributions. The Christian churches have

made contributions towards the understanding of the homosexual.

Social Action is a monthly pamphlet published by the Council

for Christian Social Action of the United Church of Christ.

Social Progress is published bimonthly by the Office of Church and Society of the Board of Christian Education of the United

Presbyterian Church. Both of these pamphlets devoted their attention to the Christian responsibility concerning homosexuality

in December of 1967. The Homiletic and Pastoral Review has offered advice to Roman Catholic clergy who counsel homosexuals

in their jurisdiction 10

Contributions in Periodicals. Newspapers and periodicals

have published articles on the topic of homosexuality directly

and indirectly, as in reviews of art works involving homosexuality. Table I presents a group of articles that have appeared in newspapers. Pauline Kael, Stanley Kauffman, and Robert Brustein have referred to the increase of homosexual characters in drama and in motion pictures in their reviews for The New Republic and The New Yorker.

Academic Contributions. Various doctoral studies have been made on the topic of homosexuality. See Table II.

Publications relating dramatic and non-dramatic literature have been presented. Hervey Cleckley M.D. wrote The

Caricature of Love in 1957 (New York: Ronald Press). He correlated case histories of deviant sexual love with literary examples in the novels and plays from 1930 to

1950. W. David Sievers Ph.D. has published his doctoral dissertation in a book entitled Freud On Broadway: A History of Psychoanalysis and The American Drama (New York: Hermitage

House). Sievers presented a complete analysis of Freudian psychology and treated the development of the influence of

Freud on playwrights from the 1920's to the 1950's.

Donald M. Kaplan published an article on "Homosexuality and the American Theatre: A Psychoanalytic Comment" in the

Tulane Drama Review in 1965« Kaplan's discussion was concerned with the plays of Edward Albee. 11

TABLE I

Newspaper Articles on. Homosexuality

Webster Schott, "Civil Bights and the Homosexual," The New York Times, November 12, 1967«

Bosalyn Begelson, "Up The Camp Staircase," The New York Times, March 3> 1968.

Walter Kerr, "The Theatre of Say It I Show It I What Is It?," September 1, 1968.

Brooks Atkinson, "Theatre Reflects State of the Nation," The Blade: Toledo, Ohio, August 18, 1968.

Joe Flaherty, "It Depends on the Company One Keeps," the village VOICE, February 27, 1969«

William Glover, Mart Crowley: Why Did He Write ’Boys in the Band'?,” The Blade: Toledo, Ohio, July l4, 1968

Paul Meskil, "Life on Queer Street," New York Sunday News, February 2, 1969«

Peter and Barbara Wyden, "Growing Up Straight: The Father’s Role," New York Times, May 26, 1968. 12

TABLE II

Doctoral Dissertations on Homosexuality

Irma Mathes Ph.D., "Adult Male Homosexuality and the Perception of Instrumentality, Expressiveness, and Coalition in Parental Hole Structure," University of Missouri, 1966.

Edward Sagarin Ph.D., "An Inquiry Into Attitudes and Value Systems of Adult Male Homosexuals with Adult Male Heterosexuals," New York University, 1966.

David R. Greenblatt Ph.D., "The Semantic Differential Analysis of the 'Triangular System' Hypothesis in 'Adjusted' Overt Male Homosexuals,” University of California at Los Angeles, 1966. 13

The present study takes one portion of the Siever’s

study and further develops the topic on the declared homo­

sexual character in plays. Prior to 1950 most homosexual

characters were presented with psychologically accurate

degrees of latency. The present study is concerned pri­

marily with characters identified by the playwright as

homosexual from 1950 through 1968.

The theatre has been thought to harbor many homosexual

actors and technicians. Yoti Lane in The Psychology of

the Actor has said:

The theatrical life has a strong attraction for the homosexual. The reasons for this are obvious. The stage offers an opportun­ ity for the homosexual to obtain power and authority which he would fear to fight for in real life. He can, as far as his aud­ iences are concerned, appear to be a potent and fascinating lover in romantic roles which his immature emotional development would prevent his undertaking in the out­ side world. Also he is in an environment where a love of fantasy, and a delight in dressing up, is approved.^5

In 1965 Bichard Green and John Money published a longitudin­

al study of twenty boys concerned with the interrelation between effeminacy, role taking, and stage acting. Their

results indicated that

the high incidence of homosexuality in the theatre is by no means due solely to

^yoti Lane, The Psychology of the Actor (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1959)> P* 50« 14

the theatre offering a social haven for homosexuals in later years. The path toward acting begins at a time in life when the social acceptance and safety of the theatre would not be apparent to the boy concerned.16

Homophile Contributions. Since World War II, homosex­ uals have participated in a period of national organization.

This organization has been described as the Homophile Movement

R.E.L. Masters has published a book entitled The Homosexual

Revolution: A Challenging Expose of the Social and Political

Directions of a Minority Group (New York: The Julian Press,

1962). A pamphlet was presented to the Committee on Religion and Psychiatry of the American Psychiatric Association in

1967. This pamphlet, written by Foster Gunnison Jr., was entitled "An Introduction to the Homophile Movement." Both of these publications chart the growth and expansion of the three main homophile organizations in the United States.

These are: One, Inc., The Mattachine Society, and The

Daughters of Bilitis.

What the homosexual wants is freedom— not only freedom of expression, but also sexual freedom. By sexual freedom is meant the right of any person to gratify his urges when and how he sees fit, without

■^Richard Green and John Money, "Effeminacy and Stage Acting," Archives of General Psychiatry, XV:5 (1965)> PP* 535-538. 15

fear of social consequences, so long as he does not inflict bodily harm or disease upon another person; so long as the other person is of sound mind and agrees to the activity. -^7

The most effective achievement of the movement has been the provision of legal protection and counseling for homosex­ uals who are suffering from harassment by over-zealous members of the vice squad.

The Homosexual Character on the Broadway Stage Prior to 1950

Over the past twenty years the declared homosexual character has become prevalent in contemporary drama. He has progressed from Blanche's offstage husband in A Street­ car Named Desire to the onstage characters in The Boys in the Band. He has progressed from the on Broadway flighty caricature of the homosexual in Season in the Sun and Lady in the Dark to the off off-Broadway grossly effeminate yet human hero in "The Madness of Lady Bright." He has progressed from the non-labeled but psychologically accurate deviates of "Deathwatch" to the labeled homosexual prisoners of Fortune and Men's Eyes.

Homosexuality in Plays of the Twenties. Homosexuality was not a new topic to the stage in 1950« W. David Sievers

■^Donald Webster Cory, The Homosexual in America (New York: Greenberg Publications"^ 1951) > P- xiii. 16

indicates that since 1920 the playwright's chief task has

been to understand and to illuminate for his audience the behavior of his fellow man.^® The pertinent dramas of

the Twenties were characterized by a dominating mother and a

fixated son. In Jesse L. Williams' Lovely Lady, the son was

so devoted to his mother that he did not drink or go with

flappers. He fell in love with an elderly matron who through

the psychoanalytic mechanism of identification became for him a mother image.step-sons fell in love with their

step-mothers. This was the situation in O'Neill's Desire

Under the Elms and in Gribble and Lackaye's Oh Mama.2Q

Latent homosexuality was also found in manyplays of the

Twenties. This latency was evidenced in March Hares, The

First Man, The Great God Brown, Houseparty, and The Comic

Artist. In Harry Wagstaff Gribble's March Hares Geoffrey behaves like a woman. His menage is smart and chi-chi, but the zany behavior of the household is apparently proper enough to insure social acceptance.2^ In Eugene O'Neill's

The First Man Curtis Jason is completely passive-dependent.

He allows his wife to be all kinds of help to him. His

David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955), p. 451.

19Ibld., p. 77. 20_. . , Ibid., p. 68. 17 closest and best friend, Bigelow, is always near at hand.22 23 * 25 26

In The Great God Brown Billy kisses Dion’s mask saying "I love you because she loves you. My kisses on your lips are for her." J In Kenneth Britton and Roy Hargrove's House- party a fraternity boy accidently kills a girl who was trying to blackmail him. When he is about to commit suicide, his close friend saves him and is willing to give up his own girl and go abroad with his fraternity brother.2^ Susan

Glaspell’s The Comic Artist is an incisive character study of 25 sadism and latent homosexuality based upon Freudian concepts.

Homosexuality in Plays of the Thirties. In the Thirties the emphasis shifted from individual psychology to the study of interpersonal human relationships.2^ In 1932 John Lyman and Roman Bohnen showed the reform school as an incubator for future criminals. Incubator included a homosexual relationship 27 in the sexual maelstrom which surges within a reform school.

In 1933 Albert Bein in Little 01' Boy presented the teacher of a school and his relationship with his students. The

22W. David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955)> P* 103. 23Ibid., p. 111.

2^Ibid., p. 93-

25Ibid.; p. 72. 26Ibid., p. 451.

2?Ibid., p. 213. 18

teacher is described as an effeminate looking man, fat and

fuzzy of face, with a small sensitive nose, brown eyes,

long slicked back hair, broad shoulders and an overly de-

aQ veloped bosom. Noel Coward’s Design For Living was

based upon a menage a. trois. The two men loved each other,

and they both loved the woman. The narcissistic trait in

homosexuality was expressed by having the two men look and

dress almost alike.

In the Thirties audiences viewed Lillian Heilman’s

The Children's Hour in which a child's vicious lie led two

female teachers to consider whether or not their close

friendship was based upon sexual attraction. Audiences

viewed Mordaunt Shairp's The Green Bay Tree in which young

Julian is unable to shake the power and control of Mr.

Dulcimer even after Dulcimer is murdered by Julian’s natural

father. They had viewed Edouard Bourdet's The Captive (1926)

in which Irene, on the return from her honeymoon, receives

violets from her female paramour and flees from her husband

to a reunion with her illicit female lover.

Homosexuality in Plays of the Forties. By the Forties

the drama had shown its ability to probe deeply into the life

28 W. David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955)> P• 213. 29Ibid., p. 217. 19 of the child, the adolescent, the soldier, the psychotic, the criminal and the homosexual.The fusion of sadism and homosexuality was found in Gayden by Mignon and Robert

McLaughlin. Gayden is a social sadist who wrecks the lives of those with whom he comes into contact from sheer malice.

His latent homosexuality makes him aloof and cold with women, yet compels him to seduce them calculatingly and to hurt them wantonly. Gayden is among the more powerful and perceptive psychological studies of the period. John Van Druten in

The Druid Circle presented a psychological study of sexual impotence and the resultant reaction-formation in an intellec- 32 tual drudge who teaches in a small British college. A close relationship between homosexuality and paranoia was shown in Mel Dinelli's The Man.^3 a friendly young man comes as a day laborer to the boarding house of Mrs. Gillis. His unmistakable signs of paranoia are his phobia against dirt, his effeminate interest in the curtains and the room, his violent hatred for the dog, his suspicion that the dog hates him, his painful erotic memory of being rejected by the army and having to walk back through the line of naked, laughing 3^ men.

3°W. David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955)> p. 45^»

33-ibid. , p. 4o8.

32ibid., p. 412.

33ibid., p. 409.

3^ibid., p. 419. 20

The prevalence of the homosexual character in modern

social drama seems to he in relation to the alleged increase

in the number of homosexuals in American society. This development seems connected with the homophile movement in

America. Edward Sagarin states that the causes for the homophile movement were a combination of factors: the publication of the Kinsey report, the changes in moral values that took place after the outbreak of World War II, the increase in geographic mobility which permitted people to separate easily from their family orientation, the urban­ ization and suburbanization of cities which offered a pro­ tective shield for participation in an organization of 35 anonymous members.

The current prevalence of the topic of homosexuality may be seen as a response to the recommendations made by

Doctor Bergler in 1956. Bergler stated that under the influence of the Kinsey report many homosexuals became more outspoken. He pointed out that many newly declared homosexuals utilized the Kinsey report as a rationale for their perverted behavior. He recommended that accurate facts be published concerning this taboo topic in order that families might recognize the symptoms and be able to cope with the problems that arise when one of its members

3^Edward Sagarin Ph.D., "Structure and Ideation in An Association of Deviants" (New York University, 1966), Dissertation Abstracts XXIX:1305-A. 21 seems bent towards homosexual practice.36

Every human is bisexual. There is some homosexuality in every so-called normal man, just as there is some potential sa­ dism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, or other paraphiliac (perversive) manifestation. Students of sex psychology have long accepted the view that during adolescence, all of us go through a homosexual state of development and there are many youths who had a few homosexual experiences here and there, yet later developing into perfectly healthy normal men and women. Because of such experiences it is quite possible for any so-called normal man to regress to a homosexual level under certain conditions. There is no positive guarantee against develop­ ment of homosexuality in any human being just as there is no positive guarantee against the development of any other form of mental or emotional disturbance.37

This explanation is based upon the writings of Sigmund Freud.

Freud had explained that each human is born psychically bi­ sexual. Each human has the tendency to exhibit both male and female characteristics. Homosexuality in men should not be considered a desire for other men but a desire to exper­ ience both maleness and femaleness. Freud maintained that the existence of homosexual tendencies is permanent. A boy’s first love is narcissistic since his first love object represents himself. Therefore the first love object must possess the male genital.3^

36]gdraund Bergler M.D., Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Collier Books, 1956), p. 272.

37john Gerassi, The Boys of Boise (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966), p. 77« 38lbid., pp. 87-88. 22

The Increase of Homosexuality in Contemporary Fiction.

The prevalence of homosexuality has been reflected in

contemporary literature. The popularity of the historical

novel seems to have abetted the literary presentation of

sexual inversion. Readers vicariously enjoyed heterosexual

sex through a diet of bookclub readings of Kitty by Rosamond

Marshall (1943), Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (1944),

Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger (1945), Spoon-

handle by Ruth Moore (1946), Home Port by Olive Higgins

Prouty (1947)« Authors sought and provided vivid back­

grounds for sexual acts: by a waterfall (Unconquered by

Neil Swanson, 1947), in the hayloft (Banner by the Wayside

by Samuel Hopkins Adams, 1947), in the storeroom (Deeper

the Heritage by Muriel Elwood, 1947), in juxtaposition with

the mating of animals (Not As A Stranger by Morton Thompson,

1954). The sexual act was never so enticing as during a

spring storm (This Side of Innocence by Taylor Caldwell,

1946). Members of each social class, every occupation and

mental age, met and mated. Frequently the author added

sadism, incest, or the trading of spouses for novelty.

After the end of World War II, formerly unprinted four-

letter words were printed (James Jones in From Here To Eternity)

John Horne Burns in The Gallery (1947), Norman Mailer in The

Naked and The Dead (1948), and Irwin Shaw in The Young Lions

(1948) provided the reader with inverted sex scenes between 23 servicemen as well as vicarious battle experiences.

Moralistically each of the participants received his just desert by being killed in battle. None of the lonely men re­ turned to his homeland and family.

A number of other novelists published further inverted sex scenes in their new works in the late Forties and early

Fifties. Truman Capote wrote Other Voices, Other Rooms in

1948. Calder Willingham wrote End As A Man in 19^7. Gore

Vidal, following his successful Williwaw (1946), wrote a novel centered upon the experiences of a homosexual, The

City and the Pillar, in 19^8. He followed his best-selling format with The Season of Comfort (19^9), The Judgment of

Paris (1952), A Thirsty Evil (1957), Washington D.C. (1967), and Myra Breckenridge (1968). Fritz Peters wrote Finistre in 1952. James Baldwin wrote Giovanni * s Room in 1956 and

Another Country in 1962. The popularity of these novels seems to indicate the readers’ interest in vicarious homosexual experiences as well as heterosexual experiences.

In the Sixties John Rechy wrote factual accounts of homosexual experiences. City of Night related the explicit experiences of a male hustler. In 1968 Numbers presented the experiences of this same hustler on a return trip to his old haunts.

The Increase of Homosexuality in Motion Pictures.

Motion pictures have similarly reflected the prevalence 24

of homosexuality. Following World War II motion picture

producers seemed determined to provoke a revision of the

1927 Motion Picture Code. The original code prohibited

the following items in productions: pointed profanity;

licentious or suggestive nudity; illegal traffic in drugs;

any inference of sexual perversion; white slavery; miscege­

nation; sex hygiene and venereal diseases; scenes of actual

childbirth; showing children’s sex organs; ridicule of the clergy; any willful offense to any nation, race, or creed.39

American and European producers used shocking innova­

tions in an attempt to change the code. In the 1939

production of Gone With The Wind, Clark Gable as Rhett

Butler said, “Frankly my dear, I don't give a damni" Howard

Hughes costumed Jane Russell scantily in The Outlaw in 1943.

Suggestive nudity was presented in the love scenes in Claude

Autant-Lora's The Devil in the Flesh and Max Ophulus' La

Ronde. In 1953 Otto Preminger set a new precedent when he

released The Moon Is Blue without the seal of approval from the censor.1*0

The movement gained rapid impetus in 1956. Roger Vadim produced and wrote And God Created Woman. Brigitte Bardot,

39Martin Quigley, Decency in Motion Pictures (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1937 )> P* *2.

^°Time, LXXXVIII (September 30, 1966), p. 56. 25

his wife, had the leading role in the film. Billy Wilder presented Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in transvestite attire

in Some Like It Hot. Otto Preminger produced The Man with the Golden Arm which was concerned with drug addiction.

Tennessee Williams wrote and Elia Kazan directed their deliberately shocking comedy, Babydoll, about the child- wife of a poor-white Southerner. "It is not generally remembered with affection, but it did its bit towards loosening the Hollywood production code, which had been too restrictive."^1

Another forceful blow against the original code was struck in 1959- From Italy came La Dolce Vita, Federico

Fellini's "expose" of the sweet life: a sprawling, per­ suasive, orgiastic movie assumed by many to have con­ tributed to a decline in standards because it reported without condemning.^2 Joseph Mankiewicz and Sam Spiegel presented Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams’ screenplay of

Suddenly Last Summer. This film depicted the activities of the deviant, Sebastian Venable.

The use of the presentation of the topic of homo­ sexuality in motion pictures was not only to revise the

^Leslie Halliwell, The Filmgoer's Companion (New York: Hill and Wang, 1965), p. 31« ^2Ibid. 26 production code but also to influence the government to change the existing laws concerning homosexual acts. Many- felt the affairs of consenting homosexual adults conducted in private were not matters concerning the criminal law.^3

Great Britain first presented the homosexual in the film

Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde. "I thought it would make at least somebody somewhere think, and it did help in getting the law changed. That was the opinion of Lord Arran 44 who brought up changing the law in Parliament." Another

Bogarde film that intimated homosexuality was The Servant,

0-963). Joseph Losey was the director of the script by

Harold Pinter. Great Britain released Haymond Stross' The

Leather Boys in 1966. Sidney J. Furie directed Gillian

Freeman’s script. The film depicted the developing close male friendship between two members of the leather-jacket and motorcycle set. The homosexuality was revealed in a waterfront gay bar prior to the closing scene.

In the United States Arthur Miller’s A View From The

Bridge was adapted for the screen by Norman Rosten in 1962.

It was produced by Paul Graetz and directed by Sidney Lumet.

^3Samuel G. Kling, Sexual Behavior and the Law (New York: Random House, 1965), P♦ 126. ^Kevin Thomas, "Bogarde Overcomes Bad Films," The Blade: Toledo, Ohio, March 23, 1969, Section F., p. 3« 27

The kiss between Eddie and Rudolpho was to be a kind of

dramatic horror, but as Pauline Kael described it:

It's just embarrassing. It has its irony however ... we finally get two men kiss­ ing on the screen and neither of them is even supposed to be enjoying it. You'd think there were no homosexuals in America, only heterosexuals falsely accused.*5

The motion picture production code was changed in 1966.

The new code emphasized the following: The basic dignity and value of human life shall be respected and upheld. Evil, sin, crime and wrongdoing shall not be justified. Special restraint shall be exercised in portraying criminal or anti­ social activities in which minors participate or are involved.

Illicit sex relationships shall not be justified. Intimate sex scenes violating common standards of decency shall not be portrayed. Obscene speech, gestures, or movement shall not be presented. Undue profanity shall not be permitted. Words or symbols contemptuous of racial, religious or national groups shall not be used to incite hatred. 0 Seemingly the producers would have freedom in defending their presen­ tations .

A further development in motion pictures that has appealed to broadminded viewers and the homosexual trade has

**5pauline Kael, Film Quarterly, XV (Summer, 1962), p. 29.

^6"sensible Censorship?,” Senior Scholastic, XC (Octo­ ber 25, 1969), P« 8- 28 been the underground film. The pop artist, Andy Warhol, has produced and directed many of these films. In 1966

Warhol directed Vinyl, Blow Job and The Chelsea Girls. In

1967 he directed and produced My Hustler, I. A Man and Flesh.

Other producer-directors of these low-budget underground films are Kenneth Anger (Scorpio Rising), Jack Smith (Flaming

Creatures), Robert Downey (Chafed Elbows), and Shirley Clarke

(Jason).

Hollywood producers included homosexual characters in their films after the revision of the production code. In

1967 Carson McCullers’ novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, was adapted and presented on film by John Huston, Chapman

Mortimer, and Gladys Hill. Andrew Sarris in reviewing this film indicated that now a new era of high fidelity adaptations had been entered. "Henceforth the movies will not merely shed their figleaves of decorum and discretion, they will even add a few fetishes and perversions of their own."^7 The orig­ inal film was drained of color then burst into full techni­ color at the film's climax.

The Sergeant was produced in 1968. The script was by

Dennis Murphy.

The Sergeant is so insufferably 'tasteful' and controlled and careful about its homo­ sexual theme, that ironically, it has less homosexuality in it than many movies have

^Andrew Sarris, "Films," the village VOICE, November 30, 1967, P- 39- 29

had unconsciously or by the accidents of casting or by carelessness and indifference.^

Recent films which have featured homosexuality are

Richard Brook’s In Cold Blood, Raymond Stross’ The Fox,

Mel Brooks* The Producers, Robert Aldrich's The Killing of

Sister George, Andy Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboys, and Joe

Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy.

Hollywood producers have adapted fifteen Broadway

plays with homosexual characters into motion pictures.

These include Billy Budd, Tea and Sympathy, The Bad Seed,

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, A View From the Bridge, A Hatful of

Rain, Compulsion, Suddenly Last Summer, The Best Man, Becket,

A Taste of Honey, Advise and Consent, The Lion in Winter,

Staircase, and The Boys in the Band.

The Homosexual Character on the Broadway Stage.

Tennessee Williams is cited as being a primary agent

in the presentation of the sexual invert in contemporary drama.

With eloquence and gallantry, Williams introduced to U.S. drama the previously inadmissible evidence of the emotional outcast and the sexual invert and made the stage vibrate to the heartbeats of the violated and vulnerable. Himself a masterly creator of characters, Williams could not confer that gift on his

^pauline Kael, "The Current Cinema,” The New Yorker, XLV (January 18, 1969), P- 80. 30

disciples. An entire secondary echelon of playwrights--men like William Inge, Robert Anderson, Paddy Chayefsky--became Freudian scholastics.*9

Benjamin Nelson further states that in the plays of

Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee

sexual pathology and perversion established themselves as

familiar elements of character, action and dialogue.

Krafft-Ebing was no less a source than Freud.50

Many of the early declared homosexual characters

never appeared onstage and were reported as having met tragic

deaths. Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams* A Streetcar

Named Desire (1947) evoked audience sympathy when she told

of her marriage to a beautiful effete young boy who left her

on the dance floor to rush out and shoot himself. Brick and

Maggie in Williams’; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1955) talked of

Brick's relationship with his friend Skipper. Skipper had committed suicide after confessing his love for Brick.

Sebastion Venable in Williams' Suddenly Last Summer (1958)

disappeared in the flock of featherless little black sparrows . . . They devoured parts of him. Tore or cut parts of him away with their hands or knives or maybe those jagged tin cans they made music with, they had torn bits of him away and

^"The Theatre: Dramatic Drought,” Time, LXX (May 17, 1969), P. 98. 5°Benjamin Nelson, "Avante-Garde Dramatists from Ibsen to Ionesco,” Psychoanalytic Review, LV (1968), p. 505. 31

stuffed them into those gobbling fierce little empty black mouths of theirs.51

Identified Homosexual Characters in Plays of the Fifties.

In 1953 Robert Anderson in Tea and Sympathy provided the most consistently exciting drama based upon the theme of homosexuality. The success here was the result of artful playwriting. Playwriting intelligence was important in handling the delicate theme of homosexuality. More artful­ ness was necessary precisely because the young protagonist was an inexperienced adolescent and because the accusation directed at him in a Boy’s School was false.^2

Maxwell Anderson presented the suspicion of homosexual­ ity in his play The Bad Seed produced in 1954. Emory

Wages is described by his sister as being a "larvated homosexual." Monica explains that larvated means covered with a masque--concealed. Monica has reached her conclusion about her brother through pure association. Emory is fifty- two years old and single. He has never had a serious love affair. His deepest interests are fishing, murder mysteries in which housewives are dismembered, canasta, baseball

51 Tennessee Williams, Suddenly Last Summer (New York: Signet Books, 1958), p. 92. Initial playscript citations will be given bibliographical data. Subsequent citations will indicate the page number in the text and will not be footnoted. ^2John Gassner, editor, Best American Plays Fourth Series 1951-1957 (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 19^4), P- xvii. 32 games, and singing in male quartets. He spends his Sundays with other men fishing. Monica is in analysis with Dr.

Kettlebaum and admits to a subconscious incestuous fixation for Emory.53

In 1955 Arthur Miller in A. View from the Bridge used an accusation of homosexuality to thwart Catherine’s love of Rudolpho. Eddie is in love with his niece, Catherine.

Though he would deny it, he does not want Catherine to marry. In order to get Catherine to renounce Rudolpho,

Eddie first uses suspicious rumors indicating homosexuality, then he kisses Rudolpho in front of Catherine; being unsuccessful in his goal, he then reports Rudolpho’s presence to the Immigration authorities. The character Apples in

Michael Gazzo’s A Hatful of Rain (1955) seems to have homo­ sexual tendencies. He enjoys going to the men’s rooms in subway stations to attract men and then to clobber them over the head.

In 1956 N. Richard Nash, in Girls of Summer, presented the character Gene Mitchell, who progresses from a state of repressed homosexuality to a state of discovered, but unaccepted, homosexuality.

Herman Wouk presented two homosexual characters in

Nature's Way in 1957. Vivian Voles was a playwright

•^Maxwell Anderson, The Bad Seed (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1955), PP« 17“l8^ 33 interested in his married collaborator. The second

character, hired waiter Biff White, was presented as a comic

element in a short party scene.

In 1957 Meyer Levin adapted his book Compulsion into

a play. The two main characters, Artie Straus and Judd

Epstein, have a homosexual relationship. They commit and are convicted of the murder of a boy. Sol Stein used the

Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers trial for the basis of a play called A Shadow of My Enemy. The play was criticized as being consciously oratorical and was described as a factual documentary

In the musical The Nervous Set (1959) by Landesman and Flicker?an unshaven, unshorn, sweater-boy pops into a

Washington Square bedroom to announce that he is writing a book entitled "Queer Channels.”55

George Axelrod hinted at a veiled homosexual joke in his play Goodbye Charlie. Charlie is reincarnated in the body of a woman. He/she lives with his former best friend.

William Inge in A Loss of Roses (1959) presented

Ronnie Cavendish, an aging juvenile actor with peroxided

^Lewis Kronenberger, editor, The Best Plays of 1957~ 1958 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1958), p. 11« 55flew York Theatre Critics' Reviews (New York: Critics' Theatre Reviews, 1959)> P» 307. 34

hair and a flamboyantly feminine personality, for a short

scene. The main character, Kenny, is drawn closely to his

mother. She has not remarried for Kenny’s sake. When

Kenny becomes romantically interested in an older carnival

dancer, his mother stops the wedding plans.

Peter Shaffer presented Five Finger Exercise in 1959*

In this play Clive, the son, becomes overly interested in

Walter, the tutor. Clive competes with his mother for the attention of Walter.

Gore Vidal in The Best Man, Loring Mandel in Advise and Consent, and Brendan Behan in The Hostage placed homosexuality in the area of politics and revolution.

Identified Homosexual Characters in Plays of the Sixties

The 1960-1961 Broadway season presented a varied picture of homosexuals. Young Geoffrey Ingram eared for the lonely, pregnant Jo in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey. Edward

Albee’s "The American Dream" introduced an inverted "breath of fresh air" as the play's namesake. Unlabeled but homosexually motivated relationships were presented in

Jean Anouilh’s Becket and Bertolt Brecht's Jungle of

Cities. Hugh Wheeler's Big Fish, Little Fish gave psychological motivations for Jimmie Luton, Bonnie Johnson, and Basil Smythe in their relationships with William Baker.

At the beginning of the 1961-1962 season, Hugh Wheeler presented Look: We've Come Through, which involved a teenage 35

boy accepting favors from a middle-aged, offstage queer.

Here, the boy idolizes a friend in the Navy, who returns to

attempt to seduce him. The boy solves his confused sexual

identity by bedding down with Belle, the misunderstood

heroine of the play. Gore Vidal adapted Friedrich

Duerrenmatt’s Romulus the Great. Vidal’s adaptation reflected

a homosexual Roman civilization.

In Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, Davies attempts to

transfer his caretaking duties for Mick to duties for Aston.

In Terence Rattigan's Ross, the epicene Turkish soldiers

rape Lawrence. In William Inge’s Natural Affection, Donnie

Barker returns from a reform school bearing the welts from

a beating given to him by a homosexual guard, whose advances he had resisted. At home his mother is living out of wedlock with Bernie Slovenk. Bernie is also sexually attractive to the couple next door. Amid drunken accusations and con­ fessions, the frenzied Donnie retaliates a denial of affection from his mother by committing murder.

The 1962-1963 season opened off-Broadway with two consecutively running productions of Brecht's Man Is Man by the New Repertory Theatre Company and by the Living Theatre

Harold Pinter's "The Collection" showed the jealousy of the possessive male figure and the deviltry of the female figure in the interweaving of the relationships between a heterosexual couple and a homosexual couple. 36

On Broadway, audiences viewed Sidney Kingsley’s Night

Life in which both lesbians and homosexuals looked, met and

parted. In Fiebleman's Tiger Tiger Burning Bright, Clarence

Morris was a prostitute for both sexes. In Green and Fel-

bert’s Pajama Tops an exaggerated homosexual had to share

a room overnight with busty June Wilkerson.Two homosex­

uals prepared to do a virile cigarette commercial in one

segment of Beyond The Fringe.

The 1963-1964 season presented a suggested triangular

love affair in Edward Albee's The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.

Cousin Lymon eventually won the attention of Marvin Macy

from Amelia. Terence Rattigan in Man and Boy had a father

arrange a situation in which his son appeared to be his

lover in the eyes of a visiting business executive. Genet's

"The Maids" pretended to be something that they were not in

the same way that homosexuals project a false normalcy to

the world.

The spring of 1964 brought to off-Broadway LeRoi Jones'

"The Baptism" with a confrontation between a clergyman,

his sex-obsessed congregation, a vocal homosexual, and

a penitant boy seeking baptismal protection from his

physical temptations; Rosalyn Drexler's "Home Movies" in which Peter Peterouter adored fruit, stripped to a red dress,

^New York Theatre Critics' Reviews (New York: Critics’ Theatre Reviews, 1963), P- 298. 37

and exited telling everyone that he had had a simply

gorgeous time.

The 1964-1965 season presented seven plays with

homosexual characters. The two most prominent were Lor­

raine Hansberry’s The Sign In Sidney Brustein's Window,

which presented David Ragin arguing for his minority rights

and Edward Albee's Tiny Alice, which intimated homosexual

relations between the Lawyer, Cardinal, Butler, and Brother

Julian. LeRoi Jones presented "The Toilet" featuring the

interracial love of the Caucasian Karolis with the Negroid

Foots. Queendom reigned throughout Richard W. Harris'

"The Fourth Pig." Degradation and destruction of another

individual was the theme between the men in Charles Nolte's "Do Not Pass Go."^7 In Terrence McNally's And Things That

Go Bump in the Night, Sigfrid lured Clarence to his home.

Bertolt Brecht's Baal ended the season with its hero who is

amoral, animalistic, and who ends up a degenerate who ruins

all with whom he comes into contact.

The 1965-1966 season seemed to be populated with

short-run plays with homosexual characters. Joe Orton's

Entertaining Mr. Sloane repeated the theme of a sister and brother sharing the love of the male guest. John Osborne's

Bill Maitland, in Inadmissible Evidence, interviewed Maples

57otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor, The Best Plays of 1964 1965 (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1965), P« 25. >.• s

38

concerning his indecent assault charge. In Mary-

Drayton's The Playroom Eric Soanes-,, a member of the Filthy

Five, participated in the kidnapping of Ellen in the group's

retaliation against the authority of their divorced parents.

Edward Albee's Malcolm was introduced to all forms of

sexual activity. Tennessee Williams' Pious Queen in "The

Mutilated" invited sailors to his apartment to provide them

with civvies. James Broom Lynne’s "Trigon" presented two

men sharing a flat under fragile pretenses. Roy S. Arzoomanian's

"The Coop" showed the homosexual breeding ground of a prison.5® William Inge attempted to show the homosexual as

a responsible member of society in Where's Daddy?. Mr.

Pinkerton helps Tom Keen, his adopted son, adjust to an ac­

ceptance of his coming role as a natural father. James

Goldman in The Lion In Winter presented the youthful Philip

of France homosexually involved with Richard of England.

William Hoffman's "Thank You, Miss Victoria" featured a

dilettante son entering a sado-masochistic relationship with

a stranger on a telephone.

The 1966-1967 season did not present a homosexual

character onstage until January, when Christopher Hampton's

When Did You Last See My Mother? opened. Pauline McCauley's

The Astrakhan Coat presented the brother and the sadistic

58otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor, The Burns Mantle Best Plays of 1965-1966 (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 19^6), p. 431. 39 rich kid as homosexuals.^9 Peter Shaffer's "Black Comedy" presented Brindsley's neighbor, the comic Harold Gorringe, as a camp owner of an antique-china shop. John Herbert's

Fortune and Men* s Eyes presented a study of an individual who progresses from a status of seeming innocence to one of deviance and control over his fellow homosexual prisoners.

Robert Anderson utilized a variety of sexual implications in his successful You Know I_ Can't Hear You When The Water * s

Running: the possibility of using a ridiculous looking nude male onstage in a play, a neuter bed-salesman, a concern over a son's masturbation, and a confused memory of earlier love affairs by an elderly couple. Ronald Tavel's Gorilla

Queen, as a contribution of the Theatre of the Ridiculous, presented a camp musical related to the early films. Clyde

Batty, Queen Kong, and the transvestite Taharahnugi White

Woman punned beyond vulgarity, beyond criticism, beyond be- 60 lief. Frank Marcus in The Killing of Sister George was concerned with the lesbian relationship of June, Childie, and Mercy. Norman Mailer presented homosexual movie personali ties in The Deer Park. His play was based on a heterosexual theme. Jules Feiffer ended the season with Little Murders,

59otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor, The Best Plays of 1966- 1967 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 19^7)> PP • 380-381. 6°Michael Smith, editor, The Best of Off Off-Broadway (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969), P* 179- 4o

in which Kenny Newquist desires to he like his sister Patsy,

the most masculine image in his family.

The I967-I96Q season brought new renown to the homo­

sexual character. In seven of the presented plays, the homosexuals were portrayed as accepted members of society.

The barbers in Charles Dyer's Staircase presented the prob­ lems of the aging homosexual. In Ragni and Rado's musical,

Hair, the boys freely loved both boys and girls. In

Donald Driver's Your Own Thing, Orson is in love with

"Charlie," the disguised Olivia. Orson learns to accept his love of "Charlie." In Samuel Taylor's Avanti, Baldassare

Pantaleone offers himself to both Allison Ames and to Alex­ ander Ben Claiborne. In Jakov Lind's Ergo, Wurz is turned into a domestic animal by his wife and two homosexual sons.

In Joe Orton's Loot, two homosexual friends, Hal and Dennis, rob a bank and hide the money in Hal's mother's coffin. In

Tennessee Williams' The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Lot comes home to die in his mother's clothing. In The Boys In The Band,

Mart Crowley treated the American Stage to its most outspoken homosexual play in a year of revolutionary theatre. It presented a compelling and naturalistic portrait of the "gay" world.61

Other notable plays that were produced in 1968 which

6lGeorge Cornish, editor, The Americana Annual 1968 (New York: The Americana Corporation, 19^9), PP • 682-683. 4i presented homosexual characters were: the Houston, Texas premiere of Paddy Chayefsky’s The Latent Heterosexual, in which a flaming faggot marries, divorces, and commits suicide for tax purposes; Brandéis University’s premiere of

John Hoc's Fire, in which a homosexual mortally sick with guilt, boredom, and self-disgust votes for the cauterizing zf p extinction of fire.

In the following Broadway season Harold Pinter’s "The

Basement" presented an underlying homosexual motive between two male friends who mutually share a visiting female.

Godfrey Danvers adapted Colin Spencer’s Spitting Image, in which two male homosexuals have a baby. The Critical Diges reported:

Spitting Image is a continually funny, literate (British, you know) farce-revue on an unlikely homosexual miracle. But it is most vital for its accurate satiri­ cal anti-conformist vs the establishment jabs. Conceived as a wild romp with fly­ ing doors to match, what could easily have been a tasteless one-joke bore, consists instead of three dozen alternating hilari­ ous, touching, serious blackout skits. Surprisingly tasteful planning and imagin­ ative staging, plus up-to-the-minute news hpHrHinp Inserts, make the item an alwavs

6 P "The Theatre, " Time, XCII (May 24, 1968), p. 86. 63Ted M. Kraus, editor, Critical Digest, XX (March 24, 1969), p. 1. 42

Table III is a listing of the plays presented, on and

off-Broadway in which homosexual characters appeared from

1950 through 1968. The sources for this chart were

the New York Theatre Critics * Reviews and The Burns Mantle

Best Plays series. The title, author, opening date, and

length of run are indicated. All productions were located

on Broadway unless an "off-Broadway" location is indicated.

The playwrights who have written two or more plays with

homosexual characters which have been produced in New York dur

ing the considered period are: Tennessee Williams, Edward

Albee, Harold Pinter, William Inge, Bertolt Brecht, Peter

Shaffer, Robert Anderson, Hugh Wheeler, Jean Genet, Gore

Vidal, Joe Orton, Terence Rattigan, and LeRoi Jones.

Twelve of the plays with homosexual characters were

adaptations from novels. The novels were:

Billy Budd by Herman Melville, End As A Man by Calder Willingham, The Immoralist by Andre Gide, The Bad Seed by William March, Compulsion by Meyer Levin, Advise and Consent by Allen Drury, The Devil's Advocate by Morris L. West, Mandingo by Kyle Onstott, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers, Malcolm by James Purdy, Ergo by Jakov Lind, The Deer Park by Norman Mailer.

Your Own Thing was based upon William Shakespeare's Twelfth

Night. Fortune and Men's Eyes was based upon "Deathwatch."

Historical figures were the basis for four plays: Romulus

Becket, Ross, and The Lion in Winter. 43

TABLE III

Productions with Homosexual Characters

Title - Author: Opened : Run

Season in the Sun - Gibbs 9/28/50 367

The Green Bay Tree - Shairp 2/ 1/51 20

Billy Budd - Coxe and Chapman 2/10/51 105

The Children’s Hour - Heilman 12/18/52 189

Camino Real - Williams 3/19/53 60

End as a Man - Willingham Off-32 Perf • 9/19/53 137 0n-105 Perf •

Tea and Sympathy - Anderson, Robert 9/30/53 712

The Ladies of the Corridor - Parker and 10/21/53 45 d'Usseau

The Immoralist - Goetz and Goetz 1/ 8/54 96 Revival Off 11/ 7/63 210

The Bad Seed - Anderson, Maxwell 12/ 8/54 332

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - Williams 3/24/55 694

A View From The Bridge - Miller 9/29/55 149 Revival Off 8/ 5/64 94

A Hatful of Rain - Gazzo 11/ 9/55 398

Girls of Summer - Wash 11/19/56 56

Nature's Way - Wouk 10/16/57 61

Compulsion - Levin 10/24/57 l4o

A Shadow of My Enemy - Stein 12/11/57 5 44

TABLE III continued

Title - Author Opened : Run:

Garden District: Suddenly Last Off 1/ 7/58 * Summer - Williams Revival Off 10/30/64 9

"Deathwatch" - Genet Off */ */58 *

The Nervous Set - Landesman and Flicker 5/12/58 23

A Loss of Roses - Inge 11/28/59 25

Five Finger Exercise - Shaffer 12/ 2/59 337

"The Zoo Story" - Albee Off 1/14/60 545 Revival Off 5/28/63 143 Revival Off 6/ 8/65 165

The Best Man - Vidal 3/31/60 520

The Hostage - Behan 9/20/60 127

A Taste of Honey - Delaney 10/ 4/60 376

Becket - Anouilh 10/ 5/60 193

Advise and Consent - Mandel 11/17/60 212

In The Jungle of the Cities - Brecht Off 12/20/60 66

"The American Dream" - Albee Off 3/ 1/61 370 Revival Off 5/28/63 143 Revival Off 4/21/64 232

The Devil’s Advocate - Schary 3/ 9/61 116

Big Fish, Little Fish - Wheeler 3/15/61 101

Mandingo - Kirkland 5/22/61 8

Look: We've Come Through - Wheeler 10/25/61 5

* No date and/or length of run indicated 45

TABLE III continued

Title - Author Opened : Run

The Caretaker - Pinter 10/ 4/6l 165 Revival Off 1/30/64 94

Ross - Rattigan 12/26/61 159

Romulus - Vidal 1/10/62 69

Man Is Man - Brecht Off 9/18/62 175

A Man Is A Man - Brecht Off 9/19/62 175

Night Life - Kingsley IO/23/62 63

Beyond The Fringe - Performers Revue Off 10/27/62 667

"The Collection" - Pinter Off 11/26/62 578

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright - Fiebleman 12/22/62 33

Natural Affection - Inge 1/31/63 36

Pajama Tops - Green and Felbert 5/31/63 1

Cages: "Epiphany" - Carlino Off 6/13/63 176

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Albee 10/30/63 123

Man and Boy - Rattigan 11/12/63 54

"The Maids" - Genet Off 11/14/63 62

"The Baptism" - Jones Off 5/ 1/64 3

"Home Movies" - Drexler Off 5/11/64 72

The Sign In Sidney Brustein’ s Window - Hansberry 10/15/64 101 "The Toilet" - Jones Off 12/16/64 151

Tiny Alice - Albee 12/29/64 167

"The Fourth Pig" - Harris Off 1/26/65 2 46

TABLE III continued

Title - Author Opened: Bun

"Do Not Pass Go" - Nolte Off 4/19/65 16

And Things That Go Bump In The Night - McNally 4/26/65 16

Baal - Brecht Off 5/ 6/65 19

Entertaining Mr. Sloane - Orton 10/12/65 13

Inadmissible Evidence - Osborne 11/30/65 166

The Playroom - Drayton 12/ 5/65 33

"The Trigon" - Lynne Off 12/ 5/65 70

Malcolm - Albee l/ll/66 7

Slapstick Tragedy: "The Mutilated" - Williams 2/22/66 7

"The Coop" - Arzoomanian Off 3/ l/66 24

Where’s Daddy? - Inge 3/ 2/66 22

The Lion In Winter - Goldman 3/ 3/66 92

"Thank You, Miss Victoria" ■ - Hoffman Off 4/11/66 16

The Killing of Sister George - Marcus 10/ 5/66 205

When Did You Last See My Mother? - Hampton Off 1/ 4/67 11

The Astrakhan Coat - McCauley 1/12/67 20

The Deer Park - Mailer Off 2/ 1/67 128

"Black Comedy" - Shaffer 2/12/67 337

Fortune and Men’s Eyes - Herbert Off 2/23/67 382 47

TABLE III continued

Title - Author Opened : Run:

You Know I Can’t Hear You When The Water's Sunning - Anderson 3/13/67 510

Gorilla Queen - Tavel Off 4/27/67 64

Little Murders - Feiffer 4/25/67 7 Revival Off 1/ /69 **

The Birthday Party - Pinter 10/ 3/67 126

Hair (Musical) - Ragni/sado/ McDermott Off 10/29/67 90 4/29/68 **

Staircase - Dyer 1/10/68 6l

Your Own Thing (Musical) - Driver Off 1/13/68 **

Avanti - Taylor 1/31/68 21

Ergo - Lind Off 3/ 3/68 49

Loot - Orton 3/18/68 22

The Seven Descents of Myrtle - Williams (Kingdom of Earth) 3/27/68 29

The Boys In The Band - Crowley Off 4/15/68 **

**Currently running

Considerations and Inferences♦ The majority of the plays were full length productions. Seventeen were one act plays, and four were musicals. 48

In consideration of length of run, only eleven of the plays have been performed for over five hundred perfor­ mances. A successful run is considered as having a production of five hundred performances and/or earning a financial profit for the producer. Of these eleven only four were pri­ marily concerned with the theme of homosexuality: Tea and Sym pathy, Cat on a. Hot Tin Hoof, "The Collection," and The Boys in the Band. The other long-run productions were:

Beyond the Fringe, "The Zoo Story," The Best Man, "The American Dream," Your Own Thing, Hair, You Know _I Can * t Hear You When The Water * s Running.

Nine of the other productions had runs for over two hundred performances. The first two listed were primarily concerned with the theme of homosexuality:

Fortune and Men* s Eyes, The Immoralist, Season In The Sun, Five Finger Exercise, A Taste of Honey, The Bad Seed, Advise and Consent, A Hatful of Rain, "’’Black Comedy."

It may be inferred that homosexuality has not been a financial success on the New York stage. The successful plays were important for their dramatic intent and presentation not for the theme of homosexuality.

The majority of the plays have been dramas rather than comedies. Homosexuality has not been a frequent subject for comedy during this period. The early comedies on a homo­ sexual theme were Nature1s Way (1957), Big Fish, Little 4-9

Fish (1961), Night Life (1962), "The Collection," (1962),

Pajama Tops (1962), and Where1s Daddy? (1966). It was not

until 1967 that the playwrights seemed secure enough with the

theme of homosexuality to treat it as a consistent and

successful subject for comedy. The majority of the plays

in the 1967-1968 season were comedies. Yet there is a weakness in the theatre's treatment of the homosexual theme.

The first act will tend toward comedy, but the second act reveals the onslaught of bitterness that leads to hysteria.

There has been little emotion and little sympathy evoked for 64 the homosexuals.

The homosexual character has appeared as a minor or a major character in plays each season following 1953-1954-.

Seasons which might be classified as being predominantly populated with the presentation of homosexual characters are the following: the 1953”1954 season, the 1960-1961 season, and the subsequent seasons beginning with 1965-1966.

In 1962 the homosexual character seemed.to be a predominant figure in off-Broadway productions.

The influence and rise of off-Broadway productions may be noted. The first plays with homosexual characters listed as off-Broadway productions were "Deathwatch" and

Suddenly Last Summer in 1958. The number of off-Broadway

6^otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor, "Season in New York," The Best Plays of I967-1968 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., T9^877 p. 21. 50 productions has steadily risen during the past ten years.

The off-Broadway productions were frequently one-act plays.

Off-Broadway productions with a major homosexual theme have been: Fortune and Men's Eyes, Gorilla Queen, and The Boys

In The Band. Little Murders was a failure on Broadway hut a success in a revival off-Broadway. Hair ran for ninety performances off-Broadway and then moved to the Biltmore.

The program notes of Hair indicate that when the production was moved uptown a transvestite and the frontal nude scene were added in order to attract more patrons.

During the early i960's the development and increase of off off-Broadway productions became a recognized theatrical form. Many of these productions by new avant garde playwrights and directors were developed around homosexuals and themes of homosexuality. The Cafe Cino had developed the reputa­ tion of presenting primarily plays of this milieu. Its most highly rated such presentation was Langford Wilson's "The Madness of Lady Bright."^5

Not all of the scripts were available for study. Cer­ tain scripts have not been published and others were not made available for dissertation reading purposes by the publishing companies. The following plays will not be

6^New Item in the village VOICE, February 1, 1968, p. 38- 51

included in the discussion of the homosexual characters:

Compulsion, A Shadow of my Enemy, "The Fourth Pig," The Nervous Set, "Trigon," Mandingo "The Coop," Pajama Tops, "Do Not Pass Go," The Astrakhan Coat, "Thank You, Hair, Miss Victoria."

Summary.

This chapter has presented a review of the scientific research that has been completed on the topic of homosexuality in recent years. The influence of Freudian psychology on the playwrights has been indicated. A rationale for the sup­ posed increase of homosexuality has been given. The increase in the presentation of the homosexual character in contemporary drama has been developed consecutively with the increase of his presence in other contemporary media of literature and motion pictures.

Homosexuality was not a new topic on the stage in 1950«

Since 1920 the playwright's chief task has been to understand and to illuminate for his audience the behavior of his fellow man. In the Thirties the emphasis shifted from individual psychology to the study of interpersonal human relationships.

By the Forties the drama had shown its ability to probe deeply into the life of the child, the adolescent, the soldier, the psychotic, the criminal and the homosexual.

Tennessee Williams has been identified as a playwright who initially presented the sexual invert in contemporary 52 drama. Robert Anderson in Tea and Sympathy presented the first consistently exciting drama based upon the theme of homosexuality.

The influence of off-Broadway productions has helped to increase the presentation of the homosexual character in the New York theatre. The recent influx of off off-Broadway productions has further presented homophile themes.

The scripts which were not available for dissertation reading purposes have been listed. S3

CHAPTER II

THE HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER AS AN INDIVIDUAL

The following chapter is concerned with the homosexual

as an individual character. The relationship of the homo­

sexual character to the plot and theme of the drama will be

presented. The trends in the purpose and use of the homo­

sexual character will be discussed. Any atypical attitudes

expressed by homosexual characters in the plays will be presented. A comparison of the individual characters

according to types of roles, age, occupation, race, and

religious preference will be made. The use of caricature

in the characterization of the homosexual will be considered.

The speech patterns characteristic of the more effeminate homosexual will be presented and compared in selected characters early in the period with those found late in the period. The language behavior of the homosexual which is indicative of him as a distinct personality will be shown.

The Relationship to Theme and Plot.

The homosexual character has interchangeably played a major role and a minor role in his relation to the theme and plot of the plays that have been presented. No one trend, either as a major character or as a minor character, seems to be predominant in any particular season or to establish a clear trend over the theatrical seasons considered chronologically. The presentation of the 54

homosexual character may be viewed in certain specific

trends over the seasons from 1950 through 1968. None of these

trends can be typified as pertaining to one particular season

but are scattered throughout the seasons. These trends may

be identified as: the use of the homosexual character for

local color, the presentation of a homosexual as an off-stage

character but as a predominant factor in the plot and in the

lives of the onstage characters, the homosexual as a realis­

tically motivated individual but unidentified as a homosexual,

the homosexual resolving his problems by means of suicide, the homosexual converting to normality through suggested hetero­

sexual intercourse, the homosexual as a third party in a love-

triangle, the homosexual as establishing a vanguard for his

sexual rights and minority status, and the use of the homo­

sexual for broad comedy.

The Homosexual Character as Local Color. During the first ten seasons under consideration the homosexual often appeared in plays as a segment of local color. Cherry Grove on Fire Island has had the reputation of being a summer resort frequented by many homosexually inclined vacationers.

When Wolcott Gibbs placed the setting of Season in the Sun on Fire Island, it seemed only natural that two caricatures of homosexuals should appear as minor figures in the produc­ tion. Their presence provided the landlady, Mrs. Jermyn, with the opportunity to say, "Oh, Them kind, eh? You know 55 what I do with them kind? I take the window screens off so's they can flyiin and out."66 Michael Lindsay and Charles

Farber are dressed identically and gesture with limp wrists.

They provide the major characters the opportunity to comment

on homosexuals of the past:

Paul: Why, some of the most intelligent, artistic people I know--so far as that goes, some of the greatest men in history—Oscar Wilde, Michael- angelo, Julius Caesar, Socrates, uh-- George: Cassanova-- Paul: Cassanova? Why, I thought-- George: Nope. Queer as Dick's hatband, (p. 27).

Calder Willingham in End as a. Man presented a homosex­

ual character as a part of the student body of the military

school. Perrin McKee added to the local color as he

fawned over Jocko de Paris and became ecstatic when he was about to watch a coat-hangar beating. Charles Nichols in

The Ladies of the Corridor was a subservient son to his

invalid mother and a homosexual resident of the Hotel

Marlowe. Bonnie Cavendish in A Loss of Boses was a member of an unemployed acting group in the Depression. He is characterized as appealing to the female members of the audience and being a real pal to the women in the group.

Brendan Behan in The Hostage presented three homosexuals as inhabitants of a brothel. They were at odds with the

66^olcott Gibbs, Season in the Sun (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1950), P* 22. 56 prostitutes of the establishment but managed to entertain their guests.

The Offstage Homosexual Character. The offstage homosexual character has played an important part in the theme and plot of three specific plays: Cat On A Hot Tin Hoof,

Suddenly Last Summer, and Look: We1ve Come Through. Tennessee

Williams set Cat On A Hot Tin Hoof in a bed-sitting room

unchanged much since occupied by Jack Straw and Peter Ochello, a pair of old bachelors who shared this room all their lives together. The room must evoke some ghosts. It is gently and poetically haunted by a relationship that must have,, involved a tenderness that was uncommon. '

Brick has not slept with his wife, Maggie, since his close friend, Skipper, committed suicide. The question is raised whether or not Skipper and Brick had a homosexual relation­ ship. Brick calls his friendship with Skipper the one great, good, true thing in his life. Maggie agrees. She says,

I am naming it so damn clean that it killed poor Skipper. You two had something that had to be kept on ice...and death was the only icebox where you could keep it...I know it was only Skipper that harbored even an unconscious desire for anything not perfectly pure between you two. (pp. 44-45).

Gooper and May, Brick’s brother and his wife, suggest that

^Tennessee Williams, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Hew York: Signet Books, 1955), P« xiii. 57

there was something not exactly normal in the Brick-Skipper

relationship. When Big Daddy investigates the accusations,

Brick replies:

He went to bed with Maggie to prove it wasn't true and when it didn't work out he thought it was true. . . Yes, I left out a long distance call which I had from Skipper, in which he made a drunken confession to me and on which I hung up. The last time we spoke to each other in our lives. Big Daddy: You dug the grave of your friend and kicked him in it before you'd face truth with him. Brick: His truth not mine. (pp. 91“92).

In Suddenly Last Summer Williams again created an

offstage homosexual character, Sebastian Venable, who

dominated the plot of the onstage action. Mrs. Venable

insists that her niece, Catherine, be given a lobotomy in

order to stop her stories which are defaming the name of her

dead son. Under the influence of an injection from her

doctor, Catherine tells how Sebastian had first used his mother and then her:

Don't you understand I was PROCURING for him. She used to do it too...Not consciously. She didn't know that she was procuring for him in the smart, the fashionable places they used to go to before last summer'. Sebastian was shy with people. She wasn't, neither was I. We both did the same thing for him. . . but she did it in nice places and in decent ways and I had to do it the way that I just told you. (p. 8l).

In Hugh Wheeler's Look: We've Come Through Bobby Kraweig 58

is a youth of nineteen whose older homosexual friend does

not appear onstage.

I go there every Friday night or Saturday lunch, depending. . . Mr. Millington’s been real good to me. Give me this medal. . . Name the people been real good to you. Mr. Millington’s always been a real gen­ tleman. And if he wants something. . . okay. What you got to lose?. . . If he wants --you know--what you got to lose? . . . Ain’t nothing like hustling. Nothing like that.°8

Bobby’s mother approves of his friendship with Mr. Millington

Mr. Millington takes her out to dinner and to a Broadway

play occasionally. She thinks that Bobby should always

remain a good friend to Arthur. Bobby befriends Belle, the

female lead in the play, and eventually breaks with Arthur

Millington:

Yeah’. Give him back the identification medal. Everything. . . I dunno exactly. I ate the shrimp cocktail like always. And suddenly--Can you imagine?--with him being so good to me and all? Suddenly I look at him and I think: Bobby are you crazy or something? And I hear myself saying, "Hey Arthur, this gotta stop. This ain’t right. For chrissakes, man, we’re both men." Pretty dopey wasn't it? I mean when we know there's all sorts--men, women, in between. But I hadda do it. . . . (p. 50)«

The Unidentified Homosexual Character. A number of plays presenting homosexuals on stage did not outwardly

designate the characters as being sexually deviant. Many

6^Hugh Wheeler, Look: We've Come Through (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 19^3)> PP• 22-23. 59 of these plays were revivals of plays that had been popular

in earlier Broadway seasons or in other countries. The relationship between Julian and Mr. Dulcimer in Mordaunt ghairp’s The Green Bay Tree is an example of a play with

implied homosexuality that was revived in 1951* Jean Genet’s poetic themes in "The Maids" and in "Deathwatch" were pro­ foundly homosexual:

We know that neither women nor the psychology of women interests him. And if he has chosen to show us maids and their mistress and femin­ ine hatreds, it is only because the necessities of public performance oblige him to disguise his thought. The proof of this is that his second play, Deathwatch, the characters of which are all men, deals with exactly the same subject as The Maids.

Homosexuality was implied in the early plays of

Bertolt Brecht, three of which were revived in the off-

Broadway Theatre.

The young Brecht . . . devoted two of his earliest plays to the subject: Baal, where the satyr-like ugly poet shoots his angelic, spiritual friend, the composer Ekhart; and In The Jungle of the Cities, in which the hero, Garga, quotes Rimbaud and is pursued in love- hate by an ugly Malayan.

Jean-Paul Sartre, The Maids and Deathwatch: Two Plays by Jean Genet (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1954 ), p. 13. 7°Martin Esslin, "Document of Passion," Plays and Players, Peter Roberts, editor, XVI (November, 1968), p. 18. 60

In The Swamp (In The Jungle of the Cities) ... is about homosexuality. A Man's A Man is a social play, an anti­ war play; but, in Brecht, the two things are one . . . the raped man in the two plays for Brecht is the same person.

Jean Anouilh describes his play Becket as a

drama of friendship between two men, between the king and his friend, his companion in pleasure and in work (and this is what gripped me about the story), this friend whom he could not cease to love though he became his worst enemy the night he was named archbishop. . . .

The implied theme of homosexuality seems to be verified in the following examples of dialogue;

King; Lie down beside me. I don’t want to be alone tonight. . . Becket; My Prince, My Prince. . . sleep in peace, I’m here, (pp. 45-46).

King; You never loved me, did you Becket? Becket; In so far as I was capable of love, yes, My Prince, I did. (p. 116).

Harold Pinter subtly suggests a homosexual relationship between the male characters in many of his plays. In The

Birthday Party McCann and Goldberg tell Stanley that they will make a man of him. . . and a woman . . . that he will

7^Eric Bentley, editor, Baal, A Man's A Man, and The Elephant Calf (Hew York; Grove Press, Inc., 1964), p. 108.

?2Jean Anouilh, Becket (Hew York: Signet Books, 1964), p. viii. 61

be "re-orientated .*’73 In The Caretaker Davies, as he

leaves on the direct command of Aston, tells him, "You been a

pal to me. You took me in. You didn’t ask no questions.

You give me a bed. You been a mate to me . . . and all to no 7k avail." In "The Collection" Pinter presents two couples,

one homosexual and the other heterosexual. Harry Kane lives

with Bill Lloyd, a dress designer. Harry becomes perturbed

when Bill begins getting telephone calls and house visits

from James Horne. Horne is jealous. He has been told that

Bill Lloyd has been sleeping with his wife. Both Bill Lloyd

and Stella Horne are amused to verify Jim Horne’s story. James,

in his repeated visits to the Kane apartment, becomes interested

in Bill Lloyd, but before any physical relationship can

develop, Harry Kane offers James Horne a possible solution

to the mystery of the suggested infidelity.

The Homosexual Character in a. Love Triangle. The

homosexual has been presented as the third member of a love

affair. The homosexual has not consistently played the same

role in this triangular relationship. In Edward Albee’s The

Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Amelia hates her husband, Marvin

Macy, but is especially fond of Cousin Lymon. Cousin Lymon is

73uarold Pinter, The Birthday Party (New York: Samuel French, Inc., i960), p. 77- 71*Harold Pinter, The Caretaker (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1963)> P* 5®« 62

strongly attracted to Marvin Macy. Marvin loves his wife

Amelia. Marvin attempts to use to his advantage the

attraction between Amelia and Cousin Lymon. He threatens

to leave with Cousin Lymon if Amelia will not respect his

marital wishes. In Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr. Sloane,

Kath and her brother, Ed, are attracted to the young Mr.

Sloane. They bicker and eventually agree to share Mr.

Sloane on a revolving six month basis. In Tennessee Williams’

The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Myrtle is married to the homosexual Lot, but favors Chicken, her rugged brother-in-law.

In "Trigon” two room-mates are in love with the same girl until a third man dates her and reveals that the two room­ mates have an affinity for one another.

The Homosexual Character and Tragic Death. As has been

indicated many homosexuals met tragic deaths at the end of a few plays. The evil Claggart accuses Billy Budd of mutin­ ous behavior. Billy stutters and strikes Claggart a mortal blow. In turn Billy is tried and hung for his action.

Jerry impales himself on a knife at the end of Albee's

"The Zoo Story.” Baron de Charlus is killed in Camino Real.

Brother Julian is killed at the end of Tiny Alice ♦ Suicide is an escape from life for Brig Anderson in Advise and

Consent, for Nicholas Black in The Devil's Advocate, and for

Clarence in And Things That Go Bump In The Hight. Basil

Smythe dies of a heart attack in Big Fish, Little Fish. Walter, the German tutor, is frequently warned that his employer's 63

family will destroy him in Five Finger Exercise♦ Stanley

accuses Walter of turning his son, Clive, into a sissy. He

further threatens Walter that he will not be permitted to

remain in England but will be sent back to his German

homeland. Walter attempts suicide, but is saved in the

nick of time. The curtain descends on his, "Schon gut. Mir fehlt nichts."^^

The Homosexual Character Attempting Heterosexuality.

In contrast to the tragic deaths of homosexuals, some playwrights have taken an opposite approach and have attempted to indicate that the homosexual will change to heterosexuality. This is accomplished by having the curtain fall just as the homosexual is about to have sexual relations with a female member of the cast. In Look: We've Come

Through Bobby Kraweig and Belle are drawn together. He kisses her hand. They sit together on the floor looking at each other. "Belle? You and me? . . . Wow'. What you know?

Live and learn, don't you?" (p. 67)« Though Tom Lee in Tea and Sympathy was only accused of homosexuality, he doubts his masculinity when he is unable to bed down the townvprosti- tute. Laura, his housemother, goes to his room. The curtain descends as she unbuttons her blouse and says,

75peter Shaffer, Five Finger Exercise, (Theatre Arts XLV (February, 1961), p. 56. 64

"Years from now . . . when you talk about this . . . and

you will . . . be kind."' Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted

Andre Gide's The Immoralist for the stage. In the original novel Marcelline dies. In the play Michel returns to his wife, finds her pregnant, and promises to remain with her and their child. He accepts himself as a homosexual and will not promise to give up his homosexual practices.

"There are many kinds of marriages, Marcelline, and people sacrifice many things to hold onto them. . . We promise noth ing, except to like each other as we are."77

The Homosexual Character and Acceptance of Self.

Another marked theme in the plays has been an acceptance of homosexual identity in order to achieve peace of mind. In

The Immoralist Moktir, the shepherd, has left his teaching duties at the University of Fez. He encourages Michel to acknowledge his homosexuality, to tell his wife of his sexual inclinations:

Moktir: Michel, you should tell her the truth. Michel: I cannot. It would be as if I were glad of the truth and I am not. Moktir: No one is glad. . . But you aren’t honest, Michel. You have listened to your body and accepted what it told you. You pretend that what

76pobert Anderson, Tea and Sympathy, Famous American Plays of the 1950's, Lee Strasberg, editor (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 19^2), p. 312.

77puth and Augustus Goetz, The Immoralist (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1954), p. 59« 65

you are is only pleasure deep. No more important to your wife than if you drank too much or gambled. That isn't true. It would be better for your wife if you were vicious, but you aren't. You are simply different, (pp. 40-4l).

Moktir: It is dishonor to live two lives. I return to my own life. I deceive no one. I corrupt no one. Do you think that because of what I am I have no morality? Do you think that because you have come to our life, you will be able to live without any? (p. 4-3).

Lorraine Hansberry in The Sign In Sidney Brustein's

Window tackled many social problems: politics, marriage, racial difficulties, prostitution, and homosexuality.

Sidney Brustein tells the homosexual playwright, David:

And you David, you have now written four­ teen plays about not caring, about the isolation of the soul of man, the aliena­ tion of the human spirit, the isolation of all love, all possible communication. When what you really want to say is that you are ravaged by a society that will not sanctify your particular sexuality. . . Love little fishes if you want. But, David, please get over the notion that your particular "thing" is something that only the deepest, saddest, the most nobly tortured can know about. It ain't. It's just one kind of sex--that's all. And in _ my opinion--the universe turns regardless.'

Mart Crowley in The Boys In The Band presented eight homosexuals at a birthday party. These homosexuals attempt to accept themselves with their acknowledged sexual

^Lorraine Hansberry, The Sign In Sidney Brustein's Window (New York: Samuel French, 19^57, P* 57« 66

proclivities. In presenting the effeminate Emory as a com­

pletely camp character, Crowley initially creates a

grossly comic caricature. But through the playing of the

game, "Affairs of the Heart," he presents Emory's background

and evokes a sympathetic understanding for him as an individ­

ual. The homosexuals themselves plead with each other for

acceptance. Hank expects fidelity from Larry, but Larry

feels he must be promiscuous. Larry says,

I've never made any promises and I never intend to. It is my right to lead my sex life without answering to anybody--Hank included. And if those terms are not acceptable, then we must not live together. Numerous relations is a part of the way that I am. By the way that I am, I mean my sexual appetite. I don't think of my­ self as wanton. . . I can't take all that let's-be-faithful-and-never-look-at-an- other-person routine. It just doesn't work. If you want to promise that fine. Then do it and stick to it. But if you have to promise it, as far as I'm con­ cerned nothing finishes a relationship faster. . . Respect--for each other's freedom. With no need to lie or pretend. In my own way Hank, I love you, but you have to understand that even though I do want to go on living with you, sometimes there may be others. I don't want to flaunt it in your face. If it happens, I know I'll never mention it. But if you ask me, I'll tell you. I don't want to hurt you, but I won't lie to you if you want to know anything about me. (pp. 155-161). The Homosexual Character as Broad Comedy. The homosexual has been the subject for broad comedy. In Nature's Way

Biff White is a fat, fussy potter who serves as a waiter to make "cabbage." He fusses about Vivian Voles and bursts 67

into a high giggle when the story of "Daddy Gay" is told.

In Night Life a young homosexual provides laughter in the

"Gold Key Club" as he escorts an elderly dowager across the

dance-floor. Ronald Tavel's Gorilla Queen was reported as being one of the most insane plays presented off-Broadway.

Crammed into the camp form of a movie musical is a farcical treatment of ultraserious themes. Two whole civil­ izations, the scum of the jungle and the cream of Hollywood are tossed about in a whirlpool of philosophy.79

Rosalyn Drexler in "Home Movies" presented the comic Peter

Peterouter who stated as he stripped to his flaming red dress

"Watch me metamorph into a mannered and pompous queen. Q x\ Discount my suit and call me Caladonia." The confusion between the characters of Viola and Sebastian, two look-alike siblings, in Your Own Thing offered many comic situations.

Olivia tries to strip Viola, thinking that she is Sebastian.

Orson falls in love with Viola, who is disguised as a boy.

Being attracted to a boy puzzles Orson. He researches his feelings and finds:

Throughout history, civilizations have arisen in which the love of one man for another has been an accepted part of the society in which it arose. "So much so that legend has grown up over the

779 M* ichael Smith, editor, The Best of Off Off-Broadway (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1969^), P« 179« ftn Rosalyn Drexler, The Line of Least Existance and Other Plays (New York: Random House, 19^7), P« 91» 68

devotion of such lovers. Every school child has read of Damon and Pythias, King David and. . .” King David? ". . . and his friend Jonathan." Yes, I read about them in Sunday School. Is that what they were doing?®1

Baldasarre Pantaleone is a comic character in Avanti. He

attempts to kiss and seduce the visiting American, Alexander

Claiborne:

Ah my Sandy. . . you are far from home, in another world. . . you are in Italy, my country. . . and that is something you have no idea of. Italy is an emotion. When a man comes to Italy, all the rules of his life are changed. He can do any­ thing, try anything. Self indulgence is a way of life.®2

Emory in The Boys In The Band evokes much laughter with his camp humor. "I was leaning against the lamp-post with a rose between my teeth and big painted lips over the lip-line like Maria Montez. . . She was a good woman." (p. 38).

Atypical Homosexual Characters. Certain homosexual characters were created by the playwrights as atypical in the sense that their presentation did not conform to the ty­ pical homosexual pattern. These characters projected an attitude or participated in an action that made them different. One such person was Bill Reynolds in Tea and

Q^onald Driver, Your Own Thing, The Best Plays of 1967- 1968, Otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor, (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1968), p. 222. ®2Samuel Taylor, Avanti or A Very Uncomplicated Girl (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc~ 1968), p. 447 69

Sympathy. The playwright presented a portrait of a seeming repressed homosexual. Bill Reynolds was gruff. He associated with his boys. His boys were his individual world and separated him from his wife, Laura. Bill had never had an avid interest in the opposite sex and appears to have been kidded into marriage in order to prove his manhood. He met and married Laura while on a sabbatical leave from his school.

On his return, he fell into his old established habits of chumming with his boys and he began to neglect his newlywed wife. He was vociferous in his attitude towards the discovered homosexual instructor, Harris. He was seldom tolerant of the

"off-horse" suspected homosexual, Tom Lee. However the tables were turned on him when Laura accused him of perse­ cuting in Tom Lee what he had always feared in himself.

In Fortune and Men* s Eyes the character Mona is described by the playwright as having a physical appear­ ance that arouses resentment at once in many people, men and women. "He seems to hang suspended between the sexes, neither boy nor woman.in the prison Mona is condidered

"public property." He has no protection from any of his fellow prisoners, nor does he want this protection. His life has been repeatedly one experience after another in which soGiety has trampled his rights as an individual.

®3John Herbert, Fortune and Men's Eyes (Hew York: Grove Press Inc., 1967), P• &• 70

Mona submits to all the indignities forced upon him: "I

separate things in order to live with others and myself.

What my body does and feels is one thing and what I think

and feel apart from that is something else." (p. 89).

This expressed attitude distinguishes Mona from the other

homosexual characters.

Another atypical example is David Ragin in The Sign

In Sidney Brustein's Window. David meets Gloria, Sidney's

prostitute sister-in-law. He immediately says to her:

"Oh I do naughty things with boys only--so relax." (p. 104).

He then proceeds to tell Gloria about his early fascination

with Nelson, a neighbor boy in his childhood who had moved with his family to Italy:

He never came back. . . There is a beautiful burnished golden haired boy very much like Nelson sitting on a chair upstairs. . . He is exquisite. But great damage has been done to him. He requires. . . the presence of a woman. . . It's not for me. Perhaps you can understand: If he asked for the snows of the Himalayas to­ night, I would try to get it for him. I thought --you might know of such things. . . Will you come up. . . Apartment 3-F. (pp. 112-113).

This was the only example in the plays under consideration where a homosexual character required a voyeur.

A final atypical presentation of the homosexual on the stage was in the character of Skip in Look: We've Come

Through. Skip has been idolized by Bobby Kraweig for years.

He is in the Navy. He returns home on leave and comes at

Bobby's invitation to Belle's apartment. Skip accuses 71 Bobby of being a faggot, of never having had the sexual

relations with a girl about which he boasts. Skip then

proceeds to invite Bobby to have sex with him: "You been

waiting long enough, ain’t you? Well, everything comes to

him who waifs as the saying goes.” (p. 59)« An idolized

heterosexual character turning into a homosexual aggressor

was not presented in any of the other plays.

The Relationship to Stage Role.

The homosexual character may be classified into five

separate categories according to his importance in a play.

These are the off-stage, the walk-on, the supporting, the

minor, and the major characters.

Off-Stage Characters. The off-stage homosexual

characters are those individuals whom the playwright has identi

fied as being homosexual, who were mentioned in the dialogue

of the play, and who have been identified as important to the

theme or plot of the play. These characters are

Skipper - Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Sebastian Venable - Suddenly Last Summer, Arthur Millington - Look: We’ve Come Through, Snowball - "Deathwatch,** Stubby - Natural Affection, David Ragin’s friend - The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window, Justin Stuart - The Boys In The Band.

The off-stage characters have appeared throughout the con­

sidered period of productions.

Walk-On Characters. The homosexual characters who are

classified as walk-on characters are those who make a brief 72

appearance during the presentation of a play. Generally

speaking they are not a prime moving plot device hut are seen

more as characters for local color, shock value, or as a

representative of the vicissitudes of a more prominent

character. These men are:

Charles Farber and Michael Lindsay - Season in the Sun, Lobo - Camino Real, Mr. Harris - Tea and Sympathy, Emory Wages - The Bad Seed, Akir and Dolit - The Immoralist, Apples A Hatful of Rain, Biff White - Nature's Way, Ronnie Cavendish - A Loss of Roses, Rio Rita and Princess Grace - The Hostage, Captain and General - Ross, Gil - Natural Affection, Mr. Girard and Jerome - Malcolm, Pious Queen - "The Mutilated,,” Dennis - When Did You Last See My Mother?, Bed Salesman - You Know _I Can11 Hear You When The Water 1s Running, Don Beda - The Deer Park, Teddy Pope - The Deer Park.

The majority of these walk-on characters appeared in produc­ tions prior to 1961.

Supporting Characters. The homosexual characters who are classified as having supporting roles are those individuals who play a more relevant position in the plot and theme of the play. Their homosexuality is important, but it is not the primary motivation or of primary concern to the presented plot or theme. For example Baron de Charlus appears in one segment of the Camino Real. He represents just another individual present on the streets of the world. Christopher

Soames is just another member of the Filthy Five (The Playroom). 73 His homosexuality only distinguishes him slightly from the

other confused youths present in his gang. The supporting

homosexual characters are:

Charles Nichols - Ladies of the Corridor, Baron de Charlus - Camino Beal, Perrin McKee - End As A Man, Sheldon Marcus - The Best Man, Mr. Mulleady - The Hostage, Young Man - "The American Dream," Basil Smythe and Ronnie Johnson - Big Fish, Little Fish, Skip - Look: We've Come Through, Vince - Natural Affection, Mark Herris - Man and Boy, Eric and Christopher - The Playroom, Philip and Richard - The Lion In Winter, Jimmy - When Did You Last See My Mother?, Kenny Newquist - Little Murders, Aemilian, Pyramus, Achilles - Romulus.

Minor Characters♦ The homosexual characters who are classified as minor characters are those individuals who play an important role in the theme or plot of the play, hut are still in a secondary position. For example the awakening of

Hilda to life by Jules is of more importance than the con­ fused homosexuality of Gene Mitchell in Girls of Summer♦

These minor characters are:

Bachir and Moktir - The Immoralist, Gene Mitchell - Girls of Summer, Claggart - Billy Budd, Vivian Voles - Nature 1s Way, Arnulf - Ergo Arnold - Ergo Charles Eitel - The Deer Park Marion Faye - The Deer Park Clive and Walter - Five Finger Exercise, Geoffrey Ingram - A Taste of Honey, Nicholas ¿lack - The Devil's Advocate, Cousin Lyrion - The Ballad of The Sad Cafe, The Homosexual - "The Baptism," 74

Mr. Verdun and Peter Peterouter - "Home Movies," Mr. Pinkerton - Where * s Daddy?, David Ragin - The Sign In Sidney Brustein * s Window Lawyer, Butler, Cardinal - Tiny Alice, Maples - Inadmissible Evidence, Harold Gorringe - "Black Comedy," Mona and Queenie - Fortune and Men1s Byes, Taharahnugi White Woman and Queen Kong - Gorilla Queen, Baldasarre Pantaleone - Avanti, Hal and Dennis - Loot, Lot - The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Cowboy - The Boys In The Band.

Major Characters. The characters who were classified as major characters were the leading characters in a production

They were important to the plot and theme of the play.

These major characters are:

Mr. Dulcimer and Julian - The Green Bay Tree, Bill Reynolds and Tom Lee - Tea and Sympathy, Joe Cantwell - The Best Man, Michel - The Immoralist, Jerry - "The Zoo Story," Brig Anderson - Advise and Consent, Jimmy Luton - Big Fish, Little Fish, Bobby Kraweig - Look: We * ve Come Through, Henry II and Becket - Becket, Garga and Shlink - In The Jungle of The Cities, Ed and Sloane - Entertaining Mr♦ Sloane, Mick, Aston, and Davies.- The Caretaker, Gayly Gay - A Man1s A Man, Bill Lloyd and Harry Kane - "The Collection," The Man - "Epiphany," Brother Julian - Tiny Alice, Karolis and Foots - The Toilet," Sigfrid and Clarence - And Things That Go Bump In The Night, Baal and Ekart - Baal, Tom Keen - Where * s Daddy?, Romulus - Romulus, Ian - When Did You Last See My Mother?, Smitty and Rocky - Fortune and Men’s Eyes, Clyde Batty - Gorilla Queen, Harry Leeds and Charles Dyer - Staircase, Michael, Donald, Harold, Emory, Larry, Hank, and Bernard - The Boys In The Band. 75

The homosexual character was a major character in Tea and Sympathy and The Immoralist in the early Fifties. From

1954 until i960 he did not have a leading role in a play.

In comparison with major roles, the homosexual character has been predominantly cast in supporting and minor roles. After

1966 the homosexual character tended to play more major roles than he had during any other previous season.

Homosexual Caricatures. Homosexuals have been presented in all degrees of caricature. The majority of them have been labeled as homosexuals, but their behavior would not be classified as swishy or camp. A few comic characters can be typified as homosexual caricatures:

Charles Farber and Michael Lindsay - Season In The Sun, Biff White - Nature * s Way, Ronnie Cavendish - A Loss of Roses, Rio Rita - The Hostage, Peter Peterouter - "Home Movies," The Homosexual - "The Baptism," Queenie - Fortune and Men's Eyes, Taharahnugi White Woman and Queen Kong - Gorilla Queen, Emory - The Boys In The Band.

In each of the cited characters the purpose was to evoke laughter from the audience. This was to be accomplished by character presentation, by language, and/or by gesture.

The Relationship to Occupation and Age. Hoffman says, "Homosexual men come from every walk of life, every socio-economic and religious group, every 76

occupational category.”®1* The playwrights have not

attributed homosexuality only to teachers, artists, and actors

They have included many diverse occupations: from senators

to servicemen, businessmen, archaeologists, barbers, and

janitors. The general pattern of classification by

occupations seems to fall into four periods. The initial

period, 1950-1960, presented the homosexual character primar­

ily as being in the profession of education or in the fine

arts. Table IV presents both the occupation and general age

of the homosexual characters.

The second period, 1960-1961, continued with the

homosexual characters in their former occupations. They were

added to the ranks of government, royalty, and the service.

See Table V.

The third period, 1961-1965, added the clergy and a

variety of occupations in the business world to the homo­

sexual’s way of earning a living. See Table VI.

The fourth period, 1966-1968, added diverse occupations

to the many homosexual characters appearing in one production.

See Table VII.

OL ^Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968), p. 9. 77

TABLE IV

Name Occupation Age

Charles Farber vacationer teens Michael Lindsay- vacationer teens Mr. Dulcimer materialist forty-five Julian Owen student twenty Claggart seaman thirties Baron de Charlus sybarite elderly Lobo hustler twenties Perrin McKee military student teens Bill Reynolds house-master forty Mr. Harris music teacher twenties Charles Nichols elementary teacher thirties Bachir messenger teens Moktir professor fort ies Michel archaeologist twenties Akur migrant worker teens Dolit migrant worker teens Emory Wages landlord fifty-two Gene Mitchell ballet teacher thirty Green Eyes prisoner twenty-two Maurice prisoner seventeen LeFranc prisoner twenty-three Biff White potter thirty Vivian Voles playwright twenty-six Apples dope pusher twenty Sebastian Venable poet twenty Ronnie Cavendish actor thirties Clive Harrington student nineteen Walter Langer tutor twenty-two Jerry transient thirties 78

TABLE V

Name Occupation Age

Sheldon Marcus ex-Captain forties Joe Cantwell Senator forties Bio Rita Irish Navy twenties Princess Grace Irish Navy twenties Mr. Mulleady Civil Service forties Brig Anderson Senator thirties Geoffrey Ingram student twenties American Dream body-builder teens Nicholas Black artist mid-thirties Jimmie Luton art teacher fifty Basil Smythe ex-publisher fifty Ronnie Johnson author thirty-three Henry II King forties Becket Archbishop forties George Garga clerk twenties Shlink lumber executive thirties Skip sailor twenty-four Captain Turkish Army twenties General Turkish Army forties Mick builder twenties Aston landlord thirties Davies caretaker elderly 79 TABLE VI

Name Occupation Age

Escort gigolo twenties Vince Brinkman salesman forties Gil parolee eighteen Gayly Gay soldier twent ies Filthy Five soldier twenties Romulus Emperor fifties Aemilian soldier twent ies Pyramus courtier sixty Achilles courtier sixty Harry Kane boutique owner forty Bill Lloyd dress designer twenty The Man "Epiphany" researcher forty Cousin Lymon Cafe employee twenties Mark L. Herris executive fifty Homosexual dancer forty Peter Peterouter transvestite twenties David Ragin playwright twenties Mr. Verdun businessman forty Lawyer lawyer fifties Butler butler forties Cardinal cardinal fifties Brother Julian secretary twenties Karolis H.S. student teens Foots H.S. student teens Sigfrid student twenty-one Clarence student twenty Baal poet thirties Ekart composer thirties Mr. Sloane clerk/model seventeen Ed salesman twenties Maples draper thirties Christopher student sixteen Eric Soames student seventeen 80

TABLE VII

Name Occupation Age

J erome author/burglar twenties Malcolm unemployed fifteen Mr. Girard capitalist forties Pious Queen customer twent ies Mr. Pinkerton grammar teacher fifties Tom Keen actor teens Philip of France Prince twenties Richard of England Prince twenties Ian Civil Service twenties Jimmy Evans student nineteen Dennis student seventeen Harold Gorringe shoppe owner forty Smitty prisoner seventeen Mona prisoner nineteen Queenie prisoner twenty Rocky prisoner nineteen Bed Salesman clerk forties Clyde Batty hunter thirties Queen Kong actor thirties Taharahnugi W .W. transvestite thirties Arnulf Hush student eighteen Arnold Hush student s ixteen Marion Faye pimp twenty-four Charles Eitel Movie Director forty Teddy Pope Movie Star thirty Don Beda Millionaire forty-five Kenny Newquist student twenty Baldo Pantaleone traveler's aide twenties Harry C. Leeds barber forties Charles Dyer barber/actor forties Hal student twenties Dennis undertaker's aide twenties Lot landowner twenty Emory interior decorator thirty-three Bernard librarian twenty-eight Cowboy hustler twenty-two Harold ex-ice skater thirty-two Hank Math, teacher thirty-two Larry commercial artist twenty-nine Donald floor scrubber twenty-eight Michael author thirty 81

The playwrights have presented homosexual characters

that have spanned all ages chronologically from the early

teens through the middle fifties. The majority of the

characters have been in the age range of the late teens and

early twenties. A second important presented age range has been that of the forties. This would be a traumatic age period for the homosexual. At this time he would be characterized as losing his looks and attractiveness to sexual mates. His head would be growing bald. His waistline would be getting thick. He would be experiencing psychological trauma because of his beginning fall from physical youth and beauty. Charles Dyer and Harry Leeds in Staircase and

Jerry in "The Zoo Story" are typical examples of the aging homosexual.

Racial Factors. The majority of the homosexual characters have been Caucasian, but a few roles are designated as being

Negroid. These include: Princess Grace In The Hostage,

Foots in "The Toilet," and Bernard in The Boys In The Band.

Though not designated to be played by a Negro, the character of Mona in Fortune and Men* s Eyes was played by a Negro actor.

Religious Factors. The religious affiliation of many homosexual characters was not indicated. However the homo­ sexual characters in The Boys In The Band were representatives of common religious denominations: Roman Catholic, Jewish, and

Protestant. 82

Physique Factors. The reference to a supposedly typical homosexual interest in the male physique was made in Tea and

Sympathy. Tom Lee had pictures of posed muscle-men in his dresser. The following homosexual characters mentioned their personal interest in physical culture: Gene Mitchell .

(Girls of Summer), Sloane (Entertaining Mr. Sloane), and

Cowboy (The Boys In The Band). The following characters were described as having exceptional physiques: "The American

Dream," Mr. Verdun ("Home Movies"), and Jerome (Malcolm).

Mr. Sloane and Jerome were models.

The Relationship to Speech and Syntax.

Philologists have stated that speech is a form of human behavior. Linguists have studied the structure of the patterns of language behavior in selected individuals.

They have observed the effects of emotional and physical stress upon the speech and language patterns of these individuals. They have concluded that the mental states of many patients are reflected in their speech and language behavior.$5 The language patterns chosen by the playwrights has been indicative of the degree of sexual deviation of a homosexual character. This has been especially true in the presentation of the comic caricature. An observation

eorge K. Zipf, The Psycho-Biology of Language (Cam­ bridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press, 19^5) > P* 2l6. 83 of the language patterns of Michael Farber (Season In The

Sun) indicates the flighty nature of his character. In

1950 Wolcott Gibbs presented homosexual speech patterns by the choice of word arrangement and through the use of underscored words in the dialogue, a direction to indicate vocal stress patterns:

It is most unbusiness like . . . (p. 24), We counted being directly on the beach, (p. 24), I have never been so cross in my life. (p. 24), I'm sure the old horror can be terribly amusing . . . but really, simply Ignoring our telegram, (p. 26), It’s simply miles down to that village, (p. 26), It's dreadfully disappointing, (p. 24), That's awfully sweet of you. (p. 26), . . . this perfectly absurd house practically snapping at his heels. Such a commotion', (p. 98).

Herman Wouk had Biff White use similar language patterns in Nature's Way in 1957 J

Oh dear, am I dreadfully late? Such a revolting traffic jaml I'm simply livid.°° I baked you a lovely red clay pig that weekend. (p- 76), Yes, actually when I got the call, I just went out of my mind. (p. 74).

The more recent presentation of the homosexual character is not as reserved in his language choice as the above samples had been. The homosexuals have been attributed a definite syntax of their own. They are free to use their own vocabulary and phrases when in the presence of their acknowledged peers. They utilize feminine names and

^Herman Wouk, Nature's Way (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1956), p. 74. 84

pronouns when referring to themselves or to each other.

The dialogue of Mark Crowley’s The Boys In The Band is

filled with indicative homosexual chatter. Bernard, the

Negro librarian, is referred to as the "queen of spades."

Emory is designated as being a very camp individual. His

statements reflect the homosexual syntax:

Anything for a sis, Mary. (p. 44), Oh My God, It’s Lily Law. (p. 54), Cheese it*. Here comes the socialite nun. (p. 79), I may be nellie, but I'm no coward. (p. l44), Yeah, they'd love to meet him--her. I have such a problem with pronouns. (p. 8l).

Queenie in John Herbert's Fortune and Men's Eyes uses a

similar syntax:

Well for cripes sake. . . Take your deck of weed and give it to your mother. (p. 20), The tailor shop and the laundry are especially made for us girls. . . But I like the laun­ dry since they made me forelady. (p. 20).

Hyperbole seems to be significant in the language of the presented homosexual characters. Harold Gorringe ("Black

Comedy") says, "Some week-end'. It rained the whole bloody time. I'm damp to my panties."®^ Harry Leeds (Staircase)

says, "My blushes lasted longer than Worcester sauce in a church cupboard."®® Harold (The Boys In The Band) says,

®7peter Shaffer, "Black Comedy" (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1967), P« 68. 8®Charles Dyer, Staircase (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1966), p. 24. 85

"Well, 11m absolutely ravenous. I’m going to eat until I

have a fat attack." (p. 97)« Donald, in the same play,

states about Michael: "He’s working through his Oedipus com­

plex, sugar, with a machete." (p. 99).

Homosexuals have been typified as being sensitive about

the use of their first name. Gene Mitchell (Girls of Summer) says, "Call me Gene, Mother--not Eu-Gene. Genel"®9

Michael (The Boys In The Band) says to Alan: "My name is

Michael. I am called Michael. You must never call anyone

Michael, Mickey. Those of us who are named Michael are very

nervous about it." (p. 124). Near the end of the play

Michael is having an anxiety attack as a result of his earlier

behavior. He says to the departing Donald:

Come back Donald. Come Back Shane. I need you. Just like Mickey Mouse needs Minnie Mouse-just like Donald Duck needs Minnie Duck. Mickey needs Donnie. Donald: My name is Donald. I am called Donald. You must never call any­ one named Donald, Donnie, (p. 179)-

Hugh Wheeler gave a remarkable presentation of homosexual speech to a non-labeled homosexual character in

Big Fish, Little Fish. Jimmie Luton is described as being excitable and affectionate. Although he is ceaselessly

scolding, he worships William Baker. The revelation of his sexual preference is indicated in the following:

®9N. Richard Nash, Girls of Summer (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1956), p. 48. 86

J: William I know yon know how fond of you I've been. And I am. Of course I am. But it isn't just that. It's more. William we've never talked about this and I never thought I would . . . but. . . but. . . W: Jimmie, Do you think I didn't know? J: Know what? You knew and you didn't mind? W: Who am I to mind? People are the way the^are. And that's how it ought to

Jimmie has given William many gifts in the years they have known each other. When the news is revealed that William may be moving, Jimmy reacts:

What are you going to do with all this? Sublet? Break the lease? Sell everything? Throw it away? Discard your mother's things? Why that chair, it's an heirloom (p. 48).

Later Jimmie says to Bonnie Johnson:

Do you always have to bow down to William as if he were the Dalai Lama or something? I bet he doesn't take my Greek place mats to Geneva. I bet he doesn't take a thing I've given to him. (pp* 48-49).

Jimmie fusses about the house doing many things for his friends. He berates Edith on her inability to function as well as he does in the kitchen. He insists on doing everything and then retorts: "A beast of burden, that's all

I am around here." (p. 35)* His verbal reactions are typical of a man of his nature and temperament:

J: Here Edith taste this. See if it's cold enough for you.

9°Hugh C. Wheeler, Big Fish, Little Fish, Theatre Arts, XLVI (September, 1962), P- 5^7 87

E: Delicious. J: Well, It'll have to do (p. 28).

Now let's see, Edith sits by the kitchen, I suppose. I'll sit next to her. And then Hilda on the other side. No Basil . . . And Ronnie since you're the guest of honor, you can have the privilege of sitting opposite the birthday boy. (p. 31).

The homosexual may not always be identified by his speech, but he, as every other person, expresses his subjective attitudes and feelingsrthrough his use of language. Harry Leeds (Staircase) is experiencing trauma over the aging process. He expresses his concern:

Charlie, last night I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror. . . It was horrible Charlie, I saw a fat old man, bloated and hanging. I was flabby and ridiculous and I knew it. Paunch like a pig; freckled and grisley and. . . I'm wearing tiddly briefs inside, Charlie, and my heart can still dance; but who knows it? Who'd want me on a beach?. . . a yellowing sow's ear. . . a curled-at- the-edges passe phallic symbol (p. 15)«

Harry is concerned about his becoming bald:

Ever since my first little bare patch, it's been the same. It was you who first told me. D'you remember? 'Oogh, You're going bald,' you said. 'D'you know?' ... Of course I bloody knew. I wanted to forget, not be reminded. People don't realize it's an affliction like anything else. . . But you see a bald man and it's everybody's hee-hee time. 'Your heads coming through your hair, mate'.' 'Hello Curley i ' 'Hey, want your bonce polished for twopence?' Being bald’s an affliction. A human problematic affliction, (pp. 4-3-44).

Another language device that gives individuality to a 88

character is the use of a pet phrase. Frequently the person

intersperses his conversation with his trademark. Charles

Dyer’s (Staircase) pet phrase is "Well, I should rub a dub."

I shouted. 'Your hair mate’. Look at your suffering hair. On the pillow!' I should rub a dub. You went white, (p. 43).

You what! Oh, I should rub a dub: he’s only married with five kids, dear! (p. 3°)•

That kind of talk's against God, Harry. Oh yes, dear. Hallelujah or no hallelujah, let's keep the jet going. I should rub a dub. (p. 36).

You'll be there ... my daughter'll be there . . . the old Sow'll be there; and I'll be the loneliest ex-Third-on-the-Bill on the bill. What! I should rub a dub. And I'm innocent. I'm innocent 1 (p. 40).

You what! I should rub a dub. I mean, you're hardly Ghenkis Khan, are you, dear! (p. 77)»

I'd have someone with black curls. Black curls I'd have. I should rub a dub. (p. 80).

An individual's standards of life and his education

are reflected in his language. He opens his mouth to speak,

and his personality is revealed with all of his personal

eccentricities. Mr. Pinkerton (Where * s Daddy?) is an

example of this fact as he speaks of Tom Keen:

He thinks I'm sort of a Kuan Yin, with a pair of tits and a pair of balls and a pair of everything that's needed in an emergency

91William Inge, Where's Daddy? (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 19^4), "p. 6l7 89

Well God. knows, I’m not a very conven­ tional man. I keep the Bible on one side of my bed and the Kama Sutra on the other. I don’t know if I’m good or bad. I only know I have a few ec­ centric virtues. I raised Tom as my son. (p. 62).

Tom. . . I want to help you, as a friend, but I don't think I'd be helping you to let you come back. . . Sometimes a few weeks can turn into a lifetime. It's awfully dangerous to go back Tom. To go back any place. (p. 36).

Summary.

This chapter has presented a consideration of the homosexual character as an individual. The homosexual character has interchangeably played a major role and a minor role in his relation to the theme and plot of the plays that have been presented. No one trend, either as a major or as a minor character seems to be predominant in any particular season or to establish a clear trend over the theatrical seasons considered chronologically. The homosexual character has been presented in certain trends which have been identified as: the use of the homosexual character for local color, the pre­ sentation of the homosexual as an off-stage character but as a predominant factor in the plot and in the lives of the onstage characters, the homosexual as a realistically motivated individual but unidentified as a homosexual, the homosexual resolving his problems by means of suicide, the homosexual converting to normality through suggested 90

heterosexual intercourse, the homosexual as a third party-

in a love-triangle, the homosexual as establishing a vanguard for his sexual rights and minority status, and

the use of the homosexual for broad comedy.

Playwrights have presented certain homosexual characters

in atypical behavior. These were identified as the repressed homosexual, the homosexual character with a physical appearance that provoked resentment in his viewer, the homosexual character requiring a voyeur for sexual activity, and the supposed heterosexual character acting as a homosexual aggressor. The homosexual has been presented in all degrees of caricature. The homosexual character has been presented in varied occupations, socio-economic levels, racial and religious denominations. A few of the homosexual characters have been presented as having a pronounced interest in physical culture.

The homosexual character has been presented in his late teens, reflecting the archetypal hero, and in his early forties, reflecting the trauma of the homosexual adjustment to middle age and the possible loss of physical attractiveness.

The speech and language patterns of the homosexual character have been indicative of the degree of his effeminacy, his mental status, his education, and his individuality. CHAPTER III

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER

This chapter is concerned with the psychological back­

ground of the homosexual character. Psychological precepts

concerning the etiology of homosexuality will be presented.

Where possible examples of the utilization of these precepts by the playwrights in the development of the homosexual

character in a play will be indicated. Where applicable the

traits of sadism, masochism, and aberrant sexual neurosis will be indicated. Examples of the development of homosex­

uality in a character and examples of the psychological

internal stress in an individual unsure of his sexual pro­

clivities will be given. A consideration of the trauma

caused by the threat of being labeled a homosexual, by the discovery, and by the exposure of homosexual activities will be presented. Finally a comparison of the psychological attributes of the female characters in pertinent dramas attracted to the male homosexual character and into a marriage with him will be made.

The Influence of Sigmund Freud.

Sievers indicates:

The playwright’s chief task remains to under­ stand and illuminate for his audiences the be­ havior of his fellow man. His task today is infinitely more possible of realization be­ cause of the reunion of the dramatist with the psychologist. . . . The most significant fact in 92

the history of modern American drama is its overwhelming indebtedness to the concepts of behavior developed and systematized by the psychoanalytic movement, and most particularly by the genius of its founder, Sigmund Freud.9^

The publication of the works of Freud and his successors

and the increased frankness in the discussion of sex during the same period resulted in a better understanding between

sexual expression and the hidden motives of the mind. The concept of cause and effect for human behavior increased in importance. Freud’s theories stressed the influence of childhood and adolescence on later life.

One of Freud’s basic premises was that all individuals differed in their hereditary biologic endowment. He felt that the phys­ ical differences among people which dis­ tinguished them as individuals must be re­ flected not only in underlying physiologic, metabolic, and other characteristics of the biologic organism but also in terms of needs, drives, action potentials, and activity-pass­ ivity tendencies. . . . He saw the child as reacting to sexual needs according to the intensity of its active or passive tenden­ cies without any initial conceptualization of masculine or feminine roles. Only after the child becomes aware of gender does it identify itself with the sex that represents the active or passive tendency in its own constitution. If the child tends to be active, it identifies with masculinity, and if passive, with femininity

Freud maintained that the existence of homosexual

92w. David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955), p- 454. 93irving Bieber et al., Homosexuality: A Psycho­ analytic Study of Male Homosexuals (New York: Vintage Books), pp. 3-4. 93 tendencies is permanent because of the libidinal phases of

development. The first phase is autoerotic and narcissis­

tic. The individual seeks a love object that represents

himself. In the phallic phase the penis becomes the principal

organ of discharge and pleasure. The male overevaluates the

prized male genital and may develop an unconscious fear of the

loss of the organ. The knowledge of the absence of the penis

in the female may lead to a type of castration anxiety. A

second type of castration anxiety fostering homosexuality

is associated with Incestuous feelings for the mother.

"The castration anxiety in this context derives from fear of retaliation for wishes to castrate the father who is 94 perceived as a sexual rival for the mother."

Freud believed that the sexual practices in the homosexual relationship symbolize regres­ sions to developmental fixation points. For instance, if there is an anal fixation, the individual may identify with his mother and then attempt to play the mother’s role through the symbolic equation of the anus with the vagina. On the other hand, if there is a stronger identification with the father, the homosexual might subject other males to a passive role in the sodomitic act, which symbolically transforms these men into females and at the same time covertly expresses hostility toward them as males.

Irving Bieber et ♦ al. , Homosexuality; A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals~~fNew York; Vintage Books, 1965), p. 5. 95phid., pp. 5-6. 94

Freud’s formulation of the etiology of homosexuality

postulated a continuum between constitutional and experiential 96 elements. Each case is individual. Each case is the result

of inherent and extrinsic factors and the relative dominance

of each of these factors.

Psychological Studies and, the Homosexual Character.

Not all authorities agreed with Freud’s theory.

Sandor Rado criticized the theory and stated that he felt that

homosexuality was caused by a fear of the opposite sex. 97'

There have been many diverse theories published concerning

the etiology of homosexuality. Examples of these theories will be presented and related to the pertinent dramas of the

period under consideration.

There are many environmental or psychological reasons why individuals whom one would nor­ mally expect to be heterosexual, or at least to be bisexual, tend to become mainly or ex­ clusively homosexual. In fact, there are so many influences that psychologically predispose a male or female to become homosexual that one has a difficult time deciding which of them is truly important; and authors who insist that there is one paramount reason are to be sus­ pected of giving a one-sided presentation. For each point that such authors unduly emphasize, they seem to leave out fifty or a hundred other significant factors.

9®irving Bieber et al., Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), P« 2.

97john Gerassi, The Boys of Boise (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1966), p. 91* ^Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart Inc., 1965), p. 51. 95 Gebhard, Gagnon, Et Al. Gebhard, Gagnon et al. in

studying sex offenders determined the following causes of

homosexuality: Homosexuals were an only child or the youngest

sibling in a family. They had had poor parental relation­

ships and generally were the product of a broken home.

They had participated in prepubertal homosexual play,

generally with an adult male. They had heterosexual

experience, but had preferred homosexual activities. They

had reached puberty at a very early age when compared with

their peers. They had had frequent illnesses in childhood.

The majority of the subjects in this study had been married.99

A consideration of the homosexual characters according

to these causitive factors indicates that the playwrights

have created characters consistent with psychological

premises. John Herbert’s prisoners in Fortune and Men's

Eyes are examples of the Gebhard et al. findings: Smitty was an only child. Mona and Rocky had younger siblings.

Smitty, Rocky and Queenie had had poor family relationships.

Queenie was from a broken home.

In other pertinent plays the following characters

mention being an only child:

Tom Lee - Tea and Sympathy,

99 Paul H. Gebhard, et al., Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Types (London: Heinemann Ltd., 1965), P* 356T- 96

Michel - The Immoralist, Charles Nichols - Ladies of the Corridor, Sebastian Venable - Suddenly Last Summer, Bobby Kraweig - Look: We * ve Come Through, Hal - Loot, Jimmy Evans - When Did You Last See My Mother?, Michael and Donald - The Boys In The Band.

Lot ( Tbe Seven Descents of Myrtle) may be classified as an only child. Chicken was his illegitimate brother.

Besides the only children some of the prisoners studied by Gebhard et al. were said to be the youngest sibling in a family unit. The only dramatic character who meets this characteristic is Kenny Newquist in Little Murders♦

A few homosexual characters had younger sisters;

Ed - Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Clive - Five Finger Exercise, Sigfrid - And Things That Go Bump In The Night, Harry Leeds - Staircase.

Many of the homosexual characters seemed to have poor parental relationships. This is expressed by Ian in When

Did You Last See My Mother?:

I come from a tactless family. Take my father, he was a tactless man; a) because instead of having me educated on the house he nearly broke himself giving me the < inestimable benefits of a public-school education, and b) because he went and caught nasty, rotten, lumpy cancer and, tactlessly as ever, timed his death for my sixteenth birthday.100

My mother died when I was twelve. It was funny, we never got on too well ... I was

l°°Christopher Hampton, When Did You Last See My Mother? (New York; Grove Press, Inc., 19^7), p. 5« 97 always having vicious arguments with her about something or other. But . . . There was a person who loved me more than anyone else ever has or ever will, and I didn't realize it until about ten minutes before . . . she snuffed it. (pp. 35—36).

The Lion In Winter provides an example of a homosexual

supposedly created by his parent's techniques of rearing:

Eleanor: Don't share John with me. He's your accomplishment. Henry: And Richard's yours. . . Eleanor he was the best. The strongest bravest, handsomest and from the cradle on you cradled him. I never had the chance. . . You threw me out of bed for Richard.

Eleanor is shown to be very intimate in her relations with

Richard. Eleanor attempts to rekindle, in the now cold

Richard, the warmth of the love and affection that once flamed between them, mother and son:

Eleanor: I love you. Richard: You love nothing. You are incomplete. The human parts of you are missing. You're as dead as you are deadly. . . Eleanor: Oh, don't you remember how you loved me? Richard: Vaguely—like a legend. Eleanor: You remember. We were always hand in hand. That's how it felt. (Thrusts her hand in his.) Richard: As coarse and hot as that. Eleanor: This won't burn. I'll scratch a will on this. (Bares her forearm, points with a knife.) To Richard, everything. Richard: Mother I Eleanor: Remember how I taught you numbers and the lute and poetry.

10lJames Goldman, The Lion In Winter (Hew York: Samuel French, Inc., 1966), p. 65• 98

Richard: Mother Eleanor: See? You do remember. I taught you dancing, too, and languages and all the music that I knew and how to love what’s beautiful. The sun was warmer then and we were every day together. (pp. 28-29)•

Other examples of homosexual characters with poor parental

relationships and/or from broken homes are the following:

Walter and Clive - Five Finger Exercise, Donnie Barker - Natural Affection. Eric Soames - The Playroom. Bobby Kraweig - Look: We've Come Through. Kenny Baird - A Loss of Boses, Arnold and Arnulf Hush - Ergo, Tom Keen - Where's Daddy?, Mr. Sloane - Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Gene Mitchell - Girls of Summer, Tom Lee - Tea and Sympathy, Donald and Michael - The Boys In The Band.

In only two instances in the dramas studied was the factor of prepubertal sexual play mentioned. The first was

Michel (The Immoralist): the exposition mentions his being returned to his home at the age of eleven after being sexually

involved with a classmate at boarding school. The second was David Ragin (The Sign In Sidney Brustein* s Window): the exposition mentions his playing with Nelson at the age of

seven.

The only account showing a youth experiencing homosexual foreplay on the stage with an adult male is that presented between Malcolm and Jerome. It may be inferred that sexual relations may have occurred between Julian and Mr. Dulcimer

in The Green Bay Tree and between Tom Keen and Mr. Pinkerton

in Where’s Daddy?. Mr. Dulcimer purchased Julian from 99 Mr. Owen when Julian was a young hoy. Mr. Pinkerton picked

up Tom Keen in a gay bar, when Tom was fifteen, took him

home and raised him.

No expository information as to the initial age of

reaching puberty is given by any character, except for

Jerry in "The Zoo Story:"

Oh, wait: for a week and a half, when I was fifteen. . . and I hang my head in shame that puberty was late. . . I was a h-o-m-o- s-e-x-u-a-1. I mean, I was queer. . . queer, queer, queer. . . with bells ringing, banners snapping in the wind. And for those eleven days, I met at least twice a day with the park superintendent's son ... a Greek boy, whose birthday was the same as mine, except he was a year older.1°2

The two characters who mention prolonged illness in

childhood are Lot (The Seven Descents of Myrtle) and Michael

(The Boys In The Band). Lot was always fighting sickness.

Michael's mother convinced him that he was a sickly child who couldn't run and play and sweat and get knocked around.

Certain homosexual characters were presented as being married. The most prominent example of the married homosexual was that of Michel in The Immoralist. Bill Reynolds (Tea and Sympathy) was presented as a repressed homosexual who had married. Two other major characters who were married were Gayly Gay (A Man1s A Man) and Henry II (Becket). Charles

Dyer (Staircase) and Hank (The Boys In The Band) had been 10

102gdward Albee, Two Plays by Edward Albee (New York: Signet Books, 1959)» P« 25. 100

married, but were divorced. Minor homosexual characters who

were married were: Mr. Girard (Malcolm), Mr. Verdun ("Home

Movies"), and John Maples (inadmissible Evidence). Presented

as happily married men who had experienced a homosexual

encounter while in the service were Brig Anderson (Advise and

Consent) and Joe Cantwell (The Best Man). The rationale for

these latter experiences is: Men are driven to engage in

homosexual behavior who are incarcerated in prisons or in

hospitals, who are isolated with other males in the armed

forces, or who are working in regions where females are not

available.

Albert Ellis. In Chapter Two, "Psychological Causes,"

of Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure, Albert Ellis states that

homosexuality may be the reaction to a number of factors. His

first factor is that homosexuality may have developed from

general conditioning and learning. He states that some

children are raised to believe that most females are

dangerous and horrible creatures.A dramatic example of

this background is Bobby Kraweig (Look: We've Come Through):

His mother constantly condemns young girls in front of him.

Bobby has come to believe that "sex is a lousy dirty nothing

103Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1965), p. 5^ 10iiIbid., p. 52. 101

. . . for the birds.” (p. 38). Another environmental factor

is that the boy is deliberately raised by his mother to be 105 girlish. This is typified by Michael (The Boys In The Band)

"She made me into a girl-friend dash lover ... to hear

her tell it I was practically female. . . I declare, Michael,

you should have been a girl.”

Homosexuality itself is hardly a monolithic, well-

defined trait, but instead has at least two major components:

sexual desire and sex-role inversion tendencies. Some male

homosexuals are only driven toward other males for sexual

satisfaction. Some homosexuals are true sex-role inverts

in that they think and act like most women in their culture.

Some homosexuals are heterosexual in their sex orientation 107 but love to wear women’s clothing and adopt feminine ways.

The majority of the homosexual characters presented on the

stage would fall into the first classification: they seek

sexual satisfaction in other males.

105Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart” Inc ., Í965), p. 55 • ^O^Mart Crowley, The Boys In The Band (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968), p. 24.

107Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart Inc., 19^5), PP• 55~56. 102

Only one character could possibly be considered for

the third classification. Lot in The Seven Descents of Myrtle

to our knowledge has no heterosexual orientation. He does

say,

. . . and don’t imagine you have married a fairy. . . You’ve married someone to whom no kind of sex relation was ever as important as fighting sickness and trying with his mother to create a little elegance in a corner of the earth we live in. 05

It is indicated that Lot bleaches his hair with a special formula that his mother prepared. He dresses in his mother's clothing: panties, brassiere, slippers, dress, and a wig made out of corn-silk. He sits in the parlor talking to himself in the same voice as hers. (pp* 74-75)«

Five other characters are sexually oriented towards males. Although each varies in his degree of feminine out­ look, all have tendencies towards transvestism. Of this group the only character who does not appear onstage in female attire is Charles Dyer in Staircase. Charles ration­ alizes his wearing of female clothing. He has been an actor, a female impersonator. He tells of cavorting In "drag" in a bar. The four other homosexual characters appear onstage in female attire. Queenie (Fortune and Men's Eyes) wears a tight sequined dress, long black gloves, rhinestone jewelry, heavy make-up and a feather fan for the Christmas entertainment at the prison. He executes practiced bumps and grinds as he parodies "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." (p. 71)

108Tennessee Williams, Kingdom of Earth (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1967), P« 35« 103

Peter Peterouter ("Home Movies”) stripping to a red dress says, "I’m wearing ’White Shoulders' on top, but underneath there's still the lingering odor of 'Bagatalle.' It expresses the real me." (p. 94). Taharahnugi White Woman

(Gorilla Queen) is described as being played by a brownskin male actor, ravishing in a tight sarong and wig of long raven hair; barefooted with ankle bracelets, huge round 109 falsies, thick lipstick, and long lashes. "Queen Kong is played by a male actor of huge dimensions, dressed in a gorilla outfit so dear to Hollywood's heart. . . rhinestone tiara. . . rambling roses. . . and ruby rings on his fingers and toes." (p. 205). Clarence (And Things That Go Bump in the Night) is forced to wear a dress because Sigfrid and Lakme have hidden his clothing. He is made to look ridiculous in female attire. Arnold Hush (Ergo) used powder, lipstick, and eyeshadow.

In the consideration of the factors related to parental and family conditioning, Ellis feels that the Freudians highly exaggerate the part that family patterns play in the early influences towards homosexuality and neglect the part that general culture patterns play.

They neglect the fact that the child is not only, or often even mainly, taught

109Ronald Tavel, Gorilla Queen, Michael Smith, editor, The Best of Off Off-Broadway (New York: E.P. Dutton, 19&9), p. 185. io4

by his parents and parent-surrogates, and that he is also trained by his peers, his school teachers, the books he reads the movies he sees, and by various other institutions and means of mass communica­ tion. 1^G

Considering the factors related to the desire to

adopt the role of the other sex, Ellis indicates that "puny

and physically weak males, in proportions significantly greater than chance, seem to adopt 'fairy’ roles,"111 Play­

wrights have used this physically puny description only in

a broad sense. Tom Lee (Tea and Sympathy) is described as

young and a little gangling. Jimmie Luton (Big Fish, Little

Fish) is thin, fifty, and wears glasses. Lot (The Seven

Descents of Myrtle) is a frail, delicately, you might say

exotically, pretty youth. Clarence (And Things That Go Bump

In The Night) indicates, "I'm . . . I'm just not strong.

But I think things."I12

None of the characters seems to be primarily motivated

towards the factors related to the real difficulties and

dangers of heterosexuality. None of them seems so penurious

that he refrains from heterosexual contacts. None states 110 111 112

110Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart Inc., 1965)» P« 6l. 111Ibid., p. 62.

112Terrence McNally, And Things That Go Bump In The Night, Playwrights For Tomorrow, Vol. I, Arthur H. Ballet, editor (Minneapolis, Minnesota: The University of Minnesota Press, 1966), p. 244. 105

that he abhors penile-vaginal copulation. None seems to

want not to get emotionally involved with a sex partner.

Certain of the presented homosexual characters were

outspoken about their need to be loved. Clarence (And

Things That Go Bump In The Night) says:

Sigfrid, do you ever get lonely? I mean for someone more than just a friend. . . Someone you can really be with? I do . . . sometimes at night I cry about . . . being lonely. (pp- 250-251).

Harry Leeds (Staircase) tells of his experience when he

reached out to love his nephew:

I had, well, a dreadful experience. I was bouncing their little boy on my knee. Gurgling; chubby. He's about three. And he threw his arms around my neck and pushed his peanut nose in my ear; and, oh Charlie, I couldn't help hugging and squeezing him. 'Oh you darling darling thing,' I whispered. Then it all happened. . . The baby-- began screaming. Wouldn't stop. Then Dick ran in--all diddems and waddems. 'What did you do?' he said. 'What did you do?'...His voice thick and accusing: face all over the front of his head. How can you tell a man with hairs curling over his collar that you only wanted someone to hug; something to love? (p. 59) •

Certain individuals participate in homosexual behavior for the secondary gain it offers, an easy form of sexual gratification. If these individuals begin as male prosti­ tutes, they will later submit to homosexual relations with­ out the requisite of money. They will come to acquire a taste for homosexuality and change their attitudes towards it. A key example of this type of homosexual would be Bachir 106

(The Immoralist) . He obtains gifts, money, food, and status among his peers in his nightly visits to the orchards.

A number of individuals in our society who resort to confirmed homosexuality are originally led to homoerotic activity mainly because they have been raised to be excep­ tionally guilty about heterosexual relations. This is a 113 factor related to antisexuality and puritanism. Michael

(The Boys In The Band) has been brought up in the Homan

Catholic faith. "I’m one of those truly rotten Catholics who gets drunk, sins all night, and goes to Mass the next morning." (p. 104). Michael is further called Harriet

Hypocrite and is accused of hanging on to the great in­ surance policy of The Church, (p. 103)•

A male can easily become fixated upon loving and/or having sexual relations with members of his own sex. He ll4 acquires amative rather than sexual fixations. Emory

(The Boys In The Band) would fall into this category of homosexuals:

Delbert Botts is the one person I have always loved. . . . I've loved him ever since the first day I laid eyes on him, which was when I was in the fifth grade and he was a senior, (p. 137)-

Bernard (The Boys In The Band) has a similar background.

He admits that he has loved Peter Dahlbeck all of his life.

"But he never knew I was alive. Besides he’s straight."

•^Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart” Inc., 1965)> P* 107

(p. 131)« Peter was the Caucasian son of Bernard’s employer.

They had made sexual contact in the poolhouse one night after a drunken swimming party. Brother Julian (Tiny Alice) tells of his erotic fixation on the tufts of black hair on the thumbs of a Welsh groom. Other examples of amative fixation might be that of Julian for Mr. Dulcimer (The Green Bay Tree) and Tom Keen for Mr. Pinkerton (Where's Daddy?).

"Although severe feelings of inadequacy do not directly or necessarily lead to fixed homosexuality in our society, they are usually the main predisposing factor,m115 This inadequacy may take the form of a low economic standing as is evidenced in Mr. Sloane's attraction for Ed in Entertain­ ing Mr. Sloane. It may take the form of physical hero worship similar to Cousin Lymon's attraction for Marvin Macy in The

Ballad of the Sad Cafe♦ Cousin Lymon being a "brokeback" may have admired the physical stature of Marvin Macy. He indicates with erotic glee that Marvin had been a member of a chain gang. This feeling of inadequacy may take the form of shyness and a lack of initiative. An example of this is

Clarence in And Things That Go Bump in the Night. Clarence expresses his feelings of inadequacy:

The way I live is . . . the best I can do. I try. I mean I really try. And I think I am

^-^Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1965)» P« 70. 108

improving. I think I am becoming a better human being day by day. I really do. . . Anyway I’m trying. (pp. 231-232).

There are factors related to hostility and rebelliousness which lead to homosexuality. Hostile individuals usually

love to put others down, in order that they themselves can temporarily feel superior. The hostility of the homosexual is shown in many of the plays under consideration. Sigfrid,

Ruby, and Lakme (And Things That Go Bump in the Night) are so hostile to Clarence that he rushes into the night to be electrocuted on the fence. The Turkish General (Ross) con­ quers Lawrence by means of physical hostility and rape.

Claggart’s attack on BiHy Budd was one of hostility. Foots and Karolis ("The Toilet") are forced into a hostile fist­ fight that is a sham cover for their true reciprocal feelings.

Skip (Look: We * ve Come Through) is hostile in his seductive approach to Bobby. Rocky (Fortune and Men1s Eyes) repeatedly seeks to be king of his cellblock by demeaning Mona, Queenie, and Smitty. David Ragin (The Sign In Sidney Brustein1s Window) is hostile to any individual who questions his right to be a homosexual. The interchange of hostility between the Lawyer and the Cardinal (Tiny Alice), the Lawyer, Butler, and Alice among themselves and towards Brother Julian exhibits clearly the homosexual elements of the play. Harry Kane ("The Col­ lection") is hostile towards James Horne because of his in­ terest in Bill Lloyd and towards Bill for his actions with

Horne. The hostility of The Man ("Epiphany") towards his wife 109

drives him to attempt to assume the characteristics of a

rooster in order to rule his roost. Though neither are

homosexual, Eddie (A View From The Bridge) is hostile in his

attack on Rodolpho because of the latter’s interest in his

niece. Reciprocal hostility is shown by Michael and Harold

in The Boys In The Band. Michael seeks to gain a sense of

superiority over Alan and ease his conscience about his

own sexual proclivity by proving that Alan had experienced a

homosexual love for their former college rommate, Justin

Stuart. Michael, under the influence of alcohol, is

both verbal and physical in his hostility towards his

guests. Harold reacts to Michael’s hostility:

You are a sad and pathetic man. You’re a homosexual and you don’t want to be. But there is nothing you can do to change it. Not all the prayers to your God, not all the analysis you can buy in all the years you’ve got left to live. You may very well one day be able to know a heterosex­ ual life if you want it desparately enough --if you pursue it with the fervor with which you annihilate—but, you will always be homosexual as well. Always, Michael. Always. Until the day you die. (p. 173)»

Martin Hoffman. Hoffman indicates that many men do not

develop an awareness of homosexuality until they are many years past puberty. He feels that this is due to a combination of

two factors: the failure of society to make people aware

of homosexuality as an existent way of life, and the strong

repressive forces that prevent people from knowing what their 110 real sexual feelings are.11® Many of these individuals do not participate in homosexual acts until they are of college age or past college age. Michael and Donald (The Boys In The

Band) admit to "coming out" In college. They categorize the action as the Christ-Was-I-Drunk-Last-Night Syndrome:

When you made it with some guy in school and the next day you had to face each other. There was always a lot of shit kicking crap about "Man was I drunk last night. I don*t remember a thing.". . . It’s just that you also do remember every­ thing . (pp* 4l-42).

The Lawyer and the Cardinal (Tiny Alice) talk of being

"buddies" at school. Michel (The Immoralist) does not recognize his deviance until after his father has died; he is a successful archaeologist, and has married. Clive and Walter (Five Finger Exercise) are both of college age when they are attracted to each other. Gene Mitchell (Girls of Summer) does not question his sexual identity until he is thirty. Hank (The Boys In The Band) and Maples (In­ admissible Evidence) did not have their first homosexual experience until after they were married and were fathers.

Skip (Look: We've Come Through), Brig Anderson (Advise and

Consent), and Joe Cantwell (The Best Man) did not experience homosexual contact until they were in the service. *

ll6Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968), p. 138. Ill

Homosexuals show an interest in the arts. Hoffman says,

"There is more interest in and knowledge about opera, ballet and theatre in homosexual groups than I have noticed in heter­ osexual groups of comparable age and socio-economic level.

When Tom Lee (Tea and Sympathy) was accused of homosexuality, one of the arguments against him was that he had an interest in singing and music, and that he had played women’s roles in school plays. All of the homosexuals in The Boys In The

Band freely comment upon the arts. Michael does one-liner impersonations of Barbara Stanwick, Judy Garland, Kathryn

Hepburn, and Betty Grable. Quips from old movies and plays are freely interspersed among the dialogue of the seven homosexuals. Charles Dyer (Staircase) refers to the famous

English female impersonators: Dan Leno, Henry Ainsly, H.W.

Pennington, and to the play Charlie's Aunt. Kenny Newquist

(Little Murders) impersonates Humphrey Bogart. The cultural influence of the motion pictures of the Thirties and Forties seems to be evidenced by the playwrights’ choices of these specific stars for impersonations. The films "gave ... a kind of sophistication, a knowledge of what it means to turn a phrase or time a gesture, that kept a civilized tradition T 1 A in the dispersed culture of a big country. . ."

1:L7Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968), p. 72. ll8Pauline Kael, "The Current Cinema," The New Yorker, XLV (January 11, 19^9), p. 60. 112

Researchers have formulated theories to prove that homosexuality

is genetically caused, is hormonally based, is indirectly connected with an individual’s body build, is almost completely untreatable, is the result of brain damage, and is histor­ ically and culturally uniform in incidence. When critically reviewed, all these hypotheses are seen to be unsupported by objective, confirmatory evidence of a scientific nature. What has been found ... is that certain genetic, hormonal, and anatomic factors may well help indirectly to produce homosexuality in some subjects. . .119

Ellis indicated that some researchers have considered homosexuality as being caused constitutionally. The occur- 1 20 rence of homosexuality in twins has been studied. Play­ wrights have cited this constitutional factor in two in­ stances. Nicholas Black (The Devil’s Advocate) was a twin.

He states that his brother was the "perfect male," but that he (Nicholas) by nature was drawn more to men than to women.

The Young Man in ’’The American Dream" was an identical twin.

He and his twin had been torn apart. In compensation for the loss of his twin he let others love him and draw pleasure from his groin.

Philip of France (The Lion in Winter) seems to indicate that his homosexuality was caused by heredity and by revenge.

i:L9Albert Ellis, Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure (New York: Lyle Stuart” Inc., 19^5), p. 50-

1 20 Ibid., p. 27. 113 Philip indicates that his father always loved stronger

individuals and that he was a weeper. Philip tells Henry:

You, you made my father nothing. You were always better. You bullied him, you bellied his wife, you beat him down in every war. You twisted every treaty, you played mock-the-monk and then you made him love you for it. I was there: his last words went to you. (p. 53).

Philip then tells Henry how he began his homosexual relation ship with Bichard, Henry's son:

He found me first when I was fifteen. We were hunting. It was nearly dark. I lost my way. My horse fell. I was thrown. I woke to Bichard touching me. He asked me if I loved him-- 'Philip, do you love me?'—and I told him yes. . . You know why I told him yes? So one day I could tell you all about it. You cannot imagine what that yes cost. Or perhaps you can. Imagine snuggling to a chancred whore and, bend­ ing back your lips in something like a smile, saying "Yes, I love you and I find you beautiful." (pp. 53“54).

The homosexual is typically considered to be promis­ cuous. Since the sexual relationships in gay life tend to be transitory, the sexually active homosexual constantly needs new partners in order to obtain a reasonable amount 121 of sexual satisfaction. In The Boys In The Band all of the homosexual characters are presented as being alert to new sexual conquests. Sigfrid (And Things That Go Bump

12lMartin Hoffman, The Gay Life (New York: Basic Books Inc., 1968), p. 44. 114

In The Night) goes to the park daily to attract a partner for his family’s evening entertainment at home. Rocky and

Queenie (Fortune and Men's Eyes) are alert to new prison­ ers for new sexual conquests. John Maples (Inadmissible

Evidence) left his wife and home frequently to seek new homosexual partners. Sebastian Venable (Suddenly Last

Summer) often sought ways to attract new sexual conquests.

Baron de Charlus (Camino Real) nightly walked by the fountain and hoped to be followed by attractive young men.

Homosexual Fixations. Sievers reviewed the importance of

Freudian fixations:

Freud also analyzed perversions or inversions for the first time from a dynamic point of view, interpreting them not as degeneracy but as fixations of the libido at childhood levels of sexuality. Neurotics, unlike homosexuals, however, have too strong a super-ego to accept these outlets and hence must struggle to re­ press their inverse tendencies, causing hysteria and anxiety, even paranoia. Other fixated im­ pulses may result in a sadist, who derives gratification from inflicting pain on others; a masochist, whose pleasure is derived from having pain inflicted upon him; a voyeur, or peeping tom; a fetishist (who projects his libido into inanimate objects) or an exhibitionist.122

Perrin McKee’s treatment of the military school plebes is indicative of the traits of a sadist and a voyeur. McKee suspects that the plebe, Simmons, has informed the General about certain infractions of the rules committed by Jocko

122W. David Sievers, Freud On Broadway (New York: Hermitage House, 1955), P- 39« 115 de Paris. McKee is determined to prove his suspicions.

When he has proof, he presents Simmons to de Paris. Jocko

indicates that he will give Simmons a good paddling.

(McKee wets his lips eagerly, eyes wide open-- literally jumping up and down with nervous excitement and eagerness. Gleeful, joyous, he can hardly contain himself. . . He is like a maniac child with the prospect of going to the zoo. His tone is effeminate, very much like a young lady.) Beat him I Beat him terribly Jockoi O-h-h-h. . . Beat him savage­ ly .. . beat him, beat him, beat him. Ooooh Jocko with a coat hangar. . . Oh yes. Yes’. Hit him. Now hit him. Hit him hard. Don’t show any mercy on him.l23

The Turkish General (Boss) is similarly sadistic in his treatment of Lawrence. His aides have informed him that

Lawrence is an ascetic. Lawrence is very religious. His

self-denial is self imposed. He avoids physical contact of any kind. Even shaking hands requires an effort.

Lawrence has "a rebellious body, a strong will, and a troubled spirit,”124 according to the General. The General's orders include not only that Lawrence be beaten but that he be raped. When the General confronts Lawrence he says:

I do pity you, you know. You won't believe it, but it’s true. I know what was revealed to you tonight, and I know what that revelation will have done to you. You can

123calder Winningham, "End As A Man" (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1953), P* 56. (Mimeographed) •J-^Terence Rattigan, Ross, Theatre Arts XLVII (April, 1963), P« 46. 116

think I mean just a broken will, if you like. That might have destroyed you by itself. But I mean more than that. Far more. But why did you leave yourself so vulnerable? What’s the use of learning if it doesn’t teach you to know yourself as you really are? . . . (p. 49).

All psychic masochists are subservient when confronted with a stronger person, merciless when in power, unscrupulous about trampling on a weaker person.1* 25 sigfrid, Lakme, and

Buby (And Things That Go Bump In The Night) are typical

examples of psychic masochists in their treatment of their

guests. Their purpose is to drive the humiliated guest

out of the house and into the electric fence. Buby upbraids

Clarence for leaving his commitment and following the dis­

traction of Sigfrid. Slides are shown and tape recordings played of Sigfrid and Clarence’s encounter in the living room. As planned, Clarence rushes to his death.

Clarence, himself, is a psychic masochist. The psychic masochist is a neurotic who constantly creates, by means of his own unconscious provocations, situations in which he finds himself "behind the eight-ball." What he is really 126 after is defeat, humiliation, and rejection.

The homosexual’s partly compensatory megalomania does not prevent deep inner depression. The sometimes visible

125Edmund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Collier Books^ 1956), p. 2.6.

12®Ibid., p. 14. 117 flippant hilarity of the "gay" is a very thin pseudoeuphoric

camouflage. It is a technique for warding off masochistic depression; another such technique is the homosexual exaggera­ ted and free-floating malice which is ready for use at any time. Michael (The Boys In The Band) typifies this behavior

in his conducting the game "Affairs of the Heart." Michael forces his guests to call the one person in their lives that they have always loved. Alan denies that he had any love for Justin Stuart. He admits to Michael that Justin did express homosexual feelings towards him, but that he only pitied Justin. He did not reciprocate the feelings. The unrelenting Michael forces Alan to the telephone to place his call.

The other guests who participate in the game are further examples of the psychic masochistic traits in the homosexual that were mentioned above. Under the influence of alcohol they muster up the courage to face their wanted defeat.

Bernard calls the Dahlbeck residence. He suffers a loss of dignity in making the telephone call. Emory refuses Bernard’s advice that he should not call Delbert Botts. Emory calls him, but Delbert hangs up on Emory.

Homosexuals have a poor toleration for the swishy homo­ sexual. They are similar to the rest of society in this

l27j;dinund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Collier Books’^ 1956), pp. 19-20. 118

respect. The inebriated homosexuals at the party attack

Emory verbally for his being swishy and wanton:

Why would anybody want to go to bed with a flaming little sissy like you . . . Who’d make a pass at you. . . I’ll tell you who--nobody. Except maybe some fugi­ tive from the Braille Institute. (pp. 155-156).

Harold Gorringe (’’Black Comedy") has a fetish about his

furniture and antiques. Brindsley indicates that Harold is

"mad about his antiques ... He won’t let anyone touch his

antiques." (p. 51)« Miss Furnival echoes Brindsley's

comment: "If Harold Gorringe knew that anyone had touched

his furniture or his porcelain, he'd go out of his mind’.

And as for that Buddha--it's the most precious thing he owns."

(p. 63). Hone of the presented homosexual characters typify

a sexual exhibitionist.

An Example of Homosexual Development. An objective view

of the development of a homosexual has been given in one

play. Fortune and Men’s Eyes may be considered a study of how

a seemingly innocent individual enters a prison environment,

is introduced to homosexuality, and changes into a hard, cal­

culating, ruling homosexual. Smitty, on his entrance to the

cell, seems to be naive of the reference made concerning homosexual activity. Under the guise of friendship, Rocky

indicates that he would like to protect Smitty from the prison homosexuals. Smitty agrees to Rocky's offer. Rocky

immediately collects his collateral by forcing Smitty into the 119 shower room with him. In the next scene Smitty is in

complete obedience to Rocky. Queenie influences Smitty to

get rid of Rocky and go with him for higher stakes in the prison community. Smitty considers the offer. He beats up

Rocky, thrusts Queenie aside and comes into his own control of the cellblock. Smitty makes overtures to Mona but is rejected. The cellmates take revenge on the powerful Smitty by having Mona beaten by the guards for homosexual solici­ tation.

An example of suspected homosexual inclinations is presented in Lewis John Carlino’s "Epiphany.’* The Man is in constant rivalry with his wife. He feels that she is assuming too dominant a role in their relationship. She seems to be constantly harping on an incident that might be interpreted to indicate that he has homosexual tendencies.

In retaliation against the supposed feminine tasks the wife has given him, the man does extensive research on the life of fowls. He builds a roost in their home and assumes the nature of a fowl. He hopes to maintain the proper pecking order in his roost through the use of a sharp metal beak which he straps on his head. The man seemingly turns into a fowl, but his constitution betrays him. He lays an egg.

The wife remains the dominant figure in the home. The idea for this play seems to be suggested in "The Little Chanticleer.’’12®

128sandor Ferenczi, Sex in Psychoanalysis (New York: Robert Brunner, 1950), P» 240. 120

Another character who questions his masculinity is

Gene Mitchell (Girls of Summer). Gene panics whenever Hilda, his fiancee, gets too romantic. Many of Gene's traits would indicate that he may be a latent homosexual: He is dominated by his mother. He is in the arts. He enjoys lifting weights. He is seemingly unmoved when he views the female form practically unclothed. In seeking to find his true sexual identity, Gene goes to a gay bar. He determines he cannot be afraid of Hilda and of going to the "Three Devils" at the same time.

The Reflection of Trauma in the Homosexual Character.

Law As A Cause Of Trauma. The homosexual may live in varying degrees of fear. A major problem for homosexuals is that they are liable to arrest and imprisonment for their sexual activities. Homosexuality per se is not a crime:

In none of the statutes is the word homosexual used. Under our curious sex laws, homosexual offenses are treated under such titles as sodomy and "crimes against nature." Some states use such terms as sex perver­ sions, buggery, and lewd or lascivious acts. Arrests and prosecutions for homosexual behavior take place under such statutes as "obscenity," "public indecency," "lewdness," "vagrancy," "indecent exposure," or "disorderly conduct." Depending on the state and the offense committed, homosex­ uals can be prosecuted under a variety of penal statutes, many of which are of a catch-all character.129

129samuel G. Kling, Sexual Behavior and the Law (New York: Random House, Inc., 19^5), PP• 112-113- 121

Though the majority of homosexuals are aware of the

danger of arrest, they persist in publicly seeking new

partners. The police are known to pose as decoys in order

to entrap the unsuspecting homosexual. This entrapment may

take place in parks, in public restrooms, in raids on gay

bars and steam baths. Emory (The Boys In The Band) has been

arrested in the steam bath. Maples (Inadmissible Evidence)

has been arrested by a plain clothes officer in a

Piccadilly Tube Station. Maples told of an earlier

experience in which an officer forced him to meet him for

three nights after the initial encounter, but did not take

Maples to court. Charles Dyer (Staircase) is expecting a

summons to court for masquerading as a woman in a local pub.

His main concern is that he has already served one jail

sentence for a similar charge. The police have suggested

to him that it might be better if he went home and committed

suicide.

Blackmail As A Cause Of Trauma. The homosexual may be a victim of blackmail. A form of blackmail was presented in

two of the plays concerning government officials: The Best

Man and Advise and Consent. Joe Cantwell had had a homosexual encounter with Sheldon Marcus and Lieutenant Fenn while they were stationed in the Aleutians. Joe is running for the nom­

ination for president of his party. His opponent has had a nervous breakdown. Russell indicates that he will expose the 122

homosexual background of Cantwell if the illness report is

published. Cantwell knows Russell too well. He releases

the information on Russell's illness. Russell, then, rather

than releasing the information on Cantwell's supposed

homosexuality, withdraws from the presidential race and

gives his votes to the darkhorse candidate.

Brig Anderson (Advise and Consent) has been a champion

for high ideals and morals. He is on a Senate committee.

He opposes a Presidential appointment. Anderson's opposition

discovers that, during a "recovery" period in World War II

he had a homosexual experience. The knowledge of this infor­ mation is revealed to Anderson in hopes that he will change his committee tactics. Anderson decides that suicide is his only recourse. A spokesman for the Senate says of him:

He opposed the President's appointment and when they threatened him with an old sin of his, a very old and a very tired sin, he had a terrible choice. He could bend and be silent. Or he could continue to do what he thought necessary, right, and honorable. ' . . . these were the only terms on which he cared to live his life. It's only when we find out what we're willing to die for that we find out why we live.^O

Suspicion As A Cause Of Trauma. Robert Anderson structured the play Tea and Sympathy around the false accusation of homosexuality against Tom Lee. Tom had been

13°Loring Mandel, Advise and Consent (New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1961), p. 85. 123

seen in the nude with a homosexual professor at his school.

All of the accusations indicating the possible homosexuality-

in Tom are discounted with acceptable reasoning: Tom wears his hair long; he does not have the head nor the type of hair

to have a crew-cut. Tom is interested in singing; he wants

to be a professional singer when he completes his schooling.

Tom has played women’s roles in the school plays; he is in an all-male school. He has accepted the importance of the role

in the play over the sex of the character. Tom is called

Grace by his classmates; he had oversold the part of Grace

Moore in a movie he wanted his friends to see. Tom has physique pictures in his bureau; his father wanted him to be a muscle man. The pictures were a part of a physical culture course for which he sent. Tom never invites hometown girls to the school for dances; he has no hometown. He has spent his life in one boarding school after another. Tom is not interested in athletics; he does play tennis, but his use of the racquet is not typically masculine in approach. Tom is from a broken home; he was supposed to hold his parents together, but he didn't work. Tom attempts to go to bed with Ellie in order to finally squelch the homosexuality rumors; Ellie repulses him. He needs more than raw physical sex.

Many clinicians (Bergler, Ferenczi, Hoffman, Ellis,

DeScipio, Hooker, and others) have sought to correct or 124

’’cure" homosexuals. None of them have been consistently successful. Not every homosexual wants to change to heterosexuality. This was stated by John Maples (Inadmissible

Evidence). Maples was counselled by his Doctor to keep out of the way of the law. If he did this, he would have no trouble continuing his homosexual activities.

The Relationship of the Female to the Homosexual.

The females portrayed in the relevant dramas who were drawn into a relationship with a homosexual seem to possess a similar psychological trait. Paddy Chayefsky has explained this trait in the following words: Each woman has a common belief that she alone can straighten out a homosexual.131

Laura (Tea and Sympathy), Myrtle (The Seven Descents of

Myrtle), Belle (Look: We’ve Come Through), Marcelline (The

Immoralist), and Mrs. Evans (When Did You Last See My Mother?) project a need to help and to understand the inverted male.

Marcelline (The Immoralist) is afraid of men. Since she has known Michel most of her life, she is not afraid of him. Consequently she presses him into a marriage con­ tract :

I want to marry you, Michel. I formally ask your hand in marriage. I have half the money my parents left Robert and me,

131Paddy Chayefsky, The Latent Heterosexual (New York: Bantam Books, 1968), p. 33« 125

and I have been careful with it. It isn't much, but I will be no expense to you. ... I have loved you since I was four­ teen—every minute of every day. I loved you when you were here, and when you were away. I always loved you. (pp. 15~l6).

Belle (Look: We've Come Through) considers herself

unattractive and undesirable. She has not experienced good

rapport with the men who have been her escorts. She has

antagonized them. She has been in love with Wain Dumke

since high school. Wain is the divorced husband of Belle's

room-mate. Belle, with encouragement from Bobby Kraweig,

does succeed in being able to release her body to Wain,

but Wain deserts her immediately. Consequently the two

social outcasts, Belle and Bobby, seem to find a hope for

mutual love in each other's arms as the curtain falls.

Myrtle (The Seven Descents of Myrtle) is ten years

older than Lot, but she has discovered that Lot has money and property. She has married him and returned with him to his Delta home. Myrtle sees herself as a mother-image for Lot, but she believes that she can change her husband's outlook towards her:

Baby, you got a mother complex, as they call it and I'm gonna make you forget it. You hear me? . . . I'm gonna get that out of you Lot cause I'm not just your wife, I'm also your mother and I'm not daid, I'm living. A-course I don't mean I'm gonna replace her in your heart. . . (p. 12').

Mrs. Evans (When Did You Last See My Mother?) is

Jimmy's mother. She realizes that Ian has had a powerful 126

effect upon her son. She visits Ian. She sympathizes with Ian for his inferior self-concept: Ian considers

himself ugly. Mrs. Evans pities Ian and reaches out to

give him solace and comfort. Mrs. Evans goes to bed with

Ian.

Laura (Tea and Sympathy) seeks a sense of being needed by her men. Her first husband had been a young boy, who

in proving that he was brave, was killed in the war. Bill

Reynolds chides Laura concerning her second marriage to him: You want to mother a boy, not love a man. That’s why you never really loved me . . . Because I was not a boy you could mother. Laura replies:

You're quite wrong about my not loving you. I did love you. But not for your outward show of manliness, but because you needed me. . . . For one unguarded moment you let me know you needed me, and I have tried to find that moment again the year we've been married. . . (p. 308)•

This reaching out to help the weak male repeats itself, in Laura's concern for Tom Lee. She understands his feeling of difference and rejection. She wants to help him realize for all of his individuality, that he is really a man.

All of these heroines become frustrated in their need or expression of physical love. Mrs. Evans (When Did You

Last See My Mother?) cannot understand why she was drawn into a sexual relationship with Ian. The homosexual Ian tells her, "You're just like your son. . . because you don't understand why you said yes, and he didn't understand why 127

he said no. . . .1 only made love to you because I saw part

of Jimmy in you." (p. 44).

Marcelline (The Immoralist) marries Michel, but he

does not consummate the contract. She yearns for him to

come to her bed:

Are we frightened Michel? Is that what is wrong with us? . . .They teach us all the arts, except how to make you love me. . . . I wonder' if you think I will be afraid or shocked. I won’t Michel. To be a good animal is sometimes very beautiful. (p. 20).

Marcelline turns to alcohol. In an attempt to prove to

himself that he is not a homosexual, that Bachir is wrong

about him, Michel does consummate his marriage.

Myrtle (The Seven Descents of Myrtle) is happy with

her beautiful husband. She attempts to have sex with

him, but Lot has not proven to be potent:

Baby last night don’t count. You was too nervous. I’ll tell you something I know that might surprise you. A man is twice as nervous as a woman and you are twice as nervous as a man. (p. 15)«

Soon Myrtle becomes attracted to Chicken. Chicken is more

than willing to accept Myrtle. At the close of Scene vi,

Chicken and Myrtle are sitting in very close proximity.

Chicken says, "Why’re you cryin? You don’t have to cry fo’

it, it’s what you want and it’s yours I" (p. 71)-

Laura (Tea and Sympathy) wants to remain a good wife

to Bill. Since his return to school, he has grown more and more distant. Laura attempts to kiss Bill on the lips. He 128

turns his head,.and she only gets to give him a peck on the

cheek. Laura holds out her arras to be embraced, Bill only

cups her chin in his hand. In desparation Laura says:

Oh, Bill, ve so rarely touch anymore. I feel I’m losing contact with you. It’s a silly way of putting it, but you seem to hold yourself aloof from me. A tension seems to grow between us and then when we do touch it is a violent thing. . . almost a compulsive thing. (pp. 279-280).

Laura and Bill grow further and further apart as Bill

seems to be set upon the dismissal of Tom Lee from school.

Bill resents Laura's defense of Tom. Laura, in defending

herself against his accusations, attacks Bill:

You've resented me. . . almost from the day you married me. You've resented me. You never wanted to marry really. Did they kid you into it? Does a would-be headmaster have to be married? Or what was it, Bill? You would have been far happier going off on your jaunts with the boys, having them to your rooms for feeds and bull sessions. . . . Did it ever occur to you that you persecute in Tom, that boy up there, you persecute in him the thing you feel in yourself. . . This was the weakness you cried out for me to save you from, wasn't it? . . . And I have tried, I have tried. (pp. 308-309).

Laura and Bill separate at the end of Tea and Sympathy.

Lot dies, and Myrtle hopes that Chicken will save her from the imminent flood in The Seven Descents of Myrtle. Mrs.

Evans is killed in an automobile accident on her way home in When Did You Last See My Mother?. Marcelline had left

Michel when she discovered she was pregnant in The Immoralist

However Michel follows her, learns she is pregnant, and 129

indicates for the child’s sake that he would like to remain her husband. Belle and Bobby hopefully may have a future together in Look: We've Come Through. They are the same age. With their mutual unhappy pasts behind them, they may find a future together in each other's arms.

The Sexual Activity of the Homosexual Character.

The playwrights have not given explicit information as to the sexual activity performed or preferred by any of the homosexual characters. They have not attributed to them active or passive sexual roles.

A great deal of nonsense has been written in the scientific literature about ’’active” and "passive", "masculine" and "feminine" homosexuals. The implication is often made that there is a sharp difference between these two kinds of individuals. It is certainly true that there is a minority of homosexual men who can be classified both from the point of view of their own conscious definition of themselves as masculine or feminine and from the point of view of what they will do or not do in bed. .But this is true only for a minority. The fact is that most homo­ sexuals cannot be so classified and, in fact, will generally take a great variety of roles in sexual performance. 3

The playwrights have characterized certain individuals as playing an active role in their homosexual pursuits of others: Vivian Voles (Nature's Way) is active in his attempt to seduce his co-playwright Billy Turk. Jerome assumes the 132

132Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968), pp• 35_36. 130

active role in his seduction of Malcolm. Baal (Baal)is more

active in all of his activities than is his paramour, Ekhart.

The Adolescent Homosexual. The wide acceptance of Freud's

theories, which stress the influence of childhood and adoles­

cence on later life, may have affected the playwrights. As

has been indicated, the majority of the homosexual characters

presented in the pertinent plays of the period have been in

their late teens and early twenties. The psychological and

social scientists' concept of adolescence and modern living

conditions

have added financial, social, and legal problems to the physical, emotional and intellectual problems of adolescence, and have thus greatly increased the suitability of this age for the literary treatment of inner and outer conflict.133

Summary. This chapter has been concerned with the

psychological background of the homosexual character.

The playwrights have presented characters reflecting psycholo­

gical factors in scientific study. The plays have presented

situations which may tend to foster homosexuality: a broken

home, techniques of child-rearing, prolonged illness in

childhood, and attitudes towards sexuality. Certain homosexual

characters appeared in transvestite attire. Certain homosexual

characters portrayed tendencies of depression. The hostility

133w. Tasker Witham, The Adolescent in the American Novel (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1964), p. 25» 131 present in many homosexuals was presented frequently in the plays.

The influence of the motion pictures of the Thirties and Forties upon the playwrights was reflected in many of their productions. The homosexual character demonstrated a facility for the impersonation of movie starlets of this era

The homosexual characters presented examples of the additive perversions of sadism, masochism, and ahberant sexual neurosis to homosexuality. An example of the development of homosexuality in a prisoner was shown in

Fortune and Men1s Eyes.

The homosexual character was shown experiencing trauma from legal restrictions, from blackmail, from suspicion and discovery of sexual tendencies.

The relationship of the wife to a homosexual husband was presented in four plays. The playwrights did not allude to the sexual activity of the homosexual characters. They did present many homosexual characters in adolescence. CHAPTER IV 'i'T/r---

THE SOCIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTER

This chapter is concerned with the sociological back­ ground of the homosexual character. The reflections of the societal attitude towards homosexuals and homosexual behavior over the presented period will be discussed. The homosexual character has been presented in dramas as a part of four institutions in society: in prisons, in schools, in business, and in the Church. Each of these social institutions will be discussed in relation to the homosexual characters functioning in them. The attitude of the institution towards the homosexual will be indicated when possible. Homosexuals are known to frequent certain areas in a community. These locales will be indicated and the presence of the homosexual will be reflected. Finally the basic unit of society, the family, will be presented with its attitudes towards the presence of a homosexual son, husband, or father.

The Attitude of Society Towards the Homosexual.

As to whether society is tolerant, it is probably nearer the truth to say that society is uncertain and confused about what its attitude toward homosexuality should be and what it should do. At one time society registered disgust, ridicule or pity toward homosexuality. But changed mores, and moral values have altered attitudes, or at least weakened former feelings. There are conflicting pulls; yet homosexuality is far from receiving approbation, or even acceptance. Gen­ erally it is placed on a much lower 133 'W-z'L plane than heterosexual promiscuity. ... Thus society looks upon homosex­ uality with mingled feelings: punitively, disapprovingly, contemptuously, repugnantly, bewilderedly, and sometimes amusedly. Society does not approve of it, nor condone it; on the other hand, as if by preference it has not really confronted it. 134

The homosexual has observed the attitudes of society:

The homosexual realizes that society is indeed hypocritical and prejudiced. It looks the other way at sexual malfeasance as long as these acts are heterosexual. The homosexual encounters "straight" guys who think nothing at all of paying for the most abnormal forms of sex with a female and then become violently angry if such is suggested with a male.135

The attitude of society towards the homosexual seemingly

has progressed from one of outward contempt and rejection to

one of tolerance and seeming acceptance. Herb Lee (Tea

and Sympathy) wanted to react to the presence of a homosexual

in his son’s school with physical violence. Like many of

his day (1953), he was amazed that such a scourge to society

could be present in an educational setting.

What I want to know is, what was a guy like Harris doing at the school? Was there anyone like that around in our day, Bill? I tried to find the guy; I wanted to punch his face in for him. (p. 256).

134"jjomosexuaii-fcy," Social Progress , LVIII (November/ December, 19^7), pp. 4l-42.

135charles Packer and Richard Reed, Homosexuality: The Way Out (Asheville, N.C.: Gladiator Productions,1969), p. 4. 134

When the sexual inclinations of Tom Lee were questioned, t’ a variety of societal opinions were expressed. Bill Reynolds

thought, "He should be booted." (p. 250) . Laura says,

An innocent boy goes swimming with an instructor. . . an instructor whom he likes because this instructor is one of the few who encourage him, who don't ride him. . .And because he's an off-horse, you and the rest of them are only too glad to put two and two together and get a false answer. . . anything which will let you go on and persecute a boy whom you basically don't like. . . (p. 305)«

The football team does not relish Al, their captain, living

with a queer. Al's father insists that he change his room­

ing accomodations for the next school year. The boys grab

towels and leave the shower room when Tom enters.

Herb Lee shows little understanding of his son:

Why isn't my boy a regular fellow? He's had every chance to be since he was knee high to a grasshopper--boy's camps every summer, boarding schools. . . He's always been with men and boys. Why doesn't some of it rub off? (p. 256).

Herb further expresses the predominant societal feelings:

Now when you came here, I told you to make friends slowly. I told you to make sure they were the right kind of friends. You're known by the company you keep. Remember I said that? . . . And I told you if you didn't want to go out for sports like football, hockey . . . that was all right with me. But you'd get in with the right kind of fellows if you managed those teams. They're usually pretty good guys. (p. 260). 135

The homosexual is frequently- referred to with a sense

of humor. Herman Wouk in Nature * s Way gave Vivian Voles a variety of metaphorical descriptions: "Vivian the Pussycat."

(p. 15); "But he is a three-dollar bill, dear." (p. l6);

"I think Vivian’s a human soap bubble who's about to burst in your face." (p. 74); ". . . just a naturally misguided pixie." (p. 64).

The homosexual character was presented as a social outcast who helped other outcasts in i960. Geoffrey Ingram

(A Taste of Honey) befriended Jo who was pregnant out of wedlock. Hugh Wheeler restated this theme in Look: We * ve

Come Through: Belle is characterized as "wracked with a love of the downtrodden." (p. 15)« Bobby is the recipient of many double entendre barbs: "So this is Mr. Onopolis's pick-up." (p. 15); "Well, well our little friend. Still at his gay pursuits." (p. 30).

In 1963 William Inge expressed a different attitude towards homosexuals. Gil (Natural Affection) advises Donnie

Barker that he should have submitted to Stubby's advances:

"Look If you'd just played along, he'da treated ya nice. He'da done ya favors."1^ Gil likes wealthy queers:

They treat ya better'n your own mother. Give ya all ya want to drink. Sometimes

•^william Inge, Natural Affection (New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc., 1963)P• 23• 136

take you out to dinner or a show. Then V" put twenty bucks in your pocket. Take home pay . . . You're not being' a queer. You're just doin' it for money, (pp. 23-24).

"The peer hustler in the peer-queer relationship

develops no conception of himself either as a prostitute or 137 as a homosexual." J This was the expressed attitude of Gil

(Natural Affection) and Bobby Kraweig (Look: We * ve Come Through)

This is also the attitude that must be held by the adolescent

participants in society: "A boy must undertake the relation­

ship with a queer solely as a way of making money; sexual

gratification cannot be actively sought as a goal in the 138 relationship." This attitude has beai further expressed

by John Gerassi:

Most of the kids who had participated had done so for a combination of kicks and rebellion against parental author­ ity. Some did it for raoney--they got paid by the adults anywhere from a low of twenty-five cents to a high of ten dollars. Others did it for power. That's right power! I remember very well one child telling me how it made him feel important to stand there. . .

The playwrights reflected not only psychological concepts

but also sociological ones.

l37Alb ert J. Beiss Jr., "The Social Integration of Queers and Peers," The Other Side, Howard S. Becker, editor (New York: The Free Press, 1964), p. 206.

l38Ibid., p. 196.

13^John Gerassi, The Boys of Boise (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966), p. 30. 137

By 1966 the homosexual character was being presented

as a warm and human individual. He was shown as having the

same aches and pains that a heterosexual experiences. William

Inge presentecl Mr. Pinkerton (Where's Daddy?) as an optimist who attempted idealize life for the orphaned Tom Keen.

”A man can rise above the sordidness of his past, but he

should not try to forget it." (p. 27). "Life is a theatre

in which the worst people often have the best seats," (p. 64), suggests Pinky. "I'm only suggesting that if life is empty and hopeless, there is no reason we shouldn't try to make our stay on earth as pleasant as possible." (p. 29). Inge further adds old-fashioned ideals to the character of Mr.

Pinkerton: "I still believe in God, and love, and the sanctity of the home, and all those virtues that everyone today considers terribly reactionary." (p. 62).

By 1968 the homosexual character was represented on the stage as a bona fide member of society. He was still con­ cerned about society's attitude: "People pointing at us-- at the two weirdies, Harry and Charlie." (Staircase, p. 77)•

The gay Michael (The Boys In The Band) was "supercareful" when he saw his oldroommate, the straight Alan. Alan continued to express society's lack of acceptance of the grossly effeminate Emory: "If you find that sort of thing amusing. He just seems like such a goddamn little pansy.

He's like a ... a butterfly in heat!" (p. 72). However 138

the Negro Bernard protects the harrassed Emory:

We both got the short end of the stick --but I got a hell of a lot more than he did and he knows it. I let him Uncle Tom me just so he can tell himself he's not a complete loser. (p. 1U3).

A change in society's attitude towards homosexual

activities seems to be expressed in The Boys In The Band

by Alan: "I couldn't care less what people do—as long as

they don't do it in public--or--or try to force their ways

on the whole damned world." (p. 72). It has been suggested

that a new concept of human behavior and of the role of the

sex instinct in the life of the human being should be

considered:

Homosexuality is held to be unnatural to man, not because it represents an inter­ ference with the conceptual function, but because it cannot achieve the ultimate goal of a full and complete sexual satis­ faction and peace. The existence of orgasm must not be misunderstood as the achievement of full satisfaction. It is our view that homosexuality is held to be an undesirable sex practice because of the impossibility of securing a healthy level of fulfillment. . . It is felt that the homosexual should be given free and open acceptance by society; that the homosexual should not be threatened by legal or social sanctions as he attempts to live his life and achieve such sexual satis­ faction as he might. It is not felt that the homosexual can spread a moral or sex­ ual contamination. The individual who possesses direction in his sex impulse , cannot be led into a path of misdirection.1

I^Ol. R. O'Connor, The Photographic Manual of Sexual Intercourse (Pent-R Books, Inc ., 1969), PP • 5O“51- 139 By means of the game, "Affairs of the Heart," Alan listens and learns of the personal problems of the homo­ sexuals gathered in Michael's apartment. His attitude towards the individual homosexuals seems to change as the personal vicissitudes are presented. Alan seems to consider the total person rather than just the sexual proclivity. In this way he seems to reach an understanding of the homosexual.

John I. Kitsuse found that the interpretations the public made of deviant behavior was more critical than the actual behavior of the homosexual individuals warranted. He found that many of the reactions to the homosexuals seemed to be negatively toned. These negative reactions may be

"expressions of embarrassment, a reluctance to share the burden of the deviant's problems, fear of deviants, as well as moral indignation or revulsion."1^1 He found that the more educated the population were, the more tolerant they were of deviants.

Further proof of the changing attitude of society was reflected in a 1969 poll. Time magazine reported that eleven per cent, or one out of every nine Americans, knows someone who is a homosexual. It was further reported that

l-^John I. Kitsuse, "Societal Reaction to Deviant Behavior," The Other Side, Howard S. Becker, editor (New York: The Free Press, 1964), p. 100. lUo thirty per cent of the population found nothing wrong with lh.0 homosexual acts between consenting adults.

A trend has been noted in plays not concerned with homosexual characters. Many playwrights casually mention or refer to homosexuality as a part of the stage dialogue.

William Hanley in Slow Dance On The Killing Ground had

Randall don Rosie's wig. She commented that he looked like a colored queen. Henry Denker in A Case of Libel had Abner

Coles' sexuality questioned because he had served as a homo­ sexual's counsellor. Fathers seemed to suspect their sons of possibly participating in homosexual activities in Bill

Naughton's All In Good Time and in Ron Cowen's Summertree.

Yoti Lane has commented:

A homosexual character is likely to figure in plays on many themes simply because the homosexual character exists and cannot be Ignored. . . There is no reason why a pub­ lic which accepts stage characters with anti-social tendencies of all kinds, should not gradually become more tolerant towards the homosexual character on the stage .**3

The question of the sexual proclivity of the playwright was discussed in 1966. Stanley Kauffman wrote that the homosexual dramatists need the same liberty that the hetero­ sexual dramatists now have:

14-2”0hanging Morality: The Two Americas," Time XCIII (June 6, 1969), PP• 26-27. ^yoti Lane, The Psychology of the Actor (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1959), P- 55- 14.1

- If this is too much for us to contemplate, then at least let us all drop the cant about homosexual influence and distortion: because we are only complaining of the results of our own attitudes.^44

The sexual proclivities of contemporary dramatists have

remained their private concern. The attitude seems to be

that a playwright who feels he has something to say about* homosexuality can find acceptance for his plays in today's theatres .li*‘5

The Homosexual Character in Social Institutions.

In Prison. John Herbert's Fortune and Men1s Eyes has been compared to a study of prisoners in Philadelphia's penal institutions. The play seems to be an accurate presen tation of thé homosexual activity which takes place in a prison envirôhment:

Not sexual gratification, but ''conquest and degradation of the victim is the pri­ mary goal of the sexual aggressor." The attacks seem to be the expressions of the same anger, that caused the prisoner's original crimes. . . . They do not think of themselves as homosexuals, believing that they are manly as long as they are the., , partner who "is aggressive and penetrates."1

One of these attacks is described by Queenie concerning his

l45yoti Lane, The Psychology of the Actor (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1959), P* 55« lJ+6"The Law," Time, XCII (September 20, 1968), p. 54. 142

cellmate, Mona:

I could of got her a real good old man, but she told him she liked her "indepen­ dence’’ if you can picture it. So what happens? One day in the gym a bunch of hippos con her into the storeroom to get something for the game and teach her an­ other one instead. They make up the team, but she's the only basket. They all took a whack; now she's public property. You can't say no around here unless you got somebody behind you. Take it from your mother I know the score. . . Mona had to hang onto the wall for a week to walk. (p. 23).

Charles Eitel and Marion Faye (The Deer Park) discussed sexual experiences in prison.

The implication of supervisory and of law enforcement personnel into homosexual activities was presented in

Natural Affection by Stubby, the guard, beating Donnie

Barker. In public places "it is not uncommon for police, in plain clothes, to encourage a suspected homosexual to ex­ tend a solicitous invitation for which he is immediately arrested."These detectives have been known to use the homosexual for personal sexual release, as was presented in

Inadmissible Evidence. In Malcolm a streetwalker told that her husband had been picked up by a cop one night in a bus depot. Her husband was now shacking up with the cop. "Very I 1U8 happy I believe, stays home, cleans the gun, cooks."

l-^Lewis I. Maddocks, "The Homosexual and the Law," Social Action, XXXIV (December, 19^7), p. 8. l48Edward Albee, Malcolm (New York: Atheneum Press, 1966), pp. 42-43. 143

In Schools. Not only the private school and the college

have been shown with homosexual characters but also the

public school has been implicated. LeRoi Jones chose a

high-school setting for "The Toilet." This play is concerned

with the interracial homosexual love between Foots and

Karolis: A Negro clique, headed by Foots, is out to beat up

the white Karolis. The gang has intercepted a note in which

Karolis has indicated to Foots that he loves him. Foots

and Karolis are forced to fight. Karolis has been pummeled by the group, but he stands up to Foots:

Yeh! That's what I'm going to do Ray. I'm going to fight you. We're here to fight. About that note, right? The one that said I wanted to take you into my mouth. Did I call you Ray in that letter . . . or Foots?. . .Yeh! That's why we're here, huh? I'll fight you Foots. I'll fight you. Right here in this same place where you said your name was Ray . . . Right here in this filthy toilet, you said Ray. You put your hand on me and said Ray.149

Karolis grabs Foots around the neck. Foots cannot break the hold. The gang again attacks Karolis and leave him beaten on the floor. Later Foots returns alone. He cradles

Karolis' head, in his arms and weeps over him.

Foots could not have executed this tender action in front of his peer group. Because of his status as leader

^^LeRoi Jones, ' The Baptism and The Toilet (New York: Grove Press Inc., 1963)7 PP• 59“6o. 144

of his peer group, he had to fight Karolis. Karolis as fellator risked, violence when he suggested that Foots may­ be homosexual. "The peers define one as a homosexual not on the basis of homosexual behavior as such, but on the basis of participation in the homosexual role, the "queer" role."150

In Business. The business world has shared in the presentation of homosexual characters. The most bizarre treatment occurred in Terence Rattigan's Man and Boy.

Gregor Antonescu needs to get Mark Herris to overlook a sizeable accounting error. He invites Herris to an apartment in Greenwich Village and suggests the idea that Basil is his lover. Basil is actually his son. Antonescu tells Herris that Basil needs and would appreciate his company: "I'm able to see so very little of him. He gets lonely, I'm afraid. It would be very good of you, Mark, when I'm in Europe, if sometimes perhaps. . ."151 Herris agrees to call

Basil. Later Antonescu apologizes to his son; "I'm sorry

I had to pass you off as un petit pederaste in front of

Mr. Herris--but I had no choice." (p. 59)*

150Albert J. Reiss Jr., "The Social Integration of Peers and Queers," The Other Side, Howard S. Becker, editor, (New York: The Free Press, 1964), p. 207- 151Terence Rattigan, Man and Boy (New York: Samuel French Inc., 1963), P« 54. 14-5 In Church. The Church has also shared, in the presenta-

tion of the homosexual character.

The.major religions of the world show no tolerance of homosexuality, and their philosophies in general are geared toward heterosexuality. . . Many of the religious taboos against homosexuality can be traced to periods of time when rapid increase in population was needed, and any thwarting of that need was prohibited.152

Dore Schary in adapting Morris West’s novel, The

Devil1s Advocate presented the attitude prevalent in the

Roman Catholic Church: The invert is accepted by the

Church only when continent.1^ pn the play, Nicholas Black, a homosexual artist, is interested in Paolo Sanduzzi.

Black repeatedly states that his interest in Paolo is not of a sexual nature:

What I saw in him was everything that was lacking in my own nature. I wanted to educate him and make him what I could never be—a full man in body, intellect, and spirit. If it meant denying every impulse to passion and every need I have for love,and affection--I was prepared to do it.1?*

However no one believes Black. One of his chief opponents is Father Meredith. Black argues with the priest on

^S&haries Packer and Richard Reed, Homosexuality: The Way Out (Asheville, North Carolina: Gladiator Productions, 1969), pp. 12-13.

Masters, The Homosexual Revolution (New York: The Julian Press, 1962), pp. 156-157•

154pore Schary, The Devil's Advocate (New York: Samuel French Inc., 1961), p. 92. 146

biological grounds. He indicates that his homosexuality was

inborn, since he was a twin. Father Meredith's reply is:

"Mr. Black, there is no answer to your problem--or a lot of

others that doesn't involve a mystery and an act of Faith."

(p. 6l). Meredith Indicates that he believes that Black's

intent towards Paolo is innocent, but since Black has left

the Church, he cannot ask God for the grace to keep his

intentions pure. He holds firm that without the grace of

God, Black could not keep his intentions pure.

According to Packer and Reed, "No religion is exempt

from homosexuality among its members or its leaders."155

Edward Albee suggested in Tiny Alice that perhaps members

of a religious community could have homosexual inclinations.

The double entendre in the discussion at the cardinal's

cage is indicative of this intent:

Are those two lovers?. . . Do they mate?. . . Is it true? Do they? Even Cardinals? . . . To the lay mind--to the cognoscenti it may be the fact, accepted and put out of the head--but to the lay mind it's specu­ lation. . . voyeuristic, perhaps, and cer­ tainly anti-Rome. . .mere speculation, but whispered about, even by the school chil­ dren-- indeed , as you must recall, the more . . . urbane of us wondered about the Fathers at the school. . . about their vaunted celi­ bacy. . . among one another. Of course, we were at an age when everyone diddled

155charles Packer and Richard Reed, Homosexuality: The Way Out (Asheville, North Carolina: Gladiator Productions, 1969), P. 12. 14-7

everyone else. . . and. I suppose it was natural enough for us to assume that priests did. it too.156

The Lawyer does not cease his speculation here. He further

suggests that perhaps the Cardinal has a close relationship with his young private secretary, Brother Julian.

LeEoi Jones in "The Baptism" suggested that the minister was similar in nature to the homosexual. However, the minister was more selective in whom he loved.

Reverend Dupas (Little Murders) indicated a new out­

look towards homosexuality. Reverend Dupas was a defrocked clergyman and rather singular in his attitudes towards church and society. In a brief sermon at Patsy and Alfred’s wedding, he comments:

I married a musician last year who wanted to get married in order to stop masturba­ ting. Please don’t be startled. I am not putting it down. That marriage did not work. The man tried. Now the man is separated and still masturbating--but he is at peace with himself. He tried so­ ciety’s way. So you see it was not a mis­ take, it turned out all right. . . And Patsy's brother, Kenneth Newquist, in whose bedroom I spent a few moments earlier this afternoon and whose mother proudly told me the decoration was by your hand entirely: I beg of you to feel no shame; homosexuality is all right.157

•^Edward Albee, Tiny Alice (New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1965), P- 12.

157juies Neiffer, Little Murders (New York: Random House, 1968), pp. 64-67• 148 » Clergymen have been provided with guidelines for

working with homosexuals. Daniel Day Williams indicates:

that the Christian test of any way of life is the fulfillment of persons. And this comes only when the person begins to accept his social responsibilities in the light of the Gospel. The homosexual has as much opportunity to do this as the heterosexual and just as much obligation.^58

A Jesuit, Father Phillips, advises:

The homosexual can be told that the "Cross of Christ takes many forms in the life of Christians," and that in his life it consists in accepting the cross of psychological suffering God allows him to bear. It is the task of anyone who wishes to help him in bearing it: "to give him a practical plan of life; to try to dispel the harsh attitudes of the public which makes the lot of the homosexual so much more difficult. Sympathy and understanding and Christian charity are not the rule where homosexuals are con­ cerned ." 159

The clergyman’s task with homosexuals is not easy. This was

acknowledged in the dialogue of Loot. Fay says to Hal:

The priest at St. Hilda’s has asked me to speak to you. He’s very worried. He says you spend time thieving from slot machines and deflowering the daughters of better men than yourself

158Daniei Day Williams, "Three Studies of Homosexuality in Relation to the Christian Faith," Social Action, XXXIV (December, 1967), p. 36.

159Gene D. Phillips, S.J., "Hope For The Homosexual," The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, LXVIT(September, 1966), p. 1007. 14-9

. . . And even the sex you were horn into isn’t safe from your marauding. Father Mac is popular for the remission of sins, as you know. But clearing up after you is a full-time job.18®

Peter Peterouter ("Home Movies") presented a homosexual

penitant’s point of view:

It's true, I was ashamed. Ashamed and simply disgusted with myself. So I went to confession. You know, in my parish there are one or two rather adorable young priests. I prefer the chubby am­ orous ones with stars in their eyes, to the rotten epileptic scapegoats one adamantly associates with true religion. I like to imagine. . . well, I can't ac­ tually go into that. But the way they conspire with you behind the fancy grill- work. So many things happen to the spirit during confession. I swear I'm reluctant to come to the end of a sinful recitation. I have to prevent myself from following those sacred, clinging, flowing gowns on their way to the study. I absolutely rankle in a mad funk when I leave the church; dusty-kneed and on the point of seizure of love. I've been on that moot point too often. Is it any wonder I take the candle with me? (p. 103).

The Locale Frequented by the Homosexual.

Homosexuals seem to migrate to and to congregate in

large urban areas. The playwrights have accurately

subscribed to this locale. The majority of the plays were

set in New York, Washington D.C., and London. The exceptions

to this locale were Billy Budd which took place at sea, End

1^°Joe Orton, Loot (New York: Grove Press Inc., 1967), pp. 11-12. 150 1 As jA Man which took place in a Southern Military School,

Tea and Sympathy which took place in a New England Prep

School, A Loss of Roses which took place in a small town

outside of Kansas City, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof which was set

on a Southern plantation, and The Seven Descents of Myrtle

which was set in the Mississippi Delta.

Foreign locales other than London were used. The

Hostage was set in Dublin, Ireland. The Devil's Advocate

was set in Calabria, Italy. Avanti was set in Rome, Italy.

Baal was set in central Germany.

Not all of the homosexuals lived away from home.

Many of the adolescent homosexual characters lived with

their parents. The homosexual characters found at home

were:

Clive - Five Finger Exercise, Chris and Eric - The Playroom, Kenny Newquist - Little Murders, Jimmy Evans and Dennis - When Did You Last See My Mother?, Michel - The Immoralist, Lot - The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Gil - Natural Affection, Clarence and Sigfrid - And Things That Go Bump In The Night, Bobby Kraweig - Look: We * ve Come Through Donald - The Boys In The Band♦

Harry Leeds provided a home for his mother in Staircase.

Homosexuals are known to frequent specific and general

areas for meeting sexual partners :and for socialization with

their own kind. The specific places are private apartments,

the gay bars, and the steam baths. The general areas are the 151 city streets, city parks, and public rest-rooms. The private apartment has been used as a locale in plays about homosexual characters. The gay bar was mentioned in the dialogue of

Where' s Daddy?, Girls of Summer, Staircase, and The Boys In

The Band: "Lately I’ve gotten to despise the bars. Every­ body just standing around--it’s like an eternal intermission."

(p. 43). In The Boys In The Band, the steam bath was men­ tioned by Emory who had been arrested there, and by Larry and

Donald who had met there for a sexual liaison: ".We saw each other in the baths and went to bed together but we never spoke a word and never knew each other’s name." (p. 159)«

The streets and parks were used as settings in Camino Beal,

The Immoralist, and "The Zoo Story." They were mentioned as cruising areas in And Things That Go Bump in the Night,

Suddenly Last Summer, "The Baptism," and The Boys In The

Band♦ The public rest-room was mentioned in Inadmissible

Evidence, A Hatful of Rain, and The Boys In The Band. "The

Toilet" was set in a school rest-room.

The Social Behavior of the Homosexual.

Society has surmised that homosexuals have a feminine interest in a variety of tasks. The playwrights have re­ flected this feminine interest in different ways. Emory

(The Boys In The Band) and Jimmie Luton (Big Fish, Little Fish) are fond of cooking. They boast of their culinary skills 152 and adeptness in the kitchen. Mr. Pinkerton (Where's Daddy?) indicates that knitting helps him to relax after a tiring day in the classroom. Geoffrey (A Taste of Honey) sewed for the pregnant Jo.

Certain homosexual characters took a feminine interest in their appearance. Michael (The Boys In The Band) was constantly combing his hair. Lot (The Seven Descents of

Myrtle) bleached his hair daily. Harry Leeds (Staircase) experimented in every possible way to restore his hair.

Harold (The Boys In The Band) is told:

You’re absolutely paranoid about absolutely everything. You starve yourself all day, living on coffee and cottage cheese so that you can gorge yourself at one meal. Then you feel guilty and moan and groan about how fat you are and how ugly you are when the truth is you're no fatter or thinner than you ever are. (p. 112).

Michael (The Boys In The Band) indicates that a poodle is the insignia of one's deviation. (p. 122). Emory (The

Boys In The Band) and Mr. Pinkerton (Where's Daddy?) mention having poodles at home. None of the other homosexual charac­ ters mention having a pet.

The kiss is another feminine trait. It is a frequent sign of affection between women. The playwrights have used the kiss in their treatment of homosexual characters. Eddie (A View from the Bridge) kissed Hudolpho to shock and to try to prove that Rudolpho was a homosexual. The Man ("Epiphany") had been kissed by another man. This was his wife's basis 153 for suspecting that he might have homosexual inclinations.

Ian and Jimmy (When Did You Last See My Mother?) wrestle,

pause, and kiss. But this kiss is the motivating force which

causes Jimmy to leave. A drunken Vince (Natural Affection)

kisses both Donnie and Bernie at the Christmas party. Don

Beda (The Deer Park) quickly kisses Marion Faye’s hand as

Marion passes him at a party. Butler (Tiny Alice) gives the dying Brother Julian a kiss before he leaves. Cowboy (The

Boys In The Band), as Emory's birthday gift to Harold, mistakenly sings "Happy Birthday" and kisses Michael. He later correctly repeats his task and kisses Harold. Homosexual characters have not exchanged a mutual passionate kiss on the stage.

Alcohol is said to release an individual’s inhibitions.

Many homosexuals are said to have problems in the overuse of alcohol. All of the homosexual characters in The Boys

In The Band drink profusely throughout the play. Alcohol is the catalyst that releases Michael’s hostility towards his guests. Other homosexual characters who have been presented as heavy drinkers are: Vince (Natural Affection), Clive

(Five Finger Exercise), and Baal.

Homosexual characters have been presented as users of narcotics. Eric Soames (The Playroom) was able to provide his friends with dope as well as use it. Harold (The Boys

In The Band) uses narcotics: 154

I keep my grass in the medicine cabinet'. In a Band-Aid box. Somebody told me it's the safest place. If the cops arrive, you can always lock yourself in the bathroom and flush it down the John ... It makes more sense than where I was keeping it-- in an oregano jar in the spice rack. I kept forgetting and accidentally turning my hateful mother on with the salad. But I think she liked it. No matter what meal she comes over for--even if it’s breakfast-- she says, ’’Let's have a salad!" (p. 100).

The Family and The Homosexual.

Mother-Son Relationships. The basic unit of society, the

family, has been accused of fostering homosexuality in the

child. The family unit has been studied in this respect.

According to Bieber, "Close-Binding-Intimate" mothers pro­ moted homosexuality in their sons by the interference with the son’s heterosexual development, by their interference with the father-son relationship, by their interference with peer relations, and by their interference with the development of independence. DX

The mothers interfered with the son’s heterosexual development by being seductive and overly intimate. They discouraged their sons from adopting masculine attitudes and masculine behavior.1®2 Michael (The Boys In The Band)

l6lIrving Bieber et al♦, Homosexuality: A Psychoanaly­ tical Study (New York: Vintage Books, 19®5), PP• 79“8l.

l®2Ibid., pp. 79-80. 155 had this type of mother:

She made me into a girl-friend dash lover. We went to all those goddamn cornhall movies together. I picked out her clothes for her and told her what to wear and she’d take me to the beauty parlor with her and we’d both get our hair bleached and a permanent and a manicure. (p. 24)

Lot (The Seven Descents of Myrtle), Bobby Kraweig (Look:

We've Come Through), and Kenny Baird (A Loss of Roses) had similar maternal relationships.

The mothers prefer the homosexual son over his father.

They foster competitiveness between the father and the son.183 This was the parental situation in the home life of

Donald (The Boys In The Band):

I was raised to be a failure. I was groomed for it. . .my neurotic compulsion was not to succeed. I've realized it was always that when I failed that Evelyn loved me the most--because it displeased Walt, who wanted perfection. (p. 19).

Donnie Barker (Natural Affection) is forced to compete with Bernie, his mother's lover, for her attention and affection. Similar family rivalry, mother-son-father, was shown by Louise, Clive and Stanley (Five Finger gxercise), Marjorie, Kenny and Carol (Little Murders), and Eleanor, Richard and Henry (The Lion in Winter).

l83lrving Bieber et al♦, Homosexuality: A Psychoanaly- tical Study (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), pp. 80-8l. 156

The mothers interfered with peer relations by dis­ approving boyhood friendships and activities under the guise of protectiveness and solitude. They fostered an adult relationship with the son and selected him for preferential treatment over his siblings.1^4 Examples of this type of interference are: Michael (The Boys In The Band),

Charles Nichols (The Ladles of the Corridor), Lot (The Seven

Descents of Myrtle), Kenny Newquist (Little Murders), and

Sebastian Venable (Suddenly Last Summer).

The mothers interfered with the development of indepen­ dence by preempting decision making, encouraging timidity, and by isolating the son so that he has restricted social choices.^65 Charles Nichols (The Ladies of the Corridor) is warned by his mother:

If you do what I think is wrong, then I must do what I think is right. . . . And if you get restless again, dear boy I shall have to do what I must do. °

Though not his parent, Mr. Dulcimer (The Green Bay Tree) creates a marked dependence in Julian. Julian has no

164irving Bieber et. al. , Homosexuality: A Psycho­ analytical Study (New York: Vintage Books, I965T, P«8l.

l65rbia.

T66Dorothy Parker and Arnaud d'Usseau, The Ladies of the Corridor (Samuel French, Inc., 1954), p. 85. 157

vocation. He has been bred in the lap of luxury. He

attempts to assert his independence with hi-,s associations with Leonora and with his father, but he fails. Even after

Dulcimer’s death, Julian remains in Dulcimer’s control.

Dulcimer's death-mask in the living room seems to echo his words: "You can't choose. You haven’t any choice. You know perfectly well what you want and where your happiness lies.”16'?

Father-Son Relationships♦ In his study of the father-son relationships Bieber concluded "that any circumstances that create pathologic needs in males which can be satisfied only by other males, operate in the direction of promoting homosexuality or homosexual problems."'1’ ° The majority of the homosexuals studied had detached fathers. The fathers were distant and indifferent, or hostile, or ambivalent towards the son. The fathers spent little time with his son. The son had not been provided with an adequate male for identi­ fication.

It is a generally accepted psychoanalytic assumption, based on repeated observation, that favorable personality development particularly in its sexual aspects, depends

l87Mordaunt Shairp, The Green Bay Tree in Sixteen Famous British Flays, Bennett Cerf and Van Cartmell, compilers (New York: The Modern Library, 1942$, p. 86l. l88Irving Bieber et al., Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytica Approach (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), P• 115« 158

in a large measure on an indentification with a parent or parent surrogate of the same sex. The patterning and reinforcement of masculine traits derive largely from parental encouragement of identification. The father who lives in the family group yet has little contact with his son discourages filial attachment thus blocking identification processes.1®9

It was also indicated that the father did not protect

his son from the destructive maternal influences. In

certain instances the father was hostile towards the son. In a few cases the father had been seductive with his son.1?0

Playwrights have reflected these paternal relationships

in their plays. Michael and Donald (The Boys In The Band)

state in their discussion of the ’’Walt and Evelyn Syndrome"

that "their" father, "Walt," consistently stood by and let

"their" mother, "Evelyn," warp their lives, Michel (The

Immoralist) was in constant fear of his father. Bobby

Kraweig (Look: We've Come Through) remembers his father only vaguely. His father had a Polish accent and was always seen with a can of beer in his hand. His mother had thrown his father out of the house because he got on her nerves.

Walter (Five Finger Exercise) was afraid of his father:

"He was a great man in the town. People were afraid of

1®9irving Bieber et a1., Homosexuality: A Psycho­ analytical Approach (New York: Vintage Books, 19®5) >P« 115*

^Olbid. 159 him and so was I. . . When he came back, he was still a

Nazi." (p. 48). Clive (Five Finger Exercise) reacts to

his father’s hostility towards him:

Yes, you treat me like a child, but you don't even know the right way to treat a child. Because a child is private and important and itself not an extension of you. Any more than I am. I am myself. Myself. Myself. You think of me only as what I might become. What I might make of myself. But I am myself now. (p. 42).

Bieber indicates that the

classical homosexual triangular pattern is one where the mother is Close-Binding-In- timate and is dominant and minimizing toward a husband who is a detached father, particu­ larly a hostile-detached one. From our statistical analysis, the chances appear to be high that any son exposed to this paren­ tal combination will become homosexual or develop homosexual problems.171

The son may react towards his parent's behavior. Richard

(The Lion In Winter) says to Eleanor: "How old was I when you fought with Henry first? How many battles did I watch?

(p. 78). Clive (Five Finger Exercise) says to both of his parents:

Is the war in this house never going to end. . . The war you both declared when you married. The culture war with me as ammunition. 'Let's show him how small he is. Let's show her where she gets off.' And always through me. He wasn't always a bully. You made him into one. (p. 55)•

1^1Irving Bieber et al., Homosexuality: A Fsychoanalyt Approach (New York: Vintage Books, 19^5), p"7 172. l60

The problem of the family reaction to the discovery

of a homosexual in its ranks has been discussed. Donald

Webster Cory indicates that there is frequently a strong psychological attachment between a homosexual and one of his parents. Therefore the homosexual needs the protection and the friendship that can be offered by a family far more than do most other people. Clinicians have agreed that the homosexual must learn to accept himself. This will be a difficult task for a homosexual if acceptance is not found at home.1^2

By patient and continuous display of sympathetic interest in all phases of your son’s life and all facets of his character, you can prove yourself a friend. And in the many days and years of life when we who are gay seem to be walking alone, when despite the warmest of friendships and the most exciting of romances, we seem to be . . . abandoned in the universe, the unshakable love of our mothers and fathers will give us strength and courage.^-73

A share of the responsibility for acceptance rests upon the shoulders of the homosexual.

In most families conflict can be avoided if the homosexual’s behavior does not embarrass the family. His personal appearance, his mannerisms, his speech, and his friends will all make or break the family impression. . .His actions

■'-72jjona]_(j Webster Cory, The Homosexual In America (New York: Greenberg Publisher, 1951) > PP • 245-24"£7

173 Ibid., p. 255 ♦ l6l

at all times should reflect good taste, excellent manners (not mannerisms), and dependability. . . the homosexual has brought on himself much of the critical disapproval of society, and this can be definitely decreased by his improved behavior. 174

Hoffman says, "Clinical evidence overwhelmingly shows that there are many individuals who have a great degree of fluidity in their sexual object-choice well into adult life.nl75

The marital status of the individual does not seem to be a hindering factor. Consequently a married male may actively participate in homosexual activities.

The playwrights have indicated the reactions of wives towards the homosexuality reported in their husband's past.

Mabel Anderson (Advise and Consent) and Mabel Cantwell

(The Best Man) are concerned but ready to stand by their husbands and their happy marriages. Emily (Baal) and Teena

(Where's Daddy?) are willing to comply with their husband's wishes in the hope for demonstrated affection towards them. Maggie (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) and Mrs. Verdun

("Home Movies") consider the use of fantasy during sexual’ intercourse: Maggie says, "Skipper and I made love. . . to dream it was you, both of us'." (pp- 42-43). Mrs. Verdun

packer and Richard Reed, Homosexuality: The Way Out (Asheville, North Carolina: Gladiator Productions, 22.

175Martin Hoffman, The Gay World (New York: Basic Books, 1968), p. 128. 162

("Home Movies") questions whether or not her husband, had been

thinking of her as they had intercourse: "To be turgid

under cover of darkest night is not the whole story. He

might have been dreaming of those strangers at the very-

time he was planting those seeds."(p. 91)«

Summary.

This chapter has presented the sociological background

of the homosexual character. Heterosexual characters have reacted to the homosexual characters in plays in accordance with the prevailing attitude of society. The threat of physical violence was presented. In recent productions a tolerance for the homosexual was presented as a result of the exposition of the reasons for his sexual deviance.

The reaction of adolescents to participation with homosexuals was presented in many plays. The reactions depicted by the dramatists were reflected in the results of sociological studies.

The topic of homosexuality has changed in recent

Broadway seasons. The homosexual character is presented as being warm and human, similar to his heterosexual brother.

Homosexuality has become a topic of conversation in many plays not concerned with a homosexual theme or with homosexual characters. The sexual proclivity of the playwright has been discussed. It has been determined that regardless of 163 the sexual inclinations of the playwright, if a playwright has something to say about homosexuality he will find acceptance for his play in today's theatres.

Homosexual characters have appeared in plays concerned with prison society, with educational institutions, with the business world, and with the church.

The homosexual characters have appeared in plays set in large cities. They have discussed their meeting places: the public-restroom, the steam bath, the gay bar, the city streets, and private apartments. Manypof the homosexual characters have been presented as displaying feminine traits in hobbies, appearance, and social behavior.

The family relationships between mother-son-father which foster homosexuality in the son have been accurately presented in the plays. This treatment of the familial background of the homosexual character has been one of the most successful aspects of the relevant plays. CHAPTER V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This chapter is a summary of the present study. The relation of the homosexual character to the theme of the play will be reviewed. The psychological and sociological precepts concerning homosexuality which have been reflected by the characters in the plays will be restated. The rela­ tionship of the homosexual character to current trends on the New York stage will be indicated. Possible areas for future research will be suggested.

The Increase of Research on Homosexuality.

Over the past twenty years homosexuality has become a topic for increasingly extensive scientific research. The onset of this research was the publication of the Kinsey report. Experts in many of the psychologically allied areas published their theories concerning homosexuality. The causative factors concerning homosexuality were investigated.

The psychological problems reflected in personality traits were studied. Methods of cure for the homosexual were formulated, tested, and evaluated. The relationship of the parental, environmental, and cultural controls upon the homosexual individual were studied. The subjects for the early scientific investigations were prisoners and homosex­ uals who were in analysis. More recent investigations have 165

started to use subjects whose anonymity has been protected

for legal purposes. Clergymen and sociologists have reflected upon the place of the homosexual in contemporary society.

Publishing houses have increased their sales by printing materials which included the topic of homosexuality.

The Homosexual Character on the Broadway Stage.

The homosexual character has attained prominent stature on the New York stage since 1950. He has been accurately portrayed by the playwrights according to scientific psychological and sociological study. The homosexual character has become more prevalent as a part of contemporary drama. In the drama he has advanced from a non-identified sexual invert to an accepted and labeled homosexual member of society.

Homosexuality was not new to the stage in 1950, but had been a part of the structure of dramatic personalities since the inception of Freudian psychology after the turn of the Twentieth Century. The New York stage has reflected the growth of psychology and psychoanalysis in the con­ temporary world. The pertinent dramas of Eugene O'Neill,

Jesse Williams, Susan Glaspell and Harry Wagstaff Gribble in the Twenties featured a dominating mother and a fixated son. The dramas of Albert Bein, Noel Coward, Lillian

Heilman, and Mordaunt Shairp in the Thirties were studies of interpersonal human relationships. By the Forties the 166

dramas of John Van Druten, Mel Dinelli, Mignon and Robert

McLaughlin probed deeply into the lives of the characters.

The prevalence of the homosexual character in modern

social drama seems to be in relation to the alleged increase

in the number of homosexuals in American society. As has been stated this increase seems to be the result of a number of factors: the publication of the Kinsey report, the changes in the moral values in American society since

World War II, the increase in geographic mobility, the urbanization and suburbanization of cities which has formed a protective shield for homosexually inclined individuals.

The homosexual character has become prevalent not only on the stage but in novels and in motion pictures as well. The topic of homosexuality has increased in Book

Club selections. The liberalization of the motion picture production code has permitted the showing of earlier taboo topics, such as homosexuality, prostitution, and the use of narcotics.

Tennessee Williams has been identified as the play­ wright who has presented the sexual invert on the stage most often and most successfully. Some of his homosexual characters did not appear on the stage but were primary motivational agents in the action of the plot. Many of his plays have been made into motion pictures. 167

The treatment of the homosexual character included

within the present study on the New York stage begins

primarily with Tea and Sympathy and extends to The Boys

In The Band. Since 1953 each season either on Broadway

or off-Broadway has included productions in which homo­

sexual characters have appeared. Since 1966 the homosexual

character has seemed to be a predominant character on the

New York stage. He has appeared in full length plays,

in musicals, and in one-act plays. He has appeared

primarily in serious plays and dramas.

Considering the number of homosexual characters

presented in the dramas of each season, certain seasons

may be classified as being more concerned with homosexuality

than other seasons. These are the 1953-1954 season, the

I96O-I961 season, and the subsequent seasons beginning with

1965-1966.

The homosexual character has interchangeably played

a major role and a minor role in his relation to the theme

and the plot of the presented plays. No one trend seems

to predominate in any particular season. These trends may be identified as: the use of the homosexual character

for local color, the presentation of the homosexual char­

acter as an off-stage entity, the homosexual character unidentified as a sexual invert, the homosexual as resolving his problems by means of suicide, the homosexual attempting 168 to become heterosexual, the homosexual as a third party in a love affair, the homosexual as establishing a vanguard for his sexual rights and minority status, and the use of the homosexual for broad comic effect. Atypical behavior, such as a demonstration of overt masculinity in a repressed homosexual and a supposed heterosexual as a homosexual aggressor, was provided in certain characters.

The homosexual character has played a variety of roles in contemporary drama. He has been an off-stage character, a walk-on character, a supporting character, a minor and a major dramatic character. He has been presented in a variety of chronological ages from the early teens through the late fifties. He primarily has been either in his late teens, reflecting the adolescent archetypal hero, or in his early forties, reflecting the trauma of the adjustment to middle age.

Homosexuality exists in every walk of life, in every social and economic class, in every religious and occupational category. The playwrights have presented this fact in their plays. The early plays were primarily con­ cerned with members in the profession of education. In the middle plays other vocations were added to the homosexual ranks. The later plays presented diverse occupations with the increase of homosexual characters within one production.

The majority of the homosexual characters were Caucasian, 169

but a few were identified as Negroid. Homosexual characters

have been shown as members of the major religious communities,

The speech and language patterns of the homosexual

character have indicated his degree of effeminacy, his

mental status, and his education. His vocabulary not only

gives a clue to his sexual proclivity but also establishes

his individuality. In his private social circle, the

homosexual utilizes a language of his own. He mixes his

masculine-feminine pronouns, refers to himself and his

friends with female names, and comments freely about his

sexual aberration.

The interaction of the homosexual character with the

personnel in his environment reflected cultural and environ­ mental standards. The family relationships which seem to fos­

ter homosexuality in a son were successfully presented on the

stage. Some homosexual characters appeared in transvestite

attire. Some characters portrayed the characteristics of psychological depression. The hostility which seems to be

a part of the personality of many homosexuals was presented as an effective dramatic device in the structure of the dramatic character. When needed the playwright added feminine characteristics to the homosexual character's personality.

Not all of the plays were original scripts but were based upon historical incidents and figures (Romulus, Becket,

Ross, The Lion in Winter), were based upon earlier playscripts 170

(Your Own Thing, Fortune and Men's Eyes), or were adaptations

of novels (End As A Man, The Immoralist, Compulsion, The Devil*

Advocate, Ergo, The Deer Park, Malcolm, The Bad Seed, Advise

and Consent, Mandingo, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, and Billy

Budd). Some of the plays presented during the period were

revivals of earlier productions (The Green Bay Tree, The Chil­

dren 1s Hour, Baal, Man Is Man, In The Jungle of the Cities) .

In addition to Tennessee Williams, playwrights who have

demonstrated a keen insight in the structure of dramatic plots

and characters are Harold Pinter ("The Collection"), Robert

Anderson (Tea and Sympathy), Jean Genet ("Deathwatch"), William

Inge (Where's Daddy?), Edward Albee (Tiny Alice), Hugh Wheeler

(Big Fish, Little Fish), John Lewis Carlino ("Epiphany"),

LeRoi Jones ("The Toilet"), John Herbert (Fortune and Men's

Eyes ), Charles Dyer (Staircase) , Samuel Taylor (Avanti ) , and Mart Crowley (The Boys In The Band).

The Psychological Background of the Homosexual Character.

There is no one simple psychological cause for homosexuality. Many psychological precepts concerning the etiology of homosexuality have been presented in many diverse psychological studies. The playwrights have reflected these studies in their creation of the homosexual characters. Gebhard et al♦ in Sex Offenders have indicated that homosexuals had the following backgrounds: They were 171

only children or the youngest sibling in a family. They

had poor parental relationships and often were the product

of broken homes. They had participated in prepuberal

homosexual play, generally with an adult male. They had

had heterosexual experience but preferred homosexual

experiences. They had reached puberty at an earlier age

than their peers. They had had frequent illnesses in

childhood.

Albert Ellis in Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure

indicated a number of factors which may predispose an

individual towards homosexuality. The homosexuality may have developed from general conditioning and learning.

Certain men are driven to other men for sexual satisfaction only. Other men tend to think and act like women. Other men are heterosexual but like to wear women's clothing.

Certain men are homosexual because they are exceptionally guilty about heterosexual relations. Feelings of inadequacy, hostility, and rebelliousness may lead to homosexuality and oftentimes are characteristic of the homosexual. Certain men do not develop an awareness of homosexuality until they are many years past puberty. Their marital status is no barrier to their achieving homosexual contacts.

Constitutional factors may be a cause of homosexuality.

Genetic, hormonal, and anatomic factors have been found which may lead indirectly to produce homosexuality in some individ­ uals. 172

The homosexual is characterized as having a special

interest in the arts. He is characterized as being promis­

cuous. He is regarded as having a strong super-ego. He may show impulses towards sadism and masochism. He may be a voyeur or a sexual exhibitionist, or he may develop a fetish.

The homosexual is no longer thought of as being primarily either "active” or "passive" in his sexual role.

It has been determined that he plays a dual role according to the demands of each sexual situation.

The homosexual may consider heterosexuality as a difficulty and a danger. He may be so penurious that he refrains from heterosexual contact. He may abhor penile- vaginal copulation. He may not want to get emotionally involved with a sex partner. He may acquire an amative fixation with a member of his own sex.

The homosexual may demonstrate a compensatory megalomania. He may suffer from deep inner depression.

The sometimes visible flippant hilarity of the "gay" is a very thin pseudoeuphoric camouflage. It is a technique for warding off masochistic depression, or it may be a technique of exaggerated and free-floating malice to ward off depression.

The homosexual may experience anxiety because of the threat of blackmail, the possibility of police-arrest, or 173

the accusation of being a sexual invert. This anxiety

does not prevent him from publicly seeking new sexual

partners.

Many clinicians have sought methods to cure homosex­

uality. No treatment has been found to be consistently

successful; Not every homosexual wants to convert to

heterosexuality. When this is evident, the homosexual

must develop an acceptance of himself with his sexual

aberration.

Many women develop close associations with the homosexual. Through these associations they may be expressing their own psychological needs. They may feel secure with the homosexual. They may like the attention shown to them by the homosexual. They may feel that they have the ability to help the homosexual fulfill a heterosexual way of life.

Certain homosexuals will reach out to these women for this help.

The Sociological Background of the Homosexual Character.

The attitude of society towards homosexuality seemingly has progressed from one of outward contempt and rejection to one of seeming tolerance and acceptance. Society is uncertain and confused about what its attitude should be and what it should do. At one time society registered disgust, ridicule, or pity toward homosexuality. But changing mores and moral values have altered attitudes 174

or at least weakened former feelings. There are conflicting pulls. Yet homosexuality is far from receiving approbation, or even acceptance. Generally it is placed on a much lower plane than heterosexual promiscuity.

The homosexual realizes that society is indeed hypocritical and prejudiced. It looks the other way at sexual malfeasance as long as these acts are heterosexual.

The homosexual encounters men who think nothing at all of paying for the most abnormal forms of sex with a female and then becomes violently angry if such is suggested with a male.

John I. Kitsuse found that the interpretation the public made of deviant behavior was more critical than the actual behavior of the homosexual individuals warranted.

He found many of the negative reactions to be expressions of embarrassment, a reluctance to share the burden of the deviant's problems, fear of the deviant, as well as indignation or revulsion. He found that the more educated the population was, the more tolerant it was of deviants.

It has been determined that if a playwright feels he has something to say about homosexuality, he will find social acceptance of his play in today's theatres. The audience does not seem to be overly concerned with the sexual proclivity of the playwright. 175

In prison society, not sexual gratification, but the

conquest and degradation of the victim is the primary goal

of the sexual aggressor. The attackers tend to be the

huskier, more violent criminals who are unable otherwise

to achieve masculine pride. They do not think of themselves

as homosexuals, believing that they are manly as long as

they are the partner who is aggressive. A realistic

portrayal of homosexuality in prison has been written in

John Herbert's Fortune and Men1s Eyes.

Teenage boys may take part in a peer-queer relationship

as a means of making money, as an act of rebellion against

parental authority, or for a feeling of power. According

to Albert Reiss Jr., they may not seek sexual gratification

as the goal in the relationship. They do not consider

themselves as homosexuals, as they define one as a homosexual

on the basis of participation in the homosexual role, not

on the basis of homosexual behavior.

The Christian churches find the homosexual most

acceptable when he is continent. The Christian test of

any way of life is the fulfillment of persons which comes when the person begins to accept his social responsi­ bilities in light of the Gospel.

Homosexuals tend to migrate to and to congregate in

large urban areas. They are known to socialize in private

apartments, in gay bars, and in steam baths. They are 176

known to seek homosexual partners in these places as well

as on city streets, in city parks, and in public rest-rooms.

The family unit as a social creator of homosexuality

has been studied. Bieber determined that certain mothers

may promote homosexuality in their sons by an interference

with the son’s heterosexual development, by their inter­

ference with the father-son relationship, by their inter­

ference with peer relationships, and by their interference with the development of their son's independence.

Fathers may promote homosexuality in their sons when

they are distant, indifferent, hostile, and/or ambivalent towards their sons. The male child needs an adequate male model for identification. Fathers need to protect their

sons from destructive maternal influences.

The type of family most likely to produce a son with homosexual problems is one in which the mother is characterized as a close-binding-intimate person, who is dominant and minimizing toward a husband who is a hostile, detached father.

When a homosexual son is found in a family, the family needs to provide the son with protection and friendship. According to Donald Webster Cory, the family can prove themselves a friend by a patient and continuous display of sympathetic interest in all phases of the son's life and in all facets of his character. The son has the 177 responsibility to be sure that his actions at all times reflect good taste, excellent manners, and dependability.

Clinical evidence overwhelmingly shows that there are many individuals who have a great degree of fluidity in their sexual object-choice well into adult life. The marital status of the individual does not seem to be a hindering factor. Consequently a married man may actively participate in homosexual practices. The wife would need to show as much interest in her husband as the parent does for the unmarried son.

The homophile movement has been Instrumental towards the attainment of social acceptance for the homosexual.

The homophile movement has advocated changes in the laws concerning the sexual activity of consenting adults. It has advocated the abandonment of police raids on gay bars and steam baths. Progress in attaining these goals has been minimal.

Sociologically two areas of agreement are in evidence between civil authorities and members of the homophile movement. Young boys must be protected from seduction by adult homosexual males. The pederast is mentally ill and needs treatment. It has been agreed that the converse needs to be taken into account. Certain young boys are not sexually naive, and they purposely place themselves in situations which will lead to their desired seduction. John 178

Gerassi and. Gebhard et al. reported that homosexual offenders against male children almost never use force, while hetero­ sexual offenders against children often did use force.

Secondly the public needs to be protected from the nuisance of observing sexual acts and being solicited for sexual acts in public places.

It is not within the scope of this study to determine or to assess these factors. It has been observed that many social institutions seem to be moving away from forced restrictions upon their members. This has been seen in the ecumenical changes in the practices of the Roman Catholic

Church. It has been seen in the judicial decisions regarding obscenity and pornography. Each individual is required, according to his own conscience, to determine whether a play, a motion picture, a book, or a picture is offensive for him. With the availability of proper publications, as in advertisements, posters, or reviews, the individual can make a pre-judgment and not risk embarrassment or offense.

Conclusions of the Study.

Seventy-five scripts have been considered in the present study. These scripts have been compared with the published psychological and sociological studies on homosexuality during the same period. The most significant conclusion of the study seems to be that there is a positive relation­ ship between the homosexuality in scientific study and the 179

homosexuality as presented by playwrights. Whether by

intuition or by a knowledge of scientific observation, the

playwrights have presented an accurate picture of the

homosexual on the stage.

Psychological assessment of homosexuality has progressed

to an awareness that any male may develop homosexual inter­

ests regardless of age or marital, socio-economic, occupation­

al, religious, or racial status. It has progressed to an

awareness that a cure may not always be possible or necessary, but that an acceptance of self by the homosexual

is important for his mental health.

The treatment of the homosexual character on the New

York stage has progressed from the offstage motivational force for the onstage action to the presentation onstage of a labeled homosexual who is seemingly an accepted member of society. It has progressed from a satirical exaggerated caricature to the presentation of an individual who is warm and human. It has progressed from a character who spoke in forced inflectional stress patterns to one who utilizes his own personal vocabulary and language patterns.

It has progressed from the novelty of presenting a shocking character to the routine presentation of another member of complex society. Currently the homosexual character may be presented as the central character in a comedy rather than a serious character in a drama. He may be costumed in l8o

the individualistic uni-sex styles of contemporary fashion rather than a group style which reflected his narcissistic traits.

Suggestions For Future Research♦

There have been limitations to this study both in the area of scientific investigation and in the area of dramatic presentation. It would seem that scientific investigations need to be made with homosexual subjects who are not in prison, not in analysis, but who are thought of as acceptable members of society. John Gerassi in The

Boys of Boise has indicated that the great majority of homosexuals are not exhibitionist freaks but ordinary citizens. It would seem that with a population of these homosexuals a complete assessment of the nature of homo­ sexuality could be discovered and presented. The problem of locating these subjects and insuring their protection from legal prosecution would be the first factor to be considered.

At least two situations which would seem pertinent have not to date been treated by dramatists dealing with the topic of homosexuality. A play has not been written which has accurately shown the results to a young boy having been seduced by an adult male homosexual. Secondly a play has not been written in which a male has chosen homosexuality or heterosexuality as a result of his l8l psychological, sociological, cultural, and environmental background.

There seems to be no reflection in the published psychological literature of the continued fixation a male homosexual may have on his initial male sexual attraction.

David Ragin (The Sign In Sidney Brustein1s Window) and

Leslie Bright ("The Madness of Lady Bright") were presented as continuing to search for "Nelson" and "Adam" in each of their homosexual partners. Psychological assessment needs to be made to determine if this type of fixation is common in the homosexual nature or whether a strong emotional attraction to a new sexual object replaces the initial fixation.

The attitude of society concerning the acceptance of homosexuality needs to be observed and evaluated.

The influence on public opinion of such productions as

The Boys In The Band could be evaluated.

Few plays with a homosexual theme or homosexual characters have had long New York runs. Those running over five hundred performances include: Tea and Sympathy,

"The Zoo Story," The Best Man, "The Collection," Hair,

Your Own Thing, and The Boys In The Band. It would be of value to determine how many college and community theatres have produced plays with homosexual characters.

The titles of the plays, the years in which they were 182 produced, and their reception by audiences should be a

further indication of the regional reaction to the theme

of homosexuality in the drama.

Currently many productions including the theme of homosexuality or with homosexual characters are being presented off off-Broadway. The contemporary theatre movements seem to be concerned with social and political change. The Theatre of the Ridiculous has had as its goal a reaction to the female dominated culture in our society.

Ronald Tavel has been instrumental in working towards this goal. One of the early Tavel works was Screen Test.

Female impersonators were used to present the radical social satire and protest:

Thanks to Mario Montez, Screen Test became an incisive comment on American stylization of femininity, as well as a demonstration of the formative effect Hollywood has had in defining it. One suddenly realized that every teenage girl in America goes to the movies in order to be a better female im­ personator during her next screen test or on her next date.^o

The influence of the motion pictures of the Thirties and

Forties on the homosexual character has been observed in

The Boys In The Band. When scripts of the off off-Broadway productions are available and when the effectiveness of

!76l)an Isaac, "Ronald Tavel: Ridiculous Playwright," The Drama Review, XIII (Fall, 1968), p. 110. 183

the off off-Broadway movement can he assessed, a study

should he conducted to reflect the achievements of the

movement and its relation to the presentation of homosexu­

ality in the theatre.

Consideration might he given to the Homophile Movement

and plays with homosexual characters. Assessment may indi­

cate the development of homophile plays written by homosexual playwrights and produced for a homosexual audience. An evaluation of such a trend and a comparison of the plays to the present study should be valuable.

The Homosexual Character in the 1968-1969 Broadway Season.

The 1968-1969 theatrical season has continued to present the homosexual character as a part of the dramatis personae. He has attained the status of being just another member in the passing social scene. In Megan Terry's

The People vs Ranchman, he was the third rape victim of the ranchman. In Charles Gordone’s No Place To Be Somebody, he was another customer in the bar. In William Meyer's

Spiro Who?, he was a third roommate in a college setting.

The most prominent homosexual theme of this season was given in Colin Spencer's Spitting Image. In this fantasy comedy the homosexual couple are blessed with reproductive powers . The difficult thing Mr. Spencer does impressively is to create, an entirely believable married couple, living and growing together and apart. Few hetero­ 184

sexual plays have done this so well, though essentially the reactions of the two parents here to their joy-cum-problem are no different from those of many a more normal married couple. . . .177

The 1968-1969 theatrical season has been noted for the

increased presentation of nudity upon the stage and for

the simulated act of intercourse in Lennox Raphael’s

Che'. . It seems that people have a great interest in and will pay a great deal of money to look at the genitals of

other people:

If producers and theatregoers flush their latent voyeurism out of their systems, then this craze for bodily exposure for its own sake may clear the air. . . . now our citizens' ri­ diculous obsession with their repro­ ductive apparatus is disclosed beyond the possibility of ignoral. This might be a positive development, providing those who are upset by it examine the psychology of audiences as well as producers.178

The most wholesome aspect of the current scene is that people can stay away from things they don't want to see.

The censorship is voluntary.^79

The question of what effect this stage behavior will have in plays dealing with homosexual characters has been

177john Russell Taylor, "First Nights," Plays and Players, XVI (November, 1968), p. 64.

178'»in Olden Days, A Glimpse of Stocking---- ," Audience XI (May, 1969), PP- 1-2.

179Brooks Atkinson, "Theatre Reflects State of the Nation." The Blade: Toledo, Ohio (August 18, 1968), F:4. 185 answered in part. Producer Jim Mendenhall and Director

Philip Oesterman have advertised for an actor to play a nude scene with another male in a school setting in a future off-Broadway production.18® Dionysius has forced

Pentheus to take his penis in his mouth during the per- T ft *1 formance of Dionysius 69♦x Stephan Brecht interprets:

The god now proposes a deal: in exchange for a blow job he will give peace. Mean­ ing 1: be sexually open & you'll be sex­ ually free. Meaning 2: realize yourself as physically being among physical beings & your mind will be free. Meaning 3: allow the erotic its unbounded access to all your sociability. Meaning 4: don't be afraid to be queer & you won't be.182

The question of the reaction of actors to portraying homosexual characters has been discussed. At first it was thought that no genuine homosexual would accept such a part, as he would be afraid of exposing his secret self.

Many actors assert that if you act the part of a homosexual, it does not mean that you are a homosexual any more than you are a murderer when you act the part of a murderer.

However certain actors--Eli Wallach, Rod Steiger, and Zero

Mostel--in playing homosexual roles have appeared to heighten the exaggeration in order to appear to the audience as

l8o"The voice Classified," the village VOICE (C.October 24, 1968), p. 60. 1®1Ross Wetzsteon, "Theatre Journal," the village VOICE (October 18, 1968), p. 45- l82Stephan Brecht, "Theatre Reviews," The Drama Review, XIII (Spring, 1969), p. 157- 186 sexually all right. -1-®3

This chapter has been a summary of the present study.

The relation of the homosexual character to the theme of the plays has been reviewed. The psychological and sociological precepts concerning homosexuality which have

"been reflected by the characters in the plays have been restated. The results of the study have been summarized.

Possible areas for future research have been indicated.

The relationship of the homosexual character to current and future trends on the New York stage has been suggested.

^^^"The Theatre," Audience, X (November, 1968), pp. 1-2 187

BIBLIOGRAPHY iW

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BOOKS

Becker, Howard S. (ed.). The Other Side: Perspectives on Deviance. New York: The Free Press, 1964.

Bergler, Edmund. Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life?. New York: Collier Books, 194K^

Bieber, Irving, and others. Homosexuality: A Psycho­ analytic Study of Male Homosexuals. New York: Vintage Books, 19^71

Biegel, Hugo E. (ed.). Advances in Sex Research. New York: Harper and Row, 1903«

Chapman, John (ed. '49-'5l), Louis Kronenberger (ed. *52- ’6l), Henry Hewes (ed. ’62-'64), Otis L. Guernsey Jr. (ed. '65-present). The Burns Mantle Best Plays Series 20 vol. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1949“19^9•

Cleckley, Hervey. The Caricature of Love. New York: Ronald Press, 1957«

Coe, Richard N. The Vision of Jean Genet. New York: Grove Press, Inc., I96FT

Collier, James. The Hypocritical American. New York: Macfadden-Bartell Corp ., 19^4.

Cornish, George A. (ed.). The Americana Annual: Chronology 1968. New York: Americana Corp., 1969 > PP• 681-685.

Cory, Donald Webster. The Homosexual in America. New York: Greenberg Publishers, 1951•

Ellis, Albert. The American Sexual Tragedy, 2nd Rev. Ed. New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 19 62.

______. Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure. New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1965-

Ferenczi, Sandor. Sex in Psychoanalysis. New York: Robert Brunner Pub., 1950-

Freud, Sigmund. Characters and Culture. New York: Collier Books, 1963« 189

______• Sexuality and, the Psychology of Love. New York: Collier Books, 1963«

Gassner, John (ed.). Best American Plays Fourth Series 195I-I957 • New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.~ 19^4.

Gebhard, Paul H., and others. Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Types. London: Heinemann, 1965^

Gerassi, John. The Boys of Boise : Furor, Vice, and Folly in an American City. New York: The Macmillan Co., 19®£7

Halliwell, Leslie. The Filmgoer's Companion. New York: Hill and Wang, Inc.” 1905•

Henry, George W. Masculinity and Femininity. New York: Collier Books” 19^4 .

Himelhock, Jerome and Sylvia F. Fava (eds.). Sexual Behavior in American Society♦ New York: W. M. Norton & Co., 1955«

Hoffman, Martin. The Gay World : Male Homosexuality and the Social Creation of Evil. New York: Basic Books, Inc.’, 19^8.

Josephson, Eric and Mary (ed. ) . Man Alone: Alienation in Modern Soc iety. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1962T

Kinsey, Alfred C., and others. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders, 1948.

Kling, Samuel G. Sexual Behavior and•the Law. New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1965.

Krich, A.M. (ed.). The Homosexuals As Seen by Themselves and Thirty Authorities. New York: The Citadel Press, 1954.

Lane, Yoti. The Psychology of the Actor. London: Seeker & Warburg, 1959«

Magee, Bryan. One In Twenty: A Study of Homosexuality in Men and Women. New York: Stein and Day, 19&6.

Masters, R.E.L. The Homosexual Revolution. New York: The Julian Press, Inc., 198TT

Money, John (ed.). Sex Research: New Developments. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., 1965• 190

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. New York: Critics’ Theatre Reviews. 20 vol. 1949-1969♦

O'Connor, L.R. The Photographic Manual of Sexual Inter­ course . New York: Pent-R Books, Inc., 19Ö9•

Quigley, Martin. Decency in Motion Pictures♦ New York: The Macmillan Co., 1937-

Sievers, W. David. Freud on Broadway: A History of Psycho­ analysis and the American Drama. New York: Hermitage House, 1955«

Shipley, Joseph T. (ed.). Guide to Great Plays. Washington D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1956 •

Stearn, Jess. The Sixth Man. New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1961.

Symonds, John Addington. Sexual Inversion. New York: The Medical Press of New York, 1964.

Witham, W. Tasker, The Adolescent in the American Novel 1920-1960. New York: Frederick Ungar Pu. Co., 1964.

Young, William C. (ed.). Sex and Internal Secretions. Baltimore, Md.: The Williams 85 Wilkins Co., 1961.

Zipf, George K. The Psycho-biology of Language: An Intro­ duction to Dynamic Philology. Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1965.

B. PLAYS

Albee, Edward. "The American Dream," Two Plays by Edward Albee. New York: A Signet Book, i960.

______. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.,

______. Malcolm. New York: Atheneum, 1966.

. Tiny Alice. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.,“1^65.

______. "The Zoo Story," Two Plays by Edward Albee. New York: A Signet Book, 1959- 191

Anderson, Maxwell. Bad Seed. New York: Dramatists Play- Service, Inc., 1957-

Anderson, Robert. Tea and Sympathy, Lee Strasberg (ed.). Famous American Plays of the 1950s♦ New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1953*

Anderson, Robert. You Know _I Can't Hear You When The Water's Running. New York: Random House, 19^7•

Anouilh, Jean. Becket, Lucienne Hill (tr.). New York: A Signet Book, 1964.

Behan, Brendan. The Hostage, Henry Popkin (ed.). The New British Drama. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1964.

Brecht, Bertolt. Baal, A Man ' s A Man _& The Elephant Calf, Eric Bentley (ed.). New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1962.

______. Jungle of Cities and Other Plays, Eric Bentley fed.). New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1966.

Carlino, Lewis John. "Epiphany,” Cages. New York: Drama­ tists Play Service, Inc., 1964.

Chayefsky, Paddy. The Latent Heterosexual. New York: Bantam Books, 1968.

Coxe, Louis 0. and Robert Chapman. Billy Budd. New York: Dramatist Play Service, Inc., 1952.

Crowley, Mart. The Boys In The Band. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968.

Delaney, Shelagh. A Taste of Honey, Theatre Arts, XLVII (January, I963T•

Drayton, Mary. The Playroom. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1965•

Drexler, Rosalyn. "Home Movies,” The Line of Least Existence and Other Plays. New York: Random House, I967•

Driver, Donald. Your Own Thing, Otis L. Guernsey Jr. (ed.). The Best Plays of 1967-1968. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., i960.

Dyer, Charles. Staircase. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1966 192

Feiffer, Jules. Little Murders. New York: Random House, 1968.

Gazzo, Michael. A Hatful of Rain, Lee Strasherg (sel.). Famous American Plays of the 1950s. New York: Dell' Publishing Co., Inc., 1954.

Genet, Jean. The Maids and Deathwatch, Bernard Frechtman (tr.). New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1954.

Gibbs, Wolcott. Season in the Sun. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1952.

Goetz, Ruth and Augustus. The Immoralist. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., I962.

Goldman, James. The Lion in Winter. New York: Samuel French, Inc., i960.

Hampton, Christopher. When Did You Last See My Mother?. New York: Samuel French, Inc., Ï965.

Herbert, John. Fortune and Men's Eyes. New York: Grove Press, Inc 1967 •

Inge, William. .A Loss of Roses. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1963.

______. Natural Affection. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc .” 1963.

______. Where's Daddy?. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.7 19o6•

Jones, LeRoi. The Baptism & The Toilet. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1967•

Kingsley, Sidney. Night Life♦ New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1966.

Lind, Jakov. Ergo♦ New York: Hill and Wang, 1968.

Mailer, Norman. The Deer Park. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1967•

Mandel, Loring. Advise and Consent. New York: Samuel French, Inc «7 1961. 193 Marcus, Frank. The Killing of Sister George. London: Samuel French, Inc., 19é>5.

McNally, Terrence. And. Things That Go Bump in the Night, Arthur H. Ballet fed.). Playwrights for Tomorrow, Vol. I. Minneapolis, Minn.: The University of Minnesota Press, 1966.

Miller, Arthur. A View from the Bridge. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1957-

Nash, N. Richard. Girls of Summer. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1956.

Orton, Joe. Entertaining Mr. Sloane. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1964.

______. Loot. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1967•

Osborne, John. Inadmissible Evidence. Chicago, Ill.: The Dramatic Publishing Co., 195 5•

Parker, Dorothy and Arnaud d'Usseau. The Ladies of the Corridor. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1952.

Pinter, Harold. The Birthday party. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1959«

______. The Caretaker. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1963•

______. ’’The Collection," Three Plays. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1962.

______. The Lover, Tea Party, The Basement. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 19&7•

Rattigan, Terence. Man and Boy. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1963•

______. Ross, Theatre Arts, XLVII (April, 1963)*

Schary, Dore. The Devil's Advocate. New York: Samuel French, Inc., I961.

Shaffer, Peter. "Black Comedy," The White Liars and Black Comedy. New York: Samuel French, Inc1968.

. Five Finger Exercise, Theatre Arts, XLV (February, 1961). 194

Shairp, Mordaunt. The Green Bay Tree, Bennett A. Cerf and Van H. Cartme11 fcomp.). Sixteen Famous British Plays. New York: Random House, Inc. , 194-2.

Spencer, Colin. Spitting Image, Plays and Players, XVI (November, I960).

Tavel, Ronald. Gorilla Queen, Michael Smith (ed.). The Best of Off Off-Broadway. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969

Taylor, Samuel. Avanti! or A Very Uncomplicated Girl. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 196H^

Vidal, Gore. The Best Man. New York: A Signet Book, i960.

______. Romulus♦ New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1961.

Wheeler, Hugh. Big Fish, Little Fish, Theatre Arts, XLVI (September, 1962^

______. Look : We've Come Through. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1963•

Williams, Tennessee. Camino Real, Lee Strasberg (sei.). Famous American Plays of the 1950s. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1953-

______. Cat On a, Hot Tin Roof. New York: A Signet Book, 1955.

______. Kingdom of Earth (The Seven Descents of Myrtle). New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 19%9 •

______. The Mutilated. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1967.

______. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1947«

. Suddenly Last Summer. New York: A Signet Book, 1958.

Willingham, Calder. "End As A Man." New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1953 (Mimeographed).

Wilson, Langford. "The Madness of Lady Bright," Nick Orzel and Michael Smith (eds.). Eight Plays from Off Off- Broadway . New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., i960.

Wouk, Herman. Nature's Way. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1956. 195

C. ARTICLES IN PAMPHLETS AND PERIODICALS

Apperson, B.A. and J. McAdoo. "Parental Factors in the Childhood of Homosexuals," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, LXXIII:3 (1968), pp. 201-206.

Atkinson, Brooks. "Theatre Reflects State of the Nation," The Blade: Toledo Ohio (August 18, 1968), F:4.

Barbu, Zevedei. "The Sociology of Drama," New Society, IX (February 2, 1967), PP• 161-163.

Brecht, Stefan. "Family of the f.p.," The Drama Review, XIII:1 (Fall, 1968), pp. 117/.

______. "Theatre Reviews," The Drama Review, XIII:3 ("Spring, 1969), PP- 156/7

Brustein, Robert. "The Democratization of Art," The New Republic, CLIX (August 10, 1968), pp. 18-19-

Carstairs, G. Morris. "Cultural Differences in Sexual Deviation," B553&, Sociological Abstracts, XIII (Jan.- July, 1965), P- 328.

"Changing Morality: The Two Americas," Time, XCIII (June 6, 1969), pp. 26-27-

"Cinema: Art of Light and Lunacy: The New Underground Films," Time, XCI (February 17, 1967)> PP• 94/-

Coleman, A.D. "Theatre Afield," the village VOICE (April, 11, 1968), p. 40.

DeScipio, William J. "Modified Progressive Desensitization and Homosexuality," British Journal of Medical Psycho- logy XLI:3 (1968), pp. 267-272.

Esslin, Martin. "Document of Passion," Plays and Players, XVI (November, 1968), p. 18.

Flaherty, Joe. "It Depends on the Company One Keeps," the village VOICE (February 27, 1969), PP • l/•

Gilman, Richard. "On *Chei‘ The New Republic, CLX (April 12, 1969), PP- 29/- 196

Ginsberg, Kenneth N. ’’The 'Meat Rack': A Study of the Male Homosexual Prostitute," American Journal of Psycho­ therapy, XXI:2 (April, 19^7), PP • 170-186.

Glover, William. "Mart Crowley: Why Did He Write 'Boys in the Band'?," The Blade: Toledo, Ohio (July 14, 1968), P- 3«

Green, Richard and John Money. "Effeminacy and Stage Acting, Archives of General Psychiatry, XV:5 (1965)> PP • 535“538

Greenblatt, David R. "Semantic Differential Analysis of the 'Triangular System' Hypothesis in 'Adjusted' Overt Male Homosexuals," 67-6178, Dissertation Abstracts, XXVIIB (May, 1967), p. 4123.

Gunnison, Foster. An Introduction to the Homophile Movement. Hartford, Conn.: The Institute of Social Ethics” 19®7 •

Hammer, Emanuel F. "Symptoms of Sexual Deviation: Dynamics and Etiology," The Psychoanalytic Review, LV:1 (Spring, 1968), pp. 5/.

Haskell, Molly. "Theatre: Spitting Image," the village VOICE (March 6, 1969)> P• 38«

"Homosexuality," Social Progress, LVIII (November-December, 1967), PP- 4TT2:

Hooker, Evelyn. "A Preliminary Analysis of Group Behavior of Homosexuals," Journal of Psychology (1956), pp. 217/.

______. "The Adjustment of Male Overt Homosexuals," Journal of Projective Techniques (1957)» PP• 18/.

______. "Male Homosexuality in the Rorschach," Journal of Projective Techniques (1958), pp. 33/•

"In Olden Days, A Glimpse of Stocking...," Audience, No. 11 (May, 1969)» PP. 1-2.

Isaac, Dan. "Ronald Tavel: Ridiculous Playwright," The Drama Review, XIII:1 (Fall, 1968), pp. 106/.

Kael, Pauline. "The Current Cinema," The New Yorker (January 11, 1969)> P- 60, (January l8, 1969) P- 80.

. Film Quarterly, XV (Summer, 1962), p. 29« 197 Kaplan, Donald M. "Homosexuality and the American Theatre: A Psychoanalytical Comment,” Tulane Drama Review, IX:3 (Spring, 1965), PP- 25/.

Kauffman, Stanley. New York Times (February 6, 1966), Section 2, p. 1.

Kerr, Walter. "The Theatre of Say It! Show It! What Is It?," New York Times (September 1, 1968), pp. io/.

Kitsuse, John I. "Societal Reactions to Deviant Behavior: Problems of Theory and Method," Social Problems, IX:3 (1962), pp. 247/.

Kraft, Tom. "A Case of Homosexuality Treated by Systematic Desensitization,” American Journal of Psychotherapy, XXI:3 (July, 1967), PP- 815/.

Kraus, Ted M. (ed.). Critical Digest, XX:45 (March 24, 1969), p. 1.

Lahr, John. "Jules Feiffer: Satire as Subversion," Evergreen Review, XIII (February, 1969), pp. 33/.

Maddocks, Lewis I. "The Homosexual and The Law," Social Action, XXXIV:4 (December, 19^7), PP. 5/•

Mathes, Irma. "Adult Male Homosexuality and the Perception of Instrumentality, Expressiveness, and Coalition in Parental Role Structure,” 67~2897, Dissertation Abstracts, XXVIII:1A (1967), p. 8ll.

McGuire, Ruth M. "An Inquiry Into Attitudes and Value Systems of a Minority Group: A Comparative Study of Attitudes and Value Systems of Adult Male Homosexuals with Adult Male Heterosexuals," 66-9465, Dissertation Abstracts, XXVII:1A (1966), p. 1110.

Meskil, Paul. "Life on Queer Street,” New York Sunday News (February 2, 1969), pp. 11/.

Nelson, Benjamin. "Avant-Garde Dramatists from Ibsen to Ionesco," Psychoanalytic Review, LV:3 (1968), pp. 505/•

Packer, Charles and Richard Reed. Homosexuality: The Way Out. Asheville, N.C.: Gladiator Productions, 19^9•

Phillips, Gene D., S.J., "Hope for the Homosexual," The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, LXVI (September, 1966), pp. 1007/• 198

Rado, Sandor. "A Critical Examination of the Concept of Bisexuality," Psychosomatic Medicine (194-9), pp. 4-59/.

Regelson, Rosalyn, "Up The Camp Staircase," New York Times (March 3, 1968), pp. 15/.

Rizzo, Gino. "Ronald Tavel: Celebration of a Panic Vision," the village VOICE (March 6, 1969), pp • 4-1/.

Sagarin, Edward. "Structure and Ideation in an Association of Deviants," 68-10123, Dissertation Abstracts, XXVII-A (1966), p. 1305.

Sarris, Andrew. "Films,” the village VOICE (November 30, 1967), P- 39-

Schott, Webster. "Civil Rights and the Homosexual: A Four Million Minority Asks for Equal Rights," New York Times (November 12, 1967), PP • 4-4-/.

"Sensible Censorship?," Senior Scholastic, XC (October 25, 1969), p. 8.

Serban, George. "The Existential Therapeutic Approach to Homosexuality," American Journal of Psychotherapy, XXII:3 (July, 1968), pp. 4-91/.

Shave, David W. "Problems in Orality," American Journal of Psychotherapy, XXII:1 (January, 1968), pp. 82/.

Simon, William and John H. Gagnon. "Homosexuality: The Formulation of a Sociological Perspective," Journal of Health and Sociological Behavior, VIII:3 (Septem- ber~, 1967), pp. 177/.

Smith, Michael. "Theatre Journal," the village VOICE (March 7, 1968), p. 35-

Taylor, John R. "First Nights," Plays and Players, XVI (November, 1968), p. 64-.

"Theatre," Audience, No. 5 (November, 1968), pp. 1-2.

"The Theatre: Dramatic Drought," Time, XCII (May 17> 1968), p. 98.

"The Theatre: Repertory," Time, XCII (May 24, 1968), p. 86.

Thomas, Kevin. "Bogarde Overcomes Bad Films, Remains Top Draw," The Blade: Toledo, Ohio (March 23, 1969)> Fr p. 3- 199

Wetzsteon, Ross. "Theatre Journal," the village VOICE (April 3, 1969), pp. 45/.

"What About Homosexuality?," Social Progress, LVIII:2 (November-December, 1967).

Williams, Daniel Day. "Three Studies of Homosexuality in Relation to the Christian Faith," Social Action, XXXIV:4 (December, 1967), PP. 30/.

Wolman, Benjamin B. "Interactional Treatment of Homosex­ uality," Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, XIV:1 (1967), PP- 70/.

Wyden, Peter and Barbara Wyden. "Growing Up Straight: The Father's Role," New York Times (May 26, 1968), pp. 68/.

D. NOVELS

Adams, Samuel Hopkins. Banner by the Wayside. New York: Random House, 19^7.

Baldwin, James. Another Country. New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1962.

______. Giovanni 1s Room. New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1956

Burns, John Horne. The Gallery: New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1947.

Caldwell, Taylor. This Side of Innocence. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, Inc., 19467

Capote, Truman. Other Voices, Other Rooms. New York: A Signet Book, 1948.

Elwood, Muriel. Deeper The Heritage. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, Inc., 1947.

Gide, Andre. The Immoralist. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., I93O.

Jones, James. From Here To Eternity. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, Inc., 1951.

Levin, Meyer. Compulsion. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 19567 200

Mailer, Norman. The Deer Park. New York: The Dial Press, Ine., 1959.

______. The Naked, and the Dead. New York: Einehart, 1948

Marshall, Rosamond. Kitty. Charles Scribner & Sons, Inc., 1943.

Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, William T. Stafford ( ed.. ) . Melville's Billy Budd and The Critics. Belmont, Calif. Wadsworth Pub. Co., Inc., I961.

Moore, Ruth. Spoonhandle. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1946.

Peters, Fritz. Finistre. New York: Vanguard Press, 1952.

Prouty, Olive Higgins. Home Port. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1947.

Rechy, John. City of Night. New York: Grove Press, Inc., I96I.

______. Numbers. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1968.

Shaw, Irwin. The Young Lions. New York: Random House, Inc., 1948.

Shellabarger, Samuel. Captain from Castile. New York: Little, 1945.

Swanson, Neil H. Unconquered♦ New York: Doubleday, Inc., 1947.

Thompson, Morton. Not As a. Stranger. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, Inc., 1954.

Vidal, Gore. The City and The Pillar. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1948.

______. The City and The Pillar, Revised. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1965«

______. The Judgment of Paris♦ New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1952•

• Myra Breckinridge. Boston, Massachusetts: Little Brown & Company,I968. 201

Vidal, Gore. Season, of Comfort. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.-, 19U9.

______. A Thirsty Evil. New York: A Signet Book, 1956.

______. Washington D.C.i Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown & Company, 19^7•

______. Williwaw in Three by Gore Vidal. New York: A Signet Book, 19^2.

Willingham, Calder. End As A Man. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 19^7•

Winsor, Kathleen. Forever Amber. New York: Macmillan, 19^