Gay Masquerade: Male Homosexuals in American Cities, 1910 to 1940
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 12-1988 Gay Masquerade: Male Homosexuals in American Cities, 1910 to 1940 Steven L. Lewis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Sociology Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Lewis, Steven L., "Gay Masquerade: Male Homosexuals in American Cities, 1910 to 1940" (1988). Master's Theses. 1139. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1139 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GAY MASQUERADE: MALE HOMOSEXUALS IN AMERICAN CITIES, 1910 TO 1940 by Steven L. Lewis A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 1988 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GAY MASQUERADE: MALE HOMOSEXUALS IN AMERICAN CITIES, 1910 TO 1940 Steven L. Lewis, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1988 Prior to 1900, American scientists struggled to formulate a sexual norm. Their categorization of sexuality ironically led to the creation of a label (homosexual) by which individuals created and expressed a sexual identity at variance with the newly created norm. By 1910, the climate of moral reform (Progressivism) led to the discovery (and documentation) of a homosexual subculture in larger American cities. With Chicago and New York City as examples, the author documents the growth of this sexual underground in the period between 1910 and 1940. Using primary sources such as diaries, letters, autobiographies and novels, the world of the homosexual, with its cafes, speakeasies, and public "cruising" areas is re-created. Attention is given to various codes (especially language and dress) that served as a mark of this subculture. The study underscores the attitudes held by society. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous friends contributed to the research and writing of this paper. The author wishes to extend sincere thanks to the following people: To Joseph Laiacona, friend, companion, helpmate, and lover. Joseph's patience, nurturance, and love guided and sustained the author through the turbulence of managing a job, finishing a degree, and pursuing a writing career. To Conrad Satala, friend, confidant, and spiritual guide. His insights into creativity and consciousness have been wellsprings of inspiration. Conrad's emotional and intellectual support have never wavered. To Ilene Rush-Satala, visionary artist extraordinaire. Her smiles and hugs were a balm to the bruises incurred in the creation of this paper. To Donna Gagnier-Chisholm for research done at the University of Chicago and for cross referencing several obscure sources. The author wishes to dedicate this paper to the memory of Gregory Sprague, whose untimely death has deprived the field of history of a great teacher. His friendship is sorely missed. Steven L. Lewis ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photo graph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are re produced by sectidning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. These are also available as one exposure on a standard 35mm slide or as a 17" x 23" black and white photographic print for an additional charge. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 1335715 Gay masquerade: Male homosexuals in American cities, 1910 to 1940 Lewis, Steven L., M.A. Western Michigan University, 1988 Copyright ©1988 by Lewis, Steven L. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Steven L. Lewis 1988 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................... ii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................. 1 II. SCIENCE AND THE CREATION OF SEXUAL NORMALCY .. 12 III. NINETEENTH CENTURY ROOTS ..................... 22 IV. EXILES IN BOHEMIA: TOWERTOWN IN THE 1910s ---- 32 V. DANCING ON THE LEVEE .......................... 44 VI. RADICALS, REFORMERS, AND HOMOSEXUALS: GREENWICH VILLAGE IN THE 1910s ......................... 54 VII. SPEAKING THEIR LIVES: HOMOSEXUAL SLANG AND D R E S S ............................... 64 VIII. LIFE OUT ON THE STREET: HOMOSEXUAL PROSTITUTION AND SOLICITATION............................. 72 IX. LIVING IT UP: TOWERTOWN IN THE 1 9 2 0 s ......... 89 X. PLEASURE, SEX, AND ART: GREENWICH IN THE 1920s ....................... 99 XI. GOING TO HARLEM: HOMOSEXUAL NIGHT LIFE IN THE TWENTIES ................................ 108 XII. ALL DOLLED UP: THE NOTORIETY OF THE MASQUERADE BALL ........................................ 120 XIII. DRAWING DOWN A PRIVATE VEIL: HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS ............................... 130 XIV. LITERATURE OF DIFFERENCE: HOMOSEXUALITY AS PORTRAYED IN POPULAR CULTURE ............... 140 XV. AFTER THE PARTY: LIFE IN THE THIRTIES ....... 151 XVI. CONCLUSION .................................. 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 167 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the last decades of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, Americans and the American way of life underwent rapid transition marked by the rise of large, metropolitan areas and the waning influence of a rural way of life. The rapid indus trialization of the United States after the Civil War witnessed the creation of a system that depended upon the extension and full development of railroads; the development of new mechanical technology; and the exist ence of cheap, centralized pools of labor. With overt appeals to an individual's desire for better opportuni ties, cities experienced an extensive migration from the farms as well as an influx of immigrants from abroad. Behind an aspiration for a better life often lay a profound and intrinsic desire that fed their hopes and dreams. The Industrial Revolution that offered a dream of material prosperity also conjured up an ideal of a boundless freedom to live according to one's beliefs with the least interference from anyone, be they individuals or institutions. Whether escaping the isolation of rural, small town America or hardships of a village in southern 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 or eastern Europe, individuals by the thousands came year after year. Many, if not most, did not find their ideal of boundless opportunity and freedom. Not a few met up with failure, isolation, and ruin, becoming enmeshed in what turn-of-the-century reformers would later call the "urban underbelly." And so it would be with those individuals now known as homosexuals.1 Driven equally by the desire to "make good" as well as by an intense, internal, often unex pressed desire to find sexual and affectional fulfillment, homosexuals saw the city, whether New York City, Chicago, Boston, or some other place, as a haven of anonymity and opportunity, freedom and escape. From the 1880s onward, these sexual outcasts came in ever-growing numbers and with an ever-growing awareness of their "peculiarity" to the city of their dreams. It is within this same period that a small number of Americans,