Gay New York by George Chauncey

Author:George Chauncey [Chauncey, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786723355
Publisher: Basic Books

Figure 9.2 Harlem’s leading newspaper, the Amsterdam News, regularly carried pictures of the winning contestants in the costume competition at the Hamilton Lodge ball, New York’s biggest drag ball. In 1932, the paper’s illustrator pictured the “girls,” and in 1936 he poked gentle fun at the rivalry, glamour, drunkenness, and gender ambiguity of the annual affair. He also poked fun at straight Harlem’s response: note the expressions of desire and confusion on the faces of the two black men looking at the white drag queen. (From the Amsterdam News: “The Artist Pictures the ‘Girls,’” March 2, 1932; “And, Girls, How They Carried On!” March 7, 1936.)

were a pair of Flora Dora girls in sweeping Empire gowns of red velvet trimmed in black velvet . . . an African chieftain, his tribal marks in gold, the sacred bull’s horn on his head and ropes of wooden beads around his neck; . . . an oriental dancer with long hair; a belle of the gay ‘90’s—parasol and all; . . . a bare foot east Indian in colorful flowing robes; a black and red be-ruffled Spanish senorita; . . . [and] no end of . . . Colonial dames.”108

The balls became a site for the projection and inversion of racial as well as gender identities. Significantly, though, white drag queens were not prepared to reverse their racial identity. Many accounts refer to African-American queens appearing as white celebrities, but none refer to whites appearing as well-known black women. As one black observer noted, “The vogue was to develop a ‘personality’ like some outstanding woman,” but the only women he listed, Jean Harlow, Gloria Swanson, Mae West, and Greta Garbo, were white.109

The pageantry of the balls sometimes exacerbated the racial divisions in the gay world. The costume competition became a highly charged affair, with all sides watching to see whether a black or white queen would be crowned. The Harlem press took considerable interest in the racial aspect of the competition, taking special note in 1931 when a black contestant, Bonnie Clark, was awarded the grand prize for the first time.110 He won again in 1932, but after losing in 1933 he denounced the racial injustice of the city’s drag competitions. “There is a conspiracy afoot,” he told the black press. “I participated in seven of these masquerades last year and except for the one here [sponsored by the Hamilton Lodge], they are always arranged for the white girls to win. They never had no Negro judges.”111 “Considerable rivalry exists between the ofay chicks and the Mose broods,” a columnist for the Amsterdam News declared after attending the ball in 1936. “Last year an ofay won the costume prize. This year a Mose ‘girl,’ Jean La Marr, won the $50.”112 While much of the black press used a mocking tone to distance itself from both the black and white contestants, it nonetheless often took the side of black contestants, regarding them as Harlem’s representatives in the competition and thus granting them a place in black society.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.