On Thursday the NY Times reported on the death of a legendary
African-American lesbian and gay activist:
Storme DeLarverie, a singer, cross-dresser and bouncer who may or may
not have thrown the first punch at the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall
Inn in Greenwich Village, but who was indisputably one of the first and
most assertive members of the modern gay rights movement, died on
Saturday in Brooklyn. She was 93.
I encourage you to read the entire obituary but want to hone in on one
paragraph:
There was a long period in Chicago, where, she told friends, she was a
bodyguard for mobsters. From the mid-1950s through the 1960s Ms.
DeLarverie was the M.C. of the Jewel Box Revue, billed as “an unusual
variety show.” She dressed as a man; the rest of the cast members, all
men, dressed as women. One of the show’s stars was Lynne Carter, a
female impersonator who later performed at Carnegie Hall.
As it turns out, I had an encounter with one of the male cast members
when I was about 10 years old. This is from the abortive memoir I did
with Harvey Pekar (relax, Joyce, this is considered “fair use”)...
full: http://louisproyect.org/2014/06/03/long-live-the-jewel-box-revue/
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