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Is this really first use of "gay" as homosexual reference in Americn fil

posted 9 years ago by ghbbrown-1
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There's a large amount of carrying on in these threads about whether David's exclamation refers to a change in sex preference. I am not wholly convinced that's the case--but don't put me in the boat with the vociferous Denier Lysandra Yaxley!

I have been watching some films starring Eddie Quillen. One is a 1931 production called THE TIP-OFF. In the opening scene, Quillen's character is singing (actually lip-syncing, as the joke is revealed)a song that includes a line "Am I gay?/No, I'm not that way!" Both parts of it are accompanied by facial expressions and body language that make it clear the reference is to a stereotypically effeminate man. "That way" is unmistakably
meant to tag "gay" as sexually queer.

So, though this is much less flashy than David's acrobatic peignoir-clad exclamation, I think it is obviously an earlier use of the word "gay" with this meaning in a popular film.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

You will find a lot of information on this subject in George Chauncey's Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940.https://www.amazon.com/Gay-New-York-Culture-1890-1940/dp/0465026214/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464797112&sr=1-1&keywords=gay+new+yorkChauncey is a professor at Yale. This is a fascinating book even if you have no specific interest in gay culture. Let me see what I can remember.At the time of the movie, "gay" was used in two different contexts in what we now call — but didn't then — the gay community. Just to be clear, "gay" was not used as a general term for homosexuals until much later.The "gay" lifestyle referred to the fairies. I mean that as a technical term. They were the effeminate, sometimes cross-dressing men who were really obvious.

But why are you wearing these clothes? Because I just went gay all of a sudden!

Grants answer was a direct and specific reply to the question of why he was wearing those clothes. It did not indicate a change in sexual preference on his part.It is followed by a direct reference to a well-known homosexual cruising area and the excuse that someone might give for why he was waiting there..

I'm sitting in the middle of 42nd Street waiting for a bus.

Grant is having a confusing day and doesn't quite know who he is.

Who are you? I don't know. I'm not quite myself today.

"Gay" was also used as a code word in trying to determine if someone that you are talking to is homosexual. "Do you know where I can have a gay time tonight," would mean completely different things to a straight man and to a homosexual.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

Yes, I've read Chauncy's book. I realize that "gay" was used that way. My question relates specifically to the claim that BUB was the first use of it in a film intended for a popular audience--who would have seen some "fairies" already, not only coded characters but outright flitters.

Please take a look at the Quillan film and see if you agree that his character, lip-syncing the song, is in tune with the sexual connotations of "gay". It's in the first scene of the movie--you might enjoy watching the whole thing.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

ghbbrown-1 wrote:

Please take a look at the Quillan film

I am downloading it now. I particularly like Ginger Rogers when she does not play the girl next door — Anytime Annie or when she is high in Monkey Business. Looks like this might be another example. I don't have anything invested in the idea that this is the first for that usage. I am happy if people except that it is a deliberate "fairy" reference. I once compiled a long list of films from the period that have "gay" in the title and suggested that it was perhaps an in-group joke. I believe I did this in an attempt to annoy Lysandra Yaxley, but there may be something to it.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

Whatever happened to L. Yaxley?

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

ghbbrown-1 wrote:

Whatever happened to L. Yaxley?

I don't know, but there is an obvious speculation. I am not going there.My last interaction with her involved my saying that whatever she thought of Grant's comment, the gays in the audience would've been rolling around on the floor laughing. She replied by asking me what evidence I had for that.In a rare moment of sanity, she removed her post before I had copied it.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

I agree with you. I think it is clearly a fairy/gay reference. There is some evidence that perhaps Quillan was gay here.http://whosdatedwho.com/dating/eddie-quillan-and-ramon-novarroI don't have any way to evaluate that.I was amused that at approximately 5:50, one of the gangsters calls another one "dude." Could that possibly be the first example of that in sound pictures?

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

Thanks for following up on that. I don't know how to track down "dude". There were Dude Ranches in the West at that time, but that usage is a bit different from what you cite. Maybe we can both nancydrew on that a bit and see where we end up.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

ghbbrown-1 wrote:

but that usage is a bit different from what you cite.

You agree that the guy said "dude" the modern sense?I don't know how to investigate that. It certainly struck me as an anachronism, but of course it wasn't.I did enjoy the movie, and was glad to have watched it, although I don't feel that it is a neglected masterpiece.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

No, not a masterpiece but certainly fun entertainment. I plan to watch some the others featuring Quillen.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

This one is too ambiguous to call. The line is "Follow that car, Dude." The cast list shows the actor Harry Bowen plays an uncredited role as a character identified as "Dude--a Vatelli henchman". That implies that his nickname is Dude, possibly because he's a flashy dresser. This usage predates the casual hip use of the word.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

ghbbrown-1 wrote:

This usage predates the casual hip use of the word.

It is probably just his nickname rather than an early example of the ubiquitous modern usage.It is possible that he is listed as "Dude" not because that was his actual nickname, but simply to identify the particular henchmen. It is not important. It just jumped out at me to hear it in a movie from that period.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

Thanks for a pleasant and productive exchange. We'll meet again....

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

ghbbrown-1 wrote:

We'll meet again....

I hope so and thank you.Let me ask you this. I was confused by what you wrote in your original post which is why I explained so much.

There's a large amount of carrying on in these threads about whether David's exclamation refers to a change in sex preference. I am not wholly convinced that's the case--

I was unaware of an issue over a change in sex preference. What I have run across is only whether or not this was a deliberate reference to something homosexual. Lysandra, of course, denied that it was in any way a homosexual reference.So, what aren't you wholly convinced of? What I am convinced of is that it was clearly and deliberate a specific reference to the gay lifestyle, but that it did not indicate a change in sexual preference.

[–] ghbbrown-1 9 years ago

Looking back on that. I see that I made a misleading statement. I was in a film history class lately and some of the undergrads said they thought David's character might have decided to "go gay" sexually. I was thinking of that, probably. There's nothing in the film to support that. What some of my classmates saw as a succession of attempts to undermine David's masculinity was intended to get him out of his clothes. I was more interested in the focus of the role shoes play in the subtext of sexuality.

I'll try to avoid being distracted so easily in the future.