[ Published in Outlines, The Voice of Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Community, which purchased Windy City Times in 2000. ]
Excerpts from an interview with Dee ( Dennis ) LoBue.
Front Page ...
"I was a junior in high school in '58, and I was dared to go in drag and enter the Halloween costume party at the Front Page, and I said, 'Well, I've never had a dress on in my life,' and they said, 'We'll make you up and put a dress on you, then learn a song and go onstage and I think you can win the contest.' These were buddies of mine, it was a dare. Lo and behold, I won! ... 'It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to ... ' ... that was the song. I had this yellow dress on with petticoats under it, of course back in 1958 who didn't wear petticoats? ... I looked like Connie Francis, like an identical twin Connie Francis, and I won the Connie Francis lookalike contest. She was very popular in 1958/59.
"And what you won was a week entertaining on stage at the Front Page. Your pay was you got free drinks and the experience. I decided that I liked it so much that I did it for a living, from 1959 when I got out of the service and got back to Chicago, until 1966, that's all I did to make a living, I was as a female impersonator. It was great. Met a lot of people, Terri Page, who is actually Archie, Gayle Sherman was just getting started then, Jean _____ came in from New York. She was a comic, she would sing songs and have her tongue hanging out and it looked like it came down to her ankles ... who else was there? ... C.C. Collins, Miss Tilly had just started then, and that was just the Front Page."
Shoreline 7 was run by ...
"Papa Ralph and his brother, and the biggest Harlequin Great Dane you could possibly think of. They had an oval stage. The Shoreline 7 was a long bar with the stage in the back and you had some tables on the side. Blondina was the bartender, and they did shows there ... Roby Landers was there, Pearly Mae was there a couple of times, myself ... Blondina did a couple of skits ... C.C. Collins, Terri Page did a couple of shows there ... Tony Leigh, great entertainer, great hairdresser, wonderful dress designer and he was murdered in Chicago.
"To this day they don't know who killed him. Tony Leigh had a habit of finding lovers where they would beat him up and for some reason he either enjoyed it or it was one of his kicks, but then he got to the point where later on in life'and this was about 18 years ago'is that he was cleaning bars and he cleaned this bar, and I think it was called Mike's Aragon Lounge. He was cleaning the bar, and he cleans it at night, and they just opened the door and he was dead laying on the floor. I talked to his brother, because I went to the wake, and he said the police said he fell off a bar stool, hit his head and died of a concussion. But the coroner said that barstool had to be three stories high on top of a building for him to do that. His head was crushed in, his pelvis was broken in half, and that doesn't happen if you fall off a barstool. That's how they found Tony Leigh."
'50s' 60s Fran Wilson ...
"Oh Lord have mercy! Frannie herself ... 'Say something nice, Frances.' ... 'Oh go fuck yourself.' That's Frances for you. The 26 girl and she was also the 26 girl at the Front Page. Flaming red hair, heavy build, great personality, the biggest eyes you could possibly think of because she was always on uppers, and she was just a joy to be around. Loved gay kids. If I'm not mistaken, she was married and had a daughter. See, it's coming back. Very nice woman, but what happened to her, I can't tell you. If she's still living she has to be maybe 90 by now."
All living together ...
"Let me see, 1959 I graduated high school, I went into the Air Force, got out of the Air Force because both of my eardrums burst from the plane ride from Chicago to Lackland Air Force Base. So I was medically discharged after three months. So I came back to Illinois, and I decided I can't live in Harvey, Ill., anymore because it's the suburbs. So I moved to 1117 Dearborn, where, I think, every drag queen, female impersonator, every hooker, every 26 girl and every clothes designer and hairdresser in the world that lived in Chicago, lived at 1117 Dearborn. And we would get together on Sundays ... of course, we were so poor, we didn't have any money ... and we would make cocksucker's goulash. So whatever you had left in your refrigerator we would all meet at one person's place, put it in a big pot and make a stew. Well, we had Sunday dinner."
Owner of the Front Page ...
"Nate Zuckerman, interesting guy. Brilliant when it came to liquor and managing bars, he knew what to do. In fact, he was the first one to start buffets on Sunday. He said, 'Why don't we have sandwiches and a buffet on Sunday. Let's see if we can get people in on a Sunday afternoon.' You couldn't open until 12 noon then. Beer was $2.22 a case. It was syndicate beer from Cicero, we called it The Green Piss, it was the world's worst. Of course, everything you bought in the bar you had to buy through the syndicate. But Nate Zuckerman was an interesting guy, and I don't know if he's around anymore. He would have to be about 90' 95 years old."
Memory Check: Tony Leigh: some people say he died at Mike's Aragon's Lounge, and some people say Mike's Terrace Lounge ( now the Granville Anvil ) . If anyone has any information about Tony Leigh, please let me know.
What a Difference a Gay Makes
by Sukie de la Croix
What was happening in the gay and lesbian movement 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago this month?
Aug 22' 28
1994: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: Singer Patti LaBelle tells Out magazine: "My gay audience is as important to me as my pumps. I don't feel whole unless I have on five'inch pumps, I don't feel whole unless I have a gay crowd.* The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is in movie theaters.* Amanda Bearse, openly lesbian star of Married With Children, is named as the official spokeswoman for the 1994 National Coming Out Day.* RuPaul tells The Advocate: "I've always done drag. Even as a kid. I used to do impersonations'for my mom and for my sisters' of Cher, Carol Burnett, Charo, Carol Channing, Tina Turner."* Singer/activist Alix Dobkin tells The Advocate: "I like having sex with men. I'd still be fucking men if I didn't have to deal with them."* In Canton, Ohio, two lesbians are raped and beaten in their home by an unknown attacker.* Alliance for Progress airs what is believed to be the nation's first gay'rights commercial in Topeka, Kan., to launch its national campaign to counter the propaganda of the radical right.* Mexico: Leading gay activist Marco Osorio dies of AIDS complications at age 36.
1989: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: The 11th International Conference of Lesbian and Gay Jews takes place in Chicago.* The Washington Times reports that the home of Rep. Barney Frank, D'Mass., was once the headquarters for a gay and bisexual escort service, causing some to call for a congressional ethics investigation.* Joseph Steffan, an honored midshipman tossed out of the U.S. Naval Academy strictly because he is gay, wins the first round in his Constitutional battle with Academy authorities in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia.* The 2nd annual gathering of American Indian gays and lesbians takes place at a campground in Wisconsin.* Black, gay, anti-aparteid activist Simon Nkoli visits the U.S. to raise funds and awareness for anti-aparteid work and AIDS education in South Africa. ( At the time of his visit South Africa only counted white people who died from AIDS. ) * More than 50 demonstrators picket the Franklyn County Municipal Courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, to protest anti-gay/lesbian violence.* New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jim Courter says gay men should not become teachers, foster parents, camp counselors-or anything else that brings them in contact with children.
1984: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: Writer Truman Capote dies at age 59.* Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority leader, says in a sermon: "It's a sad thing that Miss America-that institution that for so many years has placed such a high value on intelligence and on morality and on dignity and on grace and talent-suddenly is dragged through the mud because of pornographic pictures and a lesbian pictorial affair. The example and the ideal she was supposed to be setting for young ladies all over America is smashed, and how many little girls are ruined because of it." Vanessa Williams, now a famous actress and singer, lost her crown after the scandal.* Another Mother Tongue by Judy Grahn is in stores.
1979: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Hot Disco Hits include: "Good Times," by Chic, "Crank It Up" by Peter Brown, and "The Boss," by Diana Ross.* The 4th Michigan Womyn's Music Festival takes place in Hesperia.* Stephen M. Lachs, 39, is appointed to the Superior Court by Gov. Edward ( Jerry ) G. Brown. Lachs is believed to be the first openly gay judge in the history of the nation.
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