Here's another Did You Know? about the early part of the last century in Chicago. These occurrences are taken from the Gerber/Hart Timeline and from my own research.
In 1906, Nicholas de Raylan, the secretary of the Russian Consul in Chicago, died of tuberculosis in Phoenix, Ariz. An autopsy revealed that Mr. de Raylan was in reality a woman, despite having been married twice and serving as a soldier in the Spanish-American War. De Raylan was found to have all the female organs, but also had an artificial penis made of chamois and stuffed with down. The device hung by means of a band around the waist. Both of de Raylan's former wives dismissed the assertion as false and ridiculous.
In 1908, Edward Stevenson privately published The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life, the first American work sympathetic to homosexuality. Stevenson used such terms as uranianism, uraniadism, feminisexualism, and homosexualism as synonyms. In his work, Stevenson listed Chicago as among the 'homosexual capitals' of the United States along with New York, Boston, Washington, St. Louis, San Francisco, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Philadelphia. In 1914, Edith Lees Ellis, wife of noted pioneer sexologist and pro-homosexuality advocate Havelock Ellis, delivered a lecture entitled "Sexuality and Eugenics" at Orchestra Hall. Some 1,500 were in attendance, including 300 men, whom Mrs. Ellis wanted admitted as well as women. The lecture was sponsored by Dr. Effie Lobdell, a "Miss Cook," and the Medical Women of Chicago.
Miss Ellis, who herself was not a professional scientist or scholar, generally spoke in terms of tolerance for the "abnormal." She cited the accomplishments of Oscar Wilde, Michelangelo and Rosa Bonheur as examples of what "deviants" could do. The lecture is considered the earliest call for tolerance and equal opportunity.
In 1915, lesbian Pearl Hart served as the first public defender assigned to the Women's Court in Chicago, where she defended the rights of prostitutes, and contributed to the state statutes concerning the welfare of children. A civil-rights activist her whole life, she was one of the founders of Mattachine Midwest in the mid-'60s.
Starting around 1912, Towertown--the Water Tower west along Chicago Ave.--was the Greenwich Village of Chicago. In Chicago's Left Bank by Alson J. Smith, the author writes:
"Towertown's studios were humming ...
"Of course, bohemia acquired the usual camp followers. One wealthy dilettante of the Arts threw periodic studio parties in Towertown at which all of the guests were his mistresses, past, present, and prospective. A group of male homosexuals called 'the blue-birds' after their leader, became entrenched in Towertown; on warm summer evenings they would distribute themselves along the benches on the esplanade by the lake, and the leader would walk slowly by, down towards the Drake Hotel. From bench to bench would go the excited whisper: 'Oh here he comes! Here comes the bluebird!' Then as he passed they would flirt with him outrageously until finally, with a delicate lift of the wrist, he indicated his selection for the night. The rest would then pair up and drift back to their 'studios.'"
In 1923, Fred G. Thompson was arrested and tried for the murder of Richard Turner. Fred Thompson had posed as Mrs. Frances Carrick for the previous 14 years. Thompson/Carrick was found not guilty. The judge ruled that Mr. Frank Carrick, Fred/Francis' husband, did not have to testify due to spousal immunity.
The following year, 12-year-old Bobby Franks was kidnapped and murdered by two Hyde Park men, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, just for fun. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Loeb was killed in prison while Leopold was paroled in 1957.
On Oct. 23, 1924, composer Ned Rorem was born in Chicago. He lived with his family in Hyde Park, and attended the University High and Northwestern University in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
In 1925, the annual report of the Juvenile Protective Association described boys, some as young as 10 years old, hanging out at certain theaters soliciting sex from men. The report also spoke of a group of men and boys whose "headquarters" were in Grant Park.
Rudolph Valentino's appearance in Chicago in 1926 prompted a damning editorial by H.L. Mencken in the Chicago Tribune denouncing Valentino's "powder puff" ways. He actually accused Valentino's feminine ways for being responsible for the installation of a powder machine in a men's restroom in Chicago. The powder had been pink. One story says the silent star challenged the writer to a boxing match and won, another that Mencken backed out.
Lee Newell at LANewell@earthlink.net is looking for a copy of an old song by Dianna Straight-As-An-Arrow, called "If You've Got Nothing to Hide, You've Got Nothing to Lose." He writes: "We used to sing it at the old His 'n' Hers on Addison and at the early Pride Rallies. I think the chorus had an arrangement and I know Marge Summit used to have a copy."
Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times. You can leave a message on his voicemail at ( 773 ) 871-7610. He interviews over the phone, in person, or sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com
