THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

A new essay from the London Review of Books (6/24) is so full of snarky comments one is tempted to reprint the whole thing, but we'll restrain ourselves. Terry Castle looks at That Furious Lesbian: The Story of Mercedes de Acosta and Women in Turmoil: Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta, both by Robert Schanke and published by Southern Illinois University Press. Called by many of her admirerers and detractors 'Countess Dracula' and 'the dyke at the top of the stairs' (Garbo), de Acosta made a career of seducing other women during the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s. She boasted she could '... steal any woman from any man.' Among her trophies: Isadora Duncan, Pola Negri, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Tallulah Bankhead. 'According to Truman Capote, de Acosta was by far the best card to hold in the café society game known as International Daisy Chain, the goal of which was to 'link people sexually, using as few beds as possible'. (With one lucky stroke you could 'get to anyone from Cardinal Spellman to the Duchess of Windsor'.)' Even in her old age wearing an eye patch (having used cleaning fluid instead of eyewash) she still picked up cute young coffeeshop waitresses.

The NY Times (6/27) was checking out the 'Subtle Power of Lesbian Style.' Among the stuff covered: Stephanie Perdomo's new action figures called Dykedolls; women's wardrobes resembling the clothing of long-haul truckers; dykes giving masculinity pointers to Ashton Kutcher (this would, I believe, be a looong seminar); the incorporation of butch and femme dualities (in a single outfit); Patricia Field (the lesbian designer of Sex and the City who did all those straight women's clothes); and, drag kings. A quote: 'Trucker hats, wallet chains, cowboy boots and straw Stetsons, all that started with gay women. ... [T]he last people to get hold of the look were heterosexual men.' Well, maybe in New York. But long-haul truckers and real working cowboys might disagree.