In the 1920s, female impersonators were hired to perform at
cabarets and
speakeasies in many major cities, including New York,
Paris,
London,
Berlin, and San Francisco.[2][10] The target audience was straight, which gave the performers broader social acceptance.[11]
Gene Malin — known as the "Queen of the Pansy Craze" — achieved relative mainstream success, appearing in both Hollywood films and
Broadway shows.[2][12] Malin worked primarily in New York City in the early-1930s; however, his career was cut short when he died in an automobile accident at the age of 25.
Other stars during the Pansy Craze included
Karyl Norman and
Ray Bourbon, as well as the gay pianist and singer
Bruz Fletcher, who gained fame in Los Angeles during the Pansy Craze.[10][13][14]
End of the era
Beginning in late-1933 and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, American
Roman Catholics launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This led to legal restrictions in the public visibility of homosexuality through the
Hays Code. Police simultaneously began strict crackdowns on the public presence of homosexuals during the
Great Depression, as calls for politicians to "clean up" downtown nightlife came from
progressive reformers.[15]
Legacy
Some scholars have argued that the Pansy Craze broadened the range of acceptable behaviors for men, even though restrictions on gender conformity and LGBT visibility were tightened after this period.[16] In later decades, drag queens such as
Divine and
Rupaul again starred in Hollywood films, and performers such as
Jinkx Monsoon appeared on Broadway.[17]
Chad Heap, Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife, 1885–1940 (University of Chicago Press, 2009), especially Chapter 6, "The Pansy and Lesbian Craze in White and Black"