Paul Cadmus & Jared French, Fire Island, PaJaMa (1940)
I have previously written about The PaJaMa collective’s Fire Island summers. They were frequently joined by fellow artists George Platt Lynes and Bernard Perlin, as well as a parade of friends and lovers, performers and literary types from their New York social scene. They were almost exclusively attractive young gay men who served as models and muses for the artists.
Chuck Howard & Ted Starkowski, FI, PaJaMa, 1951
10 of these men are profiled in the piece – several of whom have previously been featured here. The others will inevitably get more in-depth profiles in the future: José “Pete” Martinez Forrest Thayer Donald Windham & Sandy Campbell Jonathan Tichenor Randy Jack Ted Starkowski Chuck Howard Jensen Yow & Jack Fontan
Paul Cadmus: Two Boys On The Beach (1938) / Two Boys On The Beach 2 (1939)
Margaret French, “The Moon by Day”, 1939
Thanks to Robert Bonanno for reaching out and John Dempsey for the feedback and formatting!
Over the past year and a half, research has found me scanning through online databases of the many African-American newspapers of the 1920’s and 30’s. There I became familiar with Neeka Shaw, a glamorous and ultimately tragic showgirl who garnered considerable press coverage at the time. This was due in part to her pleasing promotional photos, which publishers found to be a welcome addition to their newspaper layouts, but also because the talented young Broadway performer was profiled as a “home town girl” in news outlets from Richmond to the Windy City.
Pittsbugh Courier, (2/23/29)
From the Pittsburgh Courier, 2/23/1929: Yes, our little youngster has left “we Quakerites” to enter the theatrical firmament, and if she is accorded the same favoritism which was manifested toward her during her school career, stardom will be hers in the not too remote future! For she is chock-full of all the winsome personality ever possessed by aspirants who “make good.” Already she is a “principal.”
Outside of these 90 year-old news stories, there was virtually no mention of the “clever and charming soubrette” who dazzled audiences from New York to Paris in the 1930’s.
Afro-American, (3/16/29)
Born in Richmond, Virginia on May 19, 1911 – the day after Haley’s Comet, her publicist would later point out – Neeka was the middle child of Wilton and Frances Shaw, who initially raised their family just outside of Philadelphia. When Neeka was in her early teens, the family moved to Chicago, where she graduated from Wendell Phillips High School at age 15. Neeka attended one year of college before directing her attention towards her burgeoning performance career. She headed to New York with a friend and soon garnered a contract with renowned producer Henry Creamer.
At 18 years old, Neeka made her Broadway debut in a Creamer production titled Deep Harlem, an “all negro musical comedy” that both opened and closed in the second week of January, 1929. Although reviews were poor, Billboard did praise her excellent dancing.
The following month she was on the road with another Creamer production: The Jazz Regiment, a musical revue that enjoyed an extended run at Philadelphia’s Gibson (Standard) Theater on South Street. The show moved on to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, where The Afro-American review of the show highlighted Neeka’s “feminine pulchritude” and noted that she danced and sang “with that abandon that has been the mark in trade of race musicals.”
Afro-American, (11/1/30)
Neeka’s exotic looks were attributed to a mixed lineage of African/Mexican/Native American ancestry. The Afro-American ran a brief anecdote highlighting Neeka’s ability to “pass” for a Spanish dancer while working in New York. She was also said to have inspired one of the main characters in Vera Caspery’s popular 1929 novel The White Girl, about a dancer of color who passes for white.
In December, 1929 Neeka was working in the Jungle Drums review at The Plantation Club, a private night spot that competed with The Cotton Club for the attention of wealthy New Yorkers eager to venture up to Harlem. This engagement led her back to Broadway in June of 1930, where she played Josephine Peppers in the musical comedy Change Your Luck. Reviews of the show were scathing although the performers were complemented for their efforts to overcome the lackluster material. The show closed after two weeks.
A reboot of Lew Leslie’s 1928 Broadway hit Blackbirds was Neeka’s next stop. The 1930 edition of this “all-colored revue” starred Ethel Waters and the vaudeville team of Buck and Bubbles. Neeka had two new Eubie Blake songs to introduce to the world: “Lucky To Me” and “Cabin Door.” After successful stints at The Majestic Theater in Brooklyn and The Lyric in Boston, Blackbirds landed at Broadway’s Royale Theater on October 22, 1930. While Ethel Waters received rave notices, reviews for the show itself were tepid. The show closed in December, although subsequent regional engagements carried the cast through March of 1931.
Richmond Planet, (12/13/30)
Neeka’s next employment was in Singin’ the Blues, another musical revue that played in Atlantic City and Brooklyn but failed to make it to Broadway.
The autumn of 1931 brought Fast and Furious, which would prove to be Neeka’s last Broadway credit.
A fellow named Floyd G. Snelson was pulling double (or triple) duty at this time: working as a New York-based columnist/theater critic for the Pittsburgh Courier. Elsewhere in the same newspaper, one can find an advertisement for his publicity agency, with Neeka Shaw listed as one of his clients.
He writes of Neeka in his September 26, 1931 “Broadway Bound” column: She is small in stature, weighs 110 pounds and has two lovely dimples in her cheeks. She is 21 years old and has as great a portion of the proverbial “IT” as any artist in the profession. She maintains an apartment at 80 St. Nicholas Avenue, where she resides with her mother.
Brooklyn Times Union, (9/16/31)
On the same page of the newspaper is Snelson’s review of Fast And Furious, titled “Not As Hot As Its Name.” His review spares Neeka, writing “The diminutive pretty brownskin baby-faced soubrette… gets off nicely with the hit song of the piece ‘Walking On Air’…”
Although this appears to be a conflict of interest for Snelson, his review is in line with those in other outlets. Billboard‘s coverage began; “It is this corner’s unpleasant duty to report that Fast and Furious… was neither of those things.” However Neeka is described as “delightfully charming.”
Another standout performance noted amongst the poor reviews was a young comedienne named Jackie Mabley, long before she had adopted her “Moms” persona.
Fast and Furious closed by the end of the week.
In a Billboard wrap-up of the year 1931, columnist Eugene Burr offers “good will and thank yous… to various players who, by excellent acting and sterling performances, have made a bit easier the entirely thankless task of play reviewing.” He offers thanks “to Neeka Shaw, a charming little tan-skin sprite who did what she could in Fast and Furious, a revue that completely failed to live up to its title.”
By that time, Neeka had been on the road for several months with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s Hot From Harlem revue. Neeka once again received special recognition, with a notice from Washington D.C.’s Howard Theater engagement stating “Neeka Shaw, demure tiny star of Harlem, was the big reason for the success of Bojangles’ show…”
1932 brought another middling revue, Harlem Scandals, which played the same Philadelphia/Atlantic City/Brooklyn circuit as her previous shows, but it did not transfer to Broadway. She was back with Bojangles’ Hot From Harlem review in the spring, but it had all been done before, and Neeka needed to make a change.
Pittsburgh Courier, (6/18/32)
On June 3rd, 1932 Neeka sailed for Paris on the Ile de France, where she was engaged for 10 weeks at the legendary café society nightclub Chez Bricktop. This booking was followed by an extended stint at the fashionable Chez Florence, a nighclub named for American jazz singer/dancer Florence Embry Jones.
Chez Bricktop in Paris (1932) Ada “Bricktop” Smith raises a glass on the right.
In a Chicago Defender feature that ran exactly one year after Neeka’s departure for Paris, reporter Edgar Wiggins took readers on a tour of “High Spots in Famous Montmartre”: “We shall cross to the opposite side of Rue Fontaine, now from Boudon’s cafe. Immediately we are in front of the Melody’s Bar, which in reality is the most popular night club in Monmartre. Dainty little Neeka Shaw, who has been entertaining there for the past three months, is still enjoying a wonderful success.”
Pittsburgh Courier, (7/15/33)
The following month, the Pittsburgh Courier reported that Neeka would be staying in Paris indefinitely and had sent for her mother Frances, older brother Wilton, and younger sister Theda to join her. In December she opened her own cabaret on Rue Pigalle called Hot Feet. The cabaret lasted for just six months and her family then returned to the U.S. Neeka remained in Paris and would go on to charm audiences with engagements at Le Grande Ecarte and a return engagement at Chez Florence.
In May of 1935, Neeka ventured to London to make her West End debut in the musical comedy Gay Deceivers with Charlotte Greenwood and Clair Luce. She garnered several favorable mentions, with The Stage noting that “Neeka Shaw makes Bedelia, a native girl, stand out prominently.”
Neeka closed out 1935 with a month-long engagement alongside Harry Watkins at Berlin’s Dschungel (Jungle) Bar. In a Chicago Defender column that does not age well, Edgar Wiggins writes “Despite all uncomplimentary rumors of the Nazi regime, both entertainers claim to have been treated wonderfully in the German capital and their entertainment highly appreciated.”
Unfortunately, little Neeka would not live to see how that story played out.
Back in Gay Paree, Neeka was cast as Kokolani in the premiere production of the operetta Au Soleil du Mexique (In The Mexican Sun). The show was a critical success and ran for 232 performances through September, 1936. She then returned to the U.S. for a three month trip to visit her family.
And then… there is a gap. I have been unable to find any press coverage regarding Neeka’s activities in 1937.
The Afro-American, (3/12/1938)
On February 12, 1938, Billy Rowe’s Harlem Notebook reported “Neeka Shaw is in a serious condition in Europe. She’s suffering from T.B. and other ills which doctors report are too far gone to be cured.”
No other ailments were ever named – it is likely that the columnist was trying to be tactful, given the stigma that tuberculosis still carried at the time. The Chicago Defender would later report that “examining medical authorities adjudged her case as ‘helpless’, resulting from improper medical treatment for more than three years, and gave her ‘three weeks at the most’ to live. Her determination and will to live forestalled death for ten weeks.”
Frances Shaw rushed from New York to Paris and reached her daughter’s bedside several days before she died on April 30th – three weeks shy of her 27th birthday. The Chicago Defender painted a cinematic tableau:
“… she was conscious of everything, recognized her mother, conversed happily with her, laughed and spoke of her expected recovery. Neeka’s gay and uncompromising spirit – in view of her predicament – elicited profound admiration from all her many friends and acquaintances who visited her private ward, which was always filled with flowers, fruits, champagne and other gifts. Neeka was always cheerful and high-spirited and even when the end came, she met it with a smile.”
The California Eagle carried an obituary, noting “And so, Paris has added another name to the long list of its victims from the ranks of Negro performers. Two months ago, Raymond Thomas, one of the dancing ‘Cracker Jacks’ died at the American Hospital. Others who have succumbed in recent years are Joe Caulk, Strut Payne, and Johnny Dunn.”
Neeka was cremated, as per her wishes. Frances Shaw brought her daughter’s remains back to New York for interment.
In 1941, Neeka’s name once again appeared in newspapers when her beloved younger sister Theda died in New York City at the age of 18. In his Harlem Notebook column, Billy Rowe wrote:
“Notwithstanding that throughout the world death for all those who are innocent and young seems to be the order of the day and things to come, the seemingly untimely end of a girl who left the span of her life still unfinished is not without its deep sadness…“
During vacations from the 1930’s through the mid-1950’s, artists Paul Cadmus, Jared French and his wife Margaret Hoening French photographed each other on the beaches of New York’s Fire Island as well as Nantucket and Cape Cod, Massachusettes.
Usually nude or donning simple costumes, the artists also used found objects as props to create stark, surreal and/or erotic images. They passed Margaret’s Leica camera around, taking turns as subject and auteur. This collaborative authorship was reflected in the umbrella name they chose for this work, utilizing the first two letters of their first names: PaJaMa.
Paul Cadmus on Cape Cod (1928)
Years later Cadmus explained, “After we’d been working most of the day, we’d go out late afternoons and take photographs when the light was best. They were just playthings. We would hand out these little photographs when we went to dinner parties, like playing cards.”
The dynamic amongst the trio was complicated: Jared French and Paul Cadmus were lovers – a relationship that continued during his marriage to Margaret. All three lived and worked in a townhouse at 5 St. Lukes Place in Greenwich Village.
The PaJaMa collective expanded in 1945 with the inclusion of Cadmus’ boyfriend, George Tooker, an artist 16 years his junior. Cadmus would later explain “I had Jerry (Jared) in the daytime and George at night.” Although his name was not added to the PaJaMa moniker, Tooker was an active participant in the collective from 1944-49.
George Tooker with Paul Cadmus in Nantucket and Provincetown PaJaMa photos, (1946-48)
A 2015 New York Times review of a PaJaMa exhibition noted that their photos “breathed eroticism.” While some of the hundreds of photos are masterpieces of magical realism, others appear to be figure studies for their painting.
As when they vacationed on Fire Island, the collective were joined on Cape Cod by various friends and lovers, fellow artists and writers that were part of their New York social circle.
Dancer/choreographer Todd Bolenderwas the subject of a series of PaJaMa photos taken in Provincetown (1947)
Museum curator/publisher Monroe Wheeler is seen in 1947 Provincetown photos with French, Tooker & Cadmus. His lifelong partner Glenway Wescott was more prominent in the Fire Island PaJaMa photos of the early 1940’s.
Writer Christopher Isherwood with his then-boyfriend, photographer Bill Caskey, Provincetown (1947)
Photographer George Platt Lynes (left, wi/ Monroe Wheeler) joined them on Fire Island and later in Provincetown with his own camera.
PaJaMa photos are part of this tribute to playwright Tennessee Williams, displayed at Provincetown’s Atlantic House, one of the oldest gay bars in the U.S.
Provincetown, 1947 (l-r): George Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler, Paul Cadmus and George Tooker
George Tooker, Sleepers I (1951)
On Cape Cod, the collective occasionally experimented with color film, which gave their work a different texture.
The quartet toured Europe in 1949 and by the end of the trip, Tooker had split from Cadmus. He later said “I was looking for a relationship and my relationship with Paul always included Jared and Margaret French.” Tooker would soon find a partner in painter Bill Christopher, with whom he remained until Christopher’s death in 1973.
Back to a trio, the PaJaMa collective would return to Fire Island for their summer getaways in 1950.
PaJaMa, Provincetown (1948)
Paul Cadmus & Margaret French, Jenny Lind Tower, North Truro (1947)
PaJaMa, Women & Boys (ca 1940s)
As with George Platt Lynes’ male nude photographs, the PaJaMa photographs did not receive much notice or recognition until the 1990’s. They are now frequently exhibited in galleries and selections are a part of the MOMA collection.
Madame Spivy photographed by Carl Van Vechten (1932)
“This song is dedicated to a friend who suffers terribly from hangovers. It’s very sad and we must be very quiet, please…”
Ladies and Gentleman, it is time once again to revisit that late great dynamic lady of song, Madame Spivy LeVoe (1906-1971), also known simply as Spivy. A lesbian entertainer, nightclub owner and character actress, Spivy has been described as “The Female Noel Coward” – to which I add “…. if he had been born in Brooklyn as Bertha Levine.”
In the Spring/Summer of 2020 with the pandemic in full swing, cabaret performer extraordinaire Justin Vivian Bond was livestreaming weekly shows from The House of Whimsy, aka their home in upstate New York. Imagine my delight when Mx. Viv covered Mme. Spivy’s “I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night” – one of my favorite of her recordings.
Justin Vivian Bond as Auntie Glam, belting one out in The House Of Whimsy (2020)
As with “Auntie’s Face“, Spivy uses her familiar spoken intro for “I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night”: A solemn pronouncement that “This is VERY sad and we must be VERY quiet, please.” One can imagine that it was a playful way to get the attention of a noisy nightclub audience.
Spivy wrote the song with John La Touche providing the lyrics. Today, La Touche is best remembered for his Broadway musical The Golden Apple and for his lyrical contributions to Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. He also collaborated with Duke Ellington on the musicals Cabin In The Sky & Beggar’s Holiday.
Spivy and LaTouche met in the mid-1930’s and had a tumultuous lifelong friendship. At one point Spivy paid him fifty dollars a week to supply her with songs. During one falling out in 1938, LaTouche referred to her as his “enemy.” “Poor Spivy,” he wrote, “hysterical, glandular, ugly, charming, and so talented.” After another disagreement later that year, he wrote to her; “I’m sorry; you can hardly afford to lose a staunch friend and neither can I. But both of us are always doing things we can’t afford.”
Of the 15 songs Spivy is known to have recorded, 5 of them were written or co-written by LaTouche: One was a solo credit, two were written with Spivy herself, and two were in collaboration with Goetz Eyck, a German-born musician who would go on to a film career as Peter van Eyck.
One LaTouche composition that Spivy did not preserve on record was a highlight of her live performances: “I’m Going On A Binge With A Dinge.” She often concluded her set with this racy little tune detailing a biracial protagonist going uptown for a tryst. “White people / Don’t be offended … ” the song begins. Other lyrics: “Gonna end up in Harlem / With my end up in Harlem”
Unfortunately, LaTouche’s work for and with Mme. Spivy has generally been forgotten or dismissed. In Howard Pollack’s 2017 biography The Ballad Of John LaTouche, the author spends several pages analyzing the lyrics and structure of these compositions before concluding that “the literary attractions of these songs, heavy on irony, outweigh their musical interests.”
Is that so?
Like Spivy, LaTouche was a heavy drinker, which ultimately led to both of their premature passings. He was just 41 years old when he died of a heart attack at his home in Calais, Vermont in 1956. Spivy was 64 years old when she died in January, 1971.
I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night
Doctor dear, come over with a stretcher – I’ve never in my life felt quite so rotten. My brain has snapped in two and my face is turning blue, and everything I eat tastes just like cotton.
Oh yes I did everything you told me – I practically never left my room. I observed your special diet, had lots of peace and quiet. So why do I feel like something in Grant’s Tomb? Lord knows why I don’t feel well – I didn’t do a thing last night.
I had a few friends in to play bridge with me, And I sipped a little gin, just to keep them company. Then a pal of mine named Rhoda came in with such a crew, I gave them scotch and soda and I had a teeny one, too.
Then Vero P.T. Roth brought me some chicken broth, which is insipid, doctor, don’t you think? So someone in the party added a soupçon of Bacardi it really makes a very nourishing drink.
At nine my cousin Andy made such insulting cracks, that I had a little brandy just to help me to relax. He tried to grab the bottle and dragged me out of bed. When I saw that it was empty, I broke it on his head.
He’s still lying on the carpet and my maid insists he’s dead. Oh doctor dear, why do I feel queer? I didn’t do a thing last night.
At ten, Princess O’Ravivovich said; “Today is Pushkin’s birthday.” So I had a little Slivovitz just to help her celebrate. Then that fool Tessie Zackary upset my Dubonnet, so they shook me up a daquiri to chase my blues away.
Those pills of yours were dry, so I washed them down with rye, And I thought some exercise might help me rest. I dashed down the avenue ’til somebody yelled “Woo!” Good heavens – I’d forgotten to get dressed!
By then I felt so dizzy, to tell the honest truth, They made me something fizzy out of vodka and vermouth. At one, Rear Admiral Nipper, the old man of the sea, arrived with his battalion, they had to sail at three.
But doctor, I just noticed: They’re still in bed with me! It’s all so mad and I feel so bad, and I didn’t do a thing last night.
At five, my old friend Tony said that doctors were baloney. He said “Yoga exercises cured all pain.” Doctor dear, I was a wreck with my legs around my neck, and it took four hours to get them down again.
They sent for rubbing alcohol to rub away the aches, but they couldn’t find the stuff at all – I’d drunk it by mistake. Oh yes, I slept just like a baby, ’til I woke up right now. No, the drinks did not affect me, I’m as flaccid as a cow. Except I have a tendency to suddenly go “WOW!”
Why in hell don’t I feel well? I didn’t do a thing last night!
John La Touche songs recorded by Spivy Fool In the Moonlight (music: Goetz Eyck) I Didn’t Do A Thing Last Night (music: Spivy) I Love Town (music: Goetz Eyck) Last of the Fleur De Levy Surrealist (music: Spivy)
Unrecorded La Touche songs performed by Spivy I’m Going On A Binge With A Dinge Moonlight
In last summer’s post about the PaJaMa Collective – artists Paul Cadmus, Jared French and his wife Margaret – the focus was on their Fire Island photos of the late 1930’s. One of the friends who cavorted with the trio during that time was José “Pete” Martinez, a dancer from New York City who was involved with their friend, arts patron and ballet impresario Lincoln Kirstein.
Paul Cadmus’s 1937 sketch of José Martinez appears in Charles Kaiser’s book The Gay Metropolis.
In David Leddick’s book Intimate Companions, Martinez is described as “a droll and witty young man… Those who knew the two men in the 1930’s said he was capable of endlessly amusing his lover, and that of all the men in his life, Martinez was the man that Kirstein most likely loved the most. Kirstein loved gossip and other men’s tales of their sexual exploits, and this love of storytelling drew him to Martinez. In addition, Martinez was handsome, and many artists painted, drew and photographed him. “
Fire Island PaJaMa photos featuring José Martinez with Paul Cadmus, Jared and Margaret French, ca 1938-39
Besides The PaJaMa Collective, those artists included Paul Cadmus’ sister Fidelma and photographers William Caskey and George Platt Lynes.
The most memorable Lynes photo of Martinez is a studio shot with the dancer perched in a window frame wearing nothing but a wide brimmed sun hat.
George Platt Lynes photographs of José Martinez.
Pete Martinez (who sometimes used the stage name Pete Stefan) was born José Antonio Martinez-Berlanga in Mexico on March 13, 1913. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was quite young. Mama Martinez had been a folk dancer back in Mexico and one of Jose’s sisters dreamed of following in her footsteps. Little José was drafted as her dance partner. The scenario is familiar to many boys who begin to study dance as children: the sister loses interest and drops out, but he continues on. It’s a page torn out of A Chorus Line. Later an uncle took him to see Ballet Russe, which further strengthened his resolve to dance. “I was going to set the world on fire,” he would later recount.
After graduating high school, much to the chagrin of his parents, José moved to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet, where he eventually gained a full scholarship. Upon graduation, he was invited to join the company.
Martinez caught the eye of Lincoln Kirstein, and the relationship progressed to the point that they moved in together.
The PaJaMa photo “After The Hurricane” features (l-r) Jared French, Lincoln Kirstein, José Martinez, Forrest Thayer and probably Paul Cadmus. Tragically, costume designer Forrest Thayer was killed in a Southampton single car accident in 1951.
Martinez became a member of The Ballet Caravan, a touring company founded by Kirstein to provide off-season summer employment to American ballet dancers. Here Martinez began to get more involved in the creative process: conceiving the ideas and librettos for ballets, if not choreographing them. He is most associated with the ballet Pastorela, although his exact contribution to its creation varies depending on the source.
As noted in the New York Times article below, Martinez also had several engagements at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room with different dance partners.
New York Times, 12/1/40
José Martinez photographed by William Caskey
Lincoln Kirstein & his wife Fidelma Cadmus
Martinez eventually found himself in a triangular romantic situation similar to his friends in The PaJaMa Collective: Paul Cadmus and Jared French had a sexual relationship that continued after French married Margaret Hoening. The three all lived and worked together in a Greenwich Village townhouse at 5 St. Luke’s Place. When Lincoln Kirstein married Paul’s sister Fidelma, she moved into the apartment he shared with Martinez, who continued to live with them for the first year of the marriage.
Martinez was also photographed in the summer of 1938 sunbathing with Jared French and Paul Cadmus on the roof of their home/studios at 5 St. Luke’s Place.
The Ballet Caravan were on a South American tour through 1941 as the U.S. entered World War II. The troupe returned to a very different New York City than the one they had left. When Martinez was denied entry to the Army, he went to work at a hostel for Jewish refugees in Haverford, Pennsylvania where writer Christopher Isherwood was already working. The two were acquaintances through Kirstein but developed a close friendship that would sometimes turn physical, as detailed in Isherwood’s diaries.
For My Brother: A True Story By José Martinez As Told To Lincoln Kirstein original jacket designed by William Chappell.
Paul Cadmus photographed sketching José Martinez at 5 St. Luke’s Place.
In 1943, a book was published in the UK with the rather unwieldy title For My Brother: A True Story By José Martinez As Told To Lincoln Kirstein.
From the original dust jacket: “It is the life story of a young American of Mexican origin whose family has settled in a small town in Texas. It is at the same time a study in the contrast between two worlds, two ways of life: industrial, polyglot America, and the more primitive civilization of Mexico just over the border, where many of the hero’s relations still live. The story is told with great poetic feeling and a rare delicacy of perception in human relationships…”
The chronology on Kirstein’s website makes no mention of Martinez and lists For My Brother as fiction “based on a Mexican sojourn.”
The book jacket was designed by fellow dancer-turned-ballet designer William Chappell. For My Brother… is quite rare, as most of the 2,000 printed copies were said to have been destroyed in a warehouse bombed by the Nazis. A Canadian edition was later published by MacMillan.
Martinez was finally able to join the military in 1943 and remained in service until the end of the war.
Back in New York, he resumed his dance career with Ballet Society where he danced in the original 1946 productions of George Balanchine’s Four Temperaments and William Dollar’s Highland Fling.
And then…. to invoke A Chorus Line once again: “What do you do when you can no longer dance?”
A knee injury hastened the end of his performance career. A June 4, 1950 article in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot chronicled his coming to terms with the transition. He drifted for a year before settling into the next chapter of his life as a dance teacher in Norfolk, Virginia.
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 7/27/47
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 6/12/49
After Virginia, Martinez founded other dance studios in Ohio and California, where he retired from teaching in the mid-1960’s.
Lincoln Kirstein died at aged 88 in January, 1996. José Martinez passed away 16 months later in Pasadena, California at age 84.
It’s hard to believe that the Laurel & Hardy holiday classic March of the Wooden Soldiers debuted 88 years ago. Originally released as Babes In Toyland on Nov. 30, 1934, the holiday perennial was based on Victor Herbert’s popular 1903 operetta. The film came out of Hal Roach studios and was co-directed by Gus Meins and Charles Rogers.
Here’s the trailer:
I originally posted this celebration of the film on the 85th Anniversary. Here is an updated version:
10 Things You May Not Know About March of The Wooden Soldiers
1) In addition to Babes In Toyland, the film was also re-released under several different titles, including Laurel and Hardy in Toyland and Revenge Is Sweet.
2) Although the 1934 film includes many of the characters in the original operetta, the plot is almost completely different. Six musical numbers from the original stage score are featured: “Toyland”, “Never Mind Bo-Peep”, “Castle in Spain”, “Go to Sleep (Slumber Deep)” and the instrumental “March of the Toys”. Additionally, an instrumental version of “I Can’t Do The Sum” is used to underscore many scenes.
3) The villainous Silas Barnaby was played by 22 year old Henry Kleinbach. He later changed his name to Henry Brandon and appeared in over 100 films throughout his 60 year career.
Brandon played essentially the same character as an opera impresario who torments poor, poor Alfalfa in Our Gang Follies of 1938.
20 years later he was Acacious Page in Auntie Mame.
Another fun fact: Brandon’s partner for the last 25+ years of his life was Mark Herron, who was briefly married to Judy Garland.
Bill Cassara and Richard S. Greene recently published a book about him.
You can also find out more about Henry Brandon here
4) Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) also filmed at Hal Roach studios. Several of the kids appear as schoolchildren in Toyland, although not dressed in their Our Gang costumes as in this photo atop Mother Peep’s Shoe-house.
One of the most popular Our Gang / Little Rascals shorts, Mama’s Little Pirate was filmed the same year and has an extended sequence shot in the caves of Bogeyland. Gus Meins directed both films.
Another Our Gang connection: two graduates of the silent era, Johnny Downs and Jean Darling appear as Little Boy Blue and Curly Locks:
Johnny Downs and Jean Darling as Little Boy Blue and Curly Locks
Queen of Hearts Alice Moore with a couple of Little Rascals.
5) Felix Knight played romantic lead Tom Tom and fell in love with co-star Alice Moore, who played the Queen of Hearts. They were married the following year.
Behind the scenes, l-r: Alice Moore (Queen Of Hearts) Charley Rodgers (Simple Simon and the film’s co-director), Felix Knight (Tom Tom), Charlotte Henry (Bo-Peep) and Henry Brandon (Barnaby). Note the Three Little Pigs masks and padding hanging in the background.
Knight also appeared with Laurel and Hardy in their 1936 film – The Bohemian Girl:
6) Marie Wilson makes an early film appearance as Mary Quite Contrary. Her later work in film, radio and television (most notably My Friend Irma) garnered her three stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
“NO I haven’t seen them!” Marie Wilson as Mary Quite Contrary
7) Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? An instrumental version of this song is used to underscore scenes with the Three Little Pigs. However, the song is not from the Babes In Toyland operetta – it was originally featured in the 1933 Disney short Three Little Pigs and (surprisingly) has been covered by everyone from Barbra Streisand to LL Cool J.
8) About those pigs…. Elmer, the kidnapped pig was played by a little person – 2′ 11″ Angelo Rossito.
The two other pigs were played by child actors:
Payne B. Johnson played Jiggs. As of 2022, he is the last surviving major player from the film.
And THIS little piggy…. was a porn star! Willie was played by Edward Earle Marsh, later a Broadway performer known as Edward Earle. He then reinvented himself as Zebedy Colt, a gay cabaret singer and porn star who appeared in both gay and straight movies through the 1970’s & 80’s.
Someone needs to write a book about this guy.
9) The film became a broadcast television staple on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day in the early 1960’s. I grew up watching the film on NYC’s WPIX Channel 11, which continues to air the film to this day. In 1990 they switched to the colorized version, and in 2018, due to viewer requests, they began airing restored black and white and colorized versions at different times during the day.
Some may remember a shorter version of the film airing on television years ago. A 73 minute version that had fallen into public domain was broadcast for a few years in the 1980’s, with the opening “Toyland” song sequence trimmed and the “Go to Sleep (Slumber Deep)” number cut completely. Any restored prints or colorized versions of the film run at the original 79 minute length.
If it isn’t broadcast in your area, you can watch the full movie here:
10) Bearing in mind that the source material is the original operetta and not this film, there have been numerous wildly different versions of Babes In Toyland:
Between 1950 and 1960, there were three television productions broadcast during Christmas seasons, including one featuring Barbara Cook and Dennis Day in 1955.
Walt Disney’s Technicolor™ 1961 film version starred Annette Funicello and Ray Bolger.
A 1986 made-for-television version featured Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves and “a royal legion of tacky trolls” with only two songs from the Victor Herbert score, a new plot, and new songs by Leslie Bricusse.
An 1997 animated film version, with a new plot and only one of the original songs, featured the voices of Christopher Plummer and Lacey Chabert.
These other versions come and go, but none feature Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee… a gay wedding… nightmare-inducing pig masks … a monkey dressed as a Mickey Mouse knockoff… or poorly costumed Bogeymen with visible zippers and padding.
Join me in wishing a happy 88th birthday to a Hollywood holiday classic!
One of my goals in creating posts about artist’s models like Chuck Howard, Randy Jack, and Ted Starkowski is to clear up misinformation posted online by galleries and auction houses. Whether the inaccuracies are intentionally deceptive or the result of laziness, the errors spread across the internet, with subjects misidentified and photo dates sometimes off by decades.
A series of 30+ nude model study photos are have recently been listed for auctions as “Jared French Nude Study of Tennessee Williams” or “Studio di nudo Tennessee Williams.” One set of two 8×10 photos sold for over $650. These should have been credited to the PaJaMa collective, which Jared French was a part of, and unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the lean muscularly defined model is certainly not writer Tennessee Williams.
Tennessee Williams was the subject of several PaJaMa photos in Provincetown and at Jared French’s New York City studio at 5 St. Luke’s Place. In one of these photos, Williams strikes the same pose in the same place as our mystery model.
Tennessee WilliamsNot Tennessee Williams
So who was the thin young chap with the low-hangers?
Martha Graham levitating John Butler
In another corner of the internet, I found two of these photos in a PaJaMa exhibit, dated 1943 and identifying the subject as dancer/choreographer John Butler (1918-1993). In the early 1940’s, he earned money working as an art model while studying dance with both Martha Graham and George Balanchine.
Besides the PaJaMa photos above, he was also photographed by George Platt Lynes:
AP article (1955)
Butler danced on Broadway as Dream Curly in the original production of Oklahoma! He appeared in a string of Broadway musicals throughout the 1940’s including Hollywood Pinafore, Inside U.S.A. and On The Town, where he dated cast mate Cris Alexander.
He began to transition into choreography in the late 1940’s. The combined influences of Balanchine and Graham gave his work unique elements of classical ballet as well as modern dance. He was one of the first to create works specifically for television, which was still considered a new and inferior medium. He choreographed variety show segments (The Ed Sullivan Show, The Kate Smith Show) as well as for Omnibus and full-length ballets and operas. His 1951 staging of Amahl and the Night Visitors was recreated annually for the following nine NBC holiday specials.
Butler performs as one of the Three Dancers in this 1955 broadcast.
Life Magazine profiled Butler in the April 25, 1955 issue:
Richard Avedon photo of John Butler & Barbara Muller (1954)John Butler photographed by Roloff Beny (1959)
In addition to his work choreographing for Broadway and television, Butler founded The John Butler Dance Company in 1955. It was later renamed American Dance Theater and toured Europe until it disbanded in 1961.
John Butler & Carmen de Lavallade rehearse Portrait of Billie, his dance meditation on Billie Holliday (ca 1960)
John Butler & Melvin Dwork (1963)
His most celebrated work was the staging of Carmina Burana (1959) for New York City Opera, which has been revived with over 30 companies.
In 1961 he met celebrated interior designer Melvin Dwork, who has called Butler “the love of my life.” They remained companions and friends until Butler’s death in 1993. Dwork was instrumental in preserving Butler’s dance legacy.
As he matured, Butler’s voluminous eyebrows became something of a trademark of his appearance. He appears to have embraced this with a level of zeal that surely inspired George Whipple.
Over the next several decades, Butler continued to choreograph throughout the U.S. and around the world. The Hague, Munich, Sydney, Spoleto, Montreal, and Warsaw were part of his regular rotation with occasional work in Italy and South America. Back in New York City he choreographed Medea, the first dance for Mikhail Baryshnikov after his defection to the West.
John Butler photographed in April of 1993. He died of lung cancer later that year at the age of 74.
In 1993, author Camille Hardy interviewed John Butler for Dance Magazine shortly before his death. As they sat in his Upper East Side apartment, surrounded by his artwork collection and the walls lined with the works of Warhol, Avedon and Lynes, he said “I’ve done everything in my life I ever wanted to do.”
During vacations from the 1930’s through the mid-1950’s, artists Paul Cadmus, Jared French, and his wife Margaret Hoening French photographed each other on the beaches of Fire Island and later Cape Cod. Usually nude or donning simple costumes, they would also use found objects as props to create stark, surreal and/or erotic images. They passed Margaret’s Leica camera around, taking turns as subject and auteur. This collaborative authorship was reflected in the umbrella name they chose for this work, utilizing the first two letters of their first names: PaJaMa.
Years later Cadmus explained, “After we’d been working most of the day, we’d go out late afternoons and take photographs when the light was best. They were just playthings. We would hand out these little photographs when we went to dinner parties, like playing cards.”
The dynamic was complicated: Paul and Jared were lovers – a relationship that continued during Jared and Margaret’s marriage. All three lived and worked in a townhouse at 5 St. Lukes Place in Greenwich Village.
Paul Cadmus & Jared French, Fire Island, PaJaMa (1941)
A 2015 New York Times review of a PaJaMa exhibition noted that their photos “breathed eroticism.” While some of the hundreds of photos are masterpieces of magical realism, others appear to be figure studies for their painting. And then there are simple snapshots of nude men frolicking on the beach, enjoying the sun and surf.
Right: Jared French on Fire Island (1940) Left: Paul Cadmus’ etching “Youth With Kite”, 1941
Jared French and his considerable wares are the most frequent subject of the photographs, with entire rolls of film devoted to his nude poses and posturing. Cadmus and Margaret are slightly more demure although we do not know who was giving direction from behind the camera at any given time.
These three artists were joined by various friends and lovers through the years, fellow artists and writers that were part of their New York social circle.
Dancer/Model José “Pete” Martinez appears in PaJaMa photos of the late 1930’s with Paul Cadmus
1938 PaJaMa photos of writer Glenway Wescott sometimes appear online mislabled as Paul Cadmus or Ted Starkowski.
Photographer George Platt Lynes was a frequent guest with his own camera.
Artist Bernard Perlin captured by the PaJaMa lens on Fire Island (1939)
Jared French in Saltaire after the devastating hurricane of 1938.
West of Saltaire, the Fire Island Lighthouse served as a frequent backdrop.
Jensen Yow, Bill Harris & Jack Fontan, ca. 1950
Alexander Jensen Yow recently recalled the circle of artists, as well as his participation in PaJaMa photos of the early 1950’s. “Paul posed us and took the pictures. I was never out there with Jerry (Jared). There were plenty of personality conflicts all scattered around with these people, but I never knew what they were or anything… Jerry was always nice to me though. But his and Margaret’s was a strange relationship… She was crazy about Jerry but she was always in the background, you know. Always there. Jerry did what he wanted to do, and she tagged after him. I was so green when I met these people that I didn’t know how to act…. I tried to be discreet but it wasn’t easy.” (NOTE: Jensen Yow died at age 95 in September of 2022)
Paul Cadmus, “The Shower”, 1943
Margaret French, “The Moon by Day”, 1939
As with George Platt Lynes’ male nude photographs, the PaJaMa collection did not receive much notice or recognition until the 1990’s. They are now frequently exhibited in galleries and selections are a part of the MOMA collection.
A new book gives insight into a same-sex relationship in rural Canada a century ago.
Tinted photo of Leonard “Len” Keith (1891-1950) & Joseph “Cub” Coates (1899-1965) on a trip to Jemseg, New Brunswick (1916)
If it weren’t for the advent of the self-timing camera, we would not know anything about the relationship between Len & Cub. There are no surviving notes, letters or documents to provide any further evidence. Luckily, Len had an interest in photography and documented their intimacy in a trove of images spanning nearly 15 years. These photos serve to illustrate their story in the recently published bookLen & Cub: A Queer History (Goose Lane Press) by Meredith J. Batt and Dusty Green.
Len & Cub features Len’s photos of the duo between 1916 and 1930 and tells the story of a relationship in early 20th Century rural North America. These photos provide the oldest known photographic records of a same-sex couple in New Brunswick, Canada.
The term “queer” seems a bit ill-fitting to describe the actions of individuals a century ago, when even the terms “homosexual” or “gay” were not part of the vernacular. The choice of language is explained by the authors, who dedicate the book to the queer youth of New Brunswick. As Green states in his preface, “… the record of their lives is a testament to the resilience of queer people and an affirmation that we belong in any place we choose to call home.”
Leonard “Len” Keith was born in 1891 in Butternut Ridge (now Havelock), New Brunswick. His family enjoyed a moderate amount of wealth as the owners of a match factory and later a grist mill. Joseph “Cub” Coates was born 8 years later, the son of a farmer who was a neighbor to the Keith family. Together Len and Cub shared a love of the outdoors and documented their outings in photos. The pictures taken during hunting and canoe trips with their arms around each other or lying in bed together make clear the affection they held for each other.
When Len was called to service during World War I, Cub signed up as well, and the two trained together in Quebec.
Cub and Len in training at Saint-Jen-sur-Richelieu, Quebec (1918)
Photos of the duo are less frequent in the late 1920’s. Len’s camera captures several other unnamed male companions that accompanied him on trips and other outdoor adventures.
Len was also a car enthusiast and eventually opened a garage, which he later converted into a pool hall. Cub continued to make a living farming and then as a butcher.
In 1931, Len was forced to leave Havelock, allegedly due to his homosexual activities. He signed over control of his business and finances to his sister Lucy and headed to the United States. He later settled in Montreal, where he resided until succumbing to cancer in 1950. His sister arranged for his burial in Havelock.
It appears that Cub was not caught up in the scandal that forced Len out of town. He stayed in Havelock until 1940, when he married Rita Cameron, a nurse from the neighboring town of Chatham. After he served in WWII, the couple relocated to Moncton. He would go on to become a prominent figure in New Brunswick’s harness racing circles before his death in 1965.
Len & Cub, ca 1916
The photos were donated to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick by John Corey, a local historian who purchased them at a Keith family estate sale in 1984. Corey’s father had been a classmate of Len’s and knew both families. When he donated the collection, John referred to Len & Cub as “boyfriends” and also identified a photo of an individual who was instrumental in driving Len out of Havelock.
As some of these photos began to circulate on the internet several years ago, curiosity about Len & Cub’s story grew. In addition to the recent publication of the book, the BeaverBrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, NB is featuring an exhibition of the photos from April 2 – July 29, 2022.
Ladies and Gentleman, it is time once again to revisit that late, great dynamic lady of song, Madame Spivy LeVoe (1906-1971), also known simply as Spivy. A lesbian entertainer, nightclub owner and character actress, Spivy has been described as “The Female Noel Coward” – to which I add “…. if he had been born in Brooklyn as Bertha Levine.”
Our latest offering is one of her signature songs: “I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s”. Curiously, on the recording Spivy introduces the song as “Intimate Memories of Buffalo In The 90’s.” This is the fourth side we have profiled from her 1939 album Seven Gay Sophisticated Songs. The lyrics were written by Everett Marcy, who also co-wrote (with Spivy) “Why Don’t You,” another song from the album. Marcy also had a few Broadway writing credits including New Faces of 1936.
Prince Paul Chavchavadze
The music is credited to Prince Paul Chavchavadze (1899-1971), a writer, translator, and deposed Georgian royal living in New York City. And with that nugget of information, I have to say… whenever I look into the eclectic array of international bohemians associated with Spivy, I am reminded of the party scene at the beginning of Auntie Mame. This is also a fitting scenario considering Spivy later played Mother Burnside in the Broadway production.
Oscar Wilde plays a part in the lyrics of the song, as a guest in the home of our fictional hostess. It should be noted that he did conduct several lecture tours across the U.S., including speaking engagements in Buffalo. One of the topics was “The Decorative Arts.”
I Brought Culture to Buffalo In the 90’s
I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s. When Wilde was there, he visited my home I showed him all the glories I’d bought so cheap in Greece and all the wonders I’d brought home from Rome. He was spellbound at the splendor of my whatnot and the cigar butt Papa got from General Grant. He couldn’t tear his eyes from my bay window and the maidenhair beneath the rubber plants.
I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s – the year I took the iron dog off our lawn. In its place I put a Venus in a nightie and a rather naughty but authentic faun. I completely reproduced the Versailles garden though the Erie claimed they had the right of way. I swore I’d die before a tie was laid to desecrate Versailles. I made Buffalo the place it is today.
I was the first to have a Turkish corner though plenty followed suit, you may be sure. I produced a pageant based on Jackie Horner and the deficit was given to the poor. I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s. I made the natives conscious of the nude. In my dining room I put “Boy Extracting Thorn From Foot” and my guests that winter scarcely touched their food.
The season that I gave my talks on yoga was one I felt I never could surpass. I had a negligee cut like a toga and all my candelabra piped for gas. I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s. When Wilde was there, he visited my home. Filled with all the treasures of the ages and a nugget Uncle Nate had sent from Nome.
I showed him all the house right through the garret and said “What one thing does it still require?” When Oscar looked at me, I could not bear it. “A match,” he said, “Madame, a match to set the goddamn place on fire!”
This newspaper blurb (courtesy of the Queer Music Heritage page) mentions the song being “rented” to singer Bea Lillie:
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