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October 2, 2017 333 × 499 White Crane Books

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Gay Wisdom – Today in Gay History

Born

1875 -

THOMAS MANN, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955); a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual.

His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

Mann's diaries, unsealed in 1975, tell of his struggles with his sexuality, which found reflection in his works, most prominently through the obsession of the elderly Aschenbach for the 14-year-old Polish boy Tadzio in the novella Death in Venice (Der Tod in Venedig, 1912).

Anthony Heilbut's biography Thomas Mann: Eros and Literature (1997) was widely acclaimed for uncovering the centrality of Mann's sexuality to his oeuvre. Gilbert Adair's work The Real Tadzio describes how, in the summer of 1911, Mann had been staying at the Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice with his wife and brother when he became enraptured by the angelic figure of Władysław Moes, an 11-year-old Polish boy. Considered a classic of homoerotic passion (if unconsummated) Death in Venice has been made into a film and an opera. Blamed sarcastically by Mann’s old enemy, Alfred Kerr, to have ‘made pederasty acceptable to the cultivated middle classes’, it has been pivotal to introducing the discourse of same-sex desire to the common culture.

Mann himself described his feelings for young violinist and painter Paul Ehrenberg as the "central experience of my heart." Despite the homoerotic overtones in his writing, Mann chose to marry and have children; two of his children, Klaus, also a writer, who committed suicide in 1949, and Erika, an actress and writer who died in 1969 and who was married to W.H. Auden for 34 years, were also Gay. His works also present other sexual themes, such as incest in The Blood of the Walsungs (Wälsungenblut) and The Holy Sinner (Der Erwählte).

1894 -

VIOLET TREFUSIS an English writer and socialite, born (d: 1972); Violet was “the other woman” in the life of Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville-West, whose relationship was valorized in Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography. Woolf wrote Orlando for Vita (to whom it is dedicated) celebrating their own relationship. Nigel Nicholson described Orlando as the most beautiful love letter every written. As the daughter of Alice Keppel, the mistress of Edward VII, Violet enjoyed a childhood of mystery and romance in a house where “Kingy” was a regular, if undiscussed, visitor.

She and Vita met when they were girls. During WWI their friendship developed into a passion. Though they both made conventional marriages, Violet could finally bear her love no longer and instigated the “elopement” that has since become a special chapter in the history of love.

When Vita returned to her family and her writing at Sissinghurst, Violet imposed exile upon herself, turning to art and writing and the fantasy world of international society. But the feelings that she and Vita shared never abated. “You are the un-exploded bomb to me,” Vita wrote Violet in 1940. “I don’t want you to disrupt my life.” Even after twenty years of separation, she could still write of the love that “always burns in my heart whenever I think of you.”

1928 -

ED FURY (born Rupert Edmund Holovchik) is an American bodybuilder, actor, and model born on this date. He is best known for starring in a number of "sword-and-sandal" films in the 1950s and 1960s.

Born in Long Island, New York, Fury moved to Los Angeles, California in the late 1940s and competed in numerous bodybuilding competitions, such as "Mr. Muscle Beach" in 1951 and 1953, coming in third and second respectively. In addition, he worked as a physique model for photographers Bob Mizer and Bruce Bellas, and also made a couple of loops for Mizer's male erotica studio Athletic Model Guild (AMG). Fury began his acting career as a stage actor. After appearing in a handful of uncredited parts in films, he received his first bigger role in The Wild Women of Wongo (1958).

In the 1960s, Fury travelled to Italy and took advantage of the popularity of "sword-and-sandal" films. Led by Steve Reeves, who starred in Hercules (1958), the popularity of those films allowed Fury to star in films such as Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960), The Seven Revenges (1961), and Maciste Against the Sheik (1962). He also starred as Ursus in the film trilogy Ursus (1961), Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961), and Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963), before the popularity of "sword-and-sandal" films waned. Fury returned to acting in the early 1970s and appeared mostly in small parts in television series.

Noteworthy

1944 -

Today was D-DAY. The Normandy landings (code named Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on Tuesday, June 6, 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied Invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front. Nearly 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participated. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on D-Day, with 875,000 men disembarking by the end of June.

Allied casualties on the first day were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. The Germans lost 1,000 men.

Caen, a major objective, was still in German hands at the end of D-Day and would not be completely captured until July 21. The Germans had ordered French civilians, other than those deemed essential to the war effort, to leave potential combat zones in Normandy. Civilian casualties on D-Day and D+1 are estimated at 3,000 people..

Born

1952 -

HARVEY FIERSTEIN, American actor, born; An American Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning actor, playwright and screenwriter is perhaps known best for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in and originating the role of Edna Turnblad in the Broadway musical Hairspray.

The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theater World Award, and the film earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Male Lead. Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances.

In addition to his theatrical work, Fierstein has authored op-eds for The New York Times, HuffPost, and PBS.

His other playwriting credits include Safe Sex, Spookhouse, and Forget Him. Fierstein developed a new musical titled A Catered Affair in which he starred with Faith Prince, Leslie Kritzer and Tom Wopat. Fierstein is an occasional columnist writing about Gay issues and appears regularly on the PBS series In The Life. He was out at a time when very few celebrities were. His most recent Tony was for Kinky Boots, with Cindy Lauper. In 2021 he released his memoir, I Was Better Last Night. A great read.

1955 -

SANDRA BERNHARD is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author, born today. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, in which she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.

Bernhard is best known as portraying Nancy Barlett Thomas on the ABC sitcom Roseanne from the fourth season to the end of the show in 1997. She is currently starring as Nurse Judy Kubrak in the FX drama series Pose. Bernhard is number ninety-six on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. Bernhard was born in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of Jeanette (née LaZebnik) and proctologist Jerome Bernhard. Her parents raised her as a Conservative Jew.

She began performing her first one-woman show called I'm Your Woman in 1985, and an album version was released. Bernhard appeared in a variety of tiny film and television roles throughout the 1980s while crafting her stand-up routine into a more performance art-oriented show. She launched an off-Broadway one-woman show called Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better in 1988, which played at the Orpheum Theatre. In 1990 it was turned into a film and a double album of the same title. The film was mostly shot on location in 1989 in the coconut grove at the Ambassador Hotel.

It was during the run of 'Without You, I'm Nothing, With You, I'm Not Much Better' that Bernhard appeared with her then-good friend (and rumored lover) Madonna on a 1988 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. The two alluded to their romantic relationship and staged a sexy confrontation; the appearance received much publicity. Bernhard and Madonna would continue to be friends for several years, with Bernhard making an appearance in Madonna's film Truth or Dare.

In 1991, Bernhard began playing the role of Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom Roseanne. She appeared in 33 episodes between 1991 and 1997 and was one of the first actresses to portray an openly bisexual recurring character on American television. The role is one of her best known, something she has lamented in her stand-up as being both a blessing and a curse. In September 1992, Bernhard did a nude pictorial for Playboy. She hosted the USA Network's Reel Wild Cinema for two seasons beginning in 1995. Bernhard continued acting in mostly independent films and TV guest roles and forays into mainstream films such as Hudson Hawk and Dallas Doll. In 1991 she released her first studio album, titled Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One). In 1995, she briefly appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, in an episode titled "Jerk". In 1996, she guest-starred on an episode of Highlander: The Series called "Dramatic License" in which she played a romance novelist writing about the life of the main character. She also appeared (as herself) on Will & Grace in an episode dealing with Will and Grace's spuriously bidding on Bernhard's Manhattan apartment in order to become friendly with her and culminates in a diatribe from Bernhard when their ruse is exposed, with obfuscating sounds of a blender (she was having a smoothie made) blotting out supposed obscenities. She returned as herself briefly, two years later.

Bernhard returned to Broadway in 1998 with the show I'm Still Here... Damn It!, recorded for a live comedy album. At that time of the show, Bernhard was pregnant. She gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard on July 4, 1998. Bernhard returned to New York in 2006 with the Off-Broadway show Everything Bad & Beautiful. The CD Everything Bad & Beautiful was critically lauded as one of her best, released by indie label Breaking Records. That year she also hosted the first season of the reality competition show The Search for the Funniest Mom in America on Nick at Nite. In 2007 saw the debut of her one-woman show Plan B from Outer Space, and the inclusion of her Hanukkah-themed song "Miracle of Lights", which she co-wrote with Mitchell Kaplan, in the Breaking Records compilation album Breaking For the Holidays. She toured Plan B through 2008, and performed "Miracle of Lights" on some morning shows in New York.

Bernhard is bisexual and a strong supporter of gay rights. On July 4, 1998, Bernhard gave birth to a daughter, Cicely Yasin Bernhard, whom she raised with her longtime partner, Sara Switzer.

Died

1961 -

TONI EBEL who died on this date in Berlin (b: 1881) was a German painter, housekeeping staff of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft and one of the first trans women who received a sex reassignment surgery, possibly before Lili Elbe (rf: "The Danish Girl.")

Toni Ebel was the oldest of eleven children of an evangelical family. After graduating from high school, Ebel apprenticed as a decorator and businessman, and for the first earned money bought a wig and a dress, later discovered and burnt by her parents. Around 1901 she fell in love with a man, which caused arguments with her family, so she left home, studied painting in Munich and also traveled around Germany, Austria and Italy. In Venice Ebel met an elderly American man, who became her patron and partner for few years. In 1908 Ebel went back to Berlin and lived as a man, married a woman named Olga and had a son. Ebel did not feel comfortable in a man's and husband's role and tried four times to commit suicide.

Around this period she, under her deadname, gained a good reputation in the artistic circles of Käthe Kollwitz. In 1916 she was drafted into the army, fighting in trenches in Champagne, and then discarded to reserves after suffering a mental breakdown. In 1925 Ebel became temporarily a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany; she also later described herself as "always a proletarian painter".

After Olga fell ill and died in 1928, Toni, who lived and worked as a painter first in Berlin-Steglitz, then in Wedding, decided to transition. Around this time she met Charlotte Charlaque, also transitioning. She made a formal application for a legal name change to Annie in 1929, which was rejected, and an accepted application for the name Toni in 1930. With the support of Hirschfeld, Toni underwent five sex reassignment surgeries conducted by Erwin Gohrbandt, Felix Abraham [de] and Ludwig Levy-Lenz. It was one of the first sex reassignment surgeries. According to the surgeons, the first operation for both Toni and Charlotte took place "between 6 January 1929 and 14 November 1930" and according to Ragnar Ahlsted, Toni was the third patient of that procedure ever. In 1931 Felix Abraham published a paper giving the details of the vaginoplasty operations on Richter and Ebel in Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualpolitik.

In 1933 footage of Toni, Charlotte and Dora Richter (all anonymously/uncredited) was used as a documentary segment in an Austrian movie Mysterium des Geschlechtes (Mystery of Sex) about contemporary sexology. The same year Toni and Charlotte hosted Swede Ragnar Ahlsted, who wrote about them in a book Män, som blivit kvinnor (Men, who became women), but they did not mention Dora to him. When the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was attacked in 1933, a collection of Ebel's drawings and paintings was destroyed.

In 1933 Toni Ebel converted to Judaism, the faith of her partner Charlaque. Both lived in modest circumstances, sublet in Berlin-Schöneberg. Toni Ebel received a small pension and earned some additional income from the sale of pictures. They were repeatedly harassed by their neighbors, and in 1942 they were forced to separate. After a warning from Ebels' half-sister, Toni Ebel fled to Czechoslovakia with Charlotte Charlaque in 1934. Until 1935 they lived in the Karlovy Vary (Rybáře), where Ebel painted pictures for Karlovy Vary spa guests. Then they moved to Prague and in 1937 to Brno, where they kept in touch with Karl Giese before his suicide. Ebel lived in Prague under the name Antonia Ebelova and worked as a painter. In 1942 Charlotte Charlaque was arrested by the Aliens Police. She later managed to come to the USA.

1968 -

Robert F. Kennedy was shot on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles on the night he had won the California primary in his campaign for President of the United States. As a result of the win in the California Primary that night, he assumed the leadership of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party shutting out Eugene McCarthy. For nearly four years — ever since a dramatic appearance on the last night of the 1964 Democratic Convention, when a standing ovation delayed the opening of his speech by a full 16 minutes — he had been the favorite of liberal Democrats, who were deserting Lyndon Johnson because of the Vietnam War.

Elected to the Senate from the state of New York in 1964, he had also emerged as a spokesman for the urban poor, who had rioted in Harlem in 1964, in Watts in 1965 and in nearly every major city from 1966 through the spring of 1968.

His death on this date froze him in time as a symbol of that era. For many American liberals, especially after that year’s election culminated in the victory of Richard Nixon, he also became a symbol of not just a better past, but also a better future that might have been. Lost in the aftermath of his death and the tumultuous events of the rest of 1968, is the matter of just how liberal Robert Kennedy really was.

Recently his son, Robert Kennedy Jr., has raised questions about who shot his father, asserting that he believes there may have been a second shooter.

Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was arrested and later convicted of the shooting at the Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy was mortally wounded after celebrating his victory in California's Democratic primary as he exited the hotel through the hotel kitchen.

Although Sirhan was captured at the scene with a .22-caliber handgun in his hand and later admitted that he shot Kennedy, new evidence has emerged over the years that suggests there may have been as many as 13 shots fired that night. Sirhan's gun held only eight bullets. There has also been disagreement among experts over the years about whether some of the recovered bullets were fired from the same gun.