For a few short years in the 1930’s when Prohibition meant that drinking was very much on the down-low, one group of performers experienced a surge in underground popularity, especially in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Up until then much of the public image of gay people was still limited to the various drag balls in Greenwich Village and in Harlem, but the early 1930s saw a new development bringing the gay subculture of the enclaves of Greenwich Village and Harlem onto the mainstream stages of midtown Manhattan.

Known as ‘the pansy craze‘ these very early drag queens enjoyed their moment in the limelight as being the first openly gay performers in venues such as the elegant Club Abbey in N.Y. The most successful one was Gene Malin (also known as Jean Malin and Imogene Wilson) who actually didn’t don women’s clothing but in his act he was outrageously flamboyant and camp. One theatrical publication, Broadway Brevities, declared “the pansies hailed La Malin as their queen“.

When he ended up in Hollywood Malin got cameo roles in two movies, and this time he was in drag, making him the first known female impersonator to appear on the big screen.  Sadly not long after this after a night out celebrating  Malin accidentally reversed his car over the end of Venice Pier and drowned. He was just 25 years old.

When Prohibition ended in 1933 so did the ‘pansy craze’ and gay performers went back to more closeted venues for the next few decades.

 

Jean Malin-Arizona to Broadway-1933 by redhotjazz