Murder Most Queer
The Homicidal Homosexual in the American Theater
By Jordan SchildcroutThe University of Michigan Press
Copyright © 2014 Jordan Schildcrout
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-472-05232-5
Contents
INTRODUCTION: Beyond Queer Villainy,
CHAPTER ONE: "I Killed Him Because I Loved Him",
CHAPTER TWO: Queer Justice,
CHAPTER THREE: The Closet Is a Deathtrap,
CHAPTER FOUR: Rage and Revelry,
CHAPTER FIVE: Arias of Love and Death,
CHAPTER SIX: Queer Evil,
CHAPTER SEVEN: Serial Killers,
AFTERWORD,
Appendix: Plays with Homicidal Homosexuals,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Index,
CHAPTER 1"I Killed Him Because I Loved Him"
The link between deviant sexuality and murderous criminality was evident on the American stage in 1927, when Mae West produced The Drag, her melodramatic play about a heartbroken fairy who murders his abandoning lover. Before the glamorous and sultry West was one of Hollywood's top box office attractions in the 1930s, before she was an international sex symbol, and long before she made her "comeback" as an older woman in atrociously campy movies in the 1970s, Mae West was a successful playwright and actress on Broadway in the 1920s. She wrote and starred in a play boldly entitled Sex for nearly a year before the New York City police raided the theater. Most historians agree that the impetus for this crackdown (so far into the run of the play) was in fact a second play that West planned to bring to Broadway. The Drag caused a sensation but was stopped before it could reach Broadway, and many historians credit this "homosexual play" as the cause of West's arrest, the closing of her long-running hit Sex, and the enactment of stage censorship laws in New York. The Drag moreover serves as the perfect play with which to begin an exploration of the amalgamation of homosexuality and homicide, especially in terms of medical, psychological, and legal discourses.
The Drag combines the melodrama of the spurned lover, the sentimental drama of the neglected wife, and the thrills of the murder mystery, along with a good dose cabaret-style drag entertainment. Set in New York City, the play tells the story of Rolly Kingsbury, a wealthy and respected young man who, at the insistence of his father, has married Clair, the daughter of a prominent doctor who happens to be investigating the "problem" of homosexuality. Rolly secretly leads a double life, which includes a bevy of gay friends and an ex-lover named David who is crushed by Rolly's interest in a new man, one Allen Grayson. Meanwhile, hurt and confused by her husband's neglect, the innocent Clair falls in love with none other than Allen Grayson, creating further romantic intrigue. After hosting a drag party, Rolly is murdered, and the Inspector concludes that Grayson, wanting to have Clair for himself, committed the murder. At the last minute, however, David reveals himself as the true killer, having shot Rolly because he could not stand to lose his love.
"I Don't Get You Guys": Exposing the Inhabitants of the Gay Subculture
In order to understand the role of this homicidal homosexual, it is necessary to explore the ideologies that "construct" him, as well as the social milieu in which he exists. Mae West makes these ideologies explicit by framing her play with scenes of a Doctor (Clair's father) and a Judge (Rolly's father) arguing about the proper treatment of the homosexual, thus iterating many of the medical, psychological, and legal theories of the day. Throughout much of history, sa
