by Vanda
“Greenwich Village is not a neighborhood of artists and writers, although many of them still live in its old brick and brownstone houses.”
Greenwich Village earned its reputation as an enclave for artists and writers in the 1920s and ’30s, and it would become so again in the mid-1950s. Early 1940s Greenwich Village, however, was mostly a working-class neighborhood where a great many people lived in rooming houses and “overflowing tenement houses.” At the same time, it had the most “expensive types of modern hotels and apartment houses” that were “located near the park and along Fifth Avenue” (New York City Market Analysis 1943).
Artists did live in Greenwich Village at that time, but they were unknown. For instance, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, and Marlon Brando used to meet for breakfast at the Life Cafeteria, which catered to gay boys and girls. 29 Jackson Pollack was struggling to find his own style in his apartment at 46 East 8th Street 30 .
Another problem with doing this research has been that researchers have treated the 1940s as if the whole decade was the same. The early forties was very different from the mid-forties, the war years, and the late forties saw the beginning of the Cold War.
Throughout the writing, I have sought to make this material as accurate as possible; I’ve tried to create the world as my characters would have lived it. Some information about day-to-day living was very difficult to find, and sometimes, I resorted to novels that were written at the time for these details. Occasionally, one source conflicted with another. For instance, the word “beard,” when used to mean a woman who poses as a wife or girlfriend for a gay man so that his homosexuality is not discovered, was very difficult to unravel. The concept of having a beard to protect one’s career goes back to the Hollywood of the 1920s. However, what about the actual word “beard”? Some sources say this term was in use by the 1940s 31 and others say it wasn’t used until the mid-1960s 32 . Neither of the sources cited here are terribly authoritative, but more authoritative sources seem to have nothing to say on the subject. The difficulty in dating this word may be another example of the gay world using a term that was secret so that the straight world wasn’t aware of it until the 1960s. I could not resolve the conflicting dates, so I made the choice to use it in this novel as a word that was in use in the 1940s, but was unknown to the straight world. Woody Allen uses the word “beard” in The Purple Rose of Cairo, which takes place in the 1930s. 33 Having no academic sources, I decided to use him as my authority since other elements in this film are accurate. Most the details in Juliana have been copiously researched and conflicts have been resolved. I may have missed something, but that would not be due to careless researching. It would only be due to the difficulty of discovering this type of information.
Notes
A Word F rom the Author- The Juliana Project
References
Aarons, Edward S. State Department Murders . Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 1950.
Bianco, Anthony Ghosts of 42nd Street: A history of America’s most infamous street . New York: Harper Collins, 2009. Kindle edition.
Caprio, Frank S. Female homosexuality: A psychodynamic study of lesbianism . New York: Citadel Press, 1954.
Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, urban culture and the making of the gay male world: 1890-1940 . New York: Basic Books, 1994.
Coleman Julie. Love, sex, and marriage: A historical thesaurus Amsterdam: Rodopi Bv Editions, 1999
Davis, Kate, and David Heilbroner. Stonewall Uprising, DVD. Directed by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner. USA: PBS: American Experience, 2011.
Greenhut, Robert, Charles H. Joffee, and Jack Rollins. The Purple Rose of Cairo . Directed by Woody Allen. USA: MGM, March 1, 1985.
Heap, Chad. The Pansy and lesbian craze in white and black. In Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Night Life, 1885-1940 . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.
PBS.org. “The Invention of Heterosexuality” Jonathan Ned Katz. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/context/katzhistory.html
Porter, Darwin. Brando unzipped . New York: Blood Moon Productions, 2006.
Russo, Vito. The celluloid closet: Homosexuality in the movies , VHS. Directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein. Home Box Office in association Channel 4ZOF/A Telling Pictures Production, 1996.
Saban, Stephen. “The historical significance of Cary Grant suddenly going gay in Bringing Up Baby ” Last modified June 5, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2015. http://worldofwonder.net/the-historical-significance-of-cary-grant-suddenly-going-gay-in-bringing-up-baby/
Salon. “The invention of the heterosexual” Thomas Rogers. Last modified January 22, 2012.Accessed May 9, 2015. http://www.salon.com/2012/01/22/the_invention_of_the_heterosexual/
Scagliotti, John, Greta Schiller, and Robert Rosenberg. Before Stonewall , DVD. Directed by Greta Schiller. USA: First Run Features, 2004.
Scott, Robert Owen.”Beard,” Gay Slang Dictionary, www.odps.org.
Senelick, Laurence. The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre . New York: Routledge, 2000.
Solomon, Deborah. Still Struggling: 1939-41. In Jackson Pollack . New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001.
Today I Found Out: Feed Your Brain. “How ‘gay’ came to mean ‘homosexual.’“ Daven Hisky. Last modified February 25, 2010. Accessed May 9, 2015. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/how-gay-came-to-mean-homosexual /
Vidal, Gore. The city and the pillar . New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1948.
Wikipedia. “Talk:Beard (Companion)” WikiProject LGBT Studies. Talk:Beard (companion) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wordorigins.com. “Gay” Wilton, Dave. Last modified February 2, 2010. Accessed May 9, 2015. http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/gay/
Yodelout!: New York City History. “New York City—Cafe society or up from the speakeasies” Last modified 2012. Accessed May 7, 2015. http://new-york-city.yodelout.com/new-york-city-cafe-society-or-up-from-the-speakeasies/
Book Club Discussion Guide: JULIANA (Book1: 1941-1944)
Introduction : Since Juliana (Book 1: 1941-1944) is filled with history about LGBT life in 1940s New York City, I’ve developed some questions, which may provide a stimulus for discussion for book clubs and classes.
What do you think is the purpose of Chapter One? Did the meaning of this chapter become clearer as you got further into the book? What might it mean in future volumes of this series?
Did your expectations of 1940s New York City match what you found in the opening chapters of the novel? Why or why not? What about your expectations of Greenwich Village at that time? (Introduction, Chapter Two)
What are your thoughts about the kids only living an hour away from the city by train and yet they have never been there before? Does this coincide with anything in your own life? (Chapter Two)
In the beginning of the book, Al often talks about not feeling pretty. She goes so far as to avoid looking at herself in mirrors. On the day of her first “date” with Juliana, she wears a suit and tie and her hair has been cut short. She says when she looks in the mirror “… you know what I saw? Me. I really saw me.” What is the significance of this for Al? Have you ever had a similar experience? (Chapters Two, Five, and Twenty)
Danny’s mother doesn’t allow Danny to take dancing lessons with the other children because she thinks dancing turns a boy into a “pansy.” This has been a popular American belief for decades. What do you think about this belief now in our modern world? How would you advise a mother if her son wanted to take dancing lessons? Would it matter which type of dancing lessons? For instance, how would you advise the mother if her son wanted to take tap versus ballet lessons? Would an African American parent feel the same or differently to a white parent? What about a Latino parent? An Asian parent? (Chapter Two)
What are your thoughts about Danny’s and other characters’ views of the potential war to come in Book I? Did you know that 89 percent of the American people were against going to war with Germany or Japan right up until the
day before Pearl Harbor? Knowing this, how might the Japanese’s bombing of Pearl Harbor have hit you if you’d heard the same broadcast as they did? Can you compare this experience to anything that has happened in your own life? (Chapters Three and Five)
What were your first impressions of Maxwell P. Harlington the Third? Did his actions in later portions of the novel live up to your first impressions or not? (Chapter Three)
Al tells Danny, “What do you know about being a girl? The rules are all different for me. When you’re a girl what you wear is all that matters.” What are your thoughts about this? Does this at all apply today? In what ways were the rules of behavior different for women in 1940s than they are today? What rules are different today for men than they are for women? (Chapter Four)
Al tells Juliana that what she really wants to do with her life is “something completely absolutely wonderful. Only—I don’t know what that is.” What is the significance of this to the overall story? How might it affect Al in the future? What do you think she’ll end up doing in future volumes of this series? (Chapter Eight)
What reaction did you have to the way the kids talk about Roman Catholics? How about later when Al recalls the jokes the neighborhood used to make fun of Catholics? Al never mentions specifically which religion she and her friends belong to. Do you have any idea why this might be the case? Did you know that there was this much tension between Protestants and Catholics at earlier points of American history? (Chapters Three, and Nineteen)
How would you describe Aggie before the war? How, if at all, does she change during the war? What would you predict for her future after the war is over?
What was your reaction to Aggie’s explanations of homosexuality? (Chapter Three)
Were you surprised by the reactions of Danny’s friends to his homosexuality? Did you know, prior to reading this novel, that this was a typical reaction that continued at least into the 1980s, and, in some areas, probably much longer. (Chapter Sixteen)
Did this reaction prepare you for Aggie’s reaction when Al confesses to her the feelings she has for Juliana? Why or Why not? (Chapter Fifty-Six)
How might Danny’s coming out compare to your own? Think of “coming out” in broad terms, meaning, if you consider yourself gay, straight, queer, transgender, or something else, you may still feel a need to “come out.”
What are your thoughts about the way Danny handles what he (and the world) considers his “problem”? What was your reaction to his letter? (Chapter Eighteen)
What would you predict for Danny’s future once the war is over?
How would you describe Dickie? How does his personality change after the war? Do you think he ever returns to dancing or the theater? What would you predict for his future after the war is over?
What was your first impression of Virginia? Did this impression change over the course of the novel?
Everyone seems to have a different view of Juliana (Al, Max, Virginia, Shirl). Why do you think this is the case? Which of these characters’ views do you agree with?
What is the significance of Al’s recurring “beard” dream?
Al says, “Then I kissed her. All on my own….” Later in the same scene she says, “I was doing this; I was making her feel something.” What do you think was the significance of these experiences for Al? (Chapter Twenty)
When Juliana asks Al if she has ever masturbated, Al says “No! That’s horrible. You’re not sposed….” What myths about masturbation might Al have held, which were typical for people living in this time period? Later, Al changes her mind. Why? (Chapter Twenty and Chapter Fifty-Six)
Were you surprised to find out that Juliana was married? What were your feelings about this? (Chapter Twenty)
What do you think was the true reason that Max and Juliana stopped speaking to one another?
The title of the novel is Juliana, and yet Juliana appears in the book much less than other characters like Al, Aggie, Dickie, and Max. Why, then, did the author name the book Juliana ?
What were your first impressions of Juliana? Are these impressions backed up by her later actions?
Although Al and Juliana are both white, they are not from the same culture. What are their cultural differences and how do these differences impact their relationship in the present? How might these differences impact them in the future?
As you read the book, how did you feel about the ways the characters referred to certain groups of people such as homosexuals, Roman Catholics, African Americans, Japanese, and the disabled?
Al’s special relationship to sound is mentioned early in the book. Danny calls it her “own special gift” How does the author continue this motif throughout the book? How might “this gift” affect Al in Volume Olympus Nights on the Square, Book 3: 1945-1955? (Chapter Nine, Chapter Eight and Chapter Forty-Seven)
Al has a mentally disturbed mother who was abusive toward her. How does this upbringing affect Al’s perceptions of the world as a young adult? How might the mother’s treatment in the hospital have been different from treatments used today? It might be interesting to look up psychological treatments that were used in mental hospitals in the 1920s and 1930s.
What are your thoughts about Al’s father and his way of trying to protect Al from her mother?
What was your first impression of Henry? Did these impressions change as you got to know him better? What was your reaction to what Henry says to Al after he discovers her with Juliana? (Chapter Twenty-two, Twenty-three and Chapter Thirty-nine)
Eddie sexually abuses Al, but Al never says anything or even thinks about it again. In an earlier chapter, she says her boss, Mr. Johnson, often touched her and other girls in the office. She says, “This was just something we girls had to put up with.” What are your thoughts about this? Is Al’s background influencing this kind of thinking, or is it the period of time she lives in or something else? (Chapters Nine and Fifty-Four)
What were your thoughts about how Aggie handles the fact that she is pregnant by a man who is not Dickie?
Throughout the book, various “theories” about the cause of homosexuality are presented by different characters. What are your thoughts about these “theories?” How do they compare to today’s theories? (Chapter Three, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Twenty seven and Chapter Fifty-Six)
Were you aware, that at one time, it was illegal to dress in clothes that were considered appropriate to the opposite gender? What affect might such a law have had on you? Shirl repeatedly breaks this law. How might other gay women who did not dress like this feel about being seen in public with Shirl? What has happened in the past and could happen again in the future to Shirl because she dresses this way? (Chapter Thirty-two)
If you did go out in public wearing clothes that were considered appropriate to the opposite gender and a policeman stopped you, he could ask you to prove you are wearing three (some authorities say five) items of clothing appropriate to your own gender. If you could not do this, he could arrest you. What three to five items might you have produced?
When Al tries to tell Juliana about the feelings she has for her, Juliana says “those kinds of feelings pass. I don’t want to hear about them.” Later in the same chapter when Al tries to tell Juliana she’s in love with her, Juliana says, “You’re not in love with me…. What you feel is a perversion. It’s not real, and I don’t want to hear about it.” Did this surprise you? Why do you think Juliana says this to Al? (Chapter Fifty)
In what ways does Al change once the war begins? What about when the war is almost over?
What were your thoughts/feelings about Max receiving a blue discharge? Al is the only one who Max tells about his blue discharge. How might that affect their post-war relationship? Before reading this novel, did you know that these were given out to a great many gay men and women soldiers as well as African Americans? To learn more about this, you might want to read Allan Berube’s Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II or watch the DVD with the same title. (Chapt
er Fifty-eight)
Were you aware before reading this novel that African Americans and Jews were not permitted to sit in the audience of a nightclub, but they could entertain in one? Café Society (established in 1938) was the first club to allow Jews and African Americans to sit at the tables as customers. What are your thoughts about this? You might want to look up what happened to Barney Josephson, the man who began Café Society, Downtown and Uptown. (Chapter Ten)
We all have heard about racism in the southern United States, but little is ever stated about racism in the north. What evidence of racism in New York did you find in the book? Did it surprise you?
By the end of the novel, Al seems to consider her love for Juliana as something different from what those types feel. She does not consider herself homosexual. What is your reaction to this?
It might be fun to look up some of the places that are mentioned in the novel that previously existed or still do exist in Manhattan. For those places that do still exist, find out how they have changed since the 1940s.
Chumley’s
The Third Avenue El
Penn Station
The Whitney Museum
