The Queens of Welfare Island: Preview
October 1, 20263 min · 549 words
Show notes
A century ago, at a notorious men’s penitentiary in New York City, gay inmates managed to find joy and community through their annual Christmas show, the “Fag Follies.” This season, join Eric Marcus as he delves into their lives and explores their world within and outside the prison walls. ———
Highlighted moments
A century ago, on the southern end of an island in New York City's East River, stood the South Ward of the Men's Penitentiary, a place where gay prisoners were segregated from the so-called normal men.
“And then they did a Christmas show called the Fag Follies. And the prison officers actually went to see this performance, and everyone knew that the prisoners had dresses and wigs.”
“You don't see this very often, but his offense was disorderly conduct fairy.”
“She became well-known for singing naughty versions of popular songs, turning them into an ode to the joys of anal sex.”
Transcript
0:00A century ago, on the southern end of an island in New York City's East River, stood the South Ward of the Men's Penitentiary, a place where gay prisoners were segregated from the so-called normal men. Our ancestors were incarcerated, like real people were incarcerated there. And then they did a Christmas show called the Fag Follies. And the prison officers actually went to see this performance, and everyone knew that the prisoners had dresses and wigs. Tonight, there is only one Follies being performed in the God-forsaken Men's Penitentiary on beautiful Wellvera Island in glorious New York City.
0:39The Fag Follies! I'm Eric Marcus. This is Making Gay History. In our newest season, the Queens of Welfare Island, we're inviting you to join us at the Fag Follies. Big Bill, eat your fucking heart!
1:11We're going back to the early 20th century in New York City, when fairies, pansies, and queens were both celebrated and criminalized, on occasion, at the same time, in the same prison ward. The Fag Ward. Thanks to a new historical musical, The Gorgeous Nothings, which is set in the Fag Ward, for this season, we're able to step through a portal to a little-known period of the LGBTQ past to explore the real lives of the people who inspired the show. And, we're going to break out of the prison to explore the gay world of New York City in the early 20th century.
1:45We'll uncover the places, songs, and street life that shaped the Queens of Welfare Island. You don't see this very often, but his offense was disorderly conduct fairy. And what does that mean? That means exactly what you think it means. You'll meet Jean Mosley, a drag queen arrested on his way to a masquerade ball, who gets a surprising casting call in court. What? Oh, my goodness. So, the magistrate is sort of the casting director for The Fag Follies.
2:16We'll go uptown with Gladys Bentley, playing piano all night in a speakeasy. She became well-known for singing naughty versions of popular songs, turning them into an ode to the joys of anal sex. We'll investigate a shocking turn-of-the-century true crime page-turner with Abraham Kriegel, an immigrant Jewish tailor caught up in a gay bathhouse sting. Abraham is married, has five children, and then got this ticket to go to a bathhouse, went in and lost his mind. Eric, are you turning red? Yes, I am.
2:46And I don't mean to make light of this. I just, I'm actually shocked by the detail. It's a chapter of LGBTQ history I knew nothing about, but we've brought it to life with the help of historians, archivists, writers, and performers. Join us as we step into a time when fascism was on the rise and queerness was criminal, and find out what a Christmas show in prison in the 1930s can tell us about living as ourselves today. It was 40 years before Stonewall. That fearlessness and that fierceness is already starting to show through.
3:20Episode 1 of The Queens of Welfare Island drops on October 19th. Subscribe to Making Gay History wherever you get your podcasts. Making Gay History, The Queens of Welfare Island. Like, subscribe, follow, and tell your friends. Making Gay History, The Queens of Welfare Island.