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    Gay Bar

    The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s

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    Author(s)
    Fellows, Will
    Branson, Helen P.
    Collection
    Big Ten Open Books
    Language
    English
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    Abstract
    Vivacious, unconventional, candid, and straight, Helen Branson operated a gay bar in Los Angeles in the 1950s—America’s most anti-gay decade. After years of fending off drunken passes as an entertainer in cocktail bars, this divorced grandmother preferred the wit, variety, and fun she found among homosexual men. Enjoying their companionship and deploring their plight, she gave her gay friends a place to socialize. Though at the time California statutes prohibited homosexuals from gathering in bars, Helen’s place was relaxed, suave, and remarkably safe from police raids and other anti-homosexual hazards. In 1957 she published her extraordinary memoir Gay Bar, the first book by a heterosexual to depict the lives of homosexuals with admiration, respect, and love. In this new edition of Gay Bar, Will Fellows interweaves Branson’s chapters with historical perspective provided through his own insightful commentary and excerpts gleaned from letters and essays appearing in gay publications of the period. Also included is the original introduction to the book by maverick 1950s psychiatrist Blanche Baker. The eclectic selection of voices gives the flavor of American life in that extraordinary age of anxiety, revealing how gay men saw themselves and their circumstances, and how others perceived them.
    URI
    https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/64170
    Keywords
    European studies; Cultural studies; American studies; Biography and letters; Gay and lesbian studies
    DOI
    10.3368/APPL1440
    ISBN
    9780299248598, 9780299248505, 9780299248598, 9780299248598
    Publisher
    The University of Wisconsin Press
    Publication date and place
    Madison, 2010
    Grantor
    • Big Ten Academic Alliance - [...] - Big Ten Open Books — Gender and Sexuality Studies Collection - Big Ten Open Books
    Classification
    Gender studies, gender groups
    Rights
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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