Queer Places:
New historical tome
tells us where our
ancestors lived and
died
by
David-Elijah Nahmod
Elisa Rolle is an
historian who has
done her homework.
The openly lesbian
writer and editor is
authoring a series
of books which
document the history
of Queer culture and
the people who made
that culture happen.
Her 2014 book “Days
of Love: Celebrating
LGBT History One
Story At A Time,”
chronicles the lives
and loves of those
who came before us.
With that book,
Rolle took us on a
journey back in
time, across the
20th, 19th and 18th
centuries – and much
further back – to
revisit the lives of
people who were
known or believed to
have been LGBT.
That book was a
fascinating read
which offered a few
startling surprises,
such as the
inclusion of
blind/deaf
author/educator
Helen Keller and
Annie Sullivan, the
woman who taught
Keller how to read
braille and to
communicate. Other
than Sullivan's
short lived, failed
marriage in 1905,
she and Keller lived
together exclusively
for 49 years. Is it
really a stretch to
believe that they
may have loved each
other?
In Rolle's latest
book “Queer Places:
Retracing the Steps
of LGBTQ People
Around the World,”
Volume 1, Rolle
serves as our travel
agent, taking us on
a trip to all fifty
states. Rolle is our
tour guide as we
visit the homes,
birthplaces and
gravesites of many
of the historical
figures we learned
about in her earlier
book. Volume 1
covers the U.S. The
yet to be published
Volume II will trace
the steps of LGBT
people in the United
Kingdom, while
Volume III will
journey across the
rest of the world.
Queer Places begins
with Keller and
Sullivan. Rolle
takes us to Ivy
Green, the Alabama
estate where Keller
was born in 1880. As
we see the house
where Keller lost
her sight and
hearing, and where
she first met
Sullivan, the author
once again recounts
the story of their
relationship. Rolle
then continues
onward, letting us
know where other
Queer Alabamians
lived, and where
LGBT people can go
to find other Queers
when visiting the
state.
Later on in the
book, in the section
devoted to
Washington DC, Rolle
shows us where
Keller and her
"lifelong companion
Annie Sullivan" rest
together at the
National Cathedral.
Rolle divides the
book state by state.
Countless LGBT lives
are remembered as we
visit the places
where each of them
lived, worked and
died. Hundreds of
historical
photographs are
included.
But Rolle goes much
further. She also
lets the current
LGBT generations
know where they can
go to find others
like themselves
while
travelling--yes
Virginia, there
really are gay bars
and bookstores in
Alaska.
Rolle walks through
the streets of
various
neighborhoods in
numerous cities,
such as New York.
Iconic buildings
like the Dakota,
among others, are
photographed by the
author in all their
glory as she lists
the names of famous
historical LGBT
figures who once
occupied those
elegant homes--many
were forced to live
closeted lives
during their earthly
sojourns.
Rolle doesn't forget
the sunshine state
either. She opens
the Florida section
of Queer Places by
naming the state's
gay villages: Key
West, South Beach,
and even Wilton
Manors, home of
SFGN. Readers will
be taken to the
various Key West
Homes of Tennessee
Williams (1911-1983)
the acclaimed
playwright who wrote
Southern Gothic
tales of madness,
which were often
infused with less
than subtle
references to
homosexuality.
Williams' success
was all the more
impressive when we
realize that he
lived an openly gay
life as early as the
1940s.
Rolle then takes us
on a street by
street tour of the
Island city, showing
us where other
famous Queer writers
penned their works.
As she continues her
journey across
SoFla, readers will
learn that the state
was in fact a haven
for LGBT people for
nearly a century.
The California
chapter is most
interesting.
Old-time Hollywood
was a cesspool of
homophobia, where
queer stars and
directors were
sometimes forced
into fake marriages
if they wanted to
keep their careers.
Rolle remembers
those often-lonely
lives as she visits
graves of fondly
remembered film
icons. She also pays
tribute to those we
loved, like Judy
Garland, the great
singer and gay male
icon.
Rolle came to San
Francisco and
visited the Castro,
showing her readers
our beloved Castro
Theatre among other
historic locales.
She strolled over to
Valencia Street.
Long before the tech
bros took over,
Valencia served as
an early mecca for
lesbians. Anyone
remember Amelia's,
one of the first
women-only bars?
When in San
Francisco, Rolle
urges, be sure to
visit the GLBT
Historical Society
in order to learn
the complete stories
of our many iconic
places.
At 600 pages, Queer
Places is an
exhaustive and
brilliant work.
Readers might wonder
if there's a single
street in the
country that Rolle
didn't visit. Is
there an historical
archive whose
records she failed
to study?
Rolle is without a
doubt our most
important historian.
http://southfloridagaynews.com/Lifestyle/queer-places-new-historical-tome-tells-us-where-our-ancestors-lived-and-died.html
hhttp://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=1083
California's
icons,
esoterica, homes
and historical
whodunnit in one
vital volume
by
Jesse Archer
I've followed
Elisa's blog,
her exhaustive
book on gay
romance, Days of
Love, and her
Rainbow Awards,
and this series
adds
immeasurably to
her work as a
passionate
documentarian of
queer life,
history,
iconography, and
eye-popping
esoterica.
Inside the book
is a link to
google maps...
where readers
can find the
sites listed
within - notable
addresses,
locales,
museums,
bookstores and
bars; homes of,
and decorated
by, Billy
Haines, a star
who abandoned
acting to be
with his life
partner Jimmy
Shields; the
home of discreet
gay silent star
Ramon Novarro -
where he was
murdered by rent
boys in 1968;
George Cukor's
notorious party
pad; what
remains of Rudy
Valentino's
retreat
(subsumed by the
101 freeway);
and so many of
the graves,
gossip and
goings on of the
famous,
infamous, and
forgotten gays
and lesbians who
created the
California we
know. Elisa
unearths so much
in this slim,
eminently
readable volume,
you'll
undoubtedly want
to investigate
her findings
further -
whether on foot,
by car, on the
web, or at the
local archive.
Queer California
is an essential
tool for anyone
curious about
the topic but
also a grand
jumping off
point for
researchers,
thesis writers,
historians,
students, and
amateur sleuths!
https://www.amazon.com/Queer-California-Retracing-people-around/product-reviews/1979617406/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews
Queer Places by Elisa Rolle
by Ryan Field
Now for a completely different topic, and one that totally celebrates queer
culture. I rarely read print books these days, but this one just came in and I
wanted to share it. I don’t know how Elisa does this or where she finds the
time, but it’s amazing. And I’m serious. Amazing. It’s a comprehensive
non-fiction book with facts and history that’s filled with information. Here’s
part of the blurb from Amazon. Queer Places, developed in 3 volumes, United
States of America (1), United Kingdom (2), and Rest of the World (3), is a mix
of travel guide and historical trivia; while I tried to give as much as possible
the necessary info for you to find the queer places to explore, the book is
above all a tool to help you deciding if you want to really visit the place.
Queer Places gives you the background of the location, who lived there, who
loved the place and made it unique. It gives you an address, sometime a website,
and other nearby queer places. This will be on my coffee table for a long, long
time.
https://ryan-field.com/category/gays-falling-for-call-me-by-your-name-queer-places-by-elisa-rolle-justin-trudeaus-tearful-apology-to-gay-people/
Blanche, Hat,
Malpractice and
Seal
by Jeffrey
Manley
Author Elisa
Rolle, who
chronicles the
lives and
travels of
notable members
of the LGBT
community, has
posted some of
her reviews and
ramblings
relating to
Brian Howard,
Waugh's
contemporary
from Oxford
days. These
miscellaneous
excerpts apear
to have been
first published
in her ongoing
series of books
Days of Love:
Celebrating LGBT
History One
Story at a Time
and Queer
Places:
Retracing the
Steps of LGBTQ
People Around
the World. In
the Brian Howard
excerpts she
mentions, for
example, that he
lived at
Cobblestone
House (formerly
Nore House) near
Godalming,
Surrey which was
later occupied
by actor Dirk
Bogard. The
house is
described in
detail and a
visit by Waugh's
friend and
fellow writer
Daphne Fielding
during Bogard's
residence is
mentioned (Queer
Places, v. 2):
A great platonic
love of
[Brian's] was
Daphne Fielding,
and although she
never saw him at
Nore, when she
went to stay
with Dirk and
Tony (Anthony
Forwood), she
“was conscious
of Brian all the
time, and his
own very
particular
atmosphere
seemed to
dominate even
Dirk's.”
In another
excerpt from
Rolle's books
(Queer Places,
v. 3) she
describes
Waugh's
connections with
Brian:
He was one of
the Hypocrites
group that
included Harold
Acton, Lord
David Cecil, L.
P. Hartley and
Evelyn Waugh. It
has been
suggested that
Howard was
Waugh’s model
for Anthony
Blanche in
“Brideshead
Revisited.”
Waugh wrote, to
Lord Baldwin:
"There is an
aesthetic bugger
who sometimes
turns up in my
novels under
various names --
that was 2/3
Brian [Howard]
and 1/3 Harold
Acton. People
think it was all
Harold, who is a
much sweeter and
saner man [than
Howard]." In the
late 1920s, he
was a key figure
among London’s
"Bright Young
Things" - a
privileged,
fashionable and
bohemian set of
relentless
party-goers,
satirised in
such novels as
Evelyn Waugh’s
1930 "Vile
Bodies" where
the character of
Miles
Malpractice owes
something to
Howard. .... In
1929 he was
famously
involved in the
"Bruno Hat" hoax
when the
fashionable Hon
Mr & Mrs Bryan
Guinness
promoted a spoof
London art
exhibition by an
apparently
unknown German
painter Bruno
Hat ... [During
WWII] he
referred to his
commanding
officer as
“Colonel Cutie”
(a trait Evelyn
Waugh gave his
rebellious rogue
Basil Seal in
the novel "Put
Out More Flags")
... Evelyn Waugh
wrote: "I used
to know Brian
Howard well—a
dazzling young
man to my
innocent eyes.
In later life he
became very
dangerous—constantly
attacking people
with his fists
in public
places—so I kept
clear of him. He
was consumptive
but the
immediate cause
of his death was
a broken heart."
As described in
another of
Rolle's
"Ramblings,"
Howard committed
suicide in 1958
a few days after
his companion,
according to
Rolle, died
accidentally
from gas
inhalation at a
villa in the
South of France
occupied by
Brian's mother.
Waugh wrote to
Bloggs Baldwin
in the same
letter where he
discusses
Brian's death
that his
companion had
"gassed
himself." A
footnote refers
to a postcard
sent 2 months
later in which
Waugh corrects
himself on this
point, noting
that Brian's
companion "died
suddenly but
naturally in his
bath" (Letters,
p. 505-06).
hhttp://evelynwaughsociety.org/2017/blanche-hat-malpractice-and-seal/Rolle's Ramblings
(More)
by Jeffrey Manley
Elisa Rolle,
chronicler of the
LGBT community in a
series of books
describing their
lives and locations,
has posted from her
books another entry
mentioning Evelyn
Waugh. See earlier
post. This is from
Queer Places, v 2
(2016) and describes
the area around
Canonbury Square
where Waugh lived
briefly with his
first wife in the
late 1920s:
Canonbury is a
residential district
in the London
Borough of Islington
in the north of
London...A dark red
brick, traffic free
estate, it was
praised as an
example of municipal
architecture, but
acquired a bad
reputation and has
since been
extensively
redeveloped to
improve security for
residents...Many
significant figures
from the arts and
literary worlds have
lived on the square,
including George
Orwell, Evelyn Waugh
and Samuel Phelps.
Notable queer
residents at
Canonbury Square:
• Sir Francis Bacon
(1561-1626), King
James I’s Lord
Chancellor, lived in
Canonbury Tower,
1616-1626
• Evelyn Waugh
(October 28, 1903-
April 10, 1966),
writer, lived at 17a
Canonbury Square; he
left after a couple
of years in 1930,
claiming he was
tired of having to
explain to friends
why he was livng in
so appalling a
district. Waugh
lived also at 145
North End Road.
• Duncan Grant
(1885-1978) and
Vanessa Bell
(1879-1961),
painters and
designers, lived at
26a Canonbury
Square, N1 from 1949
to 1955.
The source for
Waugh's statement of
the reasons for his
leaving the area is
not cited (Literary
London: A Street by
Street Exploration
of the Capital's
Literary ..., By Ed
Glinert, n.d.r). He
may well have said
that somewhere to
cover up the fact
that he vacated the
flat after his first
wife dropped him and
later married
another man, John
Heygate. According
to Dudley Carew,
Waugh's friend from
Lancing days, Waugh
was no longer using
the flat in the late
summer of 1930 and
allowed Carew (whose
own marriage had
also recently broken
up) to move in.
Carew remained there
until 2 April 1931,
and he recalls that,
shortly thereafter,
Waugh wound up the
lease.
Rolle has also
written about Waugh
in another of her
books. This is in
Days of Love (2014)
which "chronicles
more than 700 LGBT
couples through
history." Among the
entries is one
entitled "Evelyn
Waugh & Hugh Lygon"
at p. 375. This item
may not yet have
been posted on the
internet among
Rolle's "reviews and
ramblings", but it
can be accessed on
Amazon. It describes
Lygon as "the
inspiration" for
Sebastian Flyte in
Brideshead Revisited
and claims that he
and Waugh were
lovers on the
strength of the
suspicions of Prof A
L Rowse, whose book
Homosexuals in
History (1983) is
cited.
It is odd that Rolle
chose this "couple"
for inclusion in her
book because Waugh's
homosexual affairs
at Oxford with two
other men (Alastair
Graham and Richard
Pares) are much
better documented.
She mentions both of
these men in her
later book Queer
Places, v 2 (p. 109)
in an entry on Piers
Court where she
describes them as
Waugh's partners in
his "most lasting
of...several
homosexual
relationships."
Waugh's biographers
are inconsistent on
whether Waugh and
Lygon were lovers.
Most recently, Paula
Byrne has said that
they were and Philip
Eade is more
doubtful. In the
book by Prof Rowse,
cited by Rolle,
discussion of Waugh
is limited to a
brief citation of
Brideshead Revisited
as reflective of
homosexuality among
those of his
generation at Oxford
(p. 318), but the
book doesn't even
mention Hugh Lygon.
http://evelynwaughsociety.org/2017/rolles-ramblings-more/
About: Elisa's website —
http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/ — is one of the most comprehensive online journals dedicated solely to LGBT literature, art, and film ever created. A successful, multi-lingual career woman in her own right, Elisa’s job takes her all around the world, yet she somehow manages to find time to review books, run competitions, write articles and interview authors for her site. In the last few years, Elisa also launched the Rainbow Awards, an online annual awards event that judges hundreds of LGBT titles in dozens of categories.
