Pansy Craze
late-1920s–mid-1930s
Painting of "pansy" performerKaryl Norman, titledThe Creole Fashion Plate (1923)
Location	Mainly the United States Chicago Los Angeles New York City San Francisco
Leader(s)	Gene Malin Karyl Norman Ray Bourbon

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ThePansy Craze was a period of increasedLGBT visibility inAmericanpopular culture from the late 1920s until the mid-1930s.^[1][2] During the "craze,"drag queens — known as "pansy performers" — experienced a surge inunderground popularity, especially inNew York City,Chicago,Los Angeles, andSan Francisco. The exact dates of the movement are debated, with a range from the late 1920s until 1935.^[1][3][4]

The term "pansy craze" was not used contemporaneously during the era, and was first coined decades later by the historianGeorge Chauncey in his 1994 bookGay New York.^[3][5][6][7]

New York's firstdrag balls were held inHarlem'sHamilton Lodge in 1869.^[8][2][9]

In the 1920s, female impersonators were hired to perform atcabarets andspeakeasies in many major cities, including New York,Paris,London,Berlin, and San Francisco.^[2][10] The target audience was straight, which gave the performers broader social acceptance.^[11]

Gene Malin — known as the "Queen of the Pansy Craze" — achieved relative mainstream success, appearing in both Hollywood films andBroadway shows.^[2][12] Malin worked primarily in New York City in the early 1930s; however, his career was cut short when he died in an automobile accident at the age of 25.

Other stars during the Pansy Craze includedKaryl Norman andRay Bourbon, as well as the gay pianist and singerBruz Fletcher, who gained fame in Los Angeles during the Pansy Craze.^[10][13][14]

Beginning in late-1933 and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, AmericanRoman Catholics launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This led to restrictions in the public visibility of homosexuality through theHays Code.^[15] Police simultaneously began strict crackdowns on the public presence of homosexuals during theGreat Depression, as calls for politicians to "clean up" downtown nightlife came fromprogressive reformers.^[16]

Some scholars have argued that the Pansy Craze broadened the range of acceptable behaviors for men, even though restrictions on gender conformity and LGBT visibility were tightened after this period.^[17] In later decades, drag queens such asDivine andRuPaul again starred in Hollywood films, and performers such asJinkx Monsoon appeared on Broadway.^[18]

• List of drag queens

• George Chauncey:Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940 (Basic Books, 1994), especially Chapter 11: "Pansies on Parade"
• Chad Heap,Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife, 1885–1940 (University of Chicago Press, 2009), especially Chapter 6, "The Pansy and Lesbian Craze in White and Black"

• Queer Music Heritage:"The Pansy Craze: the Story and the Music by JD Doyle
• Queer Cultural Center – Bentley Profile.
• Baltimore Afro American contemporary articles

• LGBTQ history in the United States
• Musical theatre in the United States
• 1930s in LGBTQ history
• Drag (entertainment)
• History of gay men in the United States
• Great Depression in the United States
• Prohibition in the United States

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