I found the monchrome version of the image on Pinterest and colorized it using Photoshop. The image is also part of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) collection. Here is DTA's caption for the image: Very convincing amateur drag, mid 1950s. An unidentified merchant seamen on board S.S. Caronia. The Merchant Navy to some degree provided a bolt-hole for many 'obvious' homosexuals in the 1950s, when the laws prohibiting any kind of homosexual activity were rigidly enforced in the United Kingdom following the spy scandals of Burgess and Maclean, and the Montague/Wildeblood trial of 1954. Gay life, however, flourished on board large ocean-going liners such as the Caronia, where drag parties and pageants were a regular entertainment for the crew (and sometimes the passengers) (James Gardiner)
Thanks Stana. I haven't found my way to that text, only to some of the photos. I was under the idea (delusion?) that this was a show featuring sailors on the ship.
So, this is the English floating version of Casa Susanna! Too bad Alan Turing wasn't a femulator. He might have been able to "do his business" aboard ship, thus avoiding the punishment the Brits put on him.
I wish I were that sailors bunk mate.
ReplyDeleteWow where did you find that sailor photo from! I'd love to hear the backstory, the photo screams "not a civilian".
ReplyDeleteI found the monchrome version of the image on Pinterest and colorized it using Photoshop. The image is also part of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) collection. Here is DTA's caption for the image: Very convincing amateur drag, mid 1950s. An unidentified merchant seamen on board S.S. Caronia. The Merchant Navy to some degree provided a bolt-hole for many 'obvious' homosexuals in the 1950s, when the laws prohibiting any kind of homosexual activity were rigidly enforced in the United Kingdom following the spy scandals of Burgess and Maclean, and the Montague/Wildeblood trial of 1954. Gay life, however, flourished on board large ocean-going liners such as the Caronia, where drag parties and pageants were a regular entertainment for the crew (and sometimes the passengers) (James Gardiner)
DeleteThanks Stana. I haven't found my way to that text, only to some of the photos. I was under the idea (delusion?) that this was a show featuring sailors on the ship.
ReplyDeleteSo, this is the English floating version of Casa Susanna! Too bad Alan Turing wasn't a femulator. He might have been able to "do his business" aboard ship, thus avoiding the punishment the Brits put on him.