50 Summers Ago

When I read A Year Among the Girls by Darryl Raynor in 1968, I was a high school senior and trying to figure things out about my gender. The book did not help me figure things out, but it did make me aware that there were more guys dressing as girls than I had originally suspected. (I originally suspected only me and my best friend Billy.)

Little did I know then that the book was based on the writer's experiences at Casa Susanna. As soon as I read Casa Susanna 37 years later, I suspected that it was the location of A Year Among the Girls. My suspicion turned out to be correct.

I have been collecting images of Casa Susanna ever since. Here are some of my favorites from those summers in Upstate New York long ago. I hope you enjoy them.

Wearing Eloquii.

Thunderballs, a James Bond spoof with a woman playing 007 and men playing the Bond girls.