October 23-29, 2014

Gay life in Chicago this week, back in ...

1976

On the front page of this week's Gay Life:

"Shirley Cox of the Butterfly was elected co-chair of the Gay/Lesbian Pride Planning Committee at the committee's meeting on Wednesday, October 13. Ms. Cox joins Rick Hanks in coordinating plans for the 1977 Gay/Lesbian Pride Week. While the committee begins its work with cash-on-hand of over twelve hundred dollars, the net worth of the committee is actually just over two thousand dollars, a good starting base for next June's weeklong event."

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IMAGE: Paradise – Gay Chicago July 22, 1982

In Richard Pfieffer's "Around Town" column in Gay Life:

"The beginning of the new television season was filled with gay themed programs. Most recently, the opening of 'Alice' featured former Tarzan star, Denny Miller, as a football player who comes out to Alice when she begins to take an interest in him. The 'Bob Newhart Show' reintroduced the character of Mr. Plager as gay. Plager, played by Howard Hessman will be a regular in Bob's therapy group. The opening show made it clear that Plager was not in therapy because of his gayness, but because he had personal problems. Also 'The Practice' and 'Family' have had gay segments in recent weeks."

IMAGE: The Sum of Us – Outlines March 1995

1986

In the bars and clubs, Shirley Christensen, co-owner of lesbian bar Lost and Found, 2959 W. Irving Park, dies aged 59; "The Colbys" is being shown at Berlin, Big Red's, Christopher Street, Company, Gold Coast, Glory Hole, Inner Circle, L.A. Connection, Normandy, North End, Take One, and TJ's on Oak; "Take a Beauty Break," get a disco doo at Christopher Street, 3458 N. Halsted, with "professional hair shaping, facials, manicures and tans; the gentlemen over at Dandy's, 2632 N. Halsted, spice up the mid-week blahs with a bit of piano music by Terry McCann, a London recording artist; Rick Donovan, he of the glorious appendage, appears live at the Bijou Theater from 6-8 p.m., then aftermidnight at Carol's Speakeasy, 1355 N. Wells St.; the Rialto, 14 W. Van Buren, is throwing a Pre-Halloween Party with a costume contest and a $100 first prize; "Come to me my Little Chicakadee!" a chicken buffet at L.A. Connection, 3700 N. Halsted; Normandy, 3400 N. Clark St., celebrates its 4th anniversary with Miss Chili Pepper; "Costumes on Review" a Jim Flint Extravaganza, is at the Park West, 322 W. Armitage; there's a Rally for Democratic Candidates at Annex 3, 3160 N. Clark St., sponsored by the Prairie State Democratic Club.

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IMAGE: Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Gay Chicago May 24, 2001

"Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," opens at the Theatre Building with a benefit for Chicago House. The twenty-five dollar ticket price includes a show, hors d'oeuvres and drinks at the cast party/cabaret following the show. Arlene Robertson shines as Ms. Lovett, the woman with the delicious priest pies.

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IMAGE: Fresh Fun Saturdays at Berlin – Nightspots March 5, 2003

Chicago Gay Men's Chorus benefit "Fantasia Masquerade Ball" is at St. Sebastian's Church. Lori Noelle and a bevy of DJs help to keep the girls moving in their beaded gowns, and with a $500 first prize for the best costume.

1999



In Sukie de la Croix's column "Chicago Whispers" in Outlines, Lynzi Kay remembers the murder of Chicago drag queen Wanda Lust (Steve Jones):

"We were in a theater in Kansas City. She was doing DJ sound for the Club Baths in the city. Chuck Renslow was originally one of the owners in the Club Baths, then he had a big blow out with the other ones, so he went on his own and opened up Man's Country.

"Frank Hill was a bartender at the Gold Coast, and anyway, I went to Kansas City in April '72 and Frank Hill shows up in June and I said, 'What are you doing in town?' And he said, 'I'm opening up a bathhouse.' The Kansas City queens were so far behind, they could never catch up. The idea of a bathhouse was that you went into a bathhouse and there were models and escorts, like there was dick waiting for them. Like you went and chose. I had to explain on stage, I said, 'No honey, you trick with one another. People say to me, "Why don't you have a lover?' and I say, 'I can go to the Baths and screw everyone else's, what the hell! So anyway, Chuck Renslow opened up the Club Bath chain, and one opened up in Kansas City.

"So when Wanda left Man's Country, she had a blow out with Renslow and came down to Kansas City and worked for Frank at the Club Baths. She picked up a gig at a big Discotheque in Houston and was going to be leaving town in a week, and the night she got murdered, she called me and said, 'Would you like to go to a movie?'

" The movie was 'The Fog.' We went to the theater, and there was a Black guy with two Black women in front of us, and they were very, very loud, screaming and talking, and this and that, and Wanda ...Steve had this very deep voice–and he just leaned forward and said, "Would you please shut the fuck up and watch the movie.' They turned around and gave us all an ugly look. Then as we were leaving the theater, there was a side exit going out, and the guy turned around and said, 'Motherfucker' and stabbed him right in the gut, and killed him instantly. He went right down. Then me and Wanda's lover gave a description of the guy. They finally did pick him up, he was in Texas, but I think all he got was 10 years for that. It was a shame, because Wanda had so much going for him. It was quite a shock in Chicago when he was killed, because he had been around Chicago so long." ­

Homework

Who remembers the Butterfly?

Whatever happened to Lori Noelle?

Who remembers Take One?

Gay Chicago Photo Rewind

Sherman Heinrich photographs the Mr. Dandy's contest for Gay chicago June 13, 1985. Contestants include Ken Eckstrom, Richard Zarnicki, Rudy Cistaro, and Craig Clauston.

The Bistro's 6th anniversary in Gay Chicago July 5, 1979 .

Malcolm Mackay is a bartender at Broadway Limited.

Eileen LaPierre photographs a lesbian Butch/Femme contest at Berlin for Nightlines June 5, 1996

Thanks go to publishers Michael Bergeron for Chicago Gay Crusader, Ralph and Craig Gernhardt for Gay Chicago, Grant Ford and Chuck Renslow forGay Life, Malone Sizelove for Babble/Gab, David Costanza and others for Chicago Free Press, Jeff McCourt for Windy City Times, Stacy Bridges and Mark Nagel for GRAB, and Tracy Baim for all the publications at the Windy City Media Group, which aided the above research. St. Sukie de la Croix is an internationally published reporter, playwright, photographer and historian. He is also the author of Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall published by the University of Wisconsin Press.