Gay celebrities

[123everton]

A local gay radio presenter said (a while ago) that a number of comedians in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s used to do whole routines (and songs) based on their homosexuality by the use of various slang phrases common amongst them. He would'nt elaborate further, so who were they? What jokes and songs was he referring to? I've developed a suspicion that Arthur Askey and his "Buzzy Bee" song is one.

[ricky1000]

i think he is referring to the use of polari, a gay language that was used during this time. Homosexuality was still illegal and carried a prison sentence, so this secret language was made up to allow gay men to communicate without people around them knowing what they were talking about. The most famous pair were Julian and Sandy and were on the radio show round the horne each week. The audiences would roar with laughter, although they didnt really know what the jokes were about. Very little polari has crossed into main use language..the 2 most well known are bevvy (as in beverage) and naff...it all died out when the law changed and for a while it was very frowned on to use polari as it echoed a much more different age

check out wikipedia for more...

[dundurn]

Arthur Askey was, as far as I know, extremely straight - his preferred mode of leaving the world was "to be shot in bed by a jealous husband". A lot of his act was pretty twee by today's standards but at 5' 2" or thereabouts he was never going to be an obvious choice as a leading man.

Julian and Sandy aka Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams were openly camp in Round the Horne but the fact that few of the listeners could ever be sure whether what they were hearing was "real" polari or one of Willliams' inventions was one of the main sources of its success. (See Mornington Crescent for a "modern" parallel.)

Cole Porter and Noel Coward, however, were more to the point. Songs like "Mad About the Boy" and "Matelot", "You'd be so nice to come home to" and "Easy to Love" were all written for other men, no matter who sang them to who on stage.

[Peter Pedant]

Yes it was Polari

Yes Sandy and whoosit in Round the Horne were the famous ones.

Being Camp was not necessarily 'gay'. Kenneth Williams, Frankie How-weird, oo-you-are-awful....all had their camp sides

And yes I wondered if Bizzy Bee was gay
especially the final line which was something like,

'and we all take it home to the gay old Queen.'

[123everton]

That's exactly what set me thinking! Poor old Arthur Askey (God rest his soul, scouser too!) being outed for no good reason. Just as well Peter Tatchell was'nt about in those days;-)