History has once again shown that queer voices have always existed in entertainment and mainstream media, despite claims that such visibility is a recent occurrence. Looking back to the 1920s, we can see how queer artists were loud and proud, with one of the most well-known trends of the time being the ‘Pansy Craze’.

The Pansy Craze typically consisted of nightclub acts in which a gay man would perform with an overtly exaggerated effeminate persona, a concept considered taboo at the time. Many of the entertainers were also drag queens, but as a ‘pansy performer’ they appeared out of drag, usually wearing a suit or tuxedo, amusing audiences at cabarets and speakeasies that largely catered to straight patrons. The term ‘Pansy Craze’ was later popularised by professor of history George Chauncey in his book Gay New York.

Emerging alongside American Prohibition, these shows flourished within the underground nightlife scene. Speakeasies already provided illegal spaces where patrons could buy and consume alcohol, so the introduction of the ‘taboo’ acts seemed at home amongst the decadence and perhaps hedonism people sought at the time. The pansy acts became the main draw to many of the nightclubs.

The performers were largely accepted by the predominantly straight crowds, often responding to hecklers with quick, razor-sharp wit, much to the amusement of the patrons. But there was one particular artist who helped propel the craze to its most successful heights, drag performer Jean Malin.

 

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Malin had already established himself within the drag world, winning prizes for costumes at drag balls, but his career truly took off during the Pansy Craze. Working at the Rubaiyat nightclub, Malin was no longer dressed in drag as he was often known to do at other venues such as Club Abbey. Instead, he was performing as an openly gay man, a ‘pansy’. 

Dressed in a tuxedo, Malin would act as the witty and flamboyant emcee of the evening, doing musical numbers and interacting with the crowd, something which would later become a drag show staple. Many other drag artists followed the trend, staging their own pansy acts, including names such as Ray Bourbon and Karyl Norman.

After authorities cracked down on the speakeasies and the clubs in which Malin usually worked, and following his success on Broadway, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a film career. The move proved successful as Malin starred in films Dancing Lady, Arizona to Broadway and Double Harness.

Brief appearances by pansy characters also began to make their way onto cinema screens before stricter censorship took hold. One particularly famous example appears in Call Her Savage, later famously featured in the documentary The Celluloid Closet, in which two pansy performers mince about a nightclub while singing in French chambermaid attire.

 

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Following the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the onset of the Great Depression, American attitudes became increasingly conservative. The stricter enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Hays Code, from 1934 further pushed the Pansy Craze from mainstream entertainment.

Of course, Malin was no exception to these shifting times, having his scenes removed from Double Harness and reshot with a different actor. RKO Pictures president B. B. Kahane remarked after viewing Malin’s footage, “I do not think that we ought to have this man on the lot in any picture, shorts or feature”.

Although his time in Hollywood was up, Malin continued to have a successful run in the nightclub circuit, entertaining at the Ship Cafe in LA. Tragically, on August 10, 1933 at just the age of 25, Malin died in an automobile accident, driving his car off the Venice pier and sinking into the ocean where he drowned. “Auto plunge kills actor!” was the headline published by The New York Times when reporting his death. 

Due to the end of Prohibition, combined with growing conservatism during the Depression, increased police scrutiny and the enforcement of the Hays Code, the Pansy Craze was in rapid decline. The underground spaces that speakeasies had provided disappeared, removing venues for artists to perform in, while censorship and law enforcement pushback continued to increase. In the middle of performing ‘Boys Will Be Girls’ at an underground show in San Francisco, Ray Bourbon was arrested. The pansies were no longer welcome. 

Gone but perhaps not so forgotten, the Pansy Craze influence can still be seen today. The Emcee character from Cabaret, which could be seen as inspired by Malin’s tuxedo-clad pansy performances, is one such example.

Even what drag culture has grown into, with its strong sense of audience interaction and crowd work, has its roots in the pansy acts. Times may change, but queer culture has continually endured, honouring the legacies of those who came before while creating spaces for new generations to thrive.