Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami Before 1940

400 Pages·2017·12.7 MB·English

by  Julio Capó Jr.

W E L C O M E T O
Fairyland
W E L C O M E T O
Fairy
land
Queer Miami before 1940
JULIO CAPÓ JR.
The UniversiTy of norTh Carolina Press ChaPel hill
© 2017 Julio Capó Jr.
All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Set in Miller by
Tseng Information Systems, Inc. The University of North Carolina Press has been a
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration: John Singer Sargent, The Bathers. Courtesy Worcester Art
Museum (MA), Sustaining Membership Fund, 1917.91.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Capó, Julio, Jr., author.
Title: Welcome to fairyland : queer Miami before 1940 / Julio Capó Jr.
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2017020580 | isBn 9781469635194 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isBn 9781469635200 (pbk : alk. paper) | isBn 9781469635217 (ebook)
Subjects: lCsh: Sexual minorities—Florida—Miami—History—19th century. | Sexual
minorities—Florida—Miami—History—20th century. | Miami (Fla.)—History—19th
century. | Miami (Fla.)—History—20th century. | Miami (Fla.)—Race relations. |
Caribbean Area—Emigration and immigration.
Classification: lCC hQ76.3.U62 M5315 2017 | DDC 305.8009759/381—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020580
To anneTTe,
whose exaMPle i always seek To follow.
i will always DanCe
PiMPinela’s “herManos” wiTh yoU.
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Contents
Acknowledgments, xi
Introduction, 1
1 Queer Frontier, 24
2 Bahamians and Miami’s Queer Erotic, 60
3 Making Fairyland Real, 96
4 Miami as Stage, 125
5 Passing through Miami’s Queer World, 159
6 Women and the Making of Miami’s Heterosexual Culture, 197
7 Queers during and after Prohibition, 232
Epilogue, 277
Notes, 291
Bibliography, 335
Index, 373
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Figures, Maps, and Table
figUres
i.1. Wealthy travelers waiting to enter Fairy- Land in Miami Beach,
c. 1909, 11
1.1. Early 1900s photograph of Miami’s Avenue D, 51
1.2. Miami Metropolis cartoon on law enforcement’s role in
boosterism, 1908, 56
2.1. John Singer Sargent, The Bathers, 1917, 75
2.2. John Singer Sargent, Man and Trees, Florida, 1917, 76
2.3. John Singer Sargent, Bather, Florida, 1917, 77
3.1. Paul Chalfin in Miami in the early 1910s, 103
3.2. Portrait of a young Alden Freeman, 107
3.3. Henry Salem Hubbell, Building of the House, 1930, 111
3.4. Dewing Woodward, c. 1925, 115
4.1. Sign in Miami advertising Miami Beach as “America’s Winter
Playground,” 1921, 131
4.2. Man posing at a tourist photo booth of a drink stand in Miami
Beach during Prohibition, 1925, 138
4.3. Tourists posing in front of a Miami Beach photo booth set in
Havana during Prohibition, 1925, 139
4.4. Man in blackface serves as a prop in Miami’s staged fairyland,
1934, 143
4.5. Karl Denton as “prima donna” female impersonator with suitor,
c. 1920s, 146
5.1. John Singer Sargent, Basin with Sailor, Villa Vizcaya, Miami,
Florida, 1917, 164
6.1. El Paso Herald cartoon featuring women in Miami Beach wearing
revealing bathing suits, 1923, 214