There are some great songs and performers here–click on the “click to listen” tabs at the upper right. My faves are Jean Malin’s “I’d Rather Be Spanish Than Mannish,” Douglas Byng’s “Cabaret Boys,” and Rae Bourbon’s “Take a Lei.”
So many tragic stories here, too–I would love to do books on Bert Savoy (struck by lightening!), Jean Malin (drove his car off a dock!), Rae Bourbon (died in jail!), but their lives are all so poorly documented.
This is great and really fascinating. Unfortunately I don’t have time to listen to all of it, and it’s too bad you can’t skip around. I do have a couple of these; I know “There Are Fairies At The Bottom Of My Garden,” and “Let’s All Be Fairies” from Listen to the Banned: 20 Risque Songs From The 20s & 30s.
WRT the clubs, you may be interested in this book: Out and About with Winsor French, about the gay Cleveland society columnist who co-founded Parade magazine and was friends with Cole and Linda Porter, among others. He reported on black and gay clubs in Cleveland when they were really flourishing, using code words to let his readers know what he would never have been able to write directly.