Revisiting a Midcentury Haven for Cross-Dressing Men

Sébastien Lifshitz’s documentary “Casa Susanna” remembers a group of cross-dressing males and transgender ladies who discovered refuge within the Catskills within the Fifties and ’60s. Their gathering place, a Victorian boardinghouse, was christened Casa Susanna after one in every of its founders, Susanna Valenti, a translator and broadcaster, who was married to Marie Tonell, a New York wig maker. The couple ran Casa Susanna till the late Nineteen Sixties, however its existence got here to broader consciousness with the 2005 publication of a e-book amassing Casa Susanna snapshots that had been present in a New York flea market.

Lifshitz, who’s French, has been making films about gender and identification for the reason that early 2000s. “The story of Casa Susanna wasn’t supposed to be visible, or ‘out,’ so it is still a miracle that we are able to know the whole story today,” he mentioned. He interviewed two alumnae, Katherine Cummings and Diana Merry-Shapiro, who shared their journeys and struggles, and revisited their stomping grounds within the Catskills. (A model of the home’s story was portrayed in “Casa Valentina,” a 2014 play by Harvey Fierstein.)

I spoke with Lifshitz about making this documentary, which airs on PBS on Tuesday as a part of “American Experience.” at a second of elevated visibility and turmoil round problems with identification. Here are edited excerpts from our dialog.

How did you first encounter Casa Susanna?

The first time I heard of it was the publication of the e-book in 2005. I purchased it then as a result of I’m additionally a photograph collector. For a few years I’ve purchased snapshots at flea markets and storage gross sales in France. I’ve been into queer footage and all these invisible individuals since I used to be a child. In 2015, I did an enormous exhibition with the images I used to be amassing on cross-dressing, and I talked with a photographer, Isabelle Bonnet, who had made a memoir about Casa Susanna. I mentioned we must always do a movie about it [the documentary credits her as a collaborator], as a result of it’s a essential story about pre-queer tradition, this underground community of cross-dressing.

What struck you as particular about Casa Susanna?

The creation of this refuge was one thing extraordinary. If you had the need to cross-dress, nothing round you possibly can provide help to to know it on the time. These very intimate questions had been inconceivable to speak about with anyone else. Most of the boys within the Casa Susanna group had been white individuals from the center class that had good jobs and a bit of cash, and had been married, some with youngsters. What can be fascinating is that this group was created with sure guidelines. For instance, homosexuals or transsexuals had been forbidden. They solely accepted individuals who introduced themselves as males who cross-dress. So it’s bizarre to assume that, in a means, that they had re-created conservative guidelines inside this setup, most likely as a result of they had been afraid.

What was it like for Katherine and Diana to speak about their recollections?

It was essential to them as a result of, as they are saying, it’s part of who they had been. For Diana, it was the primary time that she was outing herself. She’s 82, however that is the primary time that she may say to everybody, “This is my life. This is who I am.” Probably as a result of she is that this very mature age, she felt the have to be true with herself and all of the individuals which might be nonetheless round her. She additionally needed to pay tribute to all of the pioneers she met. And she must be proud, as a result of she was very courageous. What can be fascinating about Diana is that she had [gender confirmation surgery] when she was younger, and from that second, she grew to become an invisible girl in American society. We had been so fortunate to search out her and Kate. Kate died just some months after the filming. That’s why all these invisible tales are so treasured.

For Betsy [Wollheim], it was the primary time that she may inform the story of her father, Donald Wollheim. He was a science-fiction author and writer, however individuals didn’t know his secret story. I believed it was fascinating to know by way of Betsy what it was for a conventional American household to have a father as a cross-dresser and doubtless a transgender particular person. And by way of Gregory [Bagarozy], we see how he understood his grandma, Marie, and Susanna.

Where did you get the colourful Kodachrome pictures within the movie?

I had the images from the e-book, in fact, which at the moment are within the Art Gallery of Ontario. But a second half comes from the gathering of Cindy Sherman. I knew that Cindy had footage of Casa Susanna as a result of she discovered an album in a flea market in New York. So I contacted her and he or she was actually into it and mentioned, in fact you should use them. Cindy’s work is about Americana and stereotypes of illustration in America, and he or she was fascinated by the way in which individuals are staging themselves within the footage, as a result of she phases herself. The means the boys at Casa Susanna used feminine illustration and revered a code when it comes to garments, they didn’t wish to appear to be a pinup or a Hollywood queen. Most of them most likely needed to appear to be their moms, sisters or wives. Like the lady subsequent door, in a bourgeois means.

A 3rd supply was the images that Betsy’s father had, as a result of he was fully obsessive about questions of identification. He had all of the documentation he may discover at the moment, and Betsy stored every thing from his archives.

How do you view this slice of American historical past in mild of latest anti-trans legal guidelines on this nation?

I’m shocked that at present you continue to can hear all these phrases towards the transgender group. These are attitudes and phrases from one other time, and I believed that it may by no means occur. We used to assume that the civil rights that had been received are for without end, however they aren’t. We have to be the guardians of those rights. Films, books, exhibitions and all these items are a option to educate and make individuals perceive that identification is numerous, and this range is so necessary. In French we are saying richesse. It’s a treasure it is advisable to defend. I like to see what makes you who you might be.