1950s gay singers

Musical uplift for anxious times. Visit the webpage of our season one episode featuring Edythe Eyde for background information, archival photos, and other resources. This time, recording from a closet instead of under a table surrounded by comforters.

She had a scare, but the illness that kept her at home for the past week turned out not to be Covid Her test came back negative. Sometimes I take myself back in time, to places where I found joy and inspiration. One of those places was the front porch of a modest bungalow in Burbank, California, for a very special concert from Edythe Eyde, for an audience of one—just me.

I interviewed Edythe in for the first edition of the Making Gay History book. What interested me about Edythe was the newsletter she published for lesbians on her office typewriter at a Hollywood movie studio in 1950s gay singers Edythe has picked up her well-worn guitar to share some joy and inspiration.

The other evening, just for fun, I tried her clothes on one by one. I looked so cute with slacks and shirts on. Gonna march right down and get myself a haircut. I had just moved down to Los Angeles in after I spent two and a half miserable years being a secretary in Palo Alto.

I moved down here. I knew no gay people in Palo Alto.

Revisiting the Archive — Edythe Eyde

And the way I did find out was I was sunning myself, uh, up on the top of the garage of the place where I had a room, and some other girls that lived in the building came up, too, and spread out their towels. I never have cared for… But I went along to be with the crowd, you 1950s gay singers, and then the next thing, the next week or so, they took me down to a gay bar.

I looked around me and tears came to my eyes, partly because of the cigarette smoke. And, uh, I thought, gee, how wonderful that all these girls can be together. So, uh, the girls could dance together there. So I started dancing with one or the other of them that would come over and ask me.

I never asked them. Uh, they asked me because I was obviously feminine. The only difference is I like girls. Yellow bird, up high in banana tree, Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me. Did your lady friend leave your nest again? That is very sad, make me feel so bad.

You can fly away, in the sky away, You more lucky than me. Well, then of course I got invitations out to here and there and I found out about a few more gay bars. There were two or three others in Los Angeles, and one of them was called The Flamingo, and they used to have Sunday afternoon dances there for just the gay kids.

Uh, Beverly Shaw, the well-known gay singer, used to sing there. And, uh, she was a very good singer. We all enjoyed her.