An occasional blog of our activities for the LGBT History Project with the odd post on subjects connected to LGBT History generally. Contact us at lgbthistoryproject@hotmail.co.uk.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
The Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech
Paul and I recently spent a weekend in Marrakech to celebrate our 27th anniversary. We were well looked after by Tania and Zakaria, the owners of the Riad Libitibito (http://www.riad-libitibito.com/ - they deserve a plug for being so helpful and welcoming).
I hadn't realised that there was a connection in Marrakech to another, far more prominent gay couple. In 1980, Yves St Laurent and his former life (and long time business) partner, Pierre Bergé, bought the Jardin Majorelle and restored it. Their home in Marrakech, Oasis Villa, was nearby.
The gardens were originally designed by Jacques Majorelle, a expatriate French artist, in the 1920s and 1930s. They have been open to the public since 1947. The vivid blue used throughout the 12 acre site is referred to a bleu Majorelle, after the artist.
A few days before St Laurent died in 2008, he and Bergé were joined in a same-sex civil union known as a Pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) in France. St Laurent spent a great deal of time at the garden duing life and his ashes were scattered there after his death. There is also a memorial to him in a quiet corner of the garden.
The garden also houses the Musée Berbère, whose collection includes North African textiles from St Laurent's personal collection, as well as ceramics, jewelry, and paintings by Majorelle.
My photos of the Jardin Majorelle are online at:
More information:
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Langston Hughes
Writer & poet - 1902-1967
Born James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, he was a gay poet, writer and editor. Together with Countee Cullen, he was an important figure in the Harlem literary Renaissance of the 1920s.
Born James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, he was a gay poet, writer and editor. Together with Countee Cullen, he was an important figure in the Harlem literary Renaissance of the 1920s.
A prolific writer, he used almost every conceivable form to arrange his thoughts on paper: poems, songs, novels, plays, biographies, histories and essays. Hughes wrote in many genres, but he is best known for his poetry, in which he used musical rhythms and the oral and improvisatory traditions of black culture.
In 1925, while working as a busboy in Washington DC, he left three of his poems by the plate of American poet Vachel Lindsay, who recognised Hughes's abilities and subsequently helped to publicise his work.
Beginning in the 1930s, Hughes was active in social and political causes and used much of his poetry as a vehicle for social protest. He wrote more than 50 books.
Hughes appears never to have had a significant lover-relationship, though his poem "F.S." (1921) suggests otherwise, and his autobiographical writings briefly mention sex with men. He wrote and published in all genres until his death but he never addressed homosexuality openly. His poems invite gay readings but his biographers disagree about his sexuality. He often said of his life, "There are some things I don't tell nobody, not even God. He might know about them, but it certainly ain't because I told him.”
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Olympic heroes?
An interesting article from GayStarNews on equality and diversity - and in particular, LGBT equality and diversity - in the Olympics.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
The Fastest Woman on Water
Marion Barbara Carstairs, known as Betty or Joe, (1900–1993) was a wealthy British power boat racer famous for her speed and her eccentric lifestyle.
Her parents were a troubled couple who separated soon after her birth. Her mother, an alcoholic American heiress, married three more times.
During World War I, Carstairs served in France with the Red Cross, driving ambulances, before going to Dublin with the Women's Legion Mechanical Transport Section. After the war, she served with the Royal Army Service Corps in France, re-burying the war-dead. Later, in 1920, she and a group of friends started the 'X Garage', a chauffeuring service that featured a women-only staff of drivers.
Carstairs lived a colourful life. She usually dressed as a man, had tattooed arms and loved machines, adventure and speed. Openly lesbian, she had numerous affairs with women, including Dolly Wilde (Oscar Wilde's niece and a fellow ambulance driver from Dublin with whom she had lived in Paris) and a string of actresses, most notably Tallulah Bankhead. Carstairs married once, to a French Count in 1918 so as to gain access to her trust fund, independent of her mother. After her mother's death the marriage was immediately annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.
In 1925, she purchased a motorboat after inheriting a fortune through her mother and grandmother from Standard Oil. She was also given a Steiff doll by a girlfriend, Ruth Baldwin, and christened him Lord Tod Wadley. She was extremely attached to this, keeping it with her until her death although, unlike Campbell's mascot 'Mr Whoppit', she didn't take it into her speedboats for fear of losing it. Between 1925 and 1930, Carstairs spent considerable time in powerboats, becoming a very successful racer, although the Harmsworth Trophy she longed for always eluded her. She did take the Duke of York's trophy and established herself as the 'fastest woman on water'.
Carstairs was known for her generosity to her friends. She was close to several male racing drivers and land speed record competitors, using her considerable wealth to assist them. She paid $10,000 of her money to fund the building of a Bluebird for Sir Malcolm Campbell, who once described her as "the greatest sportsman I know". She was equally generous to John Cobb, whose Railton Special was powered by the pair of engines from her powerboat Estelle V. And after she invested $40,000 purchasing the island of Whale Cay in the Bahamas, she lavishly hosted such guests as Marlene Dietrich and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. She not only constructed a Great House for herself and her guests, but also a lighthouse, school, church, and cannery. She later expanded these properties by also buying the additional islands of Bird Cay, Cat Cay, Devil's Cay, half of Hoffman's Cay, and a tract of land on Andros.
After selling the island in 1975, Carstairs relocated to Miami, Florida where she lived until her death in 1993.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)