8

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

April 23, 2004

eveningsou

!

How you're cookin' with blues!

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-The Cleveland Play House is taking a journey back in time with the biographical play Cookin' at the Cookery.

In 1911, a sweet young girl, about 14 years old, started singing at Dago Frank's, a crimeinfested club in a dangerous, mob-controlled city.

The girl, Alberta Hunter, went on to become a true queen of the blues, writing and

recording songs later re-done by the likes of Bessie Smith, whose own career overshadowed Hunter's. She also had the distinction of becoming the first African American performer with an all-white backing band.

She quit music in 1956 and became a nurse, turning her back on the entertainment industry for over 20 years, until she staged a successful comeback at the age of 82 in 1977. She kept recording until her death seven years later.

Of course, perhaps the most stunning part of her success was the fact that it came despite her lesbianism at a time when gay men and lesbians were almost universally vilified.

There were others, of course. Gladys Bentley and Ethel Waters were both lesbians, and the bisexuality of other blues singers down through Janis Joplin is legendary.

Hunter, however, the most

was

Copkin' Cookery

Ulterio a times of Alberta Muntos

famous, and one of the earliest.

She married briefly to defuse rumors about her sexual orientation. Claiming that she couldn't have sex in the house her mother was living in, the marriage was not consummated, and her new husband left her quickly, within weeks.

After that, she began a relationship with the niece of entertainer Bert Williams, Lottie Taylor. During that time, Hunter's accompanist on the piano was Tony Jackson, an openly gay African American man.

Cookin' at the Cookery's title refers to Hunter's return to the microphone at the New York club, the Cookery. The play does not provide a heterosexualized version of Hunter's life, referring directly to her relationships with women, as well as the fact that the Hunter women in general did not have much use for men. (Her father left shortly after her birth, never to be seen by the family again, and Hunter's mother never remarried.)

Cookin' at the Cookery stars Gail Nelson as Alberta Hunter and Carla Woods as the narrator. The show will run from April 27 to May 30. For information on performance times and ticket prices, call the box office at 216-795-7000 ext, 4, or log onto www.clevelandplayhouse.com.

Alberta Hunter

Dykes Towatch Out For by Alison Bechdel

SNUG AS A BUG

a cautionary parable.

for do-it-yourselfers

4/21

D'YOU SMELL THAT? I THINK THE CARPET'S MILDEWED.

SOMETHING'S DEFINITELY FUNKY. BUT IT SEEMS TO BE COMING MORE FROM BEHIND THE WALL.

IRAQ

SOME NEW CARPET WOULD MAKE THE PLACE REALLY SNUG. PLUS IVE ALWAYS HATED THIS COLOR.

I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE SOMEONE LOOK AT THE WALL FIRST.

COMMON SENSE

YEAH. WE SHOULD LIKE, CALL THREE CONTRACTORS AND COMPARE BIDS.

U.N.

MY DAD CARPETED OUR WHOLE HOUSE BY HIMSELF. I CAN DO THIS!

STUART? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

OKAY, OKAY. I VOTE FOR NEW CARPET.

CONGRESS

Mark MOLD .COM

@2004 BY ALISON BECHPEL

438

NEOCON-

SERVATIVE

AGENDA

GOD, THE FUMES

CHAOS

SWEETIE, STAY AWAY FROM THE...

...SHARP

TACKS.

NICE JOB.

ARE MAKING ME

WOOZY.

CASUALTIES

GAH.

DEPLETED

URANIUM

IT JUST HAS TO OFFGAS FOR A FEW DAYS. WE'LL LEAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN.

www.DykesToWatchOutFor.com

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U KNOW

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DON'T COME CRYING

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TO ME WHEN THE ROOF CAVES IN.

SURE, GET ANOTHER QUOTE. BUT DON'T WASTE ANY TIME. THE WORSE THE LEAK GETS, THE MORE TOXIC MOLD YOU'RE GONNA HAVE BEHIND THIS WALL, AND WHO KNOWS WHEN THE ROOF MIGHT CAVE IN.

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YOU GUYS? I THINK THE NEW CARPET'S MILDEWED FROM THE RAIN COMING IN.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES