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mattachine ́salutes

The female star who isn't in NEW FACES OF 1956....

To the admitted amazement of some old-line critics, there is a new rage on Broadway today--Female Impersonator T. star of Leonard Faces of 1956. "

C. Jones, Sillman's "New

All New York newspapers and several magazines have unanimously acclaimed the married Navy veteran from Scranton, Pa., who brings polished, impressions of Davis Tallulah Bankhead, Bette and Katherine Hepburn to his audiences with deadly accuracy.

Jones' performances are not to be construed with the many "drag queen" acts so often seen, but so seldon characterized by talent. Last fall (See Mattachine Review, Christmas 1,955 issue) T. C. told about his selection for the part, rehearsals began in February, after his long and successful engagement at Ann's 440 Club, San Francisco.

For any male playing

a woman's role to get his name in marquee lights in a top-flight New York musical IS significant, indeed, and proof that the American public is changing its attitude toward old sex taboos.

T. C. JONES

T. C. Jones

He plays Tallulah.

John McClain in the New York

Some may argue that the 'S RO' Journal-American: signs hanging out at the box office of the Ethel Barrymore Theater currently are the result of the curious seeking to mock the We star of the shows disagree, because if that were true, hardboiled critics would have crossed Jones out of the roll call long before the New York opening.

The following excerpts from • New York reviews indicate the regard in which T.C. Jones is held, and indicate that the show is a must, from Peter Larkin's splendid sets through the final hit act.

And the bright, breezy, emphatically commanding company that inhabits so much casual splendor has a perfect right to be confident. They're authentic professionals, every last one of them. I never really expected to be regaled by a firstrate female impersonator again in many time, but a fellow named T. C. Jones has caught

In his roster of fresh talent he has a real giant in the form of a character called T. C. Jones, & female impersonator. This Navy veteran and father opens the show with a shattering impression of Tallulah Bankhead and continues to score heavily at intervals, closing the proceedings with a marvelous take-off of a nontalented glamor girl in a night club act.

the precise mesh of Tallulah Bankhead's teeth, tongue and collapsible cheeks, and the results are spectacularly funny. Mr. Jones' way with a wig and an oversize cape is no mere stunt, by the way: he has a precise sense of caricature and

genuine inventiveness beneath the borrowed mascara. --Walter F. Kerr, New York Herald Tribune

mattachine REVIEW

LICENSE UNLIMITED (Continued from page 2)

No sizeable community in the U. S. has been without such law enforcement crackdowns in recent times. And no state legislatures have been without strong voices calling for laws that are even more severe than the savage statutes now on the books.

ji

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Typical of what can happen in a city because of outrages.

that the homosexual often brings upon himself is the following report from New York City. Taken from the New York Times of June 17, 1956, it clearly states the attitude of the police department there, an attitude which must have community sup port and sanction in order to be carried out.

CITY POLICE STEP UP MASS ARREST DRIVÉ

The police continued yesterday their week-end mass arrests of suspected hoodlums and homosexuals found late at night in public parks and at busy corners, such as Times Square.

The drive began last weekend, when 387 "undesirable" persons were arrested in this city from midnight Thursday until midnight Sunday. It was continued on a smaller scale through the week and was stepped up over this week-end. The police said the campaign would go on all summer.

George E. Rundquist, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, protested yesterday that in last week-end's

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"dragnet" some respectable persons had been caught while in' nocently crossing a park after midnight. A city or dinance prohibits use of parks from midnight until a half hour before dawn as a safety measure.

P

"The police are expected to exercise discretion," Mr. Rundquist said. "It should not be too difficult to determine whether a person in a park after curfew is using it, for a thoroughfare. Cases have come to our attention in which men were held in jail overnight for cutting through small parks after midnight to get to subways."

A police official said policemen had already been instructed not to enforce the letter of the law against respectablecitizens!

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 1956.

Final comment here must not be considered either an endorsement or criticism of the action reported above. Responsible people, much closer to the situation and with knowledge of the But. facts are taking the action they believe is warranted. the point is, whenever individuals (and we know that only a few among the multitude are guilty) behave improperly in the public view, authorities are going to respond with matching action which results in discomfort, suspicion and rejection for all. Need we state that many innocent persons suffer in such crackdowns?

-D. Stewart Lucas, President, Mattachine Society, Inc. 43