RANSVESTIA

From the surrounding text, I gather that Tyler is aware that we possess a COMBINATION of male and female that has the potential to become an entity until itself not a "Third Sex" but a new form that contains parts of both.

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Back to the movies.

The classic presentation of transvestism for fun is still BILLY WILD- ER's 1959 production of "SOME LIKE IT HOT." With beautiful MARILYN MONROE as their innocent foil, JACK LEMMON and TONY CURTIS pull off the switch in such an innocent fashion and with such strong plot motivation as to remove any onus from the sight of men in skirts.

Again, Mr. Tyler sees value beyond the complex and often hilarious plot. He feels that the dress and make-up are so well done that they do not call attention to themselves for themselves. Poorly done, these ele- ments could have caused uneasiness in the viewer.

We were free to abandon ourselves in the adventures of the princi- pals, trusting that we would not be embarrassed later.

Is there a lesson here for TV's in general?

Obviously, "SOME LIKE IT HOT” had a profound effect on Parker Tyler's thinking on transvestism. This one film moved him to comment "I think the United States may be the only place where such a fun game survives in such a pure and primitive state. It's just possible that we of the U.S. harbor the headquarters of the heterosexual female imperson- ator."

We are told that women disguised as men in films are rarer. But there have been some notable examples.

In "SYLVIA SCARLET," KATHERINE HEPBURN impersonated a young man. So did GRETA GARBO in “QUEEN CHRISTIANA” and MARLENE DIETRICH in “MOROCCO.” And, there were others.

But, perhaps because this activity is less extraordinary in real life, it is less interesting as a fictional device.

This is not to say that films have not presented masculine women in their long history.

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