RANSVESTIA

have a couple pre-show "belts" to build up their courage. The women in the dressing room area, meanwhile, will be all smiles, kidding the men, "don't you look pretty," etc. There is an overall feminine "buzz" as they apply the men's make-up, fluff up their skirts, etc. For the gals, it is something different and exciting — a novelty.

Being asked to be in such a dance line may be a "dream" for a TV, especially if it is his first skit "experience." I imagine many TV;s, when viewing such a production as an outsider, feel frustrated that they were not asked to participate by the women organizers.

I feel women fall into several groups as regarding their feelings toward cross-dressing by men in such skits. Some are "revolted" (as they might put it) by the sight of any man in a dress, no matter what the "humorous" circumstances. Others may enjoy seeing other men dress- ed, but not their husbands. Still others may take special pleasure (sex- ual or otherwise) from dressing "their men" or others as women, mak- ing them up, etc. Yet it is both interesting and sad to compare man- dressed-as-woman in a skit or dance line, as opposed to voluntarily walking down the street in a dress. The former is "legitimate" in the public's eye, the latter is not. Probably, the timing of dressing is a factor for most women. A man (perhaps her husband) on stage dressed in a ballet tutu and wig is very funny - a novelty that later, however, wears off if done "too long." In other words, she intrigued by her husband in such a get-up on stage. If he wears it at home it becomes "old" and perhaps alarming to her. The "innocence" has worn off.

Overall then (outside of those women sympathetic with TV), men "forced" into a woman's role in a skit or whatever are perhaps regard- ed as interesting and almost always "safe" in women's eyes. On the other hand, a man in a dress walking down the street is perhaps something to be feared. This is truly sad because it indicates the uphill battle for TV's in educating the public. Almost everyone in this world has a "skeleton in his closet." TV's as a whole have not completely thrown the light of day on their closets. I hope that someday transvestism may become as accepted a part of society as it is in the school dance line.

The medium of television provides many examples of cross- dressing. Some years ago, I've Got a Secret featured the performance of a "ballerina" dance troupe - a men's group that performed at charity fund-raising events, etc. The choreography, costuming, and such was done by the men's wives. Milton Berle in the early days of television would sometimes don a dress to participate in some skit. Jim

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