Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Blog

 Guest post by Megan Barborak, Project Archivist Assistant, San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection at The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

“‘Krazy Kat’ Artists Have Quaint Tea Room” article from The Washington Times, July 18, 1921. From the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

In the second floor of a stable in America’s capitol, not far from Woodrow Wilson’s oval office, artist and set designer Cleon Throckmorton founded the Krazy Kat Klub. The establishment, founded in 1919,  acted as a cafe, nightclub, speakeasy, and gallery. Patrons included playwrights, artists, actors, and elites of all kinds who “worked for the government by day and masqueraded as Bohemians by night” (Washington Post, 1919). Washington Times columnist Victor Flambeau describes the establishment in a 1922 article:

“[Throckmorton] developed it himself, from some old loft there which he rented, a most spooky sort of place, weird and crazy as its name. Good friends, a blazing open fire, some primitive furniture–“hand-made” no doubt–candles, drinks, “eats,” a floor to dance upon, a garden annex in summertime, a spreading tree with airy rookeries built in its branches, the ‘Amfalula Tree’ of Eugene Field.” (Washington Times, 1922)

Cleon Throckmorton, Kathryn Mullin, Inez Hogan, and others arrive at The Kat’s backalley entrance. National Photo Company Collection. Attributed to The Washington Times, July 31, 1921.

Named after George Herriman’s comic strip Krazy Kat, the club painted the titular character on the waiters’ uniforms and onto the entrance of the establishment, next to the words “Syne of ye Krazy Kat”. Above the door, another sign cautioned those entering: “All soap abandon ye who enter here!” The character of Krazy seemed to be a ‘green light’ for the local queer communities to safely congregate, and was mentioned numerous times in the published diary of a gay man living in D.C. at the time, Jeb Alexander. (Alexander, 1993). Like many speakeasies during prohibition, the Krazy Kat was subjected to numerous raids, with local authorities repeatedly declaring it a “disorderly house”. One raid in 1919 ended with 14 patrons in jail, after a policeman “under orders to watch the rendezvous of the bohemians” (Washington Post, 1919) reportedly heard a gunshot from within the club. Of the 14 arrested, 7 were charged with “disorderly conduct.” By 1925, the Krazy Kat Klub had closed down and the building was destroyed.

The club’s backyard treehouse. National Photo Company Collection. July 15, 1921.

The club’s backyard treehouse. National Photo Company Collection. July 15, 1921.

Decades before Bugs Bunny first donned drag, George Herriman’s Krazy Kat dared to cross the boundaries of gender within popular culture. Herriman reflected the titular character’s ambiguous gender by frequently switching the pronouns used to refer to her by both other characters and Krazy, herself. When questioned, Herriman described Krazy as “a spirit–a pixie–free to butt into anything”, and that declaring a gender would result in “too much concern with her own problems–like a soap opera” (Bellot, 2017). Needless to say, audiences were quick to pick up on the ambiguity, and Krazy infiltrated the American imagination as a symbol of fluidity.

Detail. National Photo Company Collection. Attributed to The Washington Times, July 31, 1921.

References

Alderman, Tim (May 2, 2020). “Gay History: A Gay Old Kat”. https://timalderman.com/2020/05/02/gay-history-a-gay-old-kat/

Alexander, Jeb (1993). Russell, Ina (ed.). Jeb and Dash: A Diary of Gay Life 1918-1945. Faber & Faber.

Baek, Raphaella (January 24, 2014). “Did Washington’s gay bars open as gay bars?”. Washington City Paper. Washington, D.C. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/205756/did-washingtons-gay-bars-open-as-gay-bars/.

Bellot, Gabrielle (January 19, 2017). “The Gender Fluidity of Krazy Kat”. The New Yorker. New York City. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-gender-fluidity-of-krazy-kat.

Flambeau, Victor (February 5, 1922). “Flambeau Finds Washington’s Bohemia In Hidden Haunt Where Cleon Throckmorton Stages His First Exhibition” (PDF). The Washington Times (Sunday ed.). p. 7. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/dlc_yorkie_ver01/data/sn84026749/00280764838/1922020501/0093.pdf

“Row In Krazy Kat Lands 14 In Jail: Carefree Bohemians Start Rough-House and Cop Raids Rendezvous”. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. February 22, 1919. p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/28938869/.

“Scenes from the Past… Fun During Prohibition at Thomas Circle’s Krazy Kat Club & Speakeasy”. The InTowner. June 14, 2009. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200815021643/https://www.intowner.com/2009/06/14/fun-during-prohibition-at-thomas-circles-krazy-kat-club-speakeasy/.

“The 1920s Speakeasy Club with a Treehouse in the Backyard”. MessyNessy. July 4, 2012. http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/07/04/the-krazy-kat-speakeasy-club-and-the-treehouse/.

Williams, P. (2012). Krazy Kat Klub. In Lost Washington, D.C. (pp. 52-53). Pavilion Books. Retrieved from Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/lostwashingtondc0000will/page/52/mode/2up?q=krazy+kat.