The Broadway Melody (1929)

THE BROADWAY MELODY of 1929 features a gay costume designer named Turpe (Drew Demorest).

THE BROADWAY MELODY

1929. USA.

 Director: Harry Beaumont

Screenplay: Sarah Y. Mason, Norman Houston & James Gleason

 Starring: Anita Page, Bessie Love, Charles King, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson, Edward Dillon, Mary Doran, Eddie Kane, J. Emmett Beck, Marshall Ruth and Drew Demorest

THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929) was MGM’s first all-talking musical in its transition to sound. It was one of the first Hollywood films to give a gay character a voice, and also the first all-talking sound film to win a “Best Picture” Academy Award.

In THE BROADWAY MELODY Turpe (Drew Demorest) is a gay costume designer who pops up from time to time. He loves his work, though he frequently seems agitated – probably because he’s mocked for his queerness by a number of other characters. Despite that, he’s almost always ready with a comeback.

The uncredited woman in the attached scene associates his queerness with lavender – at the time, lavender was code for gay. Many gay characters are associated with lavender in early films – or seen wearing the colour in later productions as a way to code them as queer.

The film was released during Hollywood’s pre-code era; this was a time in which queer characters/queer situations existed on the silver screen. Later, in the summer of 1934, they would be banned with the implementation of the Hays Code (which already existed, but wasn’t fully enforced yet).

You can find THE BROADWAY MELODY for rent/purchase on AppleTV (Canada/USA/UK), Amazon (USA) and YouTube. It's also available on DVD.