The Pleasure Man, written by Mae West, premiered in 1928. It is true that Mae West, famed Hollywood star, was also a playwright, writing multiple plays throughout her life. The Pleasure Man takes place at the theatre and revolves around a large cast of performers, such as dancers, acrobats, and female impersonators, as they rehearse and prepare for the show. The play deals with topics such as sexuality and masculinity. This piece will be broken up into three parts – “The Portrayal of Sexuality,” “Castrating the Pleasure Man,” and “The Trial of The Pleasure Man.”
The Portrayal of Sexuality
Though I did not like The Pleasure Man at first, I began to appreciate the play once I realized it was treating homosexuality as heterosexuality is treated. The play portrays and discusses homosexual relationships very casually, just as heterosexual relationships are portrayed.
Peaches, a female impersonator, asks Paradise, another female impersonator: “…did you ever have a platonic love affair?” (162). Paradise casually responds with: “Oh yes, but his wife found it out” (162). This revelation is refreshingly not made into a big deal, as homosexuality is accepted amongst the group. This is further demonstrated when the character of Lester says: “…and all the gorgeous cops in town will be here” (194). Paradise responds: “Yes, you’d love that. The last time the wagon backed up you almost broke your legs slipping down the fire-escape” (194). The performers are free to express their sexuality and for it to be accepted. The play does demonstrate homophobia as well, with the character of Rodney Terrill, a voluptuary, displaying a look of disgust when he sees Fritz in his underwear.
The play also alludes to drag queens utilizing surgery to make their bodies more feminine, as well as perhaps alluding to trans women. There is a scene where Paradise’s four boys are talking. One of them says: “I’ve had so many operations since I last saw you, I’ve been cut up, so, I look like a slot machine” (191). Another says: “That’s nothing, I have a gash from here to here” (191). Since Paradise is a female impersonator and her boys are discussing earlier about wearing low-cut gowns and having the backside to wear them, surgery may have been completed to give their bodies more of a womanly quality. There are drag queens who utilize cosmetic surgery, so the boys in the play could very well identify as men (drag queens can present femininity during their performance and identify as male when offstage); but there is also the possibility that perhaps some of the boys in the play may be trans and in the process of transitioning. Either way, such operations are talked about casually, demonstrating that surgery to make a body more feminine was a common practice.
In a world filled with homophobia, I find it important that Mae West demonstrates Terrill, a seducer of women, as being the bad guy, and homosexuals as being good. However, Lillian Schlissel’s introduction chapter to the book of Mae West’s plays, concludes that Terrill is in fact bisexual (and others would agree). If Terrill is in fact bisexual, I would have to retract my statement as it brings up a new issue. Biphobia is prominent in society and bisexuals are portrayed negatively in our culture. Therefore, showing Terrill as a seducer of women who eventually assaults an ex-lover, furthers the phobia surrounding bisexuality. (When I read the play, I assumed that Mary Ann, Terrill’s ex-lover, died from her injuries that Terrill inflicted on her, while Schlissel concluded that Mary Ann was dying of an abortion (27). I too assumed Mary Ann was pregnant, but based off of the information, I conclude that she died from Terrill’s force).
Castrating the Pleasure Man
The character of Terrill is known as the pleasure man. He is a seducer of women. When the character Stanley calls him a pleasure man, Terrill says: “Yes, I give them pleasure on and off” (181). Stanley concludes with: “It’s all in fun with him” (181). Terrill is what society would call a “player.” He seduces many women and toys with their emotions; but along with his player status, he is also an assaulter, which leads to a woman’s death.
In the play, Terrill is referred to as Adonis, the Greek god. Adonis is known for his beauty and as being the perfect man. The mythology surrounding Adonis is that he spent part of his time with Persephone and the other part with Aphrodite, the goddess of love (Azar). In many ways, Adonis is a pleasure man, splitting his time between two women. Adonis can be considered the ideal man because of his looks and his way with women. The nickname of Adonis is therefore suiting for Terrill. In regards to Terrill, Stanley says: “At first I thought he was great – I wanted to be like him – making the dames fall for me. I even imitated him. I wanted to be a Pleasure Man too” (198-199). Terrill is the type of man that other men want to emulate because of his way with women. However, as Stanley comes to learn, Terrill is far from being the perfect man.
Towards the end of the play, Terrill pushes Mary Ann, a past lover of his, and she falls, hitting her head on the railing before passing out. Terrill leaves her there for the others to find. Mary Ann dies later that night. Her brother, Arnold, seeks revenge and castrates Terrill, which leads to Terrill’s death. After Arnold turns himself in, he says:
“…but I didn’t think he would die – I didn’t want him to die. I did – what I did – because I wanted him to live – in pain – and in shame – and to know that he could never again use people for his rotten pleasure” (200).
Castration anxiety, developed by Freud, arises in a boy during the phallic stage. Once he realizes his mother does not have a penis, thinking hers has been removed, the boy fears that the same can happen to him. He fears being castrated by his father for his sexual urges towards his mother. The boy then begins to align with his father in order to avoid castration.
A boy’s fear of castration comes true when Terrill is physically castrated. However, it is not just the fear of physical castration but also the fear of metaphorical castration. A penis is not just a sexual and reproductive organ, but it is also symbolic of male dominance and the power and privilege that comes with having a penis. Penis envy in women can metaphorically have to do with women yearning for the power that comes with a penis. The removal of a man’s penis is therefore the removal of a man’s power. Thus, Arnold is not only physically castrating Terrill so that he can no longer pleasure himself and procreate, but he is also castrating Terrill’s power.
It is very important to emphasize that Arnold did not want Terrill to die when he castrated him. He wanted Terrill to instead live in shame. The notion of shame demonstrates that a man living without a penis is considered worse than dying, as it supposedly erases his manhood. If Terrill lived, he would no longer have the societal privileges that come with a penis, as well as the sexual privileges. As Arnold says, he wanted to prevent Terrill from using people for his own pleasure. Without a penis, Terrill can no longer receive pleasure by himself or with a partner. (I would like to emphasize that this conclusion is discussed through the context of heterosexuality, as Terrill’s relationships are with women).
Terrill’s possible bisexuality supports the theory that his castration is about castrating a man’s power rather than preventing him from receiving sexual pleasure, as sex is now expanded beyond heteronormativity.
Schlissel argues that Terrill is a villain “…not by his seduction of a young girl but because he is a chameleon. He is not what he seems” (26). While the other homosexual characters embrace their homosexuality and do not lie, Terrill does lie. Schlissel’s conclusion regarding Terrill’s villainy suggests that Terrill is castrated because he is not living his truth as a bisexual man. As demonstrated above, I strongly disagree with this. Arnold says he wanted to prevent Terrill from continuing to use people. Arnold further says in regards to Terrill’s castration:
“…when I was in college – in the laboratory – we experimented with rats – with venim – with poisonous things – we worked on them – so that they could never propagate their own kind – the life I took from that man Terrill – was no higher or better than that of a poisonous beast” (200).
Castrating Terrill took away his power and his ability to hurt and use others. It also took away his ability to produce more men like himself. I conclude that Terrill is castrated because of his actions towards others and not because of his hidden sexuality.
The Trial of The Pleasure Man
Some reviewers of The Pleasure Man thought the show was good, with a writer from the Jewish Tribune finding the play to be “…much livelier and more amusing theater than many of the more decent and ambitious plays” (19). Thyra Samter Winslow, a female reviewer also from the Jewish Tribune, found the play to be funny: “I hate to admit this, but I must acknowledge my shame – I enjoyed Pleasure Man. [The play] is full of curious native wit and some rather keen observation” (22). The play, however, mostly received bad reviews; but it is important to emphasize homophobia when looking at the bad reviews. Homophobia also led to the play’s trial.
When The Pleasure Man first premiered at the Bronx Opera House, the police did not interfere. However, the play was raided after its first performance when it moved to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The actors were taken to jail but then released. They were given a temporary injunction but warned that they could be prosecuted if the injunction was revoked. Despite this warning, the cast still went on stage the next day. They did not complete the performance, as right in the middle of the show, the police raided it and arrested the cast. During the raid, one of the drag queens delivered a speech about police oppression. The cast was bailed out by Mae West and another, having performed only a total of one and a half shows on Broadway.
The Pleasure Man was not the first of Mae West’s plays to be raided and brought to trial. Her play, Sex, had previously been brought to trial. The trial of The Pleasure Man was postponed and went to trial on March 13, 1930, two years after its opening. The People vs. Mae West et al. charged the principles with “…unlawfully advertising, giving, presenting, and participating in an obscene, indecent, immoral and impure drama, play, exhibition, show and entertainment” (22). The prosecution argued that the play dealt with “sex, degeneracy and sex perversion,” which was considered a misdemeanor according to the New York statute (22). However, after fourteen days of testimony, the jury was unable to reach a decision and the indictments were dismissed. The People vs. Mae West trial was based on homophobia, and is another example of the power of theatre, for if theatre was not important, then the police would not have raided the show.
I recommend reading The Pleasure Man, as it is an interesting, historical piece that deserves a look at.
February 5, 2019
Works Cited
Azar, Elias N. “Adonis.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 21 Feb. 2016, www.ancient.eu/Adonis/.
Schlissel, Lillian. Introduction. Three Plays: Sex, The Drag, The Pleasure Man, by Mae West, Routledge, 1997, pp. 1-29.
Images
https://allthatsinteresting.com/famous-drag-queens
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-31/june-2018/freud-and-penis-envy-failure-courage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus
Schlissel, Lillian. Introduction. Three Plays: Sex, The Drag, The Pleasure Man, by Mae West, Routledge, 1997, pp. 1-29.
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