Casa Susanna is a book edited by Michael Hurst and Robert Swope that presents an extraordinary collection of photographs depicting a secret society of cross dressers from a bygone era. I stumbled upon this book, and its associated story, during some of my recent internet meanderings. History buffs here at CDH may already be familiar with this story, but for those who are not, I hope you find it as fascinating as I have.
I’d like to preface this review by noting how easy it is for many of us girls to take CDH for granted. With a few mouse-clicks we are able to join a welcoming community where we are free to express ourselves and take comfort that we are not alone. But imagine what life must have been like for a cross dresser in the 1950s, a time of strict social conformity and narrowly defined gender roles. It’s likely that the vast majority of cross dressers at the time remained closeted for life and perhaps tormented by feelings of shame and isolation.
This is why it was so fascinating to learn about a group of cross dressers from that pre-internet era, who not only managed to locate each other, but also created a special home for themselves called Casa Susanna. It was a place of refuge and support – a secret weekend retreat that is remarkable not only because it thrived at a time of conformity and widespread intolerance, but also in its remarkable similarities to our online community here at CDH.
At this point I am going to quote from various articles I have found online. Not only to save myself some time, but also because they tell the story more succinctly and eloquently than I might otherwise. Links to the articles are provided for those who are interested in learning more.
The story begins in 2004, as described in an article from the New York Times:
“Robert Swope, a gentle punk rocker turned furniture dealer, came across a set of pictures — a hundred or so snapshots and three photo albums in a box at the 26th Street flea market in Manhattan. He knew nothing about their provenance, beyond the obvious: here was a group of men dressed as women, beautiful and homely, posing with gravity, happiness and in some cases outright joy. They were playing cards, eating dinner, having a laugh. They didn’t look campy, like drag queens vamping it up as Diana Ross or Cher; they looked like small-town parishioners, like the lady next door, or your aunt in Connecticut.”
The online magazine called AnOther continues the story:
“I felt electrified,” Swope recalls of the moment he knew he’d struck gold. “I had never seen anything like this that had not been clearly orchestrated as a parody or a joke… I knew instantly that I was looking at something that no one outside the group was ever meant to see. Something private.”
Stunned by the pictures and moved by the mysterious world they revealed, Swope and his partner, Michel Hurst, gathered them into a book, “Casa Susanna,” which was published by Powerhouse Books in 2005. But it was only after the book’s publication that Swope and Hurst began to learn the story of Casa Susanna, first called the Chevalier d’Eon resort, for an infamous 18th-century cross-dresser and spy.
AnOther magazine describes it this way:
“The group’s secret gathering place was a bungalow in upstate New York, owned by Susanna, the group’s matriarch and – according to her business card which was stuck to the front of a carefully preserved photo album – a professional female impersonator. From the late 50s to the mid-60s, Susanna and her friends would head to their country retreat at weekends to live the life of “typical, middle-class, suburban women, complete with tacky furniture and a scrabble board.”
The article continues:
“The photographs of the Casa Susanna Queendom are remarkably vernacular – their candidness and intimacy converting what was at the time a thoroughly unorthodox pastime into something surprisingly routine. As Swope noted, “What struck me on that first day was the normalcy of the images, even if it was a studied illusion. Here were photos documenting everyday women, going about their everyday lives – except that these women were men who probably lived as truck drivers, accountants, or bank presidents during the week.” But it is also the strong sense of community, warmth and fun that the protagonists exude, underscored by a delightful sense of self-assertion, that makes their story so engaging – whether striking a pose in a glitzy swimsuit, watering the garden or having a girls night in, dressing up and taking pictures.”
Perhaps my favorite photograph from the Casa Susanna collection is the one above, showing a group of girls happily taking photos of each other. Absent the instant gratification of digital photography, they would have needed to be send the film out for processing by nameless laboratory technicians, who no doubt took some degree of interest in the subject matter. I wonder what steps they might have taken to remain anonymous, because discovery during this era could easily have resulted in jobs lost, families destroyed and lives forever ruined (sadly, this can and does still happen).
Regarding the parallels with CDH, it is interesting to see how these girls not only desired to dress in the fashion of the times, but also clearly enjoyed their time together as women. And of course, the remarkable Casa Susanna collection reveals how much these girls loved the camera, with the photographs covering the gamut from striking a girly pose to engaging in mundane household chores. It seems the desire to capture and share images of our femme selves is an aspect of cross dressing that is truly timeless.
Links for those interested in further reading:
Casa Susanna – Edited by Michael Hurst & Robert Swope
Casa Susanna: Photographs From a 1950s Transvestite Hideaway
Vintage photos of 1950s transvestites at Casa Susanna refuge reveal glimpse of a forgotten world
Inside the Secret World of Casa Susanna
A Safe House for the Girl Within
Casa Susanna, a 1960s resort where cross-dressing was safe
More Articles by Mona
- Proud to be a Goodwill Girl
- My Season of Doubt and Shame Part 2
- My Season of Doubt and Shame: Part 1
- A Hilarious Look at the Challenges Most Crossdressers Will Face
- Mona Says Yes to the Dress
Mona, this is just an awesome story to learn about. How very cool that someone was able to piece together a part of history that so many of us would have not idea about. And how wonderful that it can be told. Thank you for writing the article. I hope I can get a chance to find the book and read through it.
Michelle
Great article, Mona! I was in the " in between" era-growing up in the 70s and early 80s. Not QUITE as bad as earlier in the 20th century (we DID have SOME books in libraries IF you knew where to look for them) but well before the internet made it easier to connect with and talk to others about ourselves. And yes I did ONE time only brave taking actual film pictures of early Cyn mode from the early 90s and getting them developed and YES it WAS as scary as you an imagine. Thank you for sharing this as… Read more »
Thanks! I just looked it up, and our library has a copy. Can’t wait to get my hands on it…
Thank you for writing about Casa Susanna. I am from NY and I have met a few girls who were members of the group that went to the getogethers there. I wish I had known about it when I first started going out in the late 70’s. A few friends of mine and I went to see the play by Harvey Feinstein about Casa Susanna before it closed. I have to admit I was crying at parts of the show. I know the asian girl Lilly. She is in her 90’s and looks amazing. Thank you again for writing the… Read more »
I too saw the Harvey Fierstein play (called Casa Valentina) on Broadway in New York – and of course had to attend it en femme (after spending the day in New York). You can find videos and photos of this play by searching for Casa Valentina.
I saw it shortly before it closed. It was very moving. About 6 or 8 of us including one wife attended. We went out to dinner before and a few of us went to a club after. I recently saw Kinky Boots on Long island with about 10 other girls. About 6 or 7 of us had dinner together and had a great time.
Thank you for sharing this incredible story with us, Mona! Despite I’m 6000 miles away of the place where Casa Susanna once existed, surely I’ll be looking for the photographs and the book and more stories. As a crossdresser in the closet and an amateur film photographer, I’ll love to learn more about the techniques used to take the photos, equipment, development, what happened during the now-called “making of”, etc. Also, it will be an outstanding idea if someone makes a movie (using old-school techniques lol) and show to many people how our older counterparts managed to show their feminine… Read more »
Thank you Mona for finding and sharing this valuable artifact. The pictures I’ve seen show what it really feels like to be a woman in a man’s body. These people enjoyed their lifestyles, either male or female.
Hi Mona! I was already aware of the story about “Casa Susanna". Very nice review, thank you!! Different decades, but been in those situations sharing time with other CD friends just having a nice time. Recently my wife asked me “So, what do you do when you meet with your friends?" and the answer may sound so silly to others but… we don’t do a whole lot… talk about our lives, share makeup tips, discuss shopping (or go shopping), and if going out fighting over mirror time! (Ever tried to get ready to go out in a hotel room with… Read more »
Wow! What an incredible story! Thanks for sharing.
thank you mona for find this. its an amazing story I had no idea about but gives us a link to our past we didn’t have any connection to. We do take it for granted how easy the internet makes finding each other now. Back then it must of been so much harder to find others like going to a bar where like minded people would hang out but have to talk carefully with true risk to themselves. We are very fortunate to be able to be far more out today than 60 years ago ! we should not take… Read more »
Thank you, Mona for posting all this. I read every article. I vaguely remember reading about this place probably back in the 70’s or 80’s in some literature as a place that didn’t exist anymore. And a usual, I missed it by …this… much. One of the articles did bring back personal memories. In the 60’s I had one of the first inexpensive Polaroid instant cameras and probably took a half dozen or so pictures of myself in dress around 1966 (selfies were very tricky then!). I was in my teens at the time. I enlisted a little later, put… Read more »