DescriptionKrazy Kat LOC npcc.04658.jpg |
English: Title: Krazy Kat (a reference to the
Krazy Kat speakeasy in Washington, D.C.)
- Description: 23-year-old artist and scenic designer
Cleon "The Throck" Throckmorton (1897–1965) (far right), his Chicago-born muse and future wife 18-year-old Kathryn Marie "Kat" Mullin (1902–1994) (far left), 26-year-old painter and illustrator
Inez Hogan (1895–1973) (middle), and two unidentified friends photographed circa July 1921 at the back-alley entrance of Throckmorton's illegal speakeasy,
The Krazy Kat. Known for its riotous performances of hot jazz music which often degenerated into mayhem, this
Jazz Age speakeasy operated in the rough and tumble Latin Quarter of Washington, D.C. during the
Prohibition era, and many avant-garde artists associated with the
Provincetown Players were frequent habitués. The speakeasy's libertine clientèle were known for their public advocacy of
free love ("unrestricted impulse").
The speakeasy's name, The Krazy Kat, derived from the androgynous title character of the
Krazy Kat comic strip that was popular at the time, and this namesake communicated that the venue catered to clientèle of all sexual orientations, including polysexual and homosexual patrons. Accordingly, the venue soon became a clandestine rendezvous spot for Washington, D.C.'s gay community to meet without fear of exposure. By 1922, the speakeasy had become locally infamous. Municipal authorities publicly identified the venue as a "disorderly house" (a contemporary designation for a brothel), and police raided the establishment numerous times.
Six months after this photograph, the speakeasy's proprietor Cleon Throckmorton and his muse Kathryn Mullin married in January 1922 in Manhattan, New York. A model, singer, sketch artist and costume designer, Mullin was known for her radio and stage performances as a ukulele player with Harry Crandall's Saturday Nighters. For her stage performances, she was billed as "The Girl With the Million Dollar Legs." When not performing on stage or radio, she was an expert in women's saber fencing and gave public exhibitions. After four years of marriage, Mullin sued Throckmorton for divorce on December 17, 1926, after catching him in a sexual encounter with an unidentified woman—possibly film actress Juliet Brenon (1895–1979)—in their Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan. Mullin's friend, African-American stage actress
Blanche Dunn, served as a witness on her behalf in the divorce suit. Throckmorton did not contest the divorce, and Mullin did not seek alimony. Immediately after his divorce from Mullin, Throckmorton married Juliet Brenon on March 13, 1927.
- Abstract/medium: National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)
- Physical description: 1 negative :
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