CAMPNESS

Campness is a particular arched manner of social conduct. It is by no means exclusively gay. For some, the performance becomes so much a part of their public persona that it can subsume their original comportment.

Mr Humphries

Gay people have long been drawn to living in London. In less tolerant times the city provided a degree of anonymity. It had large workplaces that had high turnovers of staff. A number of trades had a reputation for being gay friendly. Of these, one was working in retail. While waiting to make his break into theatre work the gay, comic actor John Inman supported himself by working for a prominent Regent Street store. He achieved televisual stardom through playing the camp menswear assistant Mr Humphries in the B.B.C. sit. com. Are You Being Served? (1973-85), which was set in a department store. When the series aired the campness of the character was the subject of adverse criticism by some gay rights campaigners, who believed that it was having a negative impact upon the general public's perception of homosexual people.

Russell T. Davies, upon reaching adulthood, was to become a highly respected television scriptwriter, whose many achievements were to include reinvigorating the Dr Who franchise. In the 1970s he was a gay adolescent living in Swansea. For him, Mr Humphries was essentially happy and so provided a role model that was fundamentally positive.

See Also: DEPARTMENT STORES

Dennis Pratt

Dennis Pratt understood his gay sexual orientation when he was young. He grew up believing that he should disport himself in a camp, effeminate manner that he held to be his natural deportment. For doing so, he experienced decades of verbal assaults and physical attacks. His response to this bigotry was to repeatedly state that society should tolerate those who do not fit into its current norms.

He held a series of jobs, most of which required a degree of visual skill. For a period, he engaged in male prostitution. Mr Pratt changed his name to Quentin Crisp. Eventually, he settled in a bed-sit in Chelsea. There, he proved to be keen on personal cleanliness. However, this attitude did not extend to his abode. He never did any housework; he was of the view that after the first couple of years the dust did not become any worse. Despite not being a reader, he made attempts to write in a variety of literary forms. The only work of his that was published was a technical manual on the subject of window dressing.

During the Second World War Crisp tried to volunteer for military service. However, the selection board declined to allow him to enlist. This did not prevent him from having a very good war. He availed himself of the embraces that were proffered to him by numerous American servicemen. In addition, despite being a far from perfect physical specimen of manhood, he was able to secure himself long-term employment as a life model in the art schools that were run by the London County Council. He countered for his muscular shortcomings by developing a capacity to stay extremely still for long periods of time.

In the 1960s Crisp gave a radio interview in which he spoke about himself. What he said was heard by a publisher who offered him a contract to write his autobiography. Upon its publication The Naked Civil Servant (1968) was well-received. The book's film rights were acquired by a production company. The television film starred the actor John Hurt.

When it was screened in 1975, Crisp became a national celebrity. Subsequently, he appeared on the stage in his own one-man show. This was something that he continued to do intermittently until his death. The relative affluence of his later decades gave him the financial means to move to Manhattan, which was a place that he delighted living in. There, ever true to himself, he maintained the same approach towards residential cleanliness as he had had in Chelsea.

Location: 129 Beaufort Street, SW3 5AE (orange, blue)

Beating The Ripper

For 30 years Mrs Rhodes toured as The Mighty Mannequin and Strong Lady of Variety . She estimated that during the course of her career she destroyed 20,000 telephone directories. She and Crisp were long-time friends. He delighted in the Sunday roast dinners that she cooked for him and the fact that, whenever they played Scrabble against one another, he nearly always beat her.

Joan Rhodes (n e Taylor) (1920-2010) Coming On Strong Serendipity (2007). Autobiography.

David Backhouse 2024