[Ads-l] The "Gay" Line in "Bringing Up Baby"

[Dan Goncharoff]

42nd Street in 1938 was probably the busiest street in the world. I expect
there were a lot of heterosexual assignations there, too.

"The Clock" involves meeting at the Hotel Astor in Times Square. The
Knickerbocker Hotel on 42nd St. was also a common meeting place, as was
outside Grand Central Terminal.
DanG


On Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 9:14 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> I am thinking of writing an article about my discoveries of early uses of
> the term "gay" meaning "homosexual."  There is one point I am puzzling
> over, and perhaps people on this list can help me.
>
> Cary Grant's line (in the 1938 movie "Bringing Up Baby") about going "gay"
> all of a sudden, ad-libbed for a scene in which he is asked why he is
> wearing women's clothing, is often said to be an early, or the earliest,
> use of "gay" to mean "homosexual."  Some commentators, including the
> linguist Ronald Butters, have denied that this ad-lib could, as an
> "in-group" reference, have made it into a mainstream film and been uttered
> by someone Butters describes as a deeply closeted homosexual who might have
> been endangering his career with the utterance.
>
> My puzzlement has to do with character David Huxley's second line in the
> film dialogue:
>
>
> Mrs. Random <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733480/?ref_=tt_ch> : But why
> are you wearing *these* clothes?
>
> David Huxley <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/?ref_=tt_ch> : Because
> I just went *GAY* all of a sudden!
>
> Mrs. Random <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733480/?ref_=tt_ch> : Now see
> here young man, stop this nonsense. What are you doing?
>
> David Huxley <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/?ref_=tt_ch> : I'm
> sitting in the middle of 42nd Street waiting for a bus.
>
>
> 42nd Street was a well-known locale for homosexual assignations.  I
> understand how commentators who deny this as a usage of the modern sense of
> "gay" might regard it instead as an example of an older usage of "to go
> gay" meaning "uninhibited, wild, crazy, flamboyant."  But how do such
> commentators deny the implications of the "42nd Street waiting for a bus"
> line?
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
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