"Pre-Code cinema did find room for overtly gay characters. Though they were usually presented as comic relief—in Fox comedies, for example, a “pansy” character became almost obligatory—at least they were acknowledged to exist and were recognized by the other characters as part of the social landscape. As eccentrics, perhaps, but not freaks."
Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, Mick Lasalle
















