"One of the earliest direct references to male homosexuality in an American film came, predictably, in a comedy spoof. Stan Laurel's one-reel comedy short The Soilers (1923) was a takeoff on Rex Beach's popular 1914 western The Spoilers [...] This is one of the first examples of the use of the 'harmless sissy' image to present homosexuality. The sometimes silent connection between effeminate and homosexual was unmistakably evident here because the gay cowboy looked not like a woman but like any other cowboy in the film. The difference was that he preferred men-- and therefore 'behaved' like a woman. The primping and fussing mannerisms of the cowboy were certainly women-identified, even though female impersonation was not a factor. Yet this was exactly the sort of thing the censors were watching for." - The Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo
The Soilers dir. Ralph Ceder (1923)
