The Dayton City Commission unanimously approved a resolution, to become the first Ohio City to honor a noted Lesbian writer, Natalie Clifford Barney, with a historical marker. A dedication ceremony for the Ohio Historical marker took place on October 25, 2009 in Cooper Park in Dayton Ohio.

Dayton-born heiress and writer Natalie Barney, daughter of artist Alice Pike Barney and Albert Clifford Barney, was known for her literary salons in Paris. In 1900, she published her first book of love poems to women, “Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes,” under her own name.

Barney promoted women’s writings. The famed French Academy was not open to female writers; in response, in 1927 Barney founded the Women’s Academy to honor female writers.

Historical Marker Under Wraps in Dayton, Ohio

She held an infamous weekly salon in her Paris home for 50 years, where the leading figures in French literature gathered with their western contemporaries. Her regular guests included Andre Gide, Jean Cocteau, T.S. Elliot, Thornton Wilder, fellow Ohioan Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Isadora Duncan, Peggy Guggenheim and Truman Capote.

 Natalie Clifford Barney knew she was a lesbian by age 12. Her life and love inspired characters in at least 12 books. Idylle Saphique, by French courtesan Liane de Pougy, recounted the affair between de Pourgy and Barney. This book was reprinted 69 times in its first year of publication alone.

Barney also was the inspiration for the persona Valerie Seymour in The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall.

Front side of marker Click for closer view and text.

The Gay Ohio History Initiative, along with project partners of The Greater Dayton LGBT Center and The Living Beatitudes Community, raised $2,300.00 to pay for the bronze marker to memorialize the literary giant, Natalie Clifford Barney.

A dedication ceremony was held on Sunday, October 25th from 2 – 3:30 p.m. in Cooper Park, adjacent to the Dayton Metro Public Library. Representatives from the City of Dayton, The Ohio Historical Society, The Gay Ohio History Initiative, The Greater Dayton LGBT Center and The Living Beatitudes Community were on hand.

 

Back side of marker Click for text and closer view.

Immediately following the dedication ceremony, a presentation of Natalie Barney’s life and works was held in the Library’s auditorium, led by Leon Bey. The presentation included dramatic readings from her epigrams and poetry. Refreshments, reminiscent of the food served in the Barney Salons held in her Paris home, was served.

For more information about the marker dedication, contact John Zimmerman at john.zimmerman@mvfairhousing.com or (937) 313-7813. For more information on the life and times of Natalie Clifford Barney, contact Leon Bey at grantsguru501c3@yahoo.com or (937) 274-4749

Natalie Clifford Barney Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony
Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Time: 2 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Cooper Park and Dayton Metro Library, St. Clair at Third Street, Dayton, OH 45402
AGENDA
2 p.m. Dedication Ceremony on Cooper Park Site

Speakers:

2:30 p.m. Program highlighting the life and works of Natalie Clifford Barney
3:00 p.m. Refreshments in the style of a Barney Salon in her Parisian home

In October 2007, to celebrate GLBT history month, The Gay People’s Chronicle discussed GOHI as well as other LGBT archives across Ohio.

In April 2008 the Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Other Paper featured articles about GOHI’s efforts to obtain historical markers for Ohio sites significant to GLBT history.  That same month, GOHI also received a mention in Kentnewsnet.com.

In June 2008, the Outlook Weekly featured GOHI on their cover, asking “Got History?”

In August 2008, Chris Hayes and Michael Daniels, in an interview with Ann Fisher of The Columbus Dispatch, discuss Radio Outlook’s coverage of GOHI.

In October 2008, the website QueerCincinnati encouraged its readers to attend GOHI’s “Remembering the Berwick” fundraiser.

In June 2009, The Other Paper mentioned GOHI in a discussion of the June 2009 Pride events.

In fall 2009, GOHI’s work to erect an historical marker of Natalie Clifford Barney was mentioned in articles by Advocate.com, The Gay People’s Chronicle, Dayton Daily News, the Dayton PFLAG newsletter, the website Queerest Places: A Guide to Gay and Lesbian Historic Sites, Provincetown, MA’s Edge, a press release from the Greater Dayton LGBT Center, the twitter site Queeries TV,  GLT: Gay and Lesbian Times, and the Family Equality Council blog.

Image originally posted on October 4, 2008 at
QueerCincinnati.com.

A staff of writers provided Lynde with “ad-libs” that introduced a daily dose of gay wit to daytime television:

Peter Marshall:         In “The Wizard of Oz,” the Lion wanted courage and the Tin Man wanted a heart. What did the Scarecrow want?

Paul Lynde:   He wanted the Tin Man to notice him.

In Ohio, the Mount Vernon native is also remembered for his work in summer stock. Motivated, as usual, by money, Lynde agreed in 1969 to appear with the famous Kenley Players in Warren, Dayton, and Columbus. A nervous performer, he hated working on stage, but the response from his fans and local critics kept him coming back. “When I do a show in Ohio it’s Judy Garland time,” he once said. “It’s a very emotional experience.” Lynde broke Kenley box-office records and patiently signed autographs for hundreds of fans each night.

By the time of his last appearance a decade later, Lynde had toured John Kenley’s circuit eight times, more than any other headliner in the company’s long history. He eventually earned a weekly salary that made him “the highest paid performer on stage today, including – God help us all – Laurence Olivier.”

Never that closeted, Lynde stayed true to himself while visiting Ohio. In Columbus, he partied at the Kismet, often accompanied by fetching “bodyguards.” He dressed in a caftan, a ’70s fashion statement that, like the man-purse, some took as code for homosexuality. An oft-repeated story: in a nightly ritual, Lynde returned to the stage at Vets Memorial to take post-curtain questions from the audience. Someone asked him, as they always did, why he’d never married. Clad in his favorite caftan, smoking a thin brown cigarette, Lynde shot back, “Do you live in a cave?” A lesser Lynde witticism, for sure, but one forgiven by the fact that his writers were thousands of miles away.

Lynde died in 1982 and is buried in Amity, Ohio. The Kenley Players, which presented other gay actors, including Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson, and Alan Sues (the “poor man’s Paul Lynde”), left Columbus in 1981.

Joe Florenski, a GOHI board member, is the co-author of Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story. He is currently working on a history of the Kenley Players.