Obscenity Law and Performance

Title: Obscenity Law and Performance
Insight article by Alexis Cohen, Staff, The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy
Keywords: culture and society, gender law and society, media and society, social justice and social change

Nereson's project, Obscenity Law and the Problem of Performance: A Case Study of the Trial of Mae West's “The Pleasure Man,” analyzes the 1930 trial of Mae West’s Broadway show The Pleasure Man to understand the ways in which performance was historically understood to reflect and generate the public sphere.
 
The 1928 cast and crew members of Mae West’s The Pleasure Man were charged with violating the Wales Padlock Law because of their alleged purposeful influencing of the public’s morals and desires with their “obscene” performance. The Wales Padlock Law (the Wales Act) 1927 amendment to the New York State penal code was a morals act that prohibited discussion or performance of homosexuality on the “legitimate” (i.e. Broadway) stage. The amendment provided legal recourse for the State of New York to prosecute producers, performers, and playwrights whose offerings were deemed “immoral.” The Wales Act had a significant impact on Broadway theater at the time.

Ultimately the cast and crew of The Pleasure Man were not convicted because it proved impossible to recreate a stage production in court. Yet, Nereson’s analysis of the State’s case against West et. al. and the subsequent failure to prosecute demonstrates that the Wales Act was used to criminalize gay and lesbian communities by policing the theatrical stage. The law increased government regulation of queer lives, and West’s play was just one of many Broadway shows to be tried. Nereson hopes to contextualize The Pleasure Man case study with other prosecutions under the Wales Act to provide a larger picture of how law impacting cultural production reflects social mores, but not necessarily social practice.

Learn more:
Ariel Nereson, Department of Theatre and Dance, University at Buffalo