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Revision as of 19:36, 29 December 2024 by Keyofz (talk | contribs) (Created page)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Stoughton J. "Bruz" Fletcher III (March 12, 1906– Feb. 8, 1941) was a gay musician, singer, composer and literary figure who came to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. He played piano, and wrote and sang risqué songs about sex, gay culture, prostitutes, adulterers, and hermaphrodites; alcoholics, hedonists, outsiders, predators and grifters. He was a colorful character and an artistic polymath whose life ended tragically at a relatively young age.
Family upbringing
Bruz grew up in an atmosphere of sprawling estates, mansions, yachts, race horses, high finance, fabulous parties, and opulence. His family had for generations run one of the most successful commercial banks in the state of Indiana. His nickname was a diminutive of "brother."
Fletcher attended several prestigious boarding schools and a military academy. At age 12 he shot himself in an apparent failed suicide attempt. In 1921, his mother committed suicide by drinking prussic acid; his grandmother reportedly tried some herself and expired an hour later.
Bruz's ambitious father squandered the family fortune on bad investments, lost the family estate, and lost the family's prestigious banking business.
Career as an entertainer
In 1926 Fletcher moved to Hollywood. In the 1930s he became renowned as a nightclub entertainer, during what came to be known in the 1920s and '30s as "The Pansy Craze." He performed in glamorous venues, delighting his sophisticated patrons with witty and risqué songs punctuated with salacious patter, clearly influenced by Noel Coward and Cole Porter. His five-year run at L.A.'s Club Bali underscored a bawdy, party-like atmosphere for the city's most outrageous celebrities and notables.
Fletcher and partner Casey Roberts lived together as an openly gay couple, often hosting salons. They collaborated on numerous artistic endeavors, including theatrical productions, literary journals, various fine art projects.
Fletcher recorded more than two dozen songs on 78 rpm discs, and wrote theatrical works, novels, and short stories. As a chronicler of the demimonde, Bruz spiced these works with details that provided candid glimpses into a world populated by society dowagers, misfits, celebs, addicts, servants, lovers, and eccentrics who reflected a wide variety of sexual inclinations and mores. His best-known song, "Drunk With Love," was recorded in the 1950s by Frances Faye.
Bruz mysteriously disappeared at the end of 1940, returing to Hollywood the following January. However, he was dismayed to find the Club Bali closed. Frequent police crackdowns on gay performers and clubs prevented Bruz and other artists from gainful employment. He grew increasingly despondent and committed suicide in 1941, in Tarzana, California, by asphyxiating himself in a running car in friend's garage. He was 34.