Casa Susanna is a documentary film which premiered at the international film festival in Venice in 2022.
In 2023, it was shown on US television (PBS). It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience.
Casa Susanna is the name of a secret underground resort which existed in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York during the 1950s and the 1960s.
In this place, male cross-dressers could relax and be themselves without any fear of retribution.
The resort was owned and managed by Maria Valenti and her spouse Tito Arriagada, who was a cross-dresser known as Susanna Valenti.
To be precise, there were in fact two different resorts in the Catskills:
** The first, which existed 1955-1964, was called Chevalier d’Eon Resort. It was named after the famous French diplomat Chevalier d’Eon (1728-1810) who liked to dress as a woman.
** The second, which existed 1964-1969, was called Casa Susanna. It was named after the name which Tito used when he dressed as a woman.
In the 1950s and the 1960s, it was difficult and dangerous to be a male cross-dresser in the USA. If found out, the consequences could be serious and wide-ranging.
The person whose secret was revealed to the world could lose his family and friends, his job and his home.
He might also be arrested, because cross-dressing was regarded as a crime in most American states.
During those difficult years, Casa Susanna was a safe haven for men who liked to dress as women.
This film covers the history of the secret underground resort in the Catskill Mountains, which is a relatively unknown chapter of American history.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Writer and director: Sébastian Lifshitz
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 97 minutes
The history of the resort is told by four persons who have direct or indirect connection with the place. Here is some basic information about them:
Katherine Cummings
(1935-2022)
Born as a boy named John
Katherine visited the resort more than once. The first visit was in 1962 when he attended a Halloween party which made a huge impression on him.
In 1986, he had a sex-change operation. The man John became the woman Katherine. John had been married and he had three daughters.
When he came out and revealed his secret to his family, one daughter accepted the situation, while the other two stated that they did not want to have any contact with him (her).
Katherine wrote a book about her life and experience which was first published in 1992.
Diana Merry-Shapiro
(born 1939)
Born as a boy named David
Apparently, Diana visited the resort only once during the 1960s. Later, David had a sex-change operation. The man David became the woman Diana.
When Diana told her parents, her father accepted the new situation, but her mother said she could not accept the new situation.
Betsy Wollheim
(born 1951)
Betsy’s mother was Elsie B. Wollheim; her father was Donald A. Wollheim (1914-1990). Her father was a cross-dresser and her mother knew about it.
Every summer, when Betsy was a child, she was sent to a summer camp for two months, so that her father could visit Casa Susanna in the Catskill Mountains.
Her mother had to drive him to this place, because he did not know how to drive. When he was at Casa Susanna, he was no longer Donald. He used the name Doris.
Betsy suspected that her father was a cross-dresser, but she did not know the full extent of this situation until she was an adult.
Her mother told her the whole story shortly before she had to undergo an important operation in hospital. She was not sure if she was going to survive the operation.
Her father was an author who used different pseudonyms for different topics. When he wrote a book about cross-dressing, he used the name Darrell G. Raynor:
A Year Among the Girls
(1966)
(1968)
Gregory Bagarozy
(born 1951)
Gregory is the grandson of Maria Valenti. Maria was born in 1901. She died in 1996.
Tito (Susanna) who was born in the 1920s was not his father. Tito and Maria married in 1958.
Gregory witnessed events at Casa Susanna when he was a boy in the 1950s and the 1960s.
The visitors of the resort were reluctant to take pictures of each other. For obvious reasons. They did not want such pictures to end up in the hands of a person who would go to the police and report them.
Nevertheless, several pictures were taken by a photographer who was trusted: Andrea Susan.
Andrea handed the negatives to her mentor, who saved them in a box. But when the mentor got married, this box was not saved. It ended up in a Manhattan flea market where it was found by Robert Swope in 2005.
Robert Swope and his partner Michael Hurst realised that the collection of pictures in the box was unusual and important. They decided to publish these pictures in a book in 2006.
In 2006, times had changed. Many people who can be seen in these pictures were no longer alive. Those who were still alive would not be arrested, because the laws had been changed since the 1950s and 1960s. Cross-dressing was no longer a crime.
The publication of the book with the old pictures created a renewed interest in the history of the secret underground resort in the Catskill Mountains.
How did cross-dressers know how to find Casa Susanna in the days before the internet?
There was an underground magazine called Transvestia which was published for 20 years (1960-1980). It was circulated by the postal service. A total of 100 issues were published.
The magazine was created by the American activist Virginia Prince (1912-2009) who was also the editor for most of the time when it existed.
What happened to Casa Susanna after 1969? Gregory explains that the resort was sold in order to pay some huge medical bills after Maria suffered a fall.
Maria Valenti and Susanna Valenti lived until 1996. They both died in the same year.
What do reviewers say about this film?
Here are some results:
71 percent = IMDb
86 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
100 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
The ratings are very good, as you can see. When you look at Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that the audience offers a higher rating than the critics. This is surprising.
When the product under review is a documentary film, the critics will often go higher than the audience.
But in this case, the typical pattern is broken. The audience is prepared to go all the way to the top, while the critics have a few reservations.
I understand the numerous positive reviews, and I agree with many of them, but I cannot go all the way to the top. Why not? Because there are some flaws here and there.
What is wrong?
Let me explain:
# 1. The persons who are interviewed are only identified by their first name. No last names are mentioned.
The first person who appears is Katherine, but there is no presentation of her. No last name is mentioned.
The second person who appears is Diana, but there is no presentation of her. No last name is mentioned.
The third person who appears is Betsy, but there is no presentation of her. No last name is mentioned.
After a while, the viewer can understand that Betsy never visited the resort. She is talking about her father who visited the resort on several occasions.
The book A Year Among the Girls is mentioned. The cover of the book is shown to us.
We can see the name of the author: Darrell G. Raynor. But Betsy’s father is called Donald. How can he be the author of the book?
After a while, the viewer can understand that Betsy’s father used different names for different topics. When he wrote the book about the resort, he did not use his real name. He used a pseudonym.
The fourth person who appears is Gregory. But there is no presentation of him. No last name is mentioned.
After a while, the viewer can understand that he witnessed events at Casa Susanna when he was a boy, but why was here there? After a while, it becomes clear that he is the grandson of Maria Valenti.
Why are the last names omitted in every case? These persons appear on camera using their real first names. They are not trying to be anonymous. Why does the director hide the last names?
I was only able to discover the last names of these four persons by reading some of the reviews of the film.
# 2. Only four persons are interviewed here. Only two of them actually visited the resort as adults. And one of them only visited once. The foundation of this account is limited.
It should be possible to find other persons who were there as adults. The director does not say if he tried to find other persons who were there.
# 3. The four persons who appear in the film are white. All persons who can be seen in the old photographs are white. What about minorities?
What about African Americans, Latinos, Asians? Was there not a single person of color at Casa Susanna? The question is never asked.
I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws. I have to remove one star because of these flaws.
The topic is important. The story deserves to be told. And in this film, it is done quite well.
But it is not flawless. This is why I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
A Year Among the Girls
By Darrell G. Raynor
(1966)
(1968)
Understanding Cross-Dressing
By Virginia Prince
(1976)
(1981)
Katherine’s Diary:
The Story of a Transsexual
By Katherine Cummings
(1992)
Cross Dressing, Sex and Gender
By Vern Bullough and Bonnie Bullough
(1993)
From Man to Woman:
The Transgender Journey of Virginia Prince
By Richard F. Docter
(2004)
Transgender Voices:
Beyond Women and Men
By Lori G. Girshick
(2008)
Casa Susanna: The Story of the First Trans Network in the United States, 1959-1968
By Isabelle Bonnet and Sophie Hackett
(With an introduction by Susan Stryker)
(2024)
# 2. Items available online
Jude Dry
“Casa Susanna Review: A lost chapter of queer history comes to life,”
Indie Wire
03 September 2022
Sheri Linden
“Casa Susanna Review: A Deeply Affecting Exploration of a Secret Chapter in LGBTQ History,”
The Hollywood Reporter
17 September 2022
Carla Hay
“Review: Casa Susanna,”
Culture Mix Online
26 November 2022
Maria M. Silva
“Casa Susanna, a onetime underground Catskills LGBTQ+ haven,”
Times Union
15 June 2023
Adrian Gomez
“Casa Susanna became a haven for the silenced,”
Albuquerque Journal
23 June 2023
Updated 25 June 2023
Gwendolyn Ann Smith
“Transmissions: Casa Susanna and the mists of time,”
Bay Area Reporter
12 July 2023
*****
Susanna Valenti
posing in front of
Casa Susanna
*****
The cover of the magazine
Transvestia
Issue # 16 - 1962
*****
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