Tic Toc Club

From 1936-1999, Finocchio's was San Francisco's destination for high-end drag shows. But did you know that Milwaukee had its own high-end drag destination from 1940-1955?

Notorious bootlegger Albert Tusa opened the Tic Toc Club on July 25, 1940, promising the “finest in entertainment every night.” For years, the Tic Toc's house band competed against Liberace, who was playing piano at the nearby Red Room.

With the tagline “It’s Always Cool,” the Tic Toc Club was one of the first air-conditioned nightclubs in Milwaukee. It caught the eye of national magazines: the Tic Toc's Gardenia Room was named one of America’s top ten dinner theaters from 1948 to 1953.

Billboard and Variety regularly reported on the Tic Toc Club’s lineup, which featured some of the most famous names of the era. Among those big names were the Jewel Box Revue, a traveling drag troupe that conquered middle America from 1939 to 1975.

The Jewel Box, and their imitators, hosted a flirtatious, handsy sort of show where audiences were left to guess who were the "real" girls among the 25 cast members (answer: none.) The show regularly oversold its Milwaukee run, lasting for up to 26 weeks per visit. It was rumored that the drag shows were outselling his other, more famous bookings 10 to 1.

During the Tic Toc's reign, drag was purely entertainment for straight audiences. America's anti-drag backlash after the Pansy Craze taught operators that they needed to distance "drag" and "gay" to avoid charges of sexual deviance. Although almost entirely homosexual, Jewel Box Revue performers claimed to be straight, with wives, fiancees, girlfriends, and families. They also used the title "Mr." with female stage names, to confirm they weren't at all confused about their identities, but simply putting on a stage show.

At the same time, midcentury gay bars didn't allow "cross-dressers" inside, as they attracted and demanded attention, and were widely believed to be sex workers, police informants, or thieves. It was a curious time for the gender non-conforming, as you could earn significant fame and fortune onstage performing sexual minstrel shows for straight audiences, but wouldn't dare try to live an authentic life offstage. Gay customers wouldn't have been welcome at the Tic Toc Club either, nor unaccompanied single men alone or in groups. Drag was reserved entirely for the enjoyment of straight audiences.

Such was life for trans pioneers, drag performers, and the genderfluid for generations before Stonewall. After the Pansy Craze backlash of the 1930s, drag did not reappear in Milwaukee gay bars until after the Black Nite Brawl of 1961 elevated "queens" to the front of the movement.

Unfortunately, Al Tusa had legal and financial trouble dating back to the 1920s that haunted his entire career. Despite his best efforts to make Milwaukee famous, he just could not turn a profit, even with the biggest Hollywood and Broadway names on the marquee.

The Tic Toc was sold at auction on March 30, 1955. Tusa moved on to operate the Pink Pony, a high-end cocktail lounge at 1834 West North Avenue that was a long-time gay favorite.

With new emcee Stormé DeLarverie as the “one girl,” the Jewel Box returned to Milwaukee on May 27, 1955. The troupe had been booked for the Tic Toc, but the Tic Toc was gone—the victim of Tusa’s overindulgence—so the Jewel Box played at the less-popular Club 26 (2601 West North Avenue). They returned just one more time to Milwaukee, playing Frank Balistrieri's Brass Rail on 3rd Street, the last weekend before it became a notorious strip joint.

The old Tic Toc Club later became Fazio's on Fifth, the Casino Steakhouse, the Casino Cabaret, and Starship before being razed in 1986. It's been surface parking ever since.