Keep in mind that this series is set during the 1950s, where homosexuality was completely subversive -- both legally and socially. Gay men were able to find sanctuary in Mafia-owned gay bar with their watered-down drink -- but only because the management paid bribes to the police to leave them alone.
(Jon's Note: Incidentally, the Stonewall Inn plays prominently in this series. I'm pretty sure that it didn't become a gay bar until the mid-60s. Then again, I'm pretty sure that talking animals never ever hung out at the Stonewall Inn. So...)
Snagglepuss doesn't quite appreciate his peril in this series, but the House Committee on Un-American Activities is in full power as this series begins. And they have their collective eye on America's cultural elites -- specifically Snagglepuss! S.P. will be testifying soon in from of the committee and that should be an interesting battle of wits, if his earlier appearance within SUICIDE SQUAD/BANANA SPLITS ANNUAL is any indication.
But this blog post is actually about the doomed romance between Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw. Huck was a childhood friend of Snagglepuss. And, like S.P., he struggled with his own homosexuality. Unlike S.P., he chose to remain in Mississippi. He married one of the local girls and raised a son. He became a famed novelist. And then he got caught up in a sting. He agreed to leave in disgrace in order to avoid a larger scandal.
But Huckleberry Hound is a depressed dog, forever surrendering to his passions only to have them thrown back in his face -- literally! Huck had been running from one scandal after another before landing in New York City, hoping to find a few friends, a lover, and a city big enough to ignore him.
S.P. and his boyfriend Pablo eventually introduce Huckleberry to the Stonewall, which is a veritable paradise compared to anything else that he's ever experienced. So enough, Huckleberry finds himself wrapped in the arms of a bent police officer named Quick Draw McGraw.
Their affair was very passionate -- almost as passionate as it was brief:
Huckleberry: I was beginning to think I would never love again. I'm so afraid.Huckleberry was right to be afraid. At the urging of the State Department, the NYPD decided to raid the Stonewall Inn. Ostensibly, it was meant to root out vice and to protect the public from perversion. But really, it was to create a public relations trap for Snagglepuss -- who ended up not even being there that evening.
Quick Draw: Afraid of what?
Huckleberry: I know we just met and I don't want to scare you away. But I can't hid the love I feel. I don't want to hide it.
Quick Draw: Leave those games to fools who imagine time will wait for them. You and me? We'll live.
But Huck was there. He would be roughed up and rounded up by the police and he would be publicly shamed by the press. But Huck's biggest betrayal came at the hands (hoofs?) of Quick Draw McGraw, who was pressed by his superior officer to round up the Stonewall's patrons.
It was horrific.
It actually reminded me of a scene that I just watched in a local production of "Bent:" violent betrayal in the name of self-preservation. It doesn't make it any better, but you can understand why it happened that way.
And that was the brief, yet tortured whirlwind romance between Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw.
I don't know exactly where this is heading, but I wouldn't be surprised if Huckleberry Hound ends up taking his own life because of this betrayal. And it wouldn't surprise me if that death inspires Snagglepuss' victory over the House on House Committee on Un-American Activities.
EXIT STAGE LEFT: THE SNAGGLEPUSS CHRONICLES features writing by Mark Russell, art by Mike Feehan, inks by Sean Parsons, coloring by Paul Mounts, and lettering by Dave Sharpe.