In his novel Knock on Any Door (1947), set on Chicago's old Skid Row, mixed-race author Willard Motley created Nicky Romano, a beautiful young thug who "mooched, jackrolled and played the queen for money," often beating his male tricks senseless after sex. Halfway through the novel, when at his lowest, Nicky is befriended by Owen, a gay man who cares for him in a brotherly manner until Nick kills a cop and subsequently turns on him. Owen was lost in the film version, which starred John Derek as Nick, who uttered the iconic line: "Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse."
Motley again used the West Side setting in his sequel, Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1958). The film version starred James Darren as Nicky's son. Motley's second novel, We Fished All Night (1951), told the stories of three white soldiers returning to Chicago after World War II.
Motley was raised as a younger brother to his cousin, the artist Archibald J. Motley Jr. His last novel was set in Mexico, where he lived with his adopted lover. Some recent African-American critics fault him for writing white characters.
Copyright 2008 by Marie J. Kuda
From Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community, edited by Tracy Baim, Surrey Books, 2008.
