Taken from New York Public Library Archives describing Bell and his collection of papers left to the Library.
Also, something to keep in mind, some of the hits attributed to "Arthur Bell" refer to Arthur Bell (martyr) (1590–1643), Franciscan and English martyr. This specific page refers to Arthur Bell the writer, journalist & gay rights activist, not the Franciscan martyr. There are 13 hits listed but only 2 of them are written by this author, Kings Don't Mean a Thing and Dancing the Gay Lib Blues, the others are by the Franciscan.
Arthur Bell (1939-1984) was a writer, journalist, and gay rights activist who lived in New York City. Bell was born in Brooklyn to Samuel Bell, a manufacturer of children's clothing, and, Claire Bodan Bell, a designer. When Bell was in junior high school the family moved to Montreal. Bell returned to New York City in 1960 and found a job writing jacket copy for children's books. He soon became director of publicity for children's books at Viking Press, later leaving Viking Press to work at Random House. Joining the struggle for gay rights, he was one of the twelve founders of the Gay Activists Alliance in 1969 and served for a time as chairman of its publicity committee, often using the pseudonym 'Arthur Irving.'
In 1970, he left Random House to write full time, after accepting an offer by Simon & Schuster to write a book about his experiences in the gay liberation movement. This book, Dancing the Gay Lib Blues: A Year in the Gay Liberation Movement, was published the next year and at the same time, Bell ceased his activities with the Gay Activists Alliance. Throughout the 1970s, Bell wrote consistently for both the gay and mainstream press including Esquire, Gay, the New York Times, and Playboy. Bell wrote a bi-weekly column for Gay Power and a weekly column called "Bell Tells" for the Village Voice. This column had a broad scope and covered opening and closings of restaurants and galleries, reports on gay issues, and celebrity and society gossip. Bell was known for his lively, highly personalized, almost novelistic style in his writing which he proposed as an alternative to what he regarded as a lackluster journalism then in use.
Bell's interest in crime reporting was initiated by an Esquire piece he wrote on the mass murders in Houston, and he started writing articles on crimes against gay men in New York City, particularly the attacks and murders that would occur at, and around, bars, bathhouses, and other gay meeting places. While many people appreciated the light Bell's reporting shed on this issue, many readers thought Bell's articles were sensationalist and negatively depicted gay life. Bell was often seen as a polarizing figure in the gay community. In 1978, Bell published Kings Don't Mean a Thing: The John Knight Murder Case about the murder of a newspaper heir in Philadelphia. Parts of Bell's articles inspired the film Cruising, though Bell protested the film's interpretation of gay culture and that it was shot in the East Village.
In 1964, Bell met gay rights advocate and author Arthur Evans and the two had a relationship until 1971. The character of Arthur Klang in Doric Wilson's The West Side Gang is based on Bell. Bell died in 1984 from complications related to diabetes, a disease he struggled with throughout his adult life.
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Subjects
History, Science, 1969, Biography, Charities, Description and travel, Descriptions et voyages, Gay Activists Alliance, Gay liberation movement, LGBTQ diaries, Murder, united states, Pate Foundation, Philosophy, Physics, Scientists, Stonewall Riots, Trials (Murder), Trials (murder), Village Voice, gay rights, lgbtPlaces
Cheltenham, England, Netherlands, New York City, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Victoria (B.C.), Victoria (C.-B.)People
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), Arthur Bell, Felix Melendez, Isaac Newton Sir (1642-1727), John Shively Knight (1945-1975), Richard Pate (1516-1588), Salvatore SoliID Numbers
- OLID: OL1859272A
Links (outside Open Library)
May 21, 2017 | Edited by Ben McLaughlin | Edited without comment. |
May 21, 2017 | Edited by Ben McLaughlin | I added a sentence to note the difference surrounding some of the books listed in this notation for Arthur Bell because there are 2 men by that name and their lives are WILDLY different. |
May 21, 2017 | Edited by Ben McLaughlin | I added links to Wikipedia and the NYPL Archives both containing information about Bell |
May 21, 2017 | Edited by Ben McLaughlin | Added new photo |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |