Midnight Cowboy
Of course, theres the film about a street hustler who winds up selling himself to men for money
Midnight Cowboy
They call the prostitute in this film a "Midnight Cowboy"
was that a term for a male hustler before the Film?
Before the 1969 film upon which it's based, there was the 1965 novel by the same title. Inasmuch as The Boys In the Band was first produced on the stage in 1968, I'd guess that the phrase had already entered gay culture by that time. It certainly gained wider awareness after the '69 film.
As for "midnight cowboy" becoming generic code for a street hustler, either before or after the 1965 novel, I can't say. I've read a good deal of historical exploration of gay culture, particularly in its pre-Stonewall "underground" days, much of which has encompassed the slang and code employed, and I can't recall having come across the term as one in general use among gay men for that purpose (as was a term like "trade," which went back many decades by the '60s).
That doesn't mean it wasn't, but I've always interpreted Emory's reference as simply his pop-culture joke relating to the fictional Joe Buck (Emory had made a point of instructing Cowboy to arrive at Michael's apartment precisely at midnight), rather than as a generic "hustler" one (otherwise, the time of his arrival wouldn't have been important, nor would have been much of a joke).
Poe! You are...avenged!
Before the 1969 film upon which it's based, there was the 1965 novel by the same title.
I cannot find anything on a novel of The Boys in the Band. Crowley wrote it as a play. Where are you getting your info? Just curious. share
Pardon my unclear syntax. I was referring to the novel "Midnight Cowboy."
Poe! You are...avenged!