Evan Wadler

Evan Wadler was born December 25th, 1947 to well-off Jewish parents. He spent his childhood in Parkchester, a large apartment complex in the East Bronx. His father was a dentist and thus they lived in a private house within the complex, where he had his office. In his teens his family: mother, father and one older sister moved to a luxury coop apartment at 62nd Street & 3rd Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, though his parents spent most of their time at a country club in Scarsdale.

Around 1962 with a couple of friends from the Bronx, Chuck Barnett for one, he found his way to Washington Square Park and the MacDougal Street coffee houses. There was some pot smoking, but the crowd rarely drank or took heavy drugs. In the summer of ’64 he tried LSD with his friend, teri. By then he, Fred Finger and others were beginning to gravitate to Greenwich Ave and Christopeher Street, where gay men and their friends congregated. He was ‘out’ to his friends, but not to his straight-laced parents or sister. He would do artwork on and off, but never persevered with it.

Evan’s first serious boyfriend was David Scott, who along with his brother, Chris, was taking part in the gay off-off Broadway theatre ‘revolution, spearheaded by Charles Ludlam. They lived together for a time, but after that relationship ended, Evan was having a hard time negotiating between his ‘out life’ and needing housing and money from his parents. When his mother learned he was gay, she insisted he go to a psychiatrist, with the ultimatum that unless he did so, she would block the inheritance her father had left to him. (One of the psychiatrists he was sent to sexually abuse him, thought he didn’t realize that’s what it was at the time). As well, even though his complied with her demand, his mother forged checks and gave the inheritance to his sister.

Around 1968 he went to San Francisco thinking he could escape his mother’s grasp, though it was only partially successful. Generally, he was much happier there, where the ‘gay scene’ was really exploding. He went to Cockette shows, rock performances at Fillmore West etc. He went hiking on the California coast and vacationed with a lover on the Big Island in Hawaii. As the scene settle down in the 80s, Evan became bored and decided to return to New York, thinking that now he would be able to maintain distance from his parents. However, he never really got his footing and was quite depressed.

Around 1986 he suddenly became extremely ill, and was prescribed lithium, for what turned out to be symptoms of an opportunistic infection from AIDS. It caused him to fall into a coma and he was found after a week’s time in his apartment. He was taken to Mount Sinai hospital where he stayed-never waking up, with his mother as the gate-keeper to his room. A few friends, including teri and Fred visited him during that Fall. He had always thought it was funny that he was Jewish and born on Christmas. It seemed to suit his sense of irony that he died on Christmas Day 1986.

Even with all his woes, Evan was a very light-hearted and funny guy. His dress was always counter-intuitive for the times and his sexual preference – oxford-cloth button down shirts, ties, corduroy pants and tweed jackets with suede elbow patches. He had a bit of the Mel Brooks in him. For example he referred to the Jewish dairy restaurant, Ratners, as “Mouseners” and Bloomingdales as “Bloomingballs”. In a more forgiving world he would have flourished and his creativity would have fully bloomed.

written by teriananda