A Book of World War II Letters Now Reveals a Story of Gender Confusion a Hundred Years Later

A Face from Uranus: Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellaman 1943-1945

A Face From Uranus Celebrates TeddCentennial — the one hundredth anniversary year of Tedd Burr’s birth, July 26th, 2024.

CLEVELAND, OH, UNITED STATES, June 22, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — On July 26, 2024 Tedd Burr entered the world the third child of a farming family in Bellevue, OH; before his birth his mother had prayed for a girl. What she never imagined was that her “girl” would appear in a boy’s body. Struggling with her young son wanting to wear girl’s clothes, she decided to try what we would call a modern approach. She thought if she gave Tedd what he wanted he would eventually grow out of it. So until 6th grade, Tedd practically lived the life of a girl, playing and dressing up with the neighboring girls. When he reached puberty. he was forced to face the harsh reality that he must present as a boy in order to survive his upper school years. Instinctively, Tedd threw himself into the arts; indeed, he became a renaissance kid who acted, danced, played the piano, sang in two churches every Sunday and by the age of nineteen completed a provocative novel centered on a young concert pianist, who would be described today as non-binary.

During his high school years Tedd began to wear make-up as an enhancement, subtly highlighting an underlying femininity. After high school Tedd fully blossomed into an androgynous beauty with full bouffant hair. Unfortunately, this came at a time when he was working as a secretary on a military base in Dayton, OH. His appearance both confused and beguiled many of the soldiers becoming such a distraction that the major of the base asked for Tedd’s resignation rather than having to discharge him. The major’s parting words were “either be a woman or be a man, but pick one.” Despondent Tedd was forced to return to Bellevue, uncertain of his future. Wishing for death was not an uncommon feeling. Once again, it was his love of the arts that would soon change his life’s course.

Tedd had always been in love with films; All through high school he had worked for free at the little State movie theater. While back at home, he watched the Warner Brother’s classic, Kings Row (starring a young Ronald Reagan) multiple times. Tedd’s fascination with the story led to his reading the source novel Kings Row by Henry Bellemann. Within the first few pages he read of a character that was not portrayed in the film–Jamie Wakefield described as “too pretty for a boy.” His complete identification with the character, Jamie happened to coincide with receiving a draft notice. Compelled by some inner force, he reached out to the 60ish author Henry Bellamann for advice or help of some sort. His desperate courage was met by Henry’s unusual empathy — and so it came to pass that the two artists’ lengthy correspondence developed into a unique relationship until Henry’s death in 1945, just a few weeks after World War II ended.

With magnanimous kindness, Henry’s widow Katherine sent back to Tedd all of his letters which Henry had saved. Their complete correspondence lay in a cardboard box for fifty-five years. During those years, Tedd managed to conform to societal norms by cutting his hair short, wearing men’s attire and working as secretary at J & L Steel in Cleveland. His love of the arts continued to sustain him as he performed for decades as an actor in Cleveland’s community theaters. Right after retiring from his job at J & L Steel, Tedd immediately returned to the femininity of his youth by growing out his long, silky white hair. He delighted when waiters or grocery baggers referred to him as “mam.” Tedd did continue to act in community theater productions; During the mid-1990’s, he met and became friends with a fellow actor/director Lenny Pinna. In year 2000, Pinna was inspired to make a docu-drama about the then seventy five year old Tedd. During filming, Pinna learned of the the Burr/Bellamann letters and once he read them, he asked Tedd if he could one day make a film or TV series based on Tedd’s younger life and his relationship with Henry Bellamann. Burr bequeathed the original letters to Pinna with permission to publish and/or make a dramatic work. Now during TeddCentennial–the one hundredth anniversary year of Tedd’s birth–the book A Face From Uranus: Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellamann 1943-1945, published by Ecclesia Arts is available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The pilot for the proposed Limited TV series, In The Name of Jamie Wakefield “Too Pretty For A Boy” can also be found on YouTube at Ecclesia Arts.

Bonnie Diczhazy
Queen of the Girl Geeks
+1 440-488-8293
bonnie@queenofthegirlgeeks.com
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