Symbols Last Night at the Telegraph Club Malinda Lo

Tommy Andrews: Symbol of Queer Visibility, Gender Fluidity, and Desire

Introduction

In Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Tommy Andrews is far more than a supporting character. As a male impersonator who headlines the Telegraph Club, Tommy embodies the novel’s central tensions around queer visibility, gender performance, and the risks of self-expression during the McCarthy era. For protagonist Lily Hu, Tommy starts as a distant fantasy clipped from a newspaper and gradually becomes a flesh-and-blood figure who challenges Lily’s understanding of desire, identity, and the cost of living openly. This analysis explores Tommy Andrews as a concrete symbol: what it literally is, where it recurs, how its meaning shifts, and how it connects to key characters and themes.

What Is Tommy Andrews?

Tommy Andrews is a fictional male impersonator—a woman who performs onstage dressed as a man, singing popular songs in a husky voice while wearing a tuxedo, slicked-back hair, and masculine swagger. The character first appears not in person but as a newspaper advertisement in Chapter 1. Lily spots the ad for the Telegraph Club—“tommy andrews male impersonator”—while helping her friend Shirley at the Eastern Pearl restaurant. The black-and-white photo shows a handsome figure in a tuxedo, and Lily feels something “still inside” her. She secretly tears out the ad, hides it in her skirt pocket, and washes ink from her hands to conceal her act. This initial encounter establishes Tommy as a forbidden object of curiosity, linked to the adult nightlife that Lily’s parents have warned her to avoid.

The Telegraph Club itself is a real queer bar in San Francisco’s North Beach, and Tommy’s performances draw both tourists and a predominantly lesbian audience. When Lily finally sees Tommy in Chapter 20, she is struck by the performer’s physicality: the pomade in the waves of her hair, the precise folds of her bow tie, the gold signet ring on her pinkie finger. Tommy’s swagger is described as “so like a man and yet—” that “yet” is the key. Tommy’s power lies in the visible incongruity between her masculine costume and her female body, a deliberate performance that makes queerness not just visible but celebratory.

Recurrence and Evolution of the Symbol

Tommy Andrews appears at critical moments in the novel, and each recurrence deepens the symbol’s meaning.

Newspaper ad (Chapter 1): The ad is Lily’s first clue that a world of queer expression exists beyond Chinatown. The photograph is static and safe, allowing Lily to imagine Tommy as a pure, distant figure.
First performance (Chapter 20): Reality shatters Lily’s fantasy. Tommy is “made of flesh and blood,” and Lily is both awed and frightened. She feels “queasy, self-conscious confusion” as Tommy flirts with audience members. The symbol shifts from a matinee idol to a swaggering, assertive presence.
Restroom encounter (Chapter 21): Tommy passes Lily in the upstairs hallway and says, “Hope you’re enjoying the show, China doll.” The racist remark—“China doll”—adds a layer of othering, showing that even within the queer community, racial prejudice exists. Tommy’s earlier allure is complicated by her casual microaggression.
Party at Tommy’s apartment (Chapter 31): Tommy finds Lily alone in a bedroom, touches her face, and implies Lily is drunk. She tells Lily to go back to her “girlfriend,” forcing Lily to confront her feelings for Kath. Here Tommy becomes a mirror for Lily’s own denial and desire.
Arrest (Chapter 39): After the Telegraph Club raid, Tommy is arrested. The symbol of queer visibility suddenly carries legal consequences, underscoring the real danger of living openly during the Lavender Scare.

Across these recurrences, Tommy’s meaning transforms from an idealized fantasy to a complex, flawed human being who both inspires and threatens Lily.

Thematic Connections

Queer Desire and Self-Discovery

Tommy Andrews is the catalyst for Lily’s journey toward understanding her own sexuality. The ad sparks a “restless urge to look,” and the live performance makes Lily’s desires tangible. Lily’s attraction to Tommy is charged with shame and excitement; she imagines Tommy’s cologne and remembers “the curl of Tommy’s lip” while lying in bed. Yet Tommy also represents the possibility of a life lived openly—a life that Lily, as a Chinese American girl in the 1950s, cannot easily claim.

Secrecy and Identity

Tommy’s performances are a form of public secrecy: the audience knows she is a woman, but the illusion of masculinity is part of the thrill. Similarly, Lily’s identity is split between her family obligations and her hidden self. Tommy’s arrest in Chapter 39 forces Lily to confront the consequences of visibility. After the raid, Lily confesses to her mother that she thinks she is homosexual—a direct outcome of her connection to Tommy and the club.

Chinese American Identity and Assimilation

Tommy’s racist comment in Chapter 21 highlights how queer spaces are not immune to racial prejudice. Lily is the only Chinese girl at the club, and Tommy’s “China doll” remark reduces her to an exotic stereotype. At the party in Chapter 31, another guest, Sal, asks Lily where she is from and expresses surprise that she speaks English without an accent. These moments show that queer communities, while offering freedom from heteronormative expectations, can replicate the racial hierarchies of the outside world. Tommy thus symbolizes both the possibilities and the limitations of queer solidarity in a racially stratified society.

The Red Scare and McCarthyism

The novel’s historical context—the anti-communist purge and the Lavender Scare—makes Tommy’s performances an act of resistance. The police raid on the Telegraph Club (based on real events) reflects how the state targeted homosexuals as security risks. Tommy’s arrest is not just a plot point; it is a symbolic stand against institutional persecution. The symbol of Tommy Andrews embodies the courage to be visible in a time when visibility could mean loss of job, family, or freedom.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Tommy Andrews’s performance challenge conventional gender norms?

Tommy performs masculinity with deliberate theatricality: she wears a tuxedo, uses masculine posture, and sings songs originally written for a male voice. Yet the audience knows she is a woman, which creates what Lily calls a “deliciously scandalous” contrast. By blurring the boundary between male and female presentation, Tommy demonstrates that gender is a performance that can be adopted and subverted. Her success as a male impersonator relies on the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief, which in turn reveals how all gender is constructed.

2. Why does Lily feel both drawn to and frightened by Tommy when she sees her live?

Lily’s fantasy of Tommy was a safe, distant image. In reality, Tommy is “a woman made of flesh and blood,” with a physical presence that feels immediate and threatening. Tommy’s swagger and flirtatiousness force Lily to confront her own desires—something she has kept hidden. The “queasy, self-conscious confusion” Lily experiences stems from the gap between her controlled imagination and the uncontrollable reality of attraction. Moreover, Tommy’s boldness reminds Lily of the risks of being openly queer, which frightens her even as she longs for it.

3. What does Tommy’s use of the term “China doll” reveal about the intersection of race and sexuality in the novel?

The term “China doll” objectifies Lily as an exotic, passive Asian female—a stereotype that reduces her individuality. Tommy, despite being part of a marginalized queer community, perpetuates this racial microaggression. It reveals that queer spaces in 1950s San Francisco were not automatically inclusive; racism persisted even among those who faced homophobia. This moment forces Lily to navigate a double marginalization: she is queer in a heteronormative world and Chinese in a predominantly white queer space. Tommy’s comment thus complicates the symbol of queer visibility by showing that visibility alone does not guarantee equality.

4. How does Tommy’s arrest in Chapter 39 connect to the novel’s themes of secrecy and political persecution?

Tommy’s arrest is a direct consequence of the police raid, which itself is tied to the Lavender Scare—the government’s campaign to purge homosexuals from public life. Her arrest symbolizes the cost of living openly in a society that criminalizes non-normative identities. For Lily, the raid shatters any illusion that the Telegraph Club is a safe haven; it forces her to choose between secrecy (staying silent at home) and honesty (confessing to her mother). Tommy becomes a warning and a martyr: her visibility leads to punishment, yet her existence remains a beacon for those like Lily who are still finding their way.

Conclusion

Tommy Andrews is a multifaceted symbol in Last Night at the Telegraph Club. As a male impersonator, she represents the thrilling possibility of queer visibility and gender fluidity. Yet she is also a flawed human being who reflects the racism and danger of the 1950s. For Lily, Tommy is a mirror: at first a distant fantasy, then a frightening reality, and finally a catalyst for self-acceptance. Through Tommy, Malinda Lo explores the joy and peril of being seen, making this symbol central to the novel’s enduring power.