Just One of the Boys: Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage

275 Pages·2018·2.49 MB·English

by  Gillian M. Rodger

JUST ONE
BOYS
OF THE
FEMALE-TO-MALE
CROSS-DRESSING
ON THE
AMERICAN
VVARIETY STAGE
GILLIAN M.
RODGER
Just One of the Boys
Music in American Life
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.
Just One of the Boys
Female-t o-M ale Cross-D ressing
on the American Variety Stage
Gillian M. Rodger
Publication of this book is supported by the Gustave Reese
Endowment of the American Musicological Society, funded
in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
© 2018 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid- free paper.
All illustrations courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Rodger, Gillian M. author.
Title: Just one of the boys : female-to-male cross-dressing on
the American variety stage / Gillian M. Rodger.
Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2018] |
Series: Music in American life | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifiers: lccn 2017026731 (print)
| lccn 2017029151 (ebook) | isbn 9780252050169 (ebook)
| isbn 9780252041518 (hardcover : alk. paper) | isbn
9780252083150 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Revues—United States—19th century—
History and criticism. | Male impersonators—United
States—History—19th century.
Classification: lcc ml1711.4 (ebook) | lcc ml1711.4 .r64 2918
(print) | ddc 792.70973/09034—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017026731
Contents
Introduction 1
1 Female Hamlets and Romeos: Cross- Dressing Actresses
in Nineteenth- Century Theater 17
2 The First Generation of Performers, 1868–1880:
Annie Hindle and Ella Wesner 27
3 Increasing Competition during the 1870s:
Augusta Lamareaux and Blanche Selwyn 59
4 The Second Generation of Performers:
Maggie Weston and Minnie Hall 76
5 Ella Wesner and English Male Impersonation 90
6 Changing Performance Contexts
and Management Styles in the 1880s 112
7 Male Impersonation in the 1880s and 1890s:
Annie Hindle and Ella Wesner 129
8 English Male Impersonation in America:
Changing Aesthetics, Changing Performance Style 145
9 Male Impersonation in the New Century 169
Appendix 189
Notes 193
Bibliography 219
Index 235
Photographs follow pages 89 and 188

Just One of the Boys

Introduction
A single photograph provided the impetus for the research on which this
work is based: a photograph of English music hall performer Vesta Tilley,
dressed in a men’s evening suit with long coattails and a top hat, that dated
from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Tilley was an English
male impersonator who toured the United States during the 1890s and 1900s,
and the photograph shows her striking a jaunty pose and looking defiantly at
the camera. When I found this image, it contradicted everything I thought I
knew about this period. I assumed that the Victorian era was prim, proper,
and repressed and that women in this period could not possibly have done
anything as daring as perform while dressed in male fashion. Having grown
up in Australia, I was aware of theatrical traditions such as pantomime in
which young women took male roles—indeed, I had seen at least one of
these productions in my childhood. But women in principal boy roles in
pantomime wore breeches that exposed their lower legs, and their costumes
highlighted their curves. They were clearly identifiable as female. Tilley, on
the other hand, looked more like a man. Did her appearance denote the
presence of lesbians both on the theatrical stage and in the audience? Was
her act intended to appeal primarily to women? And how did the men in
the audience react to being mocked by a woman dressed in male costume?
After conducting preliminary research into this actress, I was disappointed
to find that she was nothing like the fantasy image I had constructed of her
in my imagination. Vesta Tilley was highly scripted in her act, concerned
about adhering to standards of decency even as she performed in male char-
acter, and she married English theatrical manager Walter de Frece; de Frece