Julian Eltinge (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941), born
William Julian Dalton, was an American
stageIn theatre, the stage is a designated space for the performance of theatrical productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience. As an architectural feature, the stage may consist of a platform or series of platforms...
and
screenFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and female impersonator. After appearing in the
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other
producersA theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
and made his first appearance on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in
vaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and toured Europe and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
even giving a
command performanceFor a general description of performances for the monarch, see Royal Command Performance.The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen...
before King
Edward VIIEdward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910...
. Eltinge appeared in a series of musical comedies written specifically for his talents starting in 1910 with
The Fascinating Widow, returning to vaudeville in 1918. His popularity soon earned him the moniker "Mr.
Lillian RussellLillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago...
" for the equally popular beauty and musical comedy star.
Hollywood beckoned Eltinge and in 1917 he appeared in his first
feature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening...
,
The Countess Charming. This would lead to other films including 1918s
The Isle of LoveThe Isle of Love is a 1922 recut of a 1918 film starring female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The film also contained two actors unknown during filming: Virginia Rappe and Rudolph Valentino. The film went through various recuts and releases during the 1920s and is generally known for its...
with
Rudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, sex symbol, and early pop icon. Known as the "Latin Lover", he was one of the most popular stars of the 1920s, and one of the most recognized stars from the silent film era. He is best known for his work in The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...
and
Virginia RappeVirginia Rappe was an American model and silent film actress.-Early life and career:Born to an unwed mother in New York City, Rappe was raised by her grandmother in Chicago after her mother died when Rappe was 11. At age 14 she began working as a commercial and art model in Chicago...
. By the time Eltinge arrived in Hollywood, he was considered one of the highest paid actors on the American stage but with the arrival of the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the death of vaudeville; Eltinge’s star began to fade. He continued his show in
nightclubA nightclub is a drinking, dancing and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers...
s but found little success, he died in 1941 following a show at a
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
nightclub. He leaves a legacy as one of the greatest female impersonators of the 20th century.
Early years
Though the details of his professional life are widely known, Eltinge's personal life is shrouded in mystery; mystery partly due to the passage of time, but really more likely to Eltinge's own hand. Eltinge was born in
Newtonville, MassachusettsNewtonville is a village of Newton, Massachusetts.Located in Newtonville is Newton North High School, one of the city's two high schools. Also located in Newtonville is the MBTA Commuter Rail train station, which is serviced by the buses 59, 553, 554, and 556....
. It is believed that his father was a
miningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash...
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
and that early in his life he traveled out west with his father, ending up in
Butte, MontanaButte is a city in and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of The City and County of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2000 census, Butte's population was 33,892...
.
His start in
show businessShow business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element...
, like his early life, is also shrouded in myth. Most sources cite his first female role being at the age of ten with the Boston Cadets Review at the Tremont Theater in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
. He is reported to have played the role so well that the next year the revue was written around him which led to minor roles elsewhere. But as to how he came to perform as a female with the Boston Cadets, sources differ. In some versions he was taking
cakewalkThe "Cake Walk" was developed from a "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States. Alternate names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around"...
lessons from a Mrs. Wyman's dance
studioA studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture,scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, cinematography, animation, radio or television broadcasting or the...
when he impressed upon his teacher an incredible ability to emulate females. It is said to be Mrs. Wyman who encouraged young William to study the art of female impersonation. Boys often play female roles in all male organizations.
Broadway and vaudeville
Eltinge's first appearance on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
was in the musical comedy
Mr. Wix of Wickham which opened September 19, 1904 at the Bijou Theatre in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. The show was produced by E. E. Rice and included music by
Jerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of popular music. He wrote around 700 songs, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "Who?", a 6-week number 1 hit for...
among others. The show was a flop but it helped to establish Eltinge's rising star.
During this time Eltinge began performing in
vaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. Unlike many of the female impersonation acts that existed at that time, like Bert Savoy or George Fortesque, Eltinge did not present a caricature of women but presented the illusion of actually being a woman. He toured simply as "Eltinge" which left his
sexIn biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
unknown and his act included singing and dancing in a variety of female roles including a
Gibson GirlThe Gibson Girl was the personification of a feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen and ink illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States.Some people argue that the...
-like role called "The Sampson Girl". At the conclusion of his performances, he would remove his wig, revealing his true nature to the surprise of the often unknowing
audienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
.
In 1906 Eltinge made his
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
debut at the Palace Theater. While in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, Eltinge was commanded to give a performance for
King Edward VIIEdward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the British dominions, and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December 1936, after which he was immediately succeeded by his younger brother, George VI...
, who later presented him with a white
bulldogA Bulldog, also known as British Bulldog or English Bulldog, is a breed of dog which traces its ancestry to England. It should not be confused with other varieties such as the American Bulldog or the French Bulldog, which have a similar appearance.- Appearance :The bulldog is a breed with...
. The next year, Eltinge made his New York debut at the Alhambra Theater to critical acclaim. From 1908 to 1909 Eltinge toured with Cohan and Harris
MinstrelsThe minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
.
Eltinge's star began to shine on Broadway and on national tours and his name became known worldwide. Indeed, women were so enthralled by his performances that he established the
Eltinge MagazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
which advised women on beauty,
fashionFashion is the style and custom prevalent at a given time. In its most common usage however, "fashion" describes the popular clothing style. Many fashions are popular in many cultures at any given time. Important is the idea that the course of design and fashion will change more rapidly than the...
, and home tips.
The Fascinating Widow and beyond
In 1911, Eltinge opened one of his most famous shows,
The Fascinating Widow at New York's Liberty Theater. In it he played Hal Blake who disguises himself as "Mrs. Monte" in a
Charley's AuntCharley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
-like plot. The show only ran 56 performances in New York, but toured the nation successfully for several years.
The success of this show led producer A. H. Woods to give Eltinge one of theatre's highest honors, having a theatre named for him. A year to the day that
The Fascinating Widow opened, Woods opened the Eltinge Theatre on New York's
42nd Street42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theatres, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
designed by noted theater
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
Thomas W. LambThomas White Lamb was one of the foremost American theater and cinema architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is noted for designing New York's Ziegfeld Theatre, as well as the second Madison Square Garden...
. After serving as a legitimate theater for many years, it became a notorious
burlesqueBurlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. In 20th century America, the form became associated with a variety show in which striptease is the chief attraction.-Etymology and early history:...
house and was shut down during a "public morality" campaign in 1943. The theater became a
cinemaA movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre, film theater or cinema is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
the next year. The theater has now become part of the AMC Empire 25 cineplex having been lifted and moved in its entirety down the block from its original location.
Following on the success of
The Fascinating Widow, Eltinge performed in two other comedies that had similar success,
The CrinolineCrinoline was originally a stiff fabric with a weft of horse-hair and a warp of cotton or linen thread. The fabric first appeared around 1830, but by 1850 the word had come to mean a stiffened petticoat or rigid skirt-shaped structure of steel designed to support the skirts of a woman’s dress into...
Girl which opened in 1914 and
Cousin Lucy (with music by Kern) the next year.
Hollywood and the silver screen
As many actors began to leave for the
silver screenA silver screen, also known as a silver lenticular screen, is a type of projection screen that was popular in the early years of the motion picture industry, and is coming back into use in projecting 3-D films....
, Eltinge followed and in 1914 he starred in
silent pictureA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s with...
versions of
The Crinoline Girl followed by
Cousin Lucy the next year. According to Anthony Slide's
The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, he also had a cameo role in a film entitled
How Molly Malone Made Good. Eltinge's first real screen success came in 1917 in
The Countess Charming. His role in the film was again a double role with him playing both a male and said male in female garb.
Settling in Hollywood, Eltinge made three
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
s in 1917 and also in 1918. During this time he wrote and produced a vaudeville group called "The Julian Eltinge Players". With this group he returned triumphantly to the vaudeville stage appearing at New York's
Palace TheatreThe Palace Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre, built by California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario Martin Beck, experienced a number of problems before it opened. E. F....
in 1918. The next year he returned again in a new vaudeville review with sets by the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
designer
ErtéRomain de Tirtoff was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, the French pronunciation of his initials, R.T.-Life:...
.
By 1920, Eltinge was very wealthy and was living in one of the most lavish mansions in
Southern CaliforniaSouthern California, or SoCal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers around three major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area with over 12 million inhabitants, the San Bernardino-Riverside...
,
Villa Capistrano. His star began to shine even brighter after his appearance with Rudolf Valentino in the 1920 film
An Adventuress (released as
The Isle of Love in the U.S.). After filming, Eltinge continued touring onstage and would do so until 1927. He also made two films,
Madame Behave and
The Fascinating Widow, in 1925.
Offstage
Aside from the graceful femininity he exhibited onstage, Eltinge used a super-masculine facade in public to combat the rumours of his
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
. This facade included the occasional bar-fight, smoking cigars, and drawn out engagements to women (though he never married). He was also known to physically attack
stagehandA stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their duties include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production....
s, members of the audience and others who remarked on his sexuality. Indeed, his sexual duality led to the creation of the term "ambisextrous" to describe him.
As to his homosexuality, there is some question.
Milton BerleMilton Berle was an Emmy-winning American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , he was the first major star of US television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and many others who worked with Eltinge believed that he was indeed gay, though actress
Ruth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as the oversolicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, the eccentric life-loving Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the Every Which Way...
stated in a
New York Times article that he was "as virile as anybody virile." There is no existing record of a lover of either sex, though stories did abound. According to one such story recorded by Robert Toll in his book
On with the Show!, Eltinge gave a photograph of himself as
SaloméSalome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
, signed "From your friend Jule", to a Boston sportswriter. When the sportswriter's wife discovered the photograph in her husband's coat pocket she was outraged. Confronting her husband, she had to be convinced that the "woman" in the photograph was actually a man, but however she was disturbed to find that her husband had been spending time with him.
Fall from grace
By the 1930s, the female impersonations that he had built his career on had begun to lose popularity. Eltinge resorted to performing in sleazy
nightclubA nightclub is a drinking, dancing and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers...
s. Crackdowns on cross-dressing in public, meant to curb homosexual activity, prevented Eltinge from performing in costume. At one appearance in a
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
club, Eltinge stood next to displays of his gowns while taking on his characters.
The performances in nightclubs continued and while performing in New York in 1941, Eltinge died in his hotel room of what is reported to have been a cerebral hemorrhage, though the circumstances are considered mysterious to some scholars.
In popular culture
A reference to Julian Eltinge is found in
Buster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton VI was an American comic actor and filmmaker. Best known for his silent films, his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the seventh greatest director of all...
's 1925
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
Seven ChancesSeven Chances is an American comedy silent film directed by and starring Buster Keaton, based on a play written by David Belasco. Additional casts members include T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards, Ruth Dwyer, and others. The film also stars Jean Arthur, a future 1930s screwball actor, in an...
. In the film, he must marry before 7:00 PM in order to receive an inheritance. After many failures, Keaton's character, in an act of desperation, sees a poster depicting a large photo of a woman outside a performance hall and enters to ask her hand in marriage. While inside, a stage hand removes some boxes to reveal that the woman is indeed Julian Eltinge. Keaton returns to the screen with a black eye and his boater hat smashed over his head.
Quotations
- My heart is simply melting at the thought of Julian Eltinge;
His alter ego, Vesta TilleyMatilda Alice Powles , was an English male impersonator. At the age of 11, she adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley becoming the most famous and well paid music hall male impersonator of her day...
, too.
Since our language is so dexterous, let us call them ambi-sexterous -
Why hasn't this occurred before to you?
- Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, "A Musical Comedy Thought" - Vanity FairVanity Fair is an American Hollywood magazine of pop culture, fashion, and politics published by Condé Nast Publications. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1981 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition...
, June 1916
- W.C. Fields remarked that "Women went into ecstasies over him. Men went into the smoking room."
External links