Julian Eltinge (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941), born William Julian Dalton, was an American
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
and film actor and
female impersonator
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...
. After appearing in the
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other
producers and made his first appearance on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
and toured Europe and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, even giving a
command performance before King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second chil ...
. Eltinge appeared in a series of
musical comedies written specifically for his talents starting in 1910 with ''
The Fascinating Widow
''The Fascinating Widow'' is a 1910 musical comedy written by Otto Hauerbach as a vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearin ...
'', returning to vaudeville in 1918. His popularity soon earned him the moniker "Mr.
Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell (born Helen Louise Leonard; December 4, 1860 or 1861 – June 6, 1922), was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her beauty ...
" for the popular
beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
and musical comedy star.
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
beckoned Eltinge and in 1917 he appeared in his first
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
, ''
The Countess Charming
''The Countess Charming'' is a lost 1917 American silent comedy film directed by Donald Crisp and written by Gelett Burgess, Carolyn Wells, and Gardner Hunting. The film stars Julian Eltinge, Florence Vidor, Tully Marshall, George Kuwa, Edythe ...
''. This led to other films, including 1918's ''
The Isle of Love'' with
Rudolph Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
and
Virginia Rappe
Virginia Caroline Rappe (; July 7, 1891 – September 9, 1921) was an American model and silent film actress. Working mostly in bit parts, Rappe died after attending a party with actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was accused of manslaughter a ...
. 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 Depression and the death of vaudeville, Eltinge's star began to fade. He continued his show in nightclubs but found little success. He died in 1941 at his Manhattan apartment ten days after a show at a nearby
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
.
Early years
Eltinge was born in
Newtonville, Massachusetts
Newtonville is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
Geography
Newtonville is a predominantly residential neighborhood. It is divided into two parts by the Massachusetts Turnp ...
, to Julia Edna Baker and Michael Joseph Dalton. It is believed that his father was a mining engineer and that early in his life he traveled out west with his father, ending up in
Butte, Montana. In his early teens, Eltinge dressed in women's clothing and performed in saloons patronized by ranchers and miners. Upon discovering this in 1899, his father beat him and his mother sent him back to Boston, where the 17-year-old worked in dry goods as a salesman while studying dance.
The early film star
Pauline Frederick
Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress.
Early life
Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...
and Eltinge were childhood friends. They met up again at boarding school in Boston when Eltinge was already making a name for himself on the vaudeville stage. He dared her to apply to one of the music halls, which was the start of her career on stage and in films.
Most sources cite his first female role originally having been at the age of ten with the Boston Cadets Review at the
Tremont Theater in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. 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 a decade later with the Boston Cadets, sources differ. In some versions he was taking
cakewalk
The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern Uni ...
lessons from a Mrs. Wyman's dance studio when he demonstrated to his teacher a remarkable ability to emulate females. It is said to be Mrs. Wyman who encouraged William to study the art of female impersonation.
Broadway and vaudeville
Eltinge's first appearance on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
was in the
musical comedy
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
''Mr. Wix of Wickham'' which opened September 19, 1904 at the Bijou Theatre in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The show was produced by
E. E. Rice and included music by
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
among others.
During this time Eltinge began performing in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
. Unlike many of the female impersonation acts that existed at that time, like
Bert Savoy
Bert Savoy (1876 or 1888–1923), born Everett McKenzie, was an American entertainer who specialized in cross-dressing as a vaudeville act. His comedic skits contributed to popular culture with phrases such as "You slay me" and "You don't know the ...
, 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
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
unknown and his act included singing, dancing and quick costume changes in a variety of female roles, including a
Gibson Girl
The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal of physical attractiveness as portrayed by the pen-and-ink illustrations of artist Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries in th ...
-like role called "The Sampson Girl". At the conclusion of his performances, he would remove his
wig
A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...
, revealing his true nature to the surprise of the often unknowing audience.
In 1906 Eltinge made his
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
debut at the Palace Theater. While in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, Eltinge gave a performance for
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
, who later presented him with a white
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[Minstrels
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in Middle Ages, medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobatics, acrobat, singer or jester, fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to ...]
.
By 1910, Eltinge had reached the height of his fame. Sime Silverman, Editor of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', called him "as great a performer as there is today".
''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 Aunt
''Charley's Aunt'' is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt. The complications of the plot in ...
''-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
Albert Herman Woods (born Aladore Herman; January 3, 1870 – April 24, 1951) was a Hungarian-born theatrical producer who spent much of his life in the USA. He produced over 140 plays on Broadway, including some of the most successful sho ...
to give Eltinge one of the entertainment industry'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 Street designed by noted theater
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Thomas W. Lamb. Eltinge himself never performed in his namesake building. After serving as a legitimate theater for many years, it became a notorious
burlesque house and was shut down during a "public morality" campaign in 1943, before becoming a
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
the next year. The theater is now 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 Crinoline Girl
''The Crinoline Girl'' is a 1914 musical comedy written by Julian Eltinge, Otto Hauerbach, and Percy Wenrich. Producer Al Woods staged it on Broadway.
Plot
Tom Hale wants to marry Dorothy Ainsley, but her father Richard Ainsley does not want ...
'' which opened in 1914 and ''Cousin Lucy'' (with music by Kern) the next year.
Hollywood and film career
In 1914 Eltinge starred in
silent picture 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
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
in a film entitled ''How Molly Malone Made Good'' in 1915. 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
films 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 to the vaudeville stage appearing at New York City's
Palace Theatre in 1918, where he was paid one of the highest salaries in show business: $3,500 a week. The next year he returned again in a new vaudeville review with sets by the
French designer
Erté
Romain de Tirtoff (23 November 1892 – 21 April 1990) was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, from the French pronunciation of his initials (, EHR TEH). He was a 20th-century artist and designer in an a ...
.
By 1920, Eltinge was very wealthy and was living in one of the most lavish mansions in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
, ''Villa Capistrano''. He appeared with
Rudolf Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
in the 1920 film ''An Adventuress'' (released as ''
The Isle of Love'' in the U.S.). After filming, Eltinge continued touring onstage and did so until 1927. He also made two films, ''
Madame Behave'' and ''The Fascinating Widow'', in 1925.
Personal life
Despite the graceful femininity he exhibited on stage, Eltinge used a supermasculine facade in public to combat the rumours of his
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
. This sexual duality led to ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' drama critic Percy Hammond's using the term "ambisextrous" to describe him.
Eltinge may have been a gay man, as
Milton Berle and many others who worked with him believed. Actress
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones (October 30, 1896 – August 28, 1985) was an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright. She began her career performing on Broadway at age 19. Known for her nasal voice and distinctive personality, Gordon gained internati ...
stated in a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' article that he was "as
virile as anybody virile." There is no existing record of a lover of either sex, though stories did abound.
Later years and death
Eltinge was one of many show business figures to be hit hard by the 1929 stock market crash. By the 1930s, the female impersonations that he had built his career on had begun to lose popularity, as did vaudeville in general. Eltinge resorted to performing in
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
s. Crackdowns on cross-dressing in public – an attempt to curb homosexual activity – prevented Eltinge from performing in costume.
On February 25, 1941, Eltinge fell ill while performing at
Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub in New York City.
[Louisville Courier-Journal, March 8, 1941.] He was taken home and died in his apartment ten days later on March 7. His death certificate lists the cause of death as a
cerebral hemorrhage.
See also
*
Bothwell Browne
Bothwell Browne (born Walter Bothwell Bruhn; 1877–1947) was a Danish American stage and film performer, best known as a female impersonator.
Early life
Born in Copenhagen, Browne grew up in San Francisco and developed a vaudeville act. At on ...
*
Karyl Norman
George Francis Peduzzi (June 13, 1897 – July 23, 1947), known professionally as Karyl Norman, was an American female impersonator who was popular in vaudeville, nightclubs and on Broadway in the 1920s.
Biography
He was born in Baltimore, M ...
*
Bert Savoy
Bert Savoy (1876 or 1888–1923), born Everett McKenzie, was an American entertainer who specialized in cross-dressing as a vaudeville act. His comedic skits contributed to popular culture with phrases such as "You slay me" and "You don't know the ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Banham, Martin ed. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre''. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. 1992.
*Bloom, Ken. ''Broadway: An Encyclopedic Guide to the History, People and Places of Times Square''. Facts on File, New York, NY. 1991.
*Bordman, Gerald and Thomas L. Hischak. ''The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, 3rd Edition.'' Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2004.
*Slide, Anthony. ''The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville''.
Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. 1994.
*Toll, Robert C. ''On With the Show! The First Century of Show Business in America''. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. 1976.
*Winford, E. Carlton. ''Femme Mimics''. Winford Company, Dallas, TX. 1954.
External links
*
*
*
Photographs of Julian Eltingeheld by the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
Julian Eltinge Project- A comprehensive website with many images and much detailed information.
Review of Eltinge film The Countess Charming / Calgary Herald - 03 November 1917*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eltinge, Julian
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American male stage actors
Blackface minstrel performers
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Cross-dressing in film
American drag queens
Vaudeville performers
Male actors from Butte, Montana
1881 births
1941 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers