Apr 23, 2023
ella wesner (1841-1917) was the most celebrated male impersonator of the gilded age vaudeville circuit. wesner began her career at the age of nine as part of a family of vaudeville and musical-stage dancers. by her mid-twenties, she was playing both male and female roles, at some point meeting and working as a "dresser" for the most notorious. her most celebrated era was the 1880s; her act included not only songs celebrating the "sporting" life and skits such as her popular rendition of a drunkard getting a barber's shave, but also monologues containing advice for men about how to court, treat and satisfy women.
#history#ella wesner#essentially drag but they called it impersonator so i just went with their term#fashion#gilded age#lgbt history#because she did marry a woman but oh boy was that a controversial thing not because she did but because she married a woman who was#married to one man and mistress to the man who married her husband
