#gladysbentley

[mistressofthemacabresworld]

[22immi]

Gladys Bentley, late ‘40s

[dapperq]

Black History Month celebrating Gladys Alberta Bentley (August 12, 1907 – January 18, 1960), an American blues singer, pianist and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. #dapperq #dappered #blm #bhm #gladysbentley

[sablesouls]

Advertisement for Mona's Club 440 in 1942, with the explicit use of the word "gay" featured prominently. The word "gay" during the 1940s also denoted "happy," and to the casual reader even the reference to "butch," meaning masculine in gay argot, might have escaped attention. However, the discerning, sophisticated, 1942 reader would quickly understand that Mona's Club 440 catered to an almost exclusively woman audience during World War II. Gladys Bentley carved out a place for herself amidst this curiosity, playing at rent parties and the legendary speakeasies of "Jungle Alley" at 133 between Lenox and Seventh Avenue. She would transform popular tunes of the day with raunchy naughty playful lyrics. Dressed in signature tux and top hat , she openly and riotously flirted with women in the audience. Her popularity and salary was ever increasing , as she was frequently mentioned in many of the entertainment columns of the day. #gladysbentley #lgbt🌈 #butch #harlemrenaissance #harlem #monasclub400

[saviisplaymateoftheyear]

Gladys Bentley was a fixture on the nightclub scene during the Harlem Renaissance. Wearing a top hat and tuxedo, Gladys made quite the impression on audiences who weren’t used to seeing a woman who dressed like a man, flirted with the women in the crowd, and sang songs with lyrics like, “Hard to tell what an old man can do/Keep your eyes open girls, ‘cause he’ll put that thing on you.” However, the very traits that became Gladys’s trademarks would also bring on racist and homophobic remarks. She wasn’t just a Black woman, she was an out Black lesbian. And then Gladys let the cat out of the bag that she was married to a white woman (whose identity is unknown). Every barrier Gladys was coming across in her life she knocked it down, and she knocked it down hard. However, later in life, Gladys denounced being a lesbian and claimed that she had undergone a “cure.” She alleged that she had an operation and was taking female hormones to help change her life. Her new life also involved becoming a minister. She died in 1960 at the age of 52. “Gladys Bentley, the sepian songstress at Joe Schneider’s Doll House, has been scorching the customer’s ears...The good thing is that they LOVE IT! The Hollywood set has been listening to this talented spice-disher along with a record-breaking Valley crowd...Gail Russell; Lawrence Tierney and Jane Russell are a few who have made their way there, and have gone home to get their phones busy telling their friends what a sensation Gladys is.” -- Valley Times, January 1948 ✨ #gladysbentley #blacksingers #blacklgbt #blacklesbians #harlemrenaissance #androgyny #blacklgbthistory #blackhistorymonth https://www.instagram.com/p/CaS4ZaGvGYD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[22immi]

Gladys Bentley, 1940

[sadiesavestheday]

Today let’s look at #GladysBentley. Transcript : Bentley was a lesbian blues performer who shocked audiences with her lyrics and crossdressing in suits. She was of the many stars of the Harlem Renaissance and attracted audiences from all over to see her act. Unfortunately she was forced to renounce her sexuality and declare that lesbians were not real women. “From the time I can remember anything, I never wanted a man to touch me. ... Soon I began to feel more comfortable in boys’ clothes than in dresses.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CKzlMNyD1hf/?igshid=1f8pi3sildqu0

[antidee]

#GladysBentley was one of the out Lesbian voices & pioneers of the #HarlemRenaissance that embraced gender bending, trans identity, & bent all the rules that society at the time frowned upon women to sing about. Billed as a “male impersonator”, Bentley also played piano, flirted with women during performances, & in the end sadly became a victim of society/gay conversion therapy. “When my two brothers were born, I began to hate them as we grew up. I suppose the reason was that they were admired while I was scorned . . . At the age of nine and ten, I stole their suits and wore them to school. I think I began wearing their clothes feeling that I was getting even with them, but soon I began to feel more comfortable in boys clothes than in dresses.” - #GladysBentley https://www.instagram.com/p/CBBpFX8DqCy/?igshid=yqtwcdgi4f3m