Julian Eltinge
Encyclopedia
Julian Eltinge born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage
and screen
actor
and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston
Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers
and made his first appearance on Broadway
in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in vaudeville
and toured Europe and the United States
, even giving a command performance
before King Edward VII
. 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 Russell
" for the equally popular beauty and musical comedy star.
Hollywood beckoned Eltinge and in 1917 he appeared in his first feature film
, The Countess Charming. This would lead to other films including 1918s The Isle of Love
with Rudolph Valentino
and Virginia Rappe
. 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 nightclub
s but found little success. He died in 1941 following a show at a New York
nightclub. He leaves a legacy as one of the greatest female impersonators of the 20th century.
. 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
.
His start in show business
, 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 Boston
. 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 cakewalk
lessons from a Mrs. Wyman's dance studio
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.
was in the musical comedy Mr. Wix of Wickham which opened September 19, 1904 at the Bijou Theatre in New York City
. The show was produced by E. E. Rice and included music by Jerome Kern
among others. The show was a flop but it helped to establish Eltinge's rising star.
During this time Eltinge began performing in vaudeville
. 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 sex
unknown and his act included singing and dancing in a variety of female roles including a Gibson Girl
-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 audience
.
In 1906 Eltinge made his London
debut at the Palace Theater. While in London
, Eltinge was commanded to give a performance for King Edward VII
, who later presented him with a white bulldog
. 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 Minstrels
.
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 Magazine
which advised women on beauty, fashion
, and home tips.
By 1910, Eltinge had reached the height of his fame. Sime Silverman, Editor of Variety
, called him "as great a performer as there is today".
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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
-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 Street
designed by noted theater architect
Thomas W. Lamb
. 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. The theater became a cinema
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 Crinoline
Girl which opened in 1914 and Cousin Lucy (with music by Kern) the next year.
, Eltinge followed and in 1914 he 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 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 film
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 Theatre
in 1918. The next year he returned again in a new vaudeville review with sets by the French
designer Erté
.
By 1920, Eltinge was very wealthy and was living in one of the most lavish mansions in Southern California
, 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.
Aside from the graceful femininity he exhibited onstage, Eltinge used a super-masculine facade in public to combat the rumours of his homosexuality
. 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 stagehand
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.
Eltinge was a gay man, as Milton Berle
and many others who worked with him believed. Actress Ruth Gordon
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 Salomé
, 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.
s. Crackdowns on cross-dressing in public, meant to curb homosexual activity, prevented Eltinge from performing in costume. At one appearance in a Los Angeles
club, Eltinge stood next to displays of his gowns while taking on his characters.
On May 7, 1941, Eltinge fell ill while performing at Billy Rose
's Diamond Horseshoe
nightclub. He was taken home and died in his apartment 10 days later. His death certificate lists the cause of death as a cerebral hemorrhage.
's comedy Seven Chances
(1925). 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.
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
and screen
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actor
Actor
An actor 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 Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers
Theatrical producer
A 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 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville 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 States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, even giving a command performance
Royal Variety 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 Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
before King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 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 Russell
Lillian Russell
Lillian 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 film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, The Countess Charming. This would lead to other films including 1918s The Isle of Love
The Isle of Love
The Isle of Love is a 1922 recut of a 1918 silent drama film starring female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The film also contained two actors unknown during filming: Virginia Rappe and Rudolph Valentino...
with Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
and Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe was an American model and silent film actress.-Early life and career:Rappe was born to unwed mother Mabel Rapp in New York City. Mabel died when Virginia was 11, and Virginia was then raised by her grandmother in Chicago. At age 14 she began working as a commercial and art model in...
. 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
Great Depression
The 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 nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s but found little success. He died in 1941 following a show at a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by 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, Massachusetts
Newtonville 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 mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and that early in his life he traveled out west with his father, ending up in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
.
His start in show business
Show business
Show 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 Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. 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 cakewalk
Cakewalk
The Cakewalk dance was developed from a "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around"...
lessons from a Mrs. Wyman's dance studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for 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, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
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
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
was in the musical comedy Mr. Wix of Wickham which opened September 19, 1904 at the Bijou Theatre in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The show was produced by E. E. Rice and included music by Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern 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 over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
among others. The show was a flop but it helped to establish Eltinge's rising star.
During this time Eltinge began performing in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville 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 sex
Sex
In 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 Girl
Gibson Girl
The 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 audience
Audience
An 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
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
debut at the Palace Theater. While in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Eltinge was commanded to give a performance for King Edward VII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, who later presented him with a white bulldog
Bulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
. 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 Minstrels
Minstrel show
The 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 Magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
which advised women on beauty, fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, and home tips.
By 1910, Eltinge had reached the height of his fame. Sime Silverman, Editor of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, called him "as great a performer as there is today".
The Fascinating Widow and beyond
Charley's Aunt
Charley'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 Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, 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 architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas White Lamb was an American architect, born in Scotland. He is noted as one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.-Career:...
. After serving as a legitimate theater for many years, it became a notorious burlesque
American burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...
house and was shut down during a "public morality" campaign in 1943. The theater became a cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater 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 Crinoline
Crinoline
Crinoline 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 screenSilver screen
A 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 passed into popular usage as a metonym for the cinema industry...
, Eltinge followed and in 1914 he starred in silent picture
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
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 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 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images 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 Theatre
Palace Theatre, New York
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before...
in 1918. The next year he returned again in a new vaudeville review with sets by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
designer Erté
Romain de Tirtoff
Romain de Tirtoff was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, the French pronunciation of his initials, R.T. He was a diversely-talented 20th century artist and designer who flourished in an array of fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume and...
.
By 1920, Eltinge was very wealthy and was living in one of the most lavish mansions in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, 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
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. 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 stagehand
Stagehand
A 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.-Types of stagehand:...
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.
Eltinge was a gay man, as Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and many others who worked with him believed. Actress Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
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 Salomé
Salome
Salome , 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 nightclubNightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s. Crackdowns on cross-dressing in public, meant to curb homosexual activity, prevented Eltinge from performing in costume. At one appearance in a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune 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.
On May 7, 1941, Eltinge fell ill while performing at Billy Rose
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
's Diamond Horseshoe
Diamond Horseshoe
Diamond Horseshoe is a 1945 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable, directed by George Seaton, and released by 20th Century Fox.-Background:...
nightclub. He was taken home and died in his apartment 10 days later. His death certificate lists the cause of death as a cerebral hemorrhage.
In popular culture
A reference to Julian Eltinge is found in Buster KeatonBuster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
's comedy Seven Chances
Seven Chances
Seven Chances is a 1925 American comedy silent film directed by and starring Buster Keaton, based on a play written by Roi Cooper Megrue, produced in 1916 by David Belasco. Additional casts members include T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards, Ruth Dwyer, and others. The film also stars Jean Arthur, a...
(1925). 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 TilleyVesta 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 ParkerDorothy ParkerDorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, "A Musical Comedy Thought" - Vanity FairVanity Fair (magazine)Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, June 1916
- Dorothy Parker
- W.C. Fields remarked that "Women went into ecstasies over him. Men went into the smoking room."
External links
- Julian Eltinge photo gallery
- Julian Eltinge Project - A comprehensive website with many images and much detailed information.
- AMC Empire 25 entry on the Cinema Treasures Website