Vaudeville Star Julian Eltinge Caught in the Culture Wars of His EraDrag artists were huge in vaudeville, musical comedies, and the movies. But none more famous than Julian Eltinge (1881-1941). He navigated high society as a brilliant female impersonator while fabricating a hypermasculine drag persona offstage. Beautiful is the first full-length biography of this artistic marvel who defined his era—and whose story can tell us much about our own.
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Drag Icon Julian Eltinge
Meet America's most successful and highly-paid female impersonator from the 1900s to the 1920s. Enter a forgotten world of musicals and burlesques, when men from college to the boardroom to the military dragged up for lots of applause and little retribution. Visit backstage vaudeville, discover a blossoming Hollywood, and rub elbows with silent-film royalty.
Rich with detail, this immersive biography about a gender-bending vaudeville celebrity will appeal to history and theatre buffs alike. In a time when politicians weaponize gender and sexuality, Eltinge’s story offers complex insight into cultural attitudes about masculinity and femininity, reminding us that humans have always contained multitudes.
