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Gladys Bentley I Am a Woman Again Ebony

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American blues singer

Gladys Bentley
A black-and-white photo of Bentley in a white tail coat, holding a cane and wearing a top hat

Bentley c. 1930
Background information
Birth name Gladys Alberta Bentley
Likewise known equally Barbara "Bobbie" Minton
Born (1907-08-12)Baronial 12, 1907
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died January 18, 1960(1960-01-18) (anile 52)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Blues
Occupation(s) Vocaliser
Years active 1920s–1950s

Musical creative person

Gladys Alberta Bentley (Baronial 12, 1907 – Jan 18, 1960)[1] was an American dejection vocalist, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance.

Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House in New York in the 1920s, every bit a black, lesbian, cantankerous-dressing performer. She headlined in the early 1930s at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed upward by a chorus line of drag queens. She dressed in men's dress (including a signature tail glaze and acme hat), played pianoforte, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling vocalisation while flirting with women in the audition.

On the refuse of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America'due south Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". She was oftentimes harassed for wearing men'southward clothing. She tried to continue her musical career merely did not achieve every bit much success as she had had in the past. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career, only during the McCarthy Era she started wearing dresses and married, claiming to have been cured by taking female hormones.

Early on life [edit]

Bentley was born August 12, 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of George Fifty. Bentley, an American, and his wife, Mary Mote, a Trinidadian.[ii] In Bentley's Ebony commodity,[3] she wrote about trouble in the home every bit she was growing upward and the relationship between her and her female parent. She was the eldest of 4 children in a depression-income family living at 1012 W. Euclid Ave. in North Philadelphia [4] and always felt unwanted or rejected because her mother desperately wanted her to have been born a boy: "When they told my female parent she had given nascency to a girl, she refused to touch on me. She wouldn't even nurse me and my grandmother had to raise me for 6 months on a bottle before they could persuade my mother to take intendance of her own baby."[5] She believed that growing upward feeling rejected shaped her behavior; she never wanted a man to touch her, hated her brothers, wore boys' clothes, and had a crush on one of her female teachers in elementary schoolhouse.

Article of clothing choices [edit]

In an interview with Ebony magazine,[six] Bentley stated that "It seems I was born different. At least, I always thought I was." From an early age, Bentley defied gender normative behaviors and femininity. She was larger in size and preferred to wearable her blood brother'south suits instead of dresses or blouses. As a consequence of her lack of gender conformity, she was teased past her classmates and often ostracized by her family unit and peers. Bentley recalled dreaming and beingness infatuated with her primary schoolhouse female person teachers but did non understand those feelings until afterwards on in her life. Bentley'due south beliefs was seen as abnormal and "unladylike" which led to her family sending her to doctors to fix Bentley'southward desires. Later psychiatrists would money Bentley's non-heteronormative beliefs as "farthermost social maladjustment." Due to her inability to experience conformable and her family'southward inability to have her as she was, Bentley ran away from home at the age of xvi to begin her life in New York City.[2]

Career [edit]

She moved from Philadelphia to Harlem, a neighborhood in New York Urban center in 1925[seven] at the age of 16.[2] She heard that Harry Hansberry'south Clam Firm on 133rd Street, one of the city's most notorious gay speakeasies,[eight] needed a male person pianist. This is when she began performing in men's attire ("white full dress shirts, stiff collars, small bow ties, oxfords, short Eton jackets, and pilus cut directly dorsum"),[3] and here she perfected her act and became popular and successful.

Her salary started at $35 per week plus tips and went to $125 per week, and the club was soon renamed Barbara'southward Sectional Club, after her phase proper noun at the time, Barbara "Bobbie" Minton. She so began performing at the Ubangi Lodge on Park Avenue, got an accompanist on piano, and was successful enough to ain a "$300/month apartment in Park Ave. With servants and a nice car"[3] (although some have said that she was living in the penthouse of one of her lesbian lovers).[9] She toured the country, some destinations existence Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Hollywood, where she was well liked by Cesar Romero, Hugh Herbert, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, and other celebrities.

Bentley had neat talent as a piano role player, singer, and entertainer. Her performances were "comical, sweetness and risqué"[9] for the era and the audience. In her music, she called out men and openly sang about sexual relationships which was seen as risqué behavior at the time. Fifty-fifty more, she oft sang nigh "sissies" and "bulldaggers"[10] and, through innuendo or more literally, about her female person lovers, and she flirted with women in the audience.[11] She mostly played the blues and parodies of popular songs of the time: "mocking 'high' class imagery with 'low' course humor, she applied aspects of the sexually charged 'black' blues to demure, romantic 'white' ballads, creating a culture clash between these ii music forms".[12] Bentley was known for taking popular songs and putting a promiscuous spin on them.

She sang loud, and her song mode was deep and booming, sometimes using a growling effect and imitations of a horn. In Baronial 1928, she signed with Okeh Records company and recorded eight sides over the course of the side by side year up until 1929.[thirteen] In 1930 she recorded a side with the Washboard Serenaders for Victor,[14] and later recorded for the Excelsior, and Flame labels. Her vocal range was broad, as can be heard in her recordings. She mostly sang in a deep, low range, only also reached high notes. Bentley'due south performances appealed to black, white, gay, and straight audiences alike, and many celebrities attended her shows. Langston Hughes recorded his reaction to the showtime of Bentley's career success:

For 2 or three astonishing years, Miss Bentley sat, and played pianoforte all nighttime long … with scarcely a suspension between the notes, sliding from one song to some other, with a powerful and continuous underbeat of jungle rhythm. Miss Bentley was an amazing exhibition of musical energy – a large, dark, masculine lady, whose feet pounded the flooring while her fingers pounded the keyboard – a perfect piece of African sculpture, animated by her ain rhythm.[fifteen]

On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". She tried to continue her musical career by playing in a number of gay nightspots simply did non reach as much success as she had had in the past. As times progressed and federal laws connected to change, there became a signal where Bentley had to comport special permits to allow her to perform in men's clothing. She was frequently harassed for wearing men'due south clothing. She claimed that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career,[16] just during the McCarthy Era, she started wearing dresses and married (inside 5 months of meeting) Charles Roberts, age 28, a cook, in a civil ceremony in Santa Barbara, California, in 1952. Roberts later on denied that they had e'er married.

On May 15, 1958 she appeared equally a contestant on You Bet Your Life, engaging in discussion with host Groucho Marx earlier accompanying herself on piano as she sang Them In that location Eyes.

Bentley also studied to be a government minister, claiming to have been "cured" past taking female hormones. In an effort to describe her supposed "cure" for homosexuality she wrote an essay, "I Am a Woman Again", for Ebony magazine in which she stated she had undergone an operation, which "helped change her life over again".[17] [18] [xix]

Legal battle [edit]

In 1933, Bentley found herself in the heart of a Supreme Court battle with Harry Hansberry and Nat Palein. Hansberry and Palein sued Bentley to prohibit her from taking her musical to the Broadway division. Hansberry insisted that the social club had been built effectually the popularity of Bentley's success and that he owned a v-year contract over Bentley and her raunchy songs. The duo insisted that Bentley left them loftier and dry at the ascent of the order and wanted to pursue other interests that she could financially do good from.

In 1933 she attempted to motion her human action to Broadway, despite legal bug. There she received many complaints about her raunchy performances which resulted in the law locking upwards the doors of places she performed. Unable to express her talent on Broadway, she was forced to motion back to Harlem in 1934, where she then played at the Ubangi Club for three years before it closed in 1937.

Personal life and death [edit]

In 1930, Bentley lived with a woman named Beatrice Robert.[20] In 1931, Bentley had a public spousal relationship to a white woman during a civil ceremony in New Bailiwick of jersey whose identity remains unknown. When she relocated to Los Angeles, she allegedly married J. T. Gibson, who died in 1952,[21] the same yr in which she married Charles Roberts, a cook in Los Angeles; they were married in Santa Barbara, California, went on a honeymoon in Mexico.[21] Gibson denied always marrying her.[22]

Bentley died of pneumonia unexpectedly at her domicile in Los Angeles on January 18, 1960, aged 52.[i] [2] [23] It was initially believed to exist the Asian influenza but later turned into "pneumonia." At the time of her death, she had been more involved in the church and had just been ordained as a minister despite never getting her official paperwork. She is buried beside her female parent at Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson, California.[24]

Legacy [edit]

Aside from her musical talent and success, Bentley is a significant and inspiring effigy for the LGBT community and African Americans, and she was a prominent figure during the Harlem Renaissance. She was revolutionary in her masculinity: "Differing from the traditional male impersonator, or drag king, in the popular theater, Gladys Bentley did not effort to 'pass' as a man, nor did she playfully attempt to deceive her audience into assertive she was biologically male. Instead, she exerted a 'blackness female masculinity' that troubled the distinctions betwixt blackness and white and masculine and feminine".[25]

Fictional characters based on Bentley appeared in Carl Van Vechten's novel Parties, Cloudless Woods' novel Deep River, and Blair Niles' novel Strange Blood brother.

In 2016, musician Shirlette Ammons released an anthology entitled Twilight for Gladys Bentley that paid tribute to Bentley'southward legacy and "reimagined" Bentley in relationship to hip hop culture.[26]

In 2019, The New York Times newspaper began a series called "Disregarded No More," in which the editorial staff aims to correct a longstanding bias in reporting by republishing obituaries for historical minorities and women.[27] Bentley was 1 of the featured obituaries in Disregarded No More.[2]

Venues [edit]

Bentley appeared at:

  • The Mad Firm, 133rd Street, Harlem, New York City, New York[23]
  • Harry Hansberry'south Clam House ("Gladys' Clam House"), 133rd Street, Harlem, Harlem, New York Metropolis, New York[23] [28]
  • Ubangi Club, Harlem, New York City, New York[2]
  • Connie's Inn ("Jungle Alley"), 2221 7th Street, Harlem, New York Urban center, New York[23]
  • Apollo Theatre, Harlem, New York City, New York
  • The Cotton wool Order, Harlem, New York City, New York
  • Joaquin's El Rancho, Los Angeles, California
  • Mona's 440 Lodge, North Beach, San Francisco, California

Discography [edit]

Okeh Records

Recorded August 8 and 31, 1928

  • "Worried Dejection" / "Basis Squealer Dejection" (August 1928) #8610
  • "How Long, How Long Dejection" / "Moanful Wailin' Blues" (Baronial 1928) #8612

Recorded November 15, 1928, and March 26, 1929

  • "Wild Geese Blues" / "How Much Can I Stand" (November 1928, with piano, not released)
  • "Wild Geese Blues" / "How Much Can I Stand" (November 1928, with guitar) #8643
  • "Red Beans and Rice" / "Big Gorilla Human being" (March 1929) #8707

Victor

  • "Washboards Assemble" / "Kazoo Moan", #38127, scatting vocal on A-side only (championship often listed as "Washboard Become Together"), with the Washboard Serenaders, recorded March 1930; reissued twice, equally Bluebird B-5790 (circa 1934) and B-6633 (circa 1936)

Excelsior Records

As Gladys Bentley Quintette, 1945

  • "Boogie'due north My Woogie" / "Thrill Me Till I Get My Fill up", #164
  • "Red Beans & Rice Blues" / "Find Out What He Likes (and How He Likes It)" #165/166
  • "Big Gorilla Dejection" / "Lay It on the Line", #166/165
  • "Boogie Woogie Cue" / "Give It Upward", #168
  • "Notoriety Papa" / "Information technology Went to the Girl Next Door", #169

Swingtime Records

  • "Jingle Jangle Jump", #321, vocals for Wardell Gray and the Dexter Gordon Quintet, 1952
  • "July Boogie" / "Gladys Could Play", #337, as Fatso Bentley, July 4, 1953

Flame Records

  • "Easter Mardi Gras" / "Before Midnight", Flame 1001, Cincinnati, early 1950s, characterization misspells name every bit Gladys Bently; mentioned in her Baronial 1952 article in Ebony and thus recorded in 1952 or earlier[ citation needed ]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric Due south. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 333. ISBN978-0313344237.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Russonello, Giovanni (January 31, 2019). "Gladys Bentley, Gender-Angle Blues Performer and '20s Harlem Royalty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Bentley, Gladys (August 1952). "I Am a Woman Again". Ebony. Vol. 7, no. x. p. 94.
  4. ^ "Philadelphia LGBT Mapping Project". Facebook. July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Gladys Bentley". Queermusicheritage.com. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  6. ^ Monroe, Irene (April xiv, 2010). "Honoring Notorious Gladys Bentley". Huffington Postal service . Retrieved October xviii, 2018.
  7. ^ Shah, Haleema (March 14, 2019). "The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules". Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  8. ^ Garber, Eric. "A Spectacle in Colour: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem". University of Virginia. Retrieved November thirteen, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Duckett, Alfred. "The Third Sex". The Chicago Defender, March ii, 1957.
  10. ^ McBreen, Ellen (1998). "Biblical Gender Bending in Harlem: The Queer Operation of Nugent'due south Salome." Art Journal (College Art Association), vol. 57, no. three, Autumn 1998. p. 23.
  11. ^ Bunch, Lonnie G.; Conwill, Kinshasha Holman; Tredthewey, Natasha (July 2015). African American Women (Double Exposure). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African American History and Culture. p. 60. ISBN9781907804489.
  12. ^ Wilson, James (June xvi, 2010). Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies. p. 173. ISBN978-0472117253.
  13. ^ Gladys Bentley, more than a liberated singer, aaregistry.org. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  14. ^ Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who'south Who (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. p. 43. ISBN 0-306-80155-8.
  15. ^ Wilson, James (June 16, 2010). Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies. p. 175. ISBN978-0472117253.
  16. ^ Rodger, Gillian (2002). "Bentley, Gladys". Glbtq.com. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007.
  17. ^ Jet. September eighteen, 1952.
  18. ^ "Gladys Bentley". QueerCulturalCenter.org. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2007.
  19. ^ Duberman, Martin; Vicinus, Martha; Chauncey, George (1990), Hidden from History , Penguin, ISBN0-452-01067-5
  20. ^ "Gladys Bently", Us census, 1930; Manhattan, New York, New York; gyre 1574, folio 12B, line 60-61, enumeration commune 928, Family unit History pic 2341309, National Archives film number T626. Retrieved on 2021-xi-25.
  21. ^ a b "Gladys Bentley Articles: Role 5". Queermusicheritage.com. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  22. ^ "Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke Basis with Spousal relationship to a Woman in 1931".
  23. ^ a b c d West Aberjhani, Sandra Fifty. (2003). Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Infobase Publishing. p. 31. ISBN1438130171 – via Google Books.
  24. ^ "Memorial page for Gladys Alberta Bentley". Detect A Grave. 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  25. ^ Wilson, James (June 16, 2010). Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies. p. 172. ISBN978-0472117253.
  26. ^ "shirlette celebrates Gladys Bentley in PBS American Masters Serial, UNLADYLIKE2020". shirletteammons.com. 2020. Retrieved Feb 25, 2022.
  27. ^ Nalpathanchil, Carmen Baskauf, Lucy (February 12, 2019). "Remembering Those We've 'Overlooked'". www.wnpr.org . Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  28. ^ Ulysses (June twenty, 2011). "Gladys Bentley & The Clam House". H A R L E Yard + B E S P O M E . Retrieved March 4, 2019.

External links [edit]

  • Gladys Bentley at Find a Grave
  • Collection of newspaper clippings and recording data almost Gladys Bentley, from Queer Music Heritage by JD Doyle
  • Gladys Bentley performing "Them In that location Eyes" with Groucho Marx on Yous Bet Your Life in the 1950s on YouTube.

williamswhouthearied.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Bentley

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