Gladys Bentley: 0: French: Gladys Bentley: chanteuse de blues amricaine: 0: Dutch: Gladys Bentley: Amerikaans zangeres (1907-1960) . As a child, Bentley developed tender feelings for a female teacher and was often sent home for going . Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House, a well-known gay speakeasy in New York in the 1920s, as a black, lesbian, cross-dressing performer. Her biggest dramas, however, were yet to come. Family members linked to this person will appear here. 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. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Audience members started raving about her stage presence at the piano, so much so that the club even changed its name to Barbaras Exclusive Club to take the most advantage of Bentleys fame and notorietywhile they still could. For Hoedel, any such claims are just baseless "romanticism." Jim Weatherly Dead at 77 - People By the 1950s, Bentley was approaching middle age and the roaring 20s of her youth and the Harlem Renaissance community that flirted with modernism was now a thing of her past. Bentley died of pneumonia unexpectedly at her home in Los Angeles on January 18, 1960, aged 52. [20], In 1930, Bentley lived with a woman named Beatrice Robert. Gladys Bentley had told the gossip columnist that she had just gotten married. Like everything she did, she did this whole hog, and got ordained at the beginning of the 1960s. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. When I had finished my first number, the burst of applause was terrific.. Rustin's sexuality was a cause for debate by others in the movement, but toward the end of his life, he began to openly fight for queer causes. Gladys Bentley on "You Bet Your Life" - YouTube or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. At least, I always thought I was." Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic! So, she went ahead and did something truly scandalous. Gladys was ill throughout the summer of 1958, so she and husband Vernon Presley returned to Memphis in early August to see her personal physician. 0 references. The details of this courtship, however, areshady. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. She headlined in the early 1930s at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. While performing at the Manhattan nightclub Kings Terrace, the masculine garbed smut-singing entertainer, as one audience member put it, quickly got the authorities to shut the whole place down with her performance. Today, experts believe that the article and her marriages were not actually true representations of her identity, but rather her attempts to conform to the newly conservative standards of the day so she could survive. Death rumors debunked. Gladys George was one of the movies' greatest hard-luck dames, both on- and off-screen. place of burial. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Gladys Bentley, one of the most flamboyant blues entertainers of the 20th century, began performing in New York City as a singer and male impersonator. 3 references. Black and white audiences loved the risqu lyrics, the sonorous deep voice, the open flirtation with the most attractive women in the audience, the jokes about sissies and bull daggers. No doubt, Gladys Bentley won a fair few beautiful conquests in her day by picking them out of the crowd and mixing business with pleasure. 03.12.2019. Gladys Bentley was a triple threata singer, a dancer, and a lesbian. Her act drew white patrons from outside of Harlem, including writer and photographer Carl van Vechten, who based a fictional blues singer in one of his novels off of her, writing that when she pounds the piano the dawn comes up like thunder.. Gladys Bentley loved women, wore men's clothing, and sang bawdy songs that would make sailors blush.and did it openly in the 1920s and 1930s. She recorded in 1945 for the Excelsior label. Gladys Bentley | LGBTQIA+ Wiki | Fandom Gossip suggested her doctor had covered up the real cause of death, an overdose of . Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? On January 18, 1960, when Bentley was still just 52 years old, she passed quite suddenly in her Los Angeles home. Scholars who have studied Bentleys life said that the story Bentley told about being cured in the Ebony article was likely a response to the McCarthy Era and its hostile claims that homosexuality and communism were threats to the country. Years before Gladys Bentley performed in midtown Manhattan, she arrived in Harlem around 1925. She went to Broadway anywaybut she would live to regret it. Within weeks of starting her gig at the Clam House, Bentley transformed the whole jointliterally. Shed made a scandalous name for herself singing her dirty songs, and audiences came out in droves. It couldnt have been going betterbuta rapid downfall was just around the corner. Her performances were "comical, sweet and risqu"[9] for the era and the audience. Gladys Bentley, one of the most flamboyant blues entertainers of the 20th century, began performing in New York City as a singer and male impersonator. In Bentleys account of her life, her audience was as fascinated by her style as it was by her music. Gladys Bentley Wiki, Biography, Age, Husband, Net Worth, Family After a lifetime of loneliness, she wrote that she had undergone medical treatment that awakened her womanliness. She claimed to have married twice, though Wilson says that one of the men denied ever having been married to Bentley. They eventually divorced. Elvis Presley's mother, Gladys Presley, died on August 14, 1958, of a heart attack. She created her own musical revue with a chorus of eight male dancers in drag, the primary attraction at the well-known Ubangi Club, 1934-1937. Lets just, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIIIs First Wife, Pitiless Facts About Jacques Damala, History's Worst Boyfriend, Startling Facts About Jackie Coogan, The Tragic Child Superstar, Hard-Earned Facts About Pedro Pascal, The Unlikely Star, Tormented Facts About Edvard Munch, The Man Behind The Scream. Learn more about merges. 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". Gladys Alberta Bentley (August 12, 1907 January 18, 1960)[1] was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. Try again later. Visitation . August 14, 1958: Gladys Presley, Elvis' Mother, Dies - Best Classic Bands Who was Elvis Presley's mother Gladys? The heartbreaking story - Smooth Gladys Bentley should be remembered for being a gender outlaw, says Wilson. When she got up on stage every night in her top hat and tails, she sang loud and proud about sissies and bulldaggers, and her lyrics often illustrated her lesbian affairs in very explicit terms. The headline sent shockwaves through America. Privacy Statement For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Then again, there were rumors that would have made her mother straight-up faint. She was 96. Gladys Bentley Death: and Cause of Death On January 18, 1960, Gladys Bentley died of non-communicable disease. To her dying day, Gladys Bentley knew how to build a mystery. Millvina Dean - Death, Family & Facts - Biography Her parents tried to cure Bentley by taking her to numerous doctors. Shed always been good at the piano, and heard through a friend one night that the notorious gay speakeasy the Clam House was looking for a pianist. Mother of Elvis Presley. This article reflects that. . Bentley became an active member of the "Temple of Love In Christ" Church and was on her way to becoming an ordained minister at the time of her death from pneumonia at the age of 52. Bentley had great talent as a piano player, singer, and entertainer. Later psychiatrists would coin Bentley's non-heteronormative behavior as "extreme social maladjustment." English According to Elvis History Blog, Gladys Presley, the mother of Elvis Presley, died "of a heart attack" at the age of 46, the cause of death given in an Associated press story from the time.. After leaving her hometown of Philadelphia as a teenager, she arrived in New York during the Harlem Renaissance and was absorbed into a vibrant artistic and intellectual community. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. The cause of death was a heart attack, and it was later discovered that one of the contributing factors was liver failure due to alcohol poisoning. Cookie Policy Lincoln Memorial Park. Gladys Bentley - Wikidata [1][2][24] It was initially believed to be the "Asian flu" but later turned into "pneumonia". In August 1928, she signed with Okeh Records company and recorded eight sides over the course of the next year up until 1929. The cause of death is pending toxicology results from the Frankfort lab, said Mercer Coroner Sonny Ransdell. 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 again. She died of pneumonia in 1960, aged 52. Advertising Notice By 1933, Bentley headlined in nightclubs and theatres such as The Cotton Club and The Apollo. By the mid 1940's, she took her act to Los Angeles, California and recorded for the Excelsior Record label. Though Bentley was in the process of finding herself, these discoveries only made her family more disgusted with her. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career, but during the McCarthy Era she started wearing dresses and married, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones. 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 care of her own baby. As someone who wrote about feeling attracted to women and being comfortable in mens clothes from an early age, Bentley likely would have found more acceptance in a community that was home to other sexually-fluid entertainers like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters. By 1934, just a year after her debut, Gladys Bentley had to give up on her Broadway baby dreams, and she slunk back to Ubangi Club with her white coat tails between her legs. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Bentley also studied to be a minister, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones. Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. [1] [2] [24] It was initially believed to be the "Asian flu" but later turned into "pneumonia". Louisiana Death Records. Bentley began singing at rent parties and buffet flats. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Do you find this information helpful? She quickly made a name for herself as somebody who sang ribald songs, says Wilson. She tried to continue her musical career but did not achieve as much success as she had had in the past. Bentley's behavior was seen as abnormal and "unladylike" which led to her family sending her to doctors to fix Bentley's desires. musician. Bentley was the most popular and infamous speakeasy performer in Prohibition-era New York. Resend Activation Email. Cookie Settings, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. Langston Hughes recorded his reaction to the beginning of Bentley's career success: For two or three amazing years, Miss Bentley sat, and played piano all night long with scarcely a break between the notes, sliding from one song to another, with a powerful and continuous underbeat of jungle rhythm. Gladys Bentley came into this world on August 12, 1907 as the eldest child of George Bentley and his wife Mary Mote. But trouble started as soon as Gladys was born. Since she was a schoolgirl, she had started daydreaming about her female teachers, and developing intimate feelings for the women she knew. . And this is JD Doyle with Queer Music Heritage and a special show devoted totally to her. This browser does not support getting your location. She rose to fame during Prohibition in New York City, entertaining speakeasy audiences with performances testing the boundaries of gender and sexuality. She was the eldest of four children in a low-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 mother she had given birth to a girl, she refused to touch me. The timing of her downturn in health spurred theories that Gladys drank herself to death, wracked with worry and suffering from a broken heart while her son was serving overseas in Germany. Did Gladys Knight pass away? Death rumors debunked - Sportskeeda Heck, I volunteer as tribute. Gladys Love Smith parents Bob and Dolly Smith . Tragic Facts About Bessie Smith, The Empress Of The Blues, Eleanor Of Aquitaine Was Englands Fiercest QueenUntil Her Brutal End, Lawyers Reveal Their Most Jaw-Dropping Court Cases, Truth Hurts: Binge-Worthy Stories About The Biggest Liars Of All Time, These Mega Embarrassing Moments Still Made Us Burst Out Laughing, Catherine The Great Was a Mighty EmpressUntil Her Brutal Downfall. Although she was a talented singer and pianist, her lyricism and queer presentation truly made her stand out.
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