About this episode
Vander Clyde Broadway went by a few different names in his life, but Barbette is the one he got famous with. He was a female impersonator from Texas who became the toast of Paris in the 1920s. Research: Ninesling, Rosie. “Meet Barbette, Round Rock’s Cross-Dressing Performer From the 1920s.” Austin Monthly. December 2021. https://www.austinmonthly.com/meet-barbette-round-rocks-cross-dressing-performer-from-the-1920s/ Kendall Curlee, “Broadway, Vander Clyde [Barbette],” Handbook of Texas Online . Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/broadway-vander-clyde-barbette Steegmuller, Francis. “An Angel, a Flower, a Bird.” The New Yorker. Sept. 27, 1969. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/09/27/an-angel-a-flower-a-bird Pryor, Thomas M. “Hollywood Arena: ‘Big Circus’ Troupe Works to Equal Big Top’s Authenticity and Color.” New York Times. January 11, 1959. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/01/11/83434437.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 Gils, Bieke. “Flying, Flirting, and Flexing: Charmion’s Trapeze Act, Sexuality, and Physical Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Sport History, vol. 41, no. 2, 2014, pp. 251–68. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.41.2.251 Dimock, Chase. “ “THE SURREAL SEX OF BEAUTY: JEAN COCTEAU AND MAN RAY’S ‘LE NUMÉRO BARBETTE.’” As It Ought to Be. June 2, 2011. https://asitoughttobemagazine.com/2011/06/02/the-surreal-sex-of-beauty-jean-cocteau-and-man-rays-le-numero-barbette/ “Barbette in Amazing Feats at the Palace.” New York Times. Feb. 8, 1927. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/02/08/110039993.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 Gallico, Paul. “Thinking Aloud: give a Cheer for an Artist.” The San Francisco Examiner. April 28, 1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/458500827/?terms=vander%20barbette&match=1 Cole Brothers Circus Is Rehearsing in Louisville This Year for the Last Time.” The Courier-Journal. April 10, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/image/110868149/?terms=vander%20barbette&match=1 “150 From Circus Recover After Food Poisoning.” Evening Star. June 19, 1943. https://www.newspapers.com/image/868025427/?terms=vander%20barbette&match=1 “New Cole Brothers Circus Puts Emphasis on Beauty.” Globe-Gazette. July 8, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/image/724153/?terms=vander%20barbette&match=1 Atkinson, J. Brooks. “Songs, Dances and Costumes.” New York Times. Feb, 13, 1927. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/02/13/98532388.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 “From Round Rock to the Moulin Rouge: The Story of Barbette.” Round Rock ISD. https://history.roundrockisd.org/from-round-rock-to-the-moulin-rouge-the-story-of-barbette/ “Vander Barbette Is Dead at 68; Trapeze Artist in the Twenties.” New York Times. Aug. 10, 1973. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/08/10/148684612.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 Estrada, John-Carlos. “#TBT: From Round Rock to the Moulin Rouge, meet aerialist and drag performer Barbette.” CBS Austin. Aug. 19, 2022. https://cbsaustin.com/newsletter-daily/tbt-from-round-rock-to-the-moulin-rouge-meet-aerialist-and-drag-performer-barbette-vander-clyde-broadway-female-impersonator-french-poet-jean-cocteau-paris-alfaretta-sisters-world-famous-aerial-queens-1969-new-yorker-article-strange-beauty-wire-walker See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.