Ella Wesner (May 29, 1841 – November 10, 1917) was a celebrated male impersonator of the Gilded Age

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

circuit.

Early life and education

Ella (or Ellen) Wesner was born in New Jersey and raised in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the child of Charles H. Wesner and Evalina (or Emeline) Wesner. She began her career at the age of nine as part of a family of vaudeville and musical-stage dancers. She was half of the Wesner Sisters with her sister Mary.

Career

By her mid-twenties, Wesner was playing both male and female roles, at some point meeting and working as a "dresser" for a popular vaudeville male impersonator of the time,

Annie Hindle Annie Hindle was the first popular male impersonator performer in the United States. Born in the 1840s in England, she and her adoptive mother, Ann Hindle, migrated to New York City in 1868. Hall performed as a male impersonator in solo acts and ...

. She developed her own impersonator act based on Hindle's,Gillian Rodger, " He Isn't a Marrying Man: Gender and Sexuality in the Repertoire of Male Impersonators, 1870-1930," in Sophie Fuller, Lloyd Whitesell, eds. ''Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity'' (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002) pp. 109-110. as a "swaggering, cigar-smoking, swearing" young man. Hindle and Wesner worked together on the vaudeville circuit, and sang some of the same songs, both using a husky, contralto voice for their performances. Wesner's career was also closely linked to the vaudeville impresario

Tony Pastor Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes refe ...

, for whom she was the featured male impersonator, performing at Pastor's theater and touring in traveling shows he organized. Wesner's career was briefly derailed in 1872 when she abruptly left Pastor's shows to elope to Paris with the notorious Helen Josephine "Josie" Mansfield, who had been the mistress of Gilded Age robber baron "Diamond Jubilee" Jim Fisk as well as the mistress of his murderer, Edward S. Stokes. The event evoked considerable scandal; it was discussed in most of the major metropolitan newspapers and journals in New York, Chicago, and other major American cities. After the romance cooled, however, Wesner returned to the United States and resumed her career with Pastor, winning even wider audiences. She performed in London concert halls in 1877. In the 1880s, Wesner's act included not only songs celebrating the "sporting" life and skits such as her popular rendition of a drunkard getting a barber's shave, but also monologues containing advice for men about how to court, treat and satisfy women. She also sang songs to promote certain brands of alcohol and tobacco; that she was drawing extra income from these advertisements outraged the orchestra involved. Wesner's career stumbled as styles changed; she shifted routines to become a "quick-change" artist, and eventually faded from vaudeville. Impersonator and singer Ella Shields credited Ella Wesner as an inspiration.

Death

Wesner died in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

in 1917, at the age of 76. By her request, her body was dressed in a menswear suit for burial. Her grave is in the Actors' Fund Plot, Prospect Hill at Evergreens Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.

References

External links

Ella Wesner memorabilia page
with several publicity photos and posters, at Queer Music Heritage
Four photos of Ella Wesner
in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection, New York Public Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Wesner, Ella 1841 births 1917 deaths American drag kings American vaudeville performers Drag performers from New York City