A few months ago David de Alba sat down in front of a camera and talked about his life as a female impersonator. The filmmakers sent David a link to a rough cut of all the footage that was shot that day in his home in Las Vegas. Now you can view the interview right here on TGForum. A must for David de Alba fans.
Brittany’s Cartoon Corner was a regular feature on TGForum on the 1990s. Brittany scoured the comic book world for examples of crossdressing and any hint of a transgender character. Today we bring you two of her columns married together into one article on crossdressing humor in Mad Magazine. These appeared in September and November of 1997.
We dig into the TGForum 20th century archives and present one of Cindy Martin’s outstanding pictorials from those golden days of yesteryear. Set the Wayback Machine for 1999, San Francisco USA. Prepare yourself for Cindy’s pictorial collages of the year’s big event, the Transgender San Francisco Cotillion.
Lou Reed sang in Sweet Jane, “Jack is in his corset, Jane is in her vest, And me, honey, I’m in a rock ‘n’ roll band. Huh. Riding a Stutz Bear Cat, Jim, Ya know, those were different times.” And times were different for LGBTQ people before and during World War II. Jack could only wear his corset in the privacy of his home. There was no internet to let people know they weren’t alone. Even into the 1960s and ’70s the difference was evident. And there were no “trigger” words, PC designations, and little understanding of those who were different. Susan Grant lived through it and writes about what it was like.
Back in 1997 Shirley Bassey sang a song called History Repeating. That’s the subject of Sophie Lynne’s post today. Not the song but the idea that if you wait long enough what has happened once will happen again. We don’t mind when the things that happen are nice and pleasant, but there are many examples of things that are evil and diabolical. With the current state of transgender rights Sophie is afraid that history may indeed be repeating.
There are dozens of interviews with The Cuban Legend, David de Alba that have been conducted in English. David’s cousin Mario Jimenez came to visit David in Las Vegas and conducted the following interview in Spanish.
Years ago on TGForum Laurie Sheril did a series of articles on drag in the cinema. She started back in the days of silent film and worked her way forward in time to the ’90s. Today we dip into the TGForum Archives and pull out her article on characters dressing in drag in the post war ear. First she talks about the angora sweater loving fetishist Ed Wood then goes on to write about Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and other who dressed up in ’50s films. Learn more in this Retro Rerun from the Archives.
Years ago on TGForum Laurie Sheril did a series of articles on drag in the cinema. She started back in the days of silent film and worked her way forward in time. Today we dip into the TGForum Archives and pull out her article on characters dressing in drag during World War II. From college boys in chorus girl outfits to Jimmy Durante doing a French Apache dance in drag, Laurie covers the plentiful drag to be found in those films. Learn more in this Retro Rerun from the Archives.
Susan Grant is one of the lucky ones who got to patronize the legendary Finocchio’s nightclub in San Francisco back in 1958 when men were men and and men were women onstage. She visited the club while she was in the Navy and Finocchio’s was on the Navy’s “Off Limits” list. That only made her want to check it out more. She returned to visit the club 30 years later and found that it no longer the same experience. Today she writes about the club and passes on a juicy bit of information on what may have happened after Howard Hughes visited Finicchio’s.
In the 1990s TGForum had an expert on drag in movies who wrote a series of articles for us. Laurie Sheril was her name and she covered the instances of movie crossdressing through the different historical periods of film-making. We’re bringing her series out of the archives as a Retro Rerun beginning with her article on drag in the early years of the talkies.
Every few years the theory pops up again that the subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa was actually da Vinci in drag. If not actually da Vinci some claim it was one of his male models decked out in feminine attire. Either way the only supporting evidence is thin. Susan Grant thinks that she may have a deeper insight on the subject. Today she explores it thoroughly and all she asks is that you pay attention to the hands, not that mysterious smile.
Today we dig into the past for a Retro Rerun from the 1990s archives of TGForum that takes you much further into the past. Journey now with contributor Andee W to Victorian London when there were magazines that published letters from readers. Letters that discuss the same subjects that you can find in internet chat rooms today. Men would write in and extoll the virtues of dressing in female garb. Or they would write about being forced into a corset and skirts. Andee W dug up several letters from those magazines and presented them to TGF readers in a feature called Footprints From The Past.
Before there was a word describing people who are drawn to the clothing and behavior of the opposite sex the only places they could go to indulge their need was the shady, often illegal homosexual bars. The transgender people back in the day would find refuge in places like the Stonewall Inn in New York City. But the problem with going to those bars was that since they were most often illegal the police would show up, arrest everyone and shut the place down. Then one night LGBT people came out of the shadows to say “enough!” Susan Grant takes a look at the Stonewall Riot.
Paul Lavern Cummings, a contemporary female impersonation performer of David de Alba’s, passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada last week as the result of an auto accident. He was born on August 17, 1927. David de Alba wrote the following tribute before Paul/Lavern passed away and Paul/Lavern picked the photos we present above. For more […]
It’s a story that seems like a crossdressing fantasy but it really happened. A con man who was living as a woman started a bogus automobile company in California while he was on the run from charges of counterfeiting and bail jumping. He was so confidant of his female identity that she risked the public eye to head the bogus car company and court investors. Even though she wasn’t that convincingly female. It all happened back in the 1970s. Guest contributor Susan Grant tells you all the details of this amazing story.
Linda Jensen is writing a series about her first foray into the TG world. With acknowledgement to the poet, Robert Frost, she has called it The Road Not Taken. Why? After a short time immersed in that world LindaI veered off the path that leads many to gender re-assignment and a life different than they could have expected if they had remained living a male life. While Linda was on that road it became a trip she will never forget. Today’s post sets the scene talking about what it was like for trans women in Toronto in the ’60s.
Dina Amberle is always working in the Diner kitchen to whip up something tasty as a treat for TGF users. Today she has a mix of ingredients that will surely please the most discerning palette. First she stirs in some 10-year-old internet makeup whizzes who happen to be boys. Then she adds some trans history with Flawless Sabrina and Harlow. After that cools down for a few minutes she blends in some speculation on the existence of ladyboys in Vietnam back in the day, and then spices things up with “elevated” drag and an androgynous model from Holland. Oh! And a beautiful wedding gown. Take a seat at Dina’s Diner and get ready for another satisfying repast.
David de Alba is The Cuban Legend. He began his career in female impersonation in Chicago clubs after a friend noted how much he resembled Judy Garland and did his makeup for a Halloween Ball. Soon David was practicing singing in Garland’s voice and working in the clubs. Then came a move to San Francisco and his years on stage at the famous Finocchio’s club. For the whole story of David’s life in dresses and heels read this article republished with permission from the Newsletter of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society.
Joanne Meyerowitz is professor of History and American Studies at Yale. She is the author of How Sex Changed: A History of TransSexuality in the United States. She wrote a series of articles that were published on TGF in 1998 that presented the history of “sex change” before Christine Jorgensen made headlines as the “first” person to have a “sex change.” Since this is all three parts of her series be prepared to spend some time reading this fascinating history.
New Year’s Eve 1998 saw Linda Jensen in Los Angeles ready to go to the big party at the Queen Mary club. She had the dress, and she had a plan for the evening. She made special arrangements to be in the City of Angels for the New Year’s party and then she remembered she forgot to bring earrings to match the dress. Fortunately the Jim Bridges Boutique was on the way. Step back to the lat ‘90s and visit the now closed but fabled Queen Mary with Linda in this Retro Rerun.
Aleshia Bravard, a trans woman who got her start in show business working as a female impersonator before having GRS in 1962 passed away on July 1 of this year. After her surgery she returned to her home state of Tennessee and got a degree in the arts from Middle Tennessee State. She then worked as a theater professor and eventually returned to California to pursue and acting career with appearances on numerous shows from The Red Skelton Show to The Partridge Family, Night Gallery and many more. In 2001 she wrote her autobiography and did a sequel in 2010. Before she passed away our own David de Alba did an in-depth interview with her. We present it here with David’s permission.
David de Alba is that last performing female impersonator from the legendary Finocchio’s in San Francisco. In honor of David’s birthday on May 20 we present three videos of his gift to his fans, his August 2016 show in Las Vegas. David sings as Liza and his own stage character Boy Chic. He also tells stories of his time at Finocchio’s. If you are a David de Alba fan, or would like to become one, you won’t want to miss seeing these videos. Happy birthday, David!
The Indiegogo campaign to establish the Louise Lawrence Trans Archive ends today. Many people have donated to support the establishment of this great source for information on trans history. If you would like to have a part in preserving trans history go to the campaign page and make a donation. Pictured here are three people […]
Trans people have been around since ancient times. In the recent past of the last 100 years society in the west did not want to acknowledge the existence of trans people. Only in the last 15 – 20 years have we begun to get more attention and recognition as legitimate human beings, not oddities and aberrations. But the very fact that people in the past had to hide their true nature and “pass” as typical members of the straight world means that much of our history has been erased. Some people have been working to save as much of our past as possible. One of those is Ms. Bob Davis. Ms. Bob has a vision for a trans history archive. Learn more about it in an article from The Bay Area Reporter by Gwen Smith. Reprinted with permission.
Transgender historian Ms. Bob Davis has announced the founding of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive and launched a crowd fundraising campaign on Indiegogo. The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive (LLTA) will house an extensive and varied collection of transgender archival materials. LLTA will make hundreds of publications, thousands of photographs, theatrical programs and recordings, now in […]
Pamela DeGroff has labored away in the humor and music departments of TGForum since the early days of this publication. All told she has been with us for 18 years. Today she posts her final Perpetual Change music column. We thank her for all those contributions over the years and wish her luck in all future endeavors. Pamela will be gone but not forgotten. You can always read her columns from the past few years right here on TGF. Just use the search box and look for Perpetual Change. And now and then we may bring back some of her older contributions from the original TGF as Retro Reruns. Thanks Pamela!
