Editing Female impersonation (section)

== History of female impersonation==

=== Ancient Greece ===
The concept of drag can be seen in the earliest forms of entertainment, including [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Ancient Greek theatre]]. In ancient western cultures, women often were not allowed to perform onstage or become actors, therefore male actors played the roles of women also.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite web |last=thedifferentlevel |date=2021-09-01 |title=History of Drag: From Antic Greece to RuPaul's Drag Race |url=https://different-level.com/history-of-drag-from-antic-greece-to-rupauls-drag-race/ |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=LEVEL |language=en-US |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405033506/https://different-level.com/history-of-drag-from-antic-greece-to-rupauls-drag-race/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This demonstrates how female impersonation can be traced back to the earliest forms of entertainment and spectacle. Not only this, but men and boys were expected to dress as women, or in drag, for many religious ceremonies and rituals in Ancient Greece.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDaniel |first=Spencer |date=2022-07-11 |title=In Ancient Greece, Children Wearing Drag Was a Religious Obligation! |url=https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2022/07/10/in-ancient-greece-children-wearing-drag-was-a-religious-obligation/ |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Tales of Times Forgotten |language=en-US |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202212642/https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2022/07/10/in-ancient-greece-children-wearing-drag-was-a-religious-obligation/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

There is some controversy as to whether this is actually where drag emerged, or if it occurred later in history, in the 19th century with forms of entertainment such as [[minstrel show]]s and Shakespeare's plays, as he often incorporated male actors as female impersonators.<ref name="auto4"/>

===United States===
==== Minstrel shows ====
[[File:Harvard Theatre Collection - Samuel S Sanford TCS 1.935.jpg|thumb|Samuel S. Sanford, a blackface female impersonator in [[Sanford's Opera Troupe]].]]
The evolution of female impersonation and drag in the United States was influenced by [[minstrel show]]s.<ref name=":0">{{citation |last=Boyd |first=Nan Alamilla |title=Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/25351 |year=2003 |access-date=1 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730041610/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/25351 |url-status=live |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520938748 |archive-date=30 July 2020 }}</ref> The term female impersonator was in wide use during the 19th century in [[theater in the United States]] to refer to a specific type of performer in minstrel shows and later [[vaudeville]] known as "wench" and "dame" roles. These roles were performed by both [[cisgender]] heterosexual men,<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater|page=331|first=James|last= Fisher|year= 2021|isbn=9781538123027|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]}}</ref> and by  queer men who were [[closeted]] and in some rare cases openly non-heterosexual.<ref>{{cite book|title=Re-Dressing America's Frontier Past|first= Peter|last= Boag|year= 2012|isbn=9780520274426|chapter=Chapter 2: "I Have Done My Part In Winning the West": Unveiling the Female to Male Crossdresser|publisher=[[University of California Press]]}}</ref> The actor [[Thomas L. Moxley]] was a celebrated blackface female impersonator who performed under the name Master Floyd in [[George Kunkel (theatre manager)|George Kunkel]]'s Nightingales;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=NYC18900712.2.50&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------|title=Deaths In the Profession; Thomas L. Moxley|work=[[The New York Clipper]]|date=12 July 1890|page=279}}</ref> a leading minstrel show of the 1850s and 1860s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=9780252066962|first=William John|last= Mahar|year=1999|page=365}}</ref> 

These shows were an example of how [[Blackface]] was used in a racist form of entertainment where the performers would mock African American men, but as time went on they found it amusing to mock African American women as well. They performed in comedic skits, dances, and "wench" songs.<ref name=":1">{{citation |last=Bean |first=Annemarie |title=Female Impersonation in Nineteenth-Century American Blackface Minstrelsy |date=2001 |publisher=[[New York University]] |id={{ProQuest|304709304}}}}</ref> Black people themselves were largely excluded from being performers as at this point in history.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=Blackface: the Sad History of Minstrel Shows |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/blackface-sad-history-minstrel-shows |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=AMERICAN HERITAGE |language=en |archive-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324135449/https://www.americanheritage.com/blackface-sad-history-minstrel-shows |url-status=live }}</ref> Blackface in minstrel shows emerged in {{Circa|1820}}, but became more established with the creation of the character of [[Jim Crow (character)|Jim Crow]], which was first performed in 1828.<ref name="auto1"/> After the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], performance troupes began to be composed of Black performers. The shows maintained popularity in American entertainment into the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minstrel Songs {{!}} Popular Songs of the Day {{!}} Musical Styles {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America {{!}} Digital Collections {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/popular-songs-of-the-day/minstrel-songs/ |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA |archive-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409214831/https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/popular-songs-of-the-day/minstrel-songs |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 19th century and early 20th century minstrel show female impersonators did not attempt to present the illusion of femininity, but rather lampooned cisgender women through a comic representation of women that did not attempt to completely remove the actor's masculine physical traits. Minstrel show female impersonators often employed sexist and racist stereotypes within bawdy humor to make fun of women, often in black women, in [[blackface]]. This type of humor continued on the [[vaudeville]] and [[burlesque]] stage.<ref name="GC">{{cite book|chapter=Gender Crossings; Female Impersonations In American Entertainment|title=Queering the Popular Pitch|year=2013|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=9781136093708}}</ref>

In the twentieth century some [[Cross-gender acting|cross-gender impersonators]], both female and male, in the United States became highly successful performing artists in nightclubs and theaters. There was a concerted effort by these working female impersonators in America, to separate the art of female impersonation from queer identity with an overt representation of working female impersonators as heterosexual. Some of the performers were in fact cisgender men, but others were closeted due to the politics and social environment of the period. It was criminal in many American cities to be homosexual, or for LGBTQ people to congregate, and it was therefore necessary for female impersonators to distance themselves from identifying as queer in order to avoid criminal charges. The need to hide queer identity was prevalent among female impersonators working in non-LGBTQ nightclubs before heteronormative audiences from the early 1900s to as late as the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Chapter 4|title=Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City|first=Elyssa Maxx|last= Goodman|year=2023|publisher=[[Hanover Square Press]]|isbn=9780369733016}}</ref>

==== Vaudeville and female impersonators ====
[[File:Julian Eltinge (the fascinating widow).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Julian Eltinge]] as a female impersonator in the Fascinating Widow, early 1910s]]
The broad comedic stylings of the minstrel shows helped develop the [[vaudeville]] shows of the late 1800s to the early 1900s.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to the "wench players", minstrel shows developed the role of "prima donnas", who appeared more elegant and refined while still retaining their comedic elements.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330026007 |title=Inside the minstrel mask: readings in nineteenth century blackface minstrelsy |date=1996 |publisher=Wesleyan Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6300-2 |editor-last=Bean |editor-first=Annemarie |location=Hanover, NH London}}</ref><ref name=":1" />  While the "wenches" were purely American creations, the "prima donnas" were inspired by both American and European cross-dressing shows, like [[Shakespearean]] actors and [[castrati]].<ref name=":1" />{{Failed verification|date=July 2023|reason=both the fact they are inspired by and the fact that wenches werely purely american seem to be missing.}} With the United States shifting demographics, including the shift from farms to cities, [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of African Americans, and an influx of [[immigration to the United States|immigrants]], vaudeville's broad comedy and music expanded the audience from minstrelsy.<ref name=":0" /> Near the end of the 19th century a new type of female impersonation, the [[female illusionist]], began to appear in vaudeville. This type of performer did not use humor to denigrate women, but rather attempted to celebrate women by presenting a realistic looking woman in tasteful fashions of the period.<ref name="GC"/>

With vaudeville becoming more popular, it allowed female impersonators to become popular as well. Many female impersonators started with low comedy in vaudeville and worked their way up to perform as the prima donna.<ref name=":2">Moore, F. Michael. ''Drag!: Male and Female Impersonators on Stage, Screen, and Television: An Illustrated World History''. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0899509969}} {{page needed|date=June 2020}}
</ref> They were known to perform song and dance routines with multiple outfit changes.<ref name=":0" /> [[George W. Munroe]], who was known for portraying gossipy old Irish women,<ref name="Cambridge">{{cite book|page=149|title=The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre|first1=Don B.|last1= Wilmeth|first2= Tice L.|last2= Miller|year=1996|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780521564441|chapter=Male/Female Impersonation}}</ref> started in [[vaudeville]] in the late 19th century, and became a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] star; portraying the title role in the musical ''The Doings of Mrs. Dooley'' at the [[Grand Opera House (Manhattan)|Grand Opera House]] in 1902.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gerald|last=Bordman|year=2001|chapter= The Doings of Mrs. Dooley|publisher=[[Oxford University Press, USA]]|isbn=9780195130744|page=213|title=American Musical Theater: A Chronicle}}</ref> Other vaudeville female impersonators included [[Gilbert Sarony]] as his female character Giddy Gusher, [[Neil Burgess (comedian)|Neil Burgess]] as the Widow Bedotte, and the [[Russell Brothers (vaudeville)|Russell Brothers]] who portrayed Irish maids.<ref name="Cambridge"/>

In [[New York City]], famous female impersonator [[Julian Eltinge]] found success, and he eventually made his way to the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] stage performing as a woman.<ref name=":2" /> He published a magazine, ''Magazine and Beauty Hints'' (1913), which provided beauty and fashion tips, and he posed for corset and cosmetics advertisements.<ref name=":0" /> Meanwhile, in [[San Francisco]], [[Bothwell Browne]] was the top female impersonator of the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]. He performed at the Grand Opera House and Central Theater, among other venues, went on tour with United Vaudeville, and later appeared in the film [[Yankee Doodle in Berlin]] (1919), produced by [[Mack Sennett]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boyd|first=Nan Alamilla|url=https://archive.org/details/wideopentownhist00boyd|title=Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965|publisher=University of California Press|year=2003|isbn=0-520-24474-5|url-access=registration}}</ref>

At this time being a female impersonator was seen as something for the straight white male, and any deviation was punished.<ref name=":0" /> However, African-American comedian [[Andrew Tribble]] found success as a female impersonator on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and in [[Black Vaudeville]]. Connection with [[sex work]] and [[homosexuality]] eventually led to the decline of female impersonation during the [[Progressive Era]].<ref name=":0" /> Both the minstrelsy and vaudeville eras of female impersonation led to an association with music, dance, and comedy that still lasts today.<ref name=":2" />