Barbette - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-05-15T18:58:54Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* The Final Years */

2024-05-13T22:51:09Z

‎The Final Years

Djando: /* The Final Years */

2024-05-13T22:49:54Z

‎The Final Years

Djando: /* Enter Barbette */

2024-05-13T22:21:27Z

‎Enter Barbette

Djando: /* A Second Career */

2024-05-13T22:09:08Z

‎A Second Career

Djando at 18:51, 2 April 2024

2024-04-02T18:51:27Z

Djando: /* Enter Barbette */

2022-04-13T17:41:47Z

‎Enter Barbette

Djando: /* Enter Barbette */

2022-04-13T17:39:32Z

‎Enter Barbette

Djando: /* Beginnings */

2022-04-13T17:37:37Z

‎Beginnings

Djando: /* Beginnings */

2022-04-13T17:35:58Z

‎Beginnings

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 File:Barbette_Vesque.jpg|Barbette by Marthe and Juliette Vesque (1927)
 File:Barbette_Trapeze.jpg|Barbette on his trapeze (c.1928)
 File:WinterGarten_Barbette.jpg|WinterGarten program (1931)
 File:Jumbo_program_cover.jpg|Program Cover for ''Jumbo'' (1935)

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 Vander made other forays in film: He often consulted on circus-themed movies, most notably the film version of ''Jumbo'' (1962). However, his most enduring success in that medium is the work he did for Billy Wilder's comedy ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), for which he trained Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the subtle art of female impersonation. Billy Wilder had seen Barbette in his heydays in Berlin, and believed he was the best person for the job&mdash;although he cautioned Vander not to make his stars look too perfect!
-Vander thought Curtis had good potential, but he had trouble with Lemmon, whom he considered hopeless. On his end, Jack Lemmon complained that Vander took his task much too seriously. Be that as it may, the film was an enormous hit and has since become a classic&mdash;and Lemmon won an Oscar for a part that owed a lot to Barbette's coaching.
+Vander thought Curtis had good potential, but he had trouble with Lemmon, whom he considered hopeless. On his end, Jack Lemmon complained that Vander took his task much too seriously. Be that as it may, the film was an enormous hit and has since become a classic&mdash;and Lemmon won an Oscar for a part that owed a good deal to Barbette's coaching.
 ''Disney on Parade'', however, was Vander's last job. It seems that polio eventually caught up with him, in the form of post-polio syndrome, a cluster of potentially disabling symptoms that appear decades after the initial illness. He was living then with his half-sister Mary in Austin, Texas; one day, as he was hanging curtains for her, he fell and couldn't get back on his feet. Despite his immense will and strength, he could no longer move properly and became a crippled man. This he couldn't accept: On August 5, 1973, he committed suicide by overdose.

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 He worked also for the [[Clyde Beatty Circus]], which, apart from his star-director, was not in the same league. There, he was caught one day feeding a bonfire with the Circus's old, second-string aerial costumes; alerted, Beatty complained to Barbette, "Barbette, you are burning all my rainy days costumes!"&mdash;to which Vander answered: "Mr. Beatty, it never rains that hard!" At no time in his first or second careers did Barbette give in to mediocrity. Then, from 1969 to 1972, he choreographed aerial productions for Disney's touring show ''Disney on Parade'', the forerunner of the present ''Disney on Ice'' arena shows.
-Vander made other forays in film: He often consulted on circus-themed movies, most notably on the film version of ''Jumbo'' (1962). However, his most enduring success in that medium is the work he did for Billy Wilder's comedy ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), for which he trained Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the subtle art of female impersonation. Billy Wilder had seen Barbette in his heydays in Berlin, and believed he was the best person for the job&mdash;although he cautioned Vander not to make his stars look too perfect!
+Vander made other forays in film: He often consulted on circus-themed movies, most notably the film version of ''Jumbo'' (1962). However, his most enduring success in that medium is the work he did for Billy Wilder's comedy ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), for which he trained Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the subtle art of female impersonation. Billy Wilder had seen Barbette in his heydays in Berlin, and believed he was the best person for the job&mdash;although he cautioned Vander not to make his stars look too perfect!
 Vander thought Curtis had good potential, but he had trouble with Lemmon, whom he considered hopeless. On his end, Jack Lemmon complained that Vander took his task much too seriously. Be that as it may, the film was an enormous hit and has since become a classic&mdash;and Lemmon won an Oscar for a part that owed a lot to Barbette's coaching.

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 ===Enter Barbette===
-Female (and male) impersonators were popular in vaudeville; some of them became major stars, such as Vesta Tilley (1864-1952), Bert Savoy (1876-1923), and Julian Eltinge (1881-1941), who had a theater named after him on Broadway, on 42nd Street (where the AMC movie multiplex stands today). However, styles differed: Whereas Savoy played it camp, Julian Eltinge tried to be as feminine, graceful, and elegant as possible; he was certainly a source of inspiration for Vander, who couldn't have ignored such a celebrated and beloved headliner.
+Female (and male) impersonators were popular in vaudeville; some of them became major stars, such as Vesta Tilley (1864-1952), Bert Savoy (1876-1923), and Julian Eltinge (1881-1941)&mdash;who had a theater named after him on Broadway, on 42nd Street (where the AMC movie multiplex stands today). However, styles differed: Whereas Savoy played it camp, Julian Eltinge tried to be as feminine, graceful, and elegant as possible; he was certainly a source of inspiration for Vander, who couldn't have ignored such a celebrated and beloved headliner.
 [[File:Julian_Eltinge.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Julian Eltinge (c.1910)]]Like Eltinge, Vander wanted his appearance to be elegant, beautiful, and fully credible, and he knew how to deliver. He was also, in his acrobatic and aerial specialties, an accomplished performer. Yet, what was different from the other impersonators was the androgyny of his performance, the fact that he destroyed the illusion of femineity at the end of his act&mdash;unlike Omar Kingsley, for example, who remained Ella Zoraya at all times when in the public eye. It is this avowed androgyny that would eventually make his extraordinary success in Europe.

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 [[File:Till_The_Clouds_Roll_By.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Poster for ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' (1946)]]Vander continued to work for the Ringling show until the 1944 season. That year, Robert Ringling had taken over the show after the quarrelsome Ringling family's shareholders had removed John Ringling North from the presidency of the company. John Ringling North was a brilliant and creative producer, something that Robert Ringling, an opera singer who didn't have any circus experience, was not. Vander, who went along well with John North, didn't reappear in 1945. Only when North finally took full control of the Ringling organization in 1947 did Vander resume his functions as Aerial Director, along with director John Murray Anderson. He was replaced two years later by [[Antoinette Concello]]&mdash;the wife of General Manager [[Art Concello]].
-However, his first assignment with Ringling put Vander (now known as Vander Barbette) back into the limelight, not as a performer, this time, but as a specialty choreographer. When Vincente Minnelli staged the circus sequence for his wife, Judy Garland, in the all-star M-G-M musical ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' (1946), a biopic of composer Jerome Kern, he hired Vander as consultant. The movie had faced major problems from the start: Kern died one month into production, and directors&mdash;among whom Busby Berkeley, who is credited as choreographer but did very little&mdash;came and went.
+However, his first assignment with Ringling put Vander (now known as Vander Barbette) back into the limelight, not as a performer, this time, but as a specialty choreographer. When Vincente Minnelli staged the circus sequence for his wife, Judy Garland, in the all-star M-G-M musical ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' (1946), a biopic of composer Jerome Kern, he hired Vander as consultant. The movie had faced major problems from the start: Kern died one month into production, and directors&mdash;among whom Busby Berkeley, who is credited as choreographer but did very little&mdash;came and went. Vincente Minnelli eventually staged himself all the sequences in which his wife appeared and received due credit for his participation. (The film overall direction was credited to Richard Whorf, who was the last director on the job). ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' was a success, and the spectacular circus scene is certainly the most lavish and most memorable of all the film's musical sequences. (Vander was not credited&mdash;a common occurrence during the studio era.)
-−
 Vincente Minnelli eventually staged himself all the sequences in which his wife appeared and received due credit for his participation. (The film overall direction was credited to Richard Whorf, who was the last director on the job). ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' was a success, and the spectacular circus scene is certainly the most lavish and most memorable of all the film's musical sequences. (Vander was not credited&mdash;a common occurrence during the studio era.)
 Then, Vander was hired to choreograph circus acts for Orson Welles's huge Broadway production, ''Around the World'', adapted from Jules Verne's novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', with a book by Welles and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and directed by Welles. It is probable that Porter, who lived in Paris when Barbette was performing there and moved in the same circles, suggested Vander to Welles. In April 1946, already saddled with financial problems, the show previewed in Boston, New Heaven and Philadelphia, where it underwent many alterations. It finally opened in New York on May 31 at the Adelphi Theatre on West 54th Street (where the Hilton Hotel stands today).

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:51, 2 April 2024
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−	[[File:Barbette_by_Gesmar.jpg\|~~300px~~\|right]]	+	[[File:Barbette_by_Gesmar.jpg\|350px\|right]]
	==Aerialist, Tightwire Dancer, Act Choreographer==		==Aerialist, Tightwire Dancer, Act Choreographer==

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 [[File:Julian_Eltinge.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Julian Eltinge (c.1910)]]Like Eltinge, Vander wanted his appearance to be elegant, beautiful, and fully credible, and he knew how to deliver. He was also, in his acrobatic and aerial specialties, an accomplished performer. Yet, what was different from the other impersonators was the androgyny of his performance, the fact that he destroyed the illusion of femineity at the end of his act&mdash;unlike Omar Kingsley, for example, who remained Ella Zoraya at all times when in the public eye. It is this avowed androgyny that would eventually make his extraordinary success in Europe.
-He chose to call himself Barbette because, he said, it sounded "French and exotic." However, a barbette, in French as in English, is a "mound of earth or a protected platform from which guns fire over a parapet," which is certainly not the image he wanted to project! The correct French name to use would have been "Babette," the diminutive of Elisabeth… Be that as it may, Vander Clyde Broadway became Barbette, and it is under that name that he entered show-business legend.
+He chose to call himself Barbette because, he said, it sounded "French and exotic." However, a barbette, in French as in English, is a "mound of earth or a protected platform from which guns fire over a parapet," which is certainly not the image he wanted to project! The correct French name to use would have been "Babette," the diminutive of Elisabeth… Be that as it may, Vander Clyde Broadway became Barbette, and it is under that name that he became part of show-business lore and legend.
 His act opened on a grand entry for which he was dressed in an elaborate and spectacular gown and headdress (which would be eventually made of ostrich feathers); then he presented a short, elegant tightwire act and, after revealing a sparkling and scanty costume, he followed with a combination of swinging Roman rings and low trapeze, the latter ending with a hip balance in full swing with a drop to a  single knee catch, which was quite an impressive trick at the time. For his final bow, he took off his wig and revealed his being a man, a surprise that caused a gasp in the audience. (The fact that Barbette appeared a little flat-chested was not a major problem then since flappers had made it a fashion statement to squash their breasts!)

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 Performing in drag was not uncommon in the circus; It often happened that large family troupes with too many boys had some of them performing in drag to bring diversity and a note of feminine charm to their act. Furthermore, strong female performers who could do the work of a male performer were much admired, and therefore much in demand&mdash;which led a few male performers who could get away with it to perform in drag; some of them, such as  [[Ella Zoraya]] (Omar Kingsley, 1840-1879), even became true international circus stars.
-To Vander, this first offer to perform, in drag or not, was the opportunity of a lifetime! Thus, dressed as a girl, Vander debuted in the circus as one of the Alferetta Sisters&mdash;whose career after this point is unfortunately not more documented then before. In any event, he was obviously credible as a "female performer."
+To Vander, this first offer to perform, in drag or not, was the opportunity of a lifetime! Thus, dressed as a girl, Vander debuted in the circus as one of the Alferetta Sisters&mdash;whose career after this point is unfortunately not more documented than before. In any event, he was obviously credible as a "female performer."
 He eventually left the sister act, and his next engagement was with Erfords' Whirling Sensation&mdash;"Climax of Aerial Art", said their advertising&mdash;a vaudeville novelty act. There are two known versions of the Whirling Sensation: The first included one man and two girls, respectively dressed as the devil and two angels (replete with wings), and the second, which came later, was made of three girls dressed as butterflies. They worked on a rotating apparatus and performed an "iron jaw" (hanging by their teeth) for their final trick. Vander was likely in the second version, although he didn't give much detail in his ''New Yorker'' interview.

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 In an interview he gave to the ''New Yorker'' magazine dated September 20, 1969, Vander gave its author, Francis Steegmuller, some information about the Alferetta Sisters: They had, at the time, a double trapeze and swinging Roman rings act; apparently, one "sister" had died, and the surviving one, who was married to a blackface comedian billed as ''Happy Doc Holland, the Destroyer of Gloom'', needed someone with whom to rebuild her act. (From "Alferetta, America's Little Aerial Queen", to "The 5 Alferettas, Wonders of The Air" of the 1930s, there has been a long succession of Alferetta acts.)
-[[File:Erfords_Whirling_Sensation.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Erfords Whirling Sensation, pre-Barbette (c.1915)]]Miss Alferetta, whose aerial exploits were probably not of the highest technical level, was interested by the young applicant (there were probably not many of them), even though Vander was a boy and his training was mostly tightwire, not trapeze or Roman rings. Yet, he was strong, young, physically fit and, although he had developed a good musculature, it was not over-apparent. Miss Alferetta didn't want her act to be performed by a man and a woman: hers was an all-female act, and an all-female act, as she knew by experience, sold much better. She told Vander that he would need to perform in drag.
+[[File:Erfords_Whirling_Sensation.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Erfords Whirling Sensation, pre-Barbette (c.1915)]]Miss Alferetta, whose aerial exploits were probably not of the highest technical level, was interested in the young applicant (there were probably not many of them), even though Vander was a boy and his training was mostly tightwire, not trapeze or Roman rings. Yet, he was strong, young, physically fit and, although he had developed a good musculature, it was not over-apparent. Miss Alferetta didn't want her act to be performed by a man and a woman: hers was an all-female act, and an all-female act, as she knew by experience, sold much better. She told Vander that he would need to perform in drag.
 Performing in drag was not uncommon in the circus; It often happened that large family troupes with too many boys had some of them performing in drag to bring diversity and a note of feminine charm to their act. Furthermore, strong female performers who could do the work of a male performer were much admired, and therefore much in demand&mdash;which led a few male performers who could get away with it to perform in drag; some of them, such as  [[Ella Zoraya]] (Omar Kingsley, 1840-1879), even became true international circus stars.