
Vander Clyde Broadway, aka Barbette
Stuff You Missed in History Class
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Vander's Pneumonia Story
Vander was unable to walk for a long time after the fall. He reportedly needed 18 months of rehab during which he needed to relearn how to walk. His body did not have the strength and agility required for the work that he had been doing for 16 years at that point.
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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
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