Distinctive for her exceptional musical talent and for challenging the gender norms of her time, Gladys Alberta Bentley was an open lesbian for most of her life and career and a true embodiment of butch. A prominent African American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer, Bentley is celebrated for her performances during the Harlem Renaissance; she is known for her deep voice, charismatic stage presence, and wearing men's clothing during her performances, which were revolutionary during the 1920s and 1930s.
Born on August 12, 1907, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bentley ran away to New York City in the early 1920s at around sixteen, landing in Harlem where she quickly became a notable nightlife figure known for her powerful blues singing, signature black-and-white tuxedo, and playful and provocative reinterpretations of popular songs, often with risqué lyrics that playfully engaged with themes of sexuality and gender.
Bentley began her career singing at rent parties and brothels but quickly moved on to performing at several gay speakeasies and nightclubs in Harlem, most famously at the Clam House on 133rd Street, one of Harlem's renowned gay bars. Between 1928 and 1929, Okeh Records' "Race Records" division released eight of Bentley's singles, which led to her getting her weekly radio show in 1930. By 1933, Bentley was headlining Harlem's most influential Jazz Clubs and Theatres, including The Cotton Club, The Appollo, and some of Manhattan's most popular after-theatre clubs. In the mid-1930s, she created her musical revue, which ran from 1934 to 1937 as the headline act at Harlem's Ubangi Club.
As an open lesbian, Bentley pushed societal boundaries of sexuality and sexism, proudly embracing her homosexuality and embodying true butchness in a way that was unheard of at that time.
James Wilson spotlights Bentley as a pioneer of open butch lesbianism in his 2011 book Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, stating "While other lesbian and bisexual performers such as Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, and Jackie Mabley did not publicly flaunt their sexuality, or at least dared others to "prove it on them," Bentley made it an essential part of her early career. She was the epitome of masculine swagger and braggadocio on stage and off."
While "Drag Kings," or lesbians and bisexual women performing as male impersonators, were an entertainment genre in gay clubs during the Harlem Renaissance, Bentley differed in her performances, owning her butchness instead of passing it off as an act. She wore traditional male attire both on and off the stage, performing most often in her signature black and white tuxedo, and did so without attempting to pass as a man or even a male impersonator. She performed and lived proudly as the masculine homosexual woman she was.
Wilson emphasizes this fundamental difference that made Bentley a pioneer in his book, explaining, "Gladys Bentley did not try to ‘pass’ as a man, nor did she playfully try to deceive her audience into believing she was biologically male. Instead, she exerted a ‘black female masculinity.’“ “ “
Bentley did face challenges as a butch lesbian, even during the height of her popularity and significant following. However, these challenges became particularly insurmountable as societal attitudes became increasingly hostile towards homosexuals again following the end of prohibition and particularly during the McCarthy era later in her life.
Unfortunately, just as the pleasure-seeking culture of prohibition led to many turning a blind eye to homosexuals, looking past their "moral objections" in search of a good time allowed Gladys Bentley to own her butchness and lesbianism in the nightlife scene without too much trouble, the repeal of prohibition took it away.
When prohibition ended, Mannahattanites stopped coming to Harlem for its speakeasies, and the widespread popularity and success of Blues artists and clubs wained. Particularly impactful on the life and career of Gladys Bentley was that the end of prohibition also meant the end of people overlooking what they deemed as a moral crime because the majority of society perceived themselves as immorally seeking pleasure in speakeasies and party scenes.
As the temporary pseudo-tolerance for LGB people faded, a butch lesbian like Bentley, who openly proclaimed her sexuality and rejected feminity, could no longer pull in an audience or, in many cases, even find a stage that would allow her to perform.
In 1937, after the closure of her musical revue at the Ubangi Club, Bentley headed to the West Coast, moving to Los Angeles with her mother. Despite the growing return to conservatism there, she found some performance opportunities in the gay bars of L.A. during World War II. However, by the late 1940s, the McCarthy era's crusade against homosexuals, known as the Lavender Scare, began to ramp up; Bentley was labeled a "subversive" by the government, and her career ground to a halt.
In the 1950s, amidst increasing pressure, Bentley publicly claimed to have been "cured of homosexuality by taking female hormones" and made significant changes in her personal life, including marrying a man and adopting a more conventionally feminine appearance. This unfortunate fact is emblematic of just how aggressive the attack on LGB people was.
She passed away from pneumonia in 1960.
Despite succumbing to the pressures of homosexual persecution during the McCarthy era, Gladys Bentley is an LGB icon of the Harlem Renaissance remembered for her bold, pioneering, butchness and extraordinary talent.
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Listen to her awesome voice at Archive.org ♡https://archive.org/details/78_red-beans--rice-blues_gladys-bentley-quintette-johnson-gladys-bentley-byron-johns_gbia0008293a