Blanche Selwyn
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Blanche Selwyn was an American male impersonator. She was active from 1871 until her death in 1880. She took the name Selwyn at the start of her career as a male impersonator, before which she was known as Blanche De Vere and worked in American variety as a feminine character performer.[1] She was famous for her portrayal of the "swell" or "man-about-town", a stock character for male impersonators based on upper-class gentlemen.
Personal life[edit]
Blanche Selwyn, as Blanche De Vere, married James Porter in August 1871. Porter was the business manager of the Brooklyn Opera House and the Metropolitan Hall in Washington, D.C.. Their marriage dissolved in 1872, as Selwyn's career began to take off.[1]
It is also possible that in 1870 Selwyn married another male impersonator, Annie Hindle. In Gillian M. Rodger's book Just One of the Boys: Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage (2018), Rodgers presents records that suggest Hindle's serial marriages to women using the name Charles Hindle. A Charles Hindle and a Blanche Du Vere are recorded as being married on November 23rd, 1870; at this time, Annie Hindle and Blanche Selwyn (then De Vere) were performing together at Metropolitan Hall in Washington, D.C..[2]
Career[edit]
Selwyn's career as a male impersonator was short but successful. Her act was reviewed in The New York Clipper in 1872: "her singing is good, style dashing, costuming superb, and changes fair."[3] Reviews often praised her costumes in particular, which were appropriately sumptuous for the "swell" stock character.[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rodger, Gillian M. (2018). Just One of the Boys: Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp. 62–64. Search this book on
- ↑ Rodger, Gillian M. (2018). Just One of the Boys: Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. p. 212. Search this book on
- ↑ "Variety Halls". The New York Clipper. 30 March 1872.
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