1 reference. Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House, a well-known gay speakeasy in New York in the 1920s, as a black, lesbian, cross-dressing performer. He was very close to his mother, which made her death that much more heartbreaking. Heck no. Even as a teenage girl of 16, Bentley had grown into a headstrong young woman, and she was sick and tired of feeling rejected. [21] In 1931, Bentley had a civil ceremony in New Jersey, in a public union with a white woman whose identity is unknown. According to Jim Wilson, author of the book Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem was also a community that the police turned a blind eye to during the Prohibition Era. Bentley became an active member of the "Temple of Love In Christ" Church and was on her way to becoming an ordained minister at the time of her death from pneumonia at the age of 52. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. I like to believe that Gladys Bentley had her thumb on the pulse of the time. Cara Williams, the actress known for her Oscar-nominated turn in The Defiant Ones, her Emmy-nominated performance in CBS' sitcom Pete and Gladys and more, died on December 9. She moved from Philadelphia to Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City in 1925[7] at the age of 16. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. and experiment both sexually and socially.. This is a carousel with slides. I think not only of the performative side but that Bentley was a working woman, says Reece, who described a letter in the collection which shows that Bentley reprimanded a club owner who failed to pay her. Gladys Presley died on August 14, 1958, at the age of 46 after suffering from heart failure. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. "Vernon Presley said he was aroused at 3 a.m. by his wife, Gladys, 'suffering for breath.' 4. In her music, she called out men and openly sang about sexual relationships which was seen as risqu behavior at the time. Within weeks of starting her gig at the Clam House, Bentley transformed the whole jointliterally. Her performances were "comical, sweet and risqu"[9] for the era and the audience. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Since she was a schoolgirl, she had started daydreaming about her female teachers, and developing intimate feelings for the women she knew. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. She then began performing at the Ubangi Club on Park Avenue, got an accompanist on piano, and was successful enough to own a "$300/month apartment in Park Ave. With servants and a nice car"[3] (although some have said that she was living in the penthouse of one of her lesbian lovers). Gladys Bentley died suddenly from the flu in Los Angeles in 1960 at the age of 52. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. The cause of death was a heart attack, and it was later discovered that one of the contributing factors was liver failure due to alcohol poisoning. For many years, I lived in a personal hell, she wrote. In later years, she participated in Titanic-related events after the wreckage was discovered. Significant Dates. Her mother had desperately wanted a boy, and when the nurses told her she had a little girl instead, the matriarch refused to even touch her baby. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. The database also contains older death records for some parishes, such as deaths that occurred in Jefferson parish before 1911, and deaths that occurred in Orleans parish as early as . Or there might have been a more cynical reason, Gladys Bentley was a consummate show woman, and she simply didnt know how to let a publicity opportunity pass her by. When Bentley relocated to Los Angeles, she allegedly married J. T. Gibson, who died in 1952,[22] the same year in which she married Charles Roberts, a cook in Los Angeles; they were married in Santa Barbara, California, went on a honeymoon in Mexico. Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA. The performer had survived a harsh life up until this point, but she was about to spiral out of control. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7634493/gladys-alberta-bentley. Though Bentley was in the process of finding herself, these discoveries only made her family more disgusted with her. singer. So maybe its no surprise that the lovebirds split up less than a year into their relationshipand more heartache was to come. Gladys fell seriously ill just a few months after Elvis enlisted in the US Army. Try again. But they werent all there for the right reasons. Date of Birth. [22] Gibson denied ever marrying her.[23]. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Wilson also says that Bentley, who was aging and no stranger to reinvention, was likely making deft use of the press. Though Gladys Bentley notes that her marriage to Don didnt work out, it still seems like something out of a fairy taleand perhaps its just as untrue as a fairy tale, too. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Today though, Bentleys story is resurfacing and she is seen as an African-American woman who was ahead of her time for proudly loving other women, wearing mens clothing and singing bawdy songs. She dressed in men's clothes (including a signature tuxedo and top hat), played piano, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting with women in the audience. One of the frustrating and actually joyous things about Gladys Bentley was she was constantly inventing herself, Wilson says. She and Elvis survived the tornado that struck Tupelo on April 5, 1936. Her act drew white patrons from outside of Harlem, including writer and photographer Carl van Vechten, who based a fictional blues singer in one of his novels off of her, writing that when she pounds the piano the dawn comes up like thunder.. She was larger in size and preferred to wear her brother's suits instead of dresses or blouses. We are sad to announce that on July 1, 2021, at the age of 87, Gladys Bentley of New York Mills, Minnesota passed away. Louisiana Death Records. She was the eldest of four children in a low-income family living at 1012 W. Euclid Ave. in North Philadelphia[4] and always felt unwanted or rejected because her mother desperately wanted her to have been born a boy: "When they told my mother she had given birth to a girl, she refused to touch me. She died at 97, also becoming. In the years prior to her death, she adamantly tried to recant her lesbianism and married a man several years her junior. Gladys Love Smith parents Bob and Dolly Smith . Think this stopped Gladys Bentley? Audience members started raving about her stage presence at the piano, so much so that the club even changed its name to Barbaras Exclusive Club to take the most advantage of Bentleys fame and notorietywhile they still could. In the end, the booming, bodacious, and vivacious singer succumbed to the relatively common ailment of pneumonia, which came on quickly and didnt let her go. While in Los Angeles, Bentley was up to her usual tricks in the beginningfrequenting and performing at gay bars and scoping out beautiful new lovers. There she received many complaints about her raunchy performances which resulted in the police locking up the doors of places she performed. While Harlem was home to African-Americans facing the challenges of the Great Depression, it also became a destination for pleasure-seekers who Wilson says were eager to let loose of their bourgeois attitudes. Born in Philadelphia, she moved to New York City at the age of 16 and began her career as a performer at Harry Hansberry's Clam House on 133rd Street, one of the city's most notorious gay speakeasies. As Bentley became more popular, she started performing at Harry Hansberrys Clam Houseone of New York Citys most well-known gay speakeasiesin the 1920s. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. And then Mrs West returned to education - working towards a PhD . She recorded in 1945 for the Excelsior label. A large, 250-pound woman, her deep voice appealed to straight, gay, black, and white audiences. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career, but during the McCarthy Era she started wearing dresses and married, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones. But theres something very disturbing about this story. While Wilson says there is no record of that union taking place, the story is still a glimpse into Bentleys unapologetic openness about her sexual orientation, and her acute understanding of the power of shock value. His mother was the daughter of a cotton farmer and she met his father at church. Performing in a signature white top hat, tuxedo and tails, Bentley sang raunchy songs laced with double-entendres that thrilled and scandalized her audiences. Gladys Bentley, one of the most flamboyant blues entertainers of the 20th century, began performing in New York City as a singer and male impersonator. While performing at the Manhattan nightclub Kings Terrace, the masculine garbed smut-singing entertainer, as one audience member put it, quickly got the authorities to shut the whole place down with her performance. Some have argued that her shocking tell-all was, at least partly, Bentleys way of staying relevant. Gladys Knight Death Hoax Dismissed Since Singer Is 'Alive And Well'. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). GREAT NEWS! You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Bentley died of pneumonia unexpectedly at her home in Los Angeles on January 18, 1960, aged 52. The gossip columnist asked, well, who's the man? And she scoffed and said, Man? Miss Bentley was an amazing exhibition of musical energy a large, dark, masculine lady, whose feet pounded the floor while her fingers pounded the keyboard a perfect piece of African sculpture, animated by her own rhythm.[15]. Gladys George was one of the movies' greatest hard-luck dames, both on- and off-screen. Bentley died on March 2 at Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? When she got up on stage every night in her top hat and tails, she sang loud and proud about sissies and bulldaggers, and her lyrics often illustrated her lesbian affairs in very explicit terms. On January 18, 1960, when Bentley was still just 52 years old, she passed quite suddenly in her Los Angeles home. Bentley had great talent as a piano player, singer, and entertainer. She sang loud, and her vocal style was deep and booming, sometimes using a growling effect and imitations of a horn. Drag performers often backed her up at the Ubangi Club. I Am A Woman Again is a fraught, heartbreaking artifact of Bentleys life. Failed to delete flower. Gladys Bentley had told the gossip columnist that she had just gotten married. "It broke my heart," Elvis Presley said. She was only 46 years old. And then he went after everything she held dear. Gladys would soon become pregnant and . There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Gladys died of a heart attack and liver failure caused by excessive alcohol consumption. She claimed that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City. She's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet, " they said. Lea Bentley, a primary teacher at Betsy Layne Elementary, died on Thursday. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. "It broke my heart," Elvis Presley later said. At the time, the comings and goings of Bentleys inner boudoir were public knowledge, and that was just how she liked it. The article was accompanied by photos of Bentley wearing a matronly white housedress and performing the role of homemakerpreparing meals, making the bed for her husband, wearing a dress and flowers in her hair. By the 1950s, Bentley was approaching middle age and the roaring 20s of her youth and the Harlem Renaissance community that flirted with modernism was now a thing of her past. We have set your language to Within months of Bentleys entrance into Broadway, the authorities had cottoned onto to her risqu shows, and they made sure to nip them right in the bud. So she did what many 16-year-olds only dream of: She ran away from home to go seek stardom in Harlem, New York, the epicentre of Black bohemian culture at the time. Though the cause was a heart attack, it was later found that one of the contributing factors was liver failure due to alcohol poisoning. ", Gladys Bentley performing "Them There Eyes" with Groucho Marx on, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Gladys Bentley, Gender-Bending Blues Performer and '20s Harlem Royalty", "The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules", "A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem", National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gladys Bentley, more than a liberated singer, "Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke Ground with Marriage to a Woman in 1931", "shirlette celebrates Gladys Bentley in PBS American Masters Series, UNLADYLIKE2020", Collection of newspaper clippings and recording information about Gladys Bentley, from Queer Music Heritage, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gladys_Bentley&oldid=1147239415, The Mad House, 133rd Street, Harlem, New York City, New York, Harry Hansberry's Clam House ("Gladys' Clam House"), 133rd Street, Harlem, Harlem, New York City, New York, Ubangi Club, Harlem, New York City, New York, Connie's Inn ("Jungle Alley"), 2221 Seventh Street, Harlem, New York City, New York, "Worried Blues" / "Ground Hog Blues" (August 1928) #8610, "Wild Geese Blues" / "How Much Can I Stand" (November 1928, with piano, not released), "Wild Geese Blues" / "How Much Can I Stand" (November 1928, with guitar) #8643, "Red Beans and Rice" / "Big Gorilla Man" (March 1929) #8707, "Washboards Get Together" / "Kazoo Moan", #38127, scatting vocal on A-side only (title often listed as "Washboard Get Together"), with the Washboard Serenaders, recorded March 1930; reissued twice, as Bluebird B-5790 (circa 1934) and B-6633 (circa 1936), "Boogie'n My Woogie" / "Thrill Me Till I Get My Fill", #164, "Red Beans & Rice Blues" / "Find Out What He Likes (and How He Likes It)" #165/166, "Big Gorilla Blues" / "Lay It on the Line", #166/165, "Notoriety Papa" / "It Went to the Girl Next Door", #169, "July Boogie" / "Gladys Could Play", #337, as Fatso Bentley, July 4, 1953, "Easter Mardi Gras" / "Before Midnight", Flame 1001, Cincinnati, early 1950s, label misspells name as Gladys Bently; mentioned in her August 1952 article in, This page was last edited on 29 March 2023, at 17:37. Before her death from pneumonia at the age of 52, Bentley appeared by most accounts to be very bold and confident. Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. [9] She toured the country, some destinations being Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Hollywood, where she was well liked by Cesar Romero, Hugh Herbert, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, and other celebrities. The cause of death is pending toxicology results from the Frankfort lab, said Mercer Coroner Sonny Ransdell. " She joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. Bentley met Don when he phoned her up one day, claiming to know a mutual friend. Please try again later. Despite those challenges Bentley likely encountered in New Yorks entertainment business, it is no surprise that she moved to Harlem. Already a big girl, her parents and siblings saw this masculine turn as shamefully unladylike, while her classmates teased her at school. Gladys Love, Elvis Presley's mother, died due to heart attack and liver failure. It wouldnt be long before she shot to fame. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career,[16] but during the McCarthy Era, she started wearing dresses and married (within five months of meeting) Charles Roberts, age 28, a cook, in a civil ceremony in Santa Barbara, California, in 1952. On top of that, the news got out in a sensational way. "Goodbye, darling. When she eventually left the Clam House for the swanky Ubangi Club on Park Avenue, she reportedly rented an extravagant penthouse apartment that would have raised her mothers eyebrows. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. And while the performance of what an observer called a masculine garbed smut-singing entertainer led to the shutdown of Kings Terrace, Bentleys powerful voice, fiery energy on the piano and bold lyrics still made her a star of New York City nightclubs. Places would bill her as a male impersonator or even an actual male performer, thanks to her dapper styling and masculine energy. Maybe thats why things took a turn for the tragic. Singing the Gender-Bending Blues. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Instead, she exerted a 'black female masculinity' that troubled the distinctions between black and white and masculine and feminine".[25]. Thanks for your time! She took a seat at the piano on the set and performed a song that showed a vocal range and confidence that hadnt diminished since her days in Harlem. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. She'd been lying about her age to conceal the fact that she was four years older than Vernon Presley. That all changed in the blink of an eye. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. She created her own musical revue with a chorus of eight male dancers in drag, the primary attraction at the well-known Ubangi Club, 1934-1937. Bentley was born August 12, 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of George L. Bentley, an American, and his wife, Mary Mote, a Trinidadian. When Bentley ran away from home, she was certainly disillusioned with her familybut she was also hiding a huge secret. Gladys Alberta Bentley (August 12, 1907 January 18, 1960)[1] was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. [1] [2] [24] It was initially believed to be the "Asian flu" but later turned into "pneumonia". It did not end well. Gladys Bentley (stage name, Bobbie Minton) was a Harlem Renaissance blues singer and cross dresser. Haleema Shah is the host and associate producer for the Smithsonian's "Sidedoor" podcast, and a journalist who believes in using audio to enable audiences to delve deep into the ideas that shape our world. She tried to continue her musical career but did not achieve as much success as she had had in the past. GladysCrawford1909IndianaGladys Crawfordin 1940 United States Federal Census Gladys Crawfordwas born circa 1909, at birth place, Indiana, to Lon H Crawfordand Pearl Crawford. Eventually, Gladys grew old enough to notice this icy upbringingand the consequences were devastating. She quickly made a name for herself as somebody who sang ribald songs, says Wilson. Shortly after, Gladys was diagnosed with hepatitis, and her condition worsened very quickly. Cookie Settings, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance.
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