Gladys Bentley: 0: French: Gladys Bentley: chanteuse de blues amricaine: 0: Dutch: Gladys Bentley: Amerikaans zangeres (1907-1960) . Her parents tried to cure Bentley by taking her to numerous doctors. [1] [2] [24] It was initially believed to be the "Asian flu" but later turned into "pneumonia". 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. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. Weve updated the security on the site. It makes you wonder and ask more questions about what her challenges were in the professional arena and if this was all easy for her, Reece says. Thing is, Bentley didnt keep her private life private, not by a long shot. Gladys Bentley wasnt just popular with the common people; she had all of New York eating out of the palm of her hand. As a performer, she was advertised by event promoters as a male impersonator, and she filled venues with loud, rowdy performances in which she would flirt with women in the audience. Gladys Bentley came into this world on August 12, 1907 as the eldest child of George Bentley and his wife Mary Mote. Gladys became severely ill in August 1958 due to undiagnosed hepatitis, brought on by alcoholism, while Elvis was serving in US Army in Germany; he . Hansberry was so vengeful, he wasnt content to just sue Bentley; he also tried to prevent her from seeking any further success. The headline sent shockwaves through America. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Vernon told him Gladys had died at 3.15am. The after-theater club near Broadway was where a troupe of liberally painted male sepians with effeminate voices and gestures performed behind entertainer Gladys Bentley, who was no less provocative for early 20th-century America. Still, Bentley had bigger dreams on her mind. Gladys Bentley's Confessions | SAPIENTIA You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. He demanded she stop trying to perform on Broadway, and took his suit all the way up to the Supreme Court. The 1950s were even more conservative than the early part of the 20th century. William Young died of cancer just before Christmas, 1962 . The performer had survived a harsh life up until this point, but she was about to spiral out of control. Please reset your password. In Bentleys heyday of the 1930s, she owned a Park Avenue apartment with servants and other accoutrements of wealth. She also appeared at the the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club. And that was the least of her revelations. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. In 1952, her first husband J.T. Heck no. Advertising Notice Events Surrounding the Death of Elvis Presley's Mother in 1958 Unable to express her talent on Broadway, she was forced to move back to Harlem in 1934, where she then played at the Ubangi Club for three years before it closed in 1937. So when it came to her unnamed paramour, it wasnt just that she took a woman as her wife that raised peoples eyebrows. (Born on April 25, 1912, Gladys was actually 46 when she died.) Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? It's a woman, Wilson says. James T. Wilson, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010); Irene Monroe, Honoring Notorious Gladys, The Huffington Post Blog (February 12, 2010), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/honoring-notorious-gladys_b_459929.html; http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Bentley/BentleyBio.html. He was very close to his mother, which made her death that much more heartbreaking. Okeh Race Records released eight singles of her music between 1928 and 1929. Before long, Bentleys world got turned upside down again. She was just defiant in who she was, and for gender and sexuality studies today, she shows the performance of gender.. But its more complicated than all that. Roberts later denied that they had ever married. Sean Harris. Gladys Bentley joined New York's Harlem Renaissance jazz scene at age 16 and became an instant sensation and gender identity pioneer, performing piano and vocals at the most popular gay bars . cause of death. Instance Of Rank; Q3. Maybe thats why things took a turn for the tragic. 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. The Life And Death Of Gladys Presley, Elvis Presley's Beloved Mother I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. [26], In 2019, The New York Times newspaper began a series called "Overlooked No More," in which the editorial staff aims to correct a perceived bias in reporting by republishing obituaries for historical minorities and women. Bentley always had expensive tastes; she just never had the bank account to match. In Bentleys account of her life, her audience was as fascinated by her style as it was by her music. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. All Rights Reserved. As one historian put it, She knew what was popular, what she could do, and what people would pay to see..