Niles Marsh

Last updated

Niles Marsh was a female impersonator who began his career on the Broadway stage and then, from the early 1920s to the mid-1940s, rose to become one of the best known drag performers on the American vaudeville and nightclub circuits. He was one of many such artists who, during that period, encapsulated what was known as the Pansy Craze.

Contents

Performing career

On Broadway

According to a programme biography from the 1940s, Niles Marsh "was a child prodigy and started his career as a boy soprano, touring for four years". [1] A producer who heard him sing immediately cast him in a Broadway show, playing a female role. From a show biography, Marsh subsequently performed several seasons on Broadway. [1]

Vaudeville Circuit

By the 1920s, Marsh had become a performer on the lucrative vaudeville circuit. Typical of his early appearance was one that opened at the Strand Theater in Modesto, California, on January 1, 1924. One of four acts to perform in a continuous show from 2pm to 11pm, Marsh was singled out by the local press as "the one which is going to prove a real sensation... This act has a great volume of scenery and changes costume several times. Niles Marsh will prove one of the cleverest acts to visit Modesto in some time". [2] He performed at the same venue again a year later, in March 1925, in what was billed as "a novel surprise." [3] In July 1927, Marsh appeared at the Liberty Theatre in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in a dance revue entitled Stepping Along. As the local press noted, he and another artiste, Doral Mack, "impersonate flappers in a highly diverting comedy number in which these fashion pirates offer singing and dancing of the highest type." [4]

According to his biography, Marsh toured the vaudeville circuit in United States and also its equivalents in Australia, England and Africa. [1] His Australian tour is known to have taken place during 1929, where he appeared for several months at Melbourne's Tivoli Theatre. Credited as a female impersonator, Marsh first performed there on June 22, 1929, alongside English comedian Jack Edge, film actor Horace Kenney, and ventriloquists David Poole and Johnny Green. [5] A month later, he participated in a special farewell season at the same venue, when he was billed as "an experiment in femininity." [6] Marsh appeared at the Tivoli again in September, as part of a revue entitled The Vanities, impersonating the Italian opera singer Amelita Galli-Curci. [7]

Returning to the United States, Marsh continued to perform on the vaudeville circuit (and especially the Orpheum Circuit) despite the fact that, after the advent of talkies in 1929, the popularity of live variety theater was starting to decline. Nevertheless, he still made regular live appearances, often as the opening act before a feature film. During this period, Marsh is known to have appeared at:

By his own account, Marsh also spent five years as a regular performer at the De Luxe Picture Theater in New York City. [1]

Nightclub Appearances

By the mid-1930s, vaudeville was effectively dead, so Marsh turned to the booming nightclub industry, which had burgeoned following the end of Prohibition. In 1935, he headlined the gala floor show at the Blue Ribbon Night Club in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was described as "America's foremost female impersonator, presenting his famous impressions in dazzling gowns." [13] During a subsequent nightclub appearance, Marsh was seen by Mrs. Eve Finocchio, wife of the proprietor of a new drag nightclub Finocchio's Club in San Francisco, which had recently opened in June 1936. Marsh was soon signed as a regular performer at Finnochio's and remained "one of the highlights of the show" for at least the next eight years. [1]

During this period, Marsh also appeared in other nightclubs around the country. In August 1942, billed as "vaudeville's greatest satirical artist," he headlined Karyl Norman's All American Male Revue at the Castle Farms Night Club in Lima, Ohio. [14]

Later life

Virtually nothing is known of Niles Marsh's later life.

In the early 1980s, Blue Pear Records, a Florida-based record label that specialised in cast recordings from obscure Broadway and off-Broadway musicals from the 1960s, released a series of theatre-related LPs with liner notes attributed to Niles Marsh (or someone using his name). [15] In a 1987 article in the Los Angeles Daily News, this Niles Marsh, described as a "theatre historian and record annotator" expressed his dissatisfaction with the then-popular fad of using well-known opera singers to make new cast recordings of classic stage musicals such as My Fair Lady and West Side Story . [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaudeville</span> Entertainment genre

Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Eltinge</span> Actor, female impersonator

Julian Eltinge, born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and film actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in vaudeville and toured Europe and the United States, even giving a command performance before King Edward VII. Eltinge appeared in a series of musical comedies written specifically for his talents starting in 1910 with The Fascinating Widow, returning to vaudeville in 1918. His popularity soon earned him the moniker "Mr. Lillian Russell" for the popular beauty and musical comedy star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Beck (vaudeville)</span> American theatre owner (1868–1940)

Martin Beck was a vaudeville theatre owner and manager, and theatrical booking agent, who founded the Orpheum Circuit, and built the Palace and Martin Beck Theatres in New York City's Broadway Theatre District. He was a booking agent for, and became a close personal friend of the prominent magician, Harry Houdini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester Allen</span> American actor (1891–1949)

Lester M. Allen was an American actor, dancer, singer, comedian, and circus performer. After beginning his career as a child acrobat with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, he became a performer in minstrel shows, burlesque, and vaudeville. He worked as primarily a dancer and acrobat in the Broadway musical revues George White's Scandals and Ziegfeld Follies in the 1910s and early 1920s; ultimately progressing to singing and comedic acting parts. He starred as a comic actor in several musical comedies on Broadway during the 1920s and the early 1930s. He transitioned into work as a film actor, appearing in more than 15 films released from 1941 to 1950. He was killed after being struck by a motor vehicle in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles)</span> United States historic place

The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States. The same six-block stretch of Broadway, and an adjacent section of Seventh Street, was also the city's retail hub for the first half of the twentieth century, lined with large and small department stores and specialty stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace Theatre (Columbus, Ohio)</span> Performing arts center in Columbus, Ohio, a former movie theater

The Palace Theatre is a 2,695-seat restored movie palace located at 34 W. Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio. It was designed and built in 1926 by the American architect Thomas W. Lamb as part of the American Insurance Union Citadel. Today the theater functions as a multi-use performing arts venue. It is owned and operated by The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. The Palace Theater's "house" is considered separate from LeVeque Tower, while the marquee and lobby are part of the LeVeque complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barto and Mann</span> American actors

Barto and Mann: Dewey Barto and George Mann, known as the "laugh kings" of vaudeville, were a comedic dance act from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Their acrobatic, somewhat risqué, performance played on their disparities in height; Barto was 4'11" and Mann was 6'6".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Tivoli Theatre, Sydney</span>

The New Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, previously known as the Adelphi Theatre and the Grand Opera House, was a theatre and music hall at 329, Castlereagh Street, Sydney, Australia, which was long at the heart of the Tivoli circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orpheum Circuit</span> Former chain of vaudeville and movie theaters

The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters. It was founded in 1886, and operated through 1927 when it was merged into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, ultimately becoming part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karyl Norman</span> American singer, female impersonator, and vaudeville performer

George Francis Peduzzi, known professionally as Karyl Norman, was an American female impersonator who was popular in vaudeville, nightclubs, and on Broadway in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finocchio's Club</span> Historic nightclub in San Francisco featuring entertainment by female impersonators

Finocchio'sClub was a former nightclub and bar in operation from 1936 to 1999 in North Beach, San Francisco, California. The club started as a speakeasy called the 201 Club in 1929 located at 406 Stockton Street. In 1933, with the repeal of prohibition, the club moved upstairs and started to offer female impersonation acts; after police raids in 1936 the club relocated to the larger 506 Broadway location. Finocchio's night club opened June 15, 1936 and was located in San Francisco, California, above Enrico's Cafe at 506 Broadway Street in North Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Brothers</span> American actor

Willie Howard and Eugene Howard, billed as the Howard Brothers, were Silesian-born American vaudeville performers of the first half of the 20th century. They were two of the earliest openly Jewish performers on the American stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Cameron (actor)</span> American actor, singer, and acrobatic comedian (1883-1956)

Jack Cameron, also known as Jack Kammerer, was an American actor, singer, and acrobatic comedian whose career spanned almost five decades. He appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, film, radio, and television. Cameron was best known for his vaudeville performances, first as part of the Kammerer & Howland musical comedy act, and later as a principal comedian on the Keith-Albee circuit. He appeared in several motion pictures and could be heard on WPRO (AM) radio as the “Singing Salesman.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Amusement Company</span> U.S. burlesque production company

The Columbia Amusement Company, also called the Columbia Wheel or the Eastern Burlesque Wheel, was a show business organization that produced burlesque shows in the United States between 1902 and 1927. Each year, between three and four dozen Columbia burlesque companies would travel in succession round a "wheel" of theaters, ensuring steady employment for performers and a steady supply of new shows for participating theaters. For much of its history the Columbia Wheel promoted relatively "clean" variety shows featuring comedians and pretty girls. Eventually the wheel was forced out of business due to changing tastes and competition from its one-time subsidiary and eventual rival, the Mutual Burlesque Association, as well as cinemas and cruder stock burlesque companies.

The Vaudeville Managers Association (VMA) was a cartel of managers of American vaudeville theaters established in 1900, dominated by the Boston-based Keith-Albee chain. Soon afterwards the Western Vaudeville Managers Association (WVMA) was formed as a cartel of theater owners in Chicago and the west, dominated by the Orpheum Circuit. Although rivals, the two organizations collaborated in booking acts and dealing with the performers' union, the White Rats. By 1913 Edward Franklin Albee II had effective control over both the VMA and WVMA. In the 1920s vaudeville went into decline, unable to compete with film. In 1927 the Keith-Albee and Orpheum chains merged. The next year they became part of RKO Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy G. Williams</span>

Percy Garnett Williams was an American actor who became a travelling medicine salesman, real estate investor, amusement park operator and vaudeville theater owner and manager. He ran the Greater New York Circuit of first-class venues. Williams was known for giving generous pay and good working conditions to performers. At his death, he endowed his Long Island house as a retirement home for aged and destitute actors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Theatre in the 1920s</span>

In the 1920s, theater in the United States and the cinema of the United States were both increasingly active. Broadway was reaching its peak, classic theatre was working to be recognized, and the cinema business was growing as well. Within this decade, there were many changes within the social, economic, and legal environment in the United States, and these changes were often reflected into the art forms of the time period. In the 1920s, theatre utilized jazz, Vaudeville, straight plays, and musicals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mignonette Kokin</span> American singer and dancer

Mignonette Kokin was an American dancer, singer, and comedic actress in vaudeville.

Tony Midnite was a female impersonator, costume designer, activist, and book reviewer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orpheum Theater (Sioux Falls)</span> Theater in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, US

The Orpheum Theater, formerly the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse, is a historic theater at 315 North Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is the oldest theater in Sioux Falls and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Originally, it hosted vaudeville performances, and briefly served as a movie theater before being converted again into a stage theater, which it remains today.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Finocchio's: America's Most Unusual Night Club, theatre programme, circa 1940s.
  2. ↑ "Strand offers all day vaudeville for tomorrow," Modesto Evenings News, December 31, 1924, p 3.
  3. ↑ "Society and Club News," Modesto Evenings News, March 14, 1925, p 3.
  4. ↑ "Barrymore is superb in Don Juan," News-Palladium, July 15, 1927, p 2
  5. ↑ "Amusements" [advertisement], The Argus, June 22, 1929, p 32.
  6. ↑ "Dora Maughan at the Tivoli," The Argus, July 23, 1929, p 17.
  7. ↑ "Tivoli Revue," The Argus, September 2, 1929, p 12.
  8. ↑ "Charlie Chan Picture tops Capitol Bill", Hartford Courant, April 18, 1931, p 8.
  9. ↑ "Frankenstein is horrendous and startling," Oakland Tribune, December 31, 1931, p 14c.
  10. ↑ "The Greatest Show ever seen in Fresno" [advertisement], Fresno Bee-Republican, April 22, 1933, p 3C.
  11. ↑ "Grace Hayes featured on Orpheum programme," Deseret News, September 9, 1933, p 6.
  12. ↑ "Eddie Conrad will head Ebell Vaudeville," Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1934, p 15
  13. ↑ "Blue Ribbon Night Club" [advertisement], Albuquerque Journal, August 31, 1935, p 11.
  14. ↑ "Castle Farms Night Club" [advertisement], Lima News, August 2, 1942, p 3.
  15. ↑ Marsh, Niles. Sleeve notes for LP The Crystal Heart, Blue Pear Records, BP1001 (c.1983).
  16. ↑ "Experts not always lyrical about Broadway shows by Opera Singers", Los Angeles Daily News, November 11, 1987.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.