Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. She tried to continue her musical career by playing in a number of gay nightspots but did not achieve as much success as she had had in the past. ", Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use). When Gladys Bentley performed in speakeasies, especially at the beginning of her career, a curious thing started happening. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. I like to believe that Gladys Bentley had her thumb on the pulse of the time. Gladys Love Smith parents Bob and Dolly Smith . . Bentley also studied to be a minister, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones. This service only issues certified copies of microfilmed death certificates for deaths that occurred in Louisiana between 1911-1972. Shed always been good at the piano, and heard through a friend one night that the notorious gay speakeasy the Clam House was looking for a pianist. As times progressed and federal laws continued to change, there became a point where Bentley had to carry special permits to allow her to perform in men's clothing. In an interview with Ebony magazine,[6] Bentley stated that "It seems I was born different. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. She recorded in 1945 for the Excelsior label. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Her salary started at $35 per week plus tips and went to $125 per week, and the club was soon renamed Barbara's Exclusive Club, after her stage name at the time, Barbara "Bobbie" Minton. Shed made a scandalous name for herself singing her dirty songs, and audiences came out in droves. Date of death: August 5, 2017. At the time of her death, she had been more involved in the church and had just been ordained as a minister despite never getting her official paperwork. We are sad to announce that on July 1, 2021, at the age of 87, Gladys Bentley of New York Mills, Minnesota passed away. 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. 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. Lincoln Memorial Park. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. In fact, she became the most prominent mannish lesbian of the Harlem Renaissance. Bentley died of pneumonia unexpectedly at her home in Los Angeles on January 18, 1960, aged 52. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. We have set your language to She would later denounce her lesbianism during the McCarthy era in an Ebony magazine article, "I Am Woman Again." She was a big woman, about 250 to 300 pounds and wore . Yet although the singer still brought the house down, her comeback only lasted three short years. Mother of Elvis Presley. For all her revelations in her Ebony article, Bentleys confessions may not be what they seem. The 1950s were even more conservative than the early part of the 20th century. According to the stories, Bentleys new partner was also a white woman. 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. Season 3. The red flags were there from the start when it came to Charles Roberts. Try again. So, she went ahead and did something truly scandalous. Some even claimed that her infamous penthouse, complete with a coterie of servants and a car, actually belonged to one of Bentleys rich lesbian lovers. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Bentley died on March 2 at Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. Singing the Gender-Bending Blues. The details of this courtship, however, areshady. The creativity that came out of that period shaped music, theater, dance, literature, intellectual thought and scholarship in a way that has shaped who we are today.. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. She claimed that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City. A large, 250-pound woman, her deep voice appealed to straight, gay, black, and white audiences. She headlined in the early 1930s at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. Already a big girl, her parents and siblings saw this masculine turn as shamefully unladylike, while her classmates teased her at school. This was long before the gay rights or the civil rights movements, yet Bentley became a darling of the Harlem Renaissance alongside icons like . Gladys died of a heart attack and liver failure caused by excessive alcohol consumption. In the years prior to her death, she adamantly tried to recant her lesbianism and married a man several years her junior. The unknown cause explained a tragic death that had occurred decades earlier. I wore immaculate full white dress shirts with stiff collars, small bow ties and shirts, oxfords, short Eton jackets and hair cut straight back.. 20072023 Blackpast.org. Then she proceeded to blow his mind. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. At the time of her death she survived by her large extended friends and family. Even as a teenage girl of 16, Bentley had grown into a headstrong young woman, and she was sick and tired of feeling rejected. Learn more about managing a memorial . Names. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? Get it, Gladys. In Bentleys account of her life, her audience was as fascinated by her style as it was by her music. She quickly made a name for herself as somebody who sang ribald songs, says Wilson. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Gladys Alberta Bentley I found on Findagrave.com. 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. Gladys Bentley came into this world on August 12, 1907 as the eldest child of George Bentley and his wife Mary Mote. Years before Bentley played midtown nightclubs, she got her musical career started at rent parties, where people in Harlem would cover the costs by charging admission for private parties with alcohol and live performances. At least, I always thought I was." Elvis' family didn't come from riches or anything of the sort. Then again, there were rumors that would have made her mother straight-up faint. 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. It only got worse from there. In his 1945 autobiography, Langston Hughes described her as, "An amazing exhibition of musical energy." It was Bentley who told a gossip columnist that shed just tied the knot. place of burial. And in the end, shed have to grab that fame back with both hands. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. Gladys Bentley had waited years for this moment, and she wasted no time grabbing the opportunity with both hands. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. 0 references. The ploy worked a little too well. Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. even described the Harlem Renaissance being surely as gay as it was black. musician. For the customers of the club, one of the unique things about my act was the way I dressed, she wrote. Gladys Bentley Death: and Cause of Death On January 18, 1960, Gladys Bentley died of non-communicable disease. She marched right over one night during a packed audience and met the clubs skeptical boss, Harry Hansberry. ", 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. That all changed in the blink of an eye. As Bentley became more popular, she started performing at Harry Hansberrys Clam Houseone of New York Citys most well-known gay speakeasiesin the 1920s. 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. Langston Hughes recorded his reaction to the beginning of Bentley's career success: For two or three amazing years, Miss Bentley sat, and played piano all night long with scarcely a break between the notes, sliding from one song to another, with a powerful and continuous underbeat of jungle rhythm. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. The cause of death is pending toxicology results from the Frankfort lab, said Mercer Coroner Sonny Ransdell. The singer was infamous for making up juicy stories about herself, and this Don remains a vague figure in Bentleys life. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Think this stopped Gladys Bentley? Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. 08/12/1907 . To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. Haleema Shah This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. The Harlem Renaissance is really a critical point in the history and evolution of African-Americans in the 20th century, says Dwandalyn Reece, curator of music and performing arts at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture. In her music, she called out men and openly sang about sexual relationships which was seen as risqu behavior at the time. On May 15, 1958, she appeared on Groucho Marxs quiz series You Bet Your Life, where she played piano and sang the jazz classic Them There Eyes. Little did anyone know, however, that Bentley didnt have much time left. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Gladys Bentleywas born circa 1909. . They eventually divorced. Gladys Bentley, a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, began her blues career singing at rent parties (held to raise rent money by charging attendees) and underground establishments in Harlem, New York. Hansberry insisted that the club had been built around the popularity of Bentley's success and that he owned a five-year contract over Bentley and her raunchy songs. On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". Lea Bentley, a primary teacher at Betsy Layne Elementary, died on Thursday. Will Just as Gladys Bentley was taking center-stage on Broadway, her old Clam House boss Harry Hansberry came out of the woodwork to ruin her life. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. 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. On top of that, the news got out in a sensational way. Family members linked to this person will appear here. Please enter your email and password to sign in. GLADYS BENTLEY Gladys D. Fleming Bentley, 77, of 1020 Virginia Avenue, Anderson County, died Friday, August 2, 2002 at Heritage Hall Care Center in Lawrenceburg. By 1934, just a year after her debut, Gladys Bentley had to give up on her Broadway baby dreams, and she slunk back to Ubangi Club with her white coat tails between her legs. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Ergo, no charges. Elvis would go on to talk about his brother throughout his career, and as Peter Whitmer, author of the 1996 psychological biography The Inner Elvis explains (via the Billings Gazette), the singer's mother, Gladys Presley, always thought that Jesse's death was "the crucible that forged [Elvis'] 'destiny to do great things.'". Over the course of their acquaintance, Bentley came to realize Don was a normal man who was utterly devoted to her, and they eventually started a romantic relationship and even, according to Bentley, married. FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Funeral arrangements were announced for Betsy Layne Elementary School teacher Lea Bentley. 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. Gladys would soon become pregnant and . Try again later. Verify and try again. And she didnt stop there. It's up there with being a communist, Wilson says. This account has been disabled. Learn more about this trailblazer on the Smithsonian Sidedoorpodcast episode"Singing the Gender-Bending Blues. She wouldn't even nurse me and my grandmother had to raise me for 6 months on a bottle before they could persuade my mother to take care of her own baby. Failed to delete flower. This drag king persona has formed part of her legacy to this day. Please reset your password. The world's biggest star was found in his bathroom at Graceland on August 16, 1977, and pronounced dead at Memphis Baptist Memorial Hospital. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Her biggest dramas, however, were yet to come. Within weeks of starting her gig at the Clam House, Bentley transformed the whole jointliterally. Learn more about merges. Gossip suggested her doctor had covered up the real cause of death, an overdose of . By the mid 1940's, she took her act to Los Angeles, California and recorded for the Excelsior Record label. . Toward the end of her life Bentley became a devotee of The Temple of Love in Christ, Inc. and prepared for ordained ministry. Was Bentley slowly unraveling? After leaving her hometown of Philadelphia as a teenager, she arrived in New York during the Harlem Renaissance and was absorbed into a vibrant artistic and intellectual community. Yep, Bentley did that, and in the middle of segregated America to boot. One of Bentleys signature performance moves was to flirt shamelessly with women in the audience. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. It couldnt have been going betterbuta rapid downfall was just around the corner. Her beginnings werent humble, though; they were scandalous. With the repeal of Prohibition, her popularity and public tolerance of openly gay persons waned. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Add to your scrapbook. Elvis Presley's mother, Gladys Presley, died on August 14, 1958, of a heart attack. And this is JD Doyle with Queer Music Heritage and a special show devoted totally to her. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. 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. Acclaimed singer Gladys Knight recently became the latest celebrity to fall victim to an online death hoax. There was an error deleting this problem. She died at 97, also becoming. Failed to report flower. But theres something very disturbing about this story. Make sure that the file is a photo. Her career continued after that point, though briefly. Sean Harris. She tried to continue her musical career but did not achieve as much success as she had had in the past. 03.12.2019. Bentley met Don when he phoned her up one day, claiming to know a mutual friend. She was one of the most well-known and financially successful black women in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. [2] She heard that Harry Hansberry's Clam House on 133rd Street, one of the city's most notorious gay speakeasies,[8] needed a male pianist. Bentley died of pneumonia unexpectedly at her home in Los Angeles on January 18, 1960, aged 52. Bentleys fame was a product of being both a gifted singer and an adept provocateur. Even better, when the columnist asked, Well, whos the man? Bentleys reply was oh-so-satisfying. Elvis had an emergency opportunity to visit her, but she did not make it. Date of Death. Well, just you wait. On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". . 0 references. As Bentley put it, My hands fairly flew over the keys. And the response was legendary. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. She is buried beside her mother at Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson, California. But once the lights went down, no one knew the tragedy going on behind the scenes. Just play. And Bentley was just getting started. Photograph of Gladys Bentley by an unidentified photographer, 1927-45. In August 1928, she signed with Okeh Records company and recorded eight sides over the course of the next year up until 1929. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. English By 1933, Bentley had parlayed her fame into country-wide domination. Inevitably, even the vaunted Ubangi club closed its doors in 1937, kicking Bentley out along with its regular clientele. This is when she began performing in men's attire ("white full dress shirts, stiff collars, small bow ties, oxfords, short Eton jackets, and hair cut straight back"),[3] and here she perfected her act and became popular and successful. Her vocal range was wide, as can be heard in her recordings. Oh, Bentley tried her best to make it workand it almost did. In it, she not only repudiates her homosexuality, but also her entire identity before that moment, revealing that she now only wears dresses and other acceptable housewife attire in order to please her husband and herself. Eventually, Bentley got tired of performing for small crowds, and began looking for gigs at bona fide clubs around New York. Michael Bekoev was a Ukrainian bodybuilder who died of a heart attack at age 54. Rustin's sexuality was a cause for debate by others in the movement, but toward the end of his life, he began to openly fight for queer causes. Early the next morning at 3:15 AM on August 14, Gladys Presley, the 46-year-old mother of Elvis, died from a heart attack due to hepatitis complications. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Her performances were "comical, sweet and risqu"[9] for the era and the audience. Photograph of Gladys Bentley by an unidentified photographer, 1927-45. 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.
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