Billie Manders and members of the Quaintesques. Photographic postcard, 192-.

Date:
[between 1920 and 1929?]
Reference:
2044987i
Part of:
The James Gardiner Collection.
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In copyright

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Credit

Billie Manders and members of the Quaintesques. Photographic postcard, 192-. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

A group photo of Billie Manders and six other members of the Quaintesques in action, in Tenby. They are wearing an elaborate variation of the typical Pierrot costumes worn at seaside concert parties, with one character in blackface. They lean on six rectangular decorated boxes with Manders third from the right. Manders was a popular Rhyl-based female impersonator: he and his troupe 'The Quaintesques' were concert party entertainers from the early 1920's right up to World War II. Billie was a performer from a very early age and a a pioneer of 'glamour drag', presenting a less exaggerated female appearance.

Please be aware that this item contains a racist depiction that you may find upsetting or distressing.

Publication/Creation

Tenby : Mortimer Allen, [between 1920 and 1929?]

Physical description

1 photographic postcard ; 9 x 13.6 cm

Lettering

Billie Manders. "Quaintesques" Lettering printed in black on bottom recto

Notes

This work is untitled: the title has been supplied by the cataloguer.

Reference

Wellcome Collection 2044987i

Languages

Where to find it

  • Photograph album labelled ‘Drag'

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

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