A discovery of sorts of Ed Sullivan, who gave him national television exposure and featured him numerous times on his variety show in the 1970s — not so surprising in the age of Caitlyn Jenner, but a risqué move at the time — he went on to appear as Streisand, Garland, Peggy Lee or Phyllis Diller (or, on occasion, himself) on numerous variety and talk shows, including “The Dean Martin Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show, ” “The Mike Douglas Show,” “The Tonight Show” and “The Merv Griffin Show.”...Here's Bailey's YouTube page, with lots of performances. Here he is performing — as Judy Garland — for Princess Diana and Prince Charles. I'll embed this one, which has him as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, Peggy Lee, and Marilyn Monroe:
“From the first minute on stage when I am Barbra Streisand, I look like her, talk like her, I have her mannerisms and sing like her,” he said in an interview on his website, jimbaileyweb.com. “I am Barbra, not an imitation, lip-syncing or a witty impression. When I made my Las Vegas debut in 1970, I opened doors for all the guys who came to town in dresses. The mental and physical process I go through begins the day I am doing the show, as soon as I get up in the morning. I make sure it is a light day. I don’t do lunch and I don’t run around. In the back of my mind, I’m subliminally thinking of Judy or Barbra. It’s a three-hour process to get into the lady I’m doing that night ... the body makeup ... and then I am psyching myself into the character."
June 3, 2015
Jim Bailey, the great female impersonator — or, as he preferred to be called, character actor — has died at the age of 77.
Here's the NYT obituary.
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Talented guy or gal. Great legs!
The Patriarchy produced some really fine women in its day. I still am amazed at Judy Garland's talent. Such hard work was put into being a helper for a man in those days.
Now even Brucie wants a try out at the role.
For some reason I'm reminded of that story about Richard Burton calling himself a homo -- more or less -- because he made his living by acting, which I took to mean he was ashamed that he dedicated his life to seeking approval from others by playing dress up and pretending to be someone he was not.
He drank a whole lot, I should imagine.
In college I was supposed to read "Respect for Acting" by Uta Hagen.
Never got around to it, seeing the entire endeavor as an exercise in futility and a waste of time, my mind irretrievably decided on the issue.
Baily didnt know at the time, I'd bet, that he was the advance man for people like Caitlyn. Could he even have imagined it? Well, maybe.
I remember him from back in the day, He was exceptionally good at his craft.
Baily [sic] didnt know at the time, I'd bet, that he was the advance man for people like Caitlyn.
Except that Jim Bailey was an impersonator, not a transgender, and there's absolutely no issue over whether he was a "she." He wasn't.
But the rest of it holds up nicely.
"not so surprising in the age of Caitlyn Jenner, but a risqué move at the time"
Note that the age of Caitlyn (I know you meant age in a different context) is fairly close to that of Bailey. You might argue Bailey used his time more wisely.
He's not a bike rider.
@Althouse, so you're reading the Times obits now? Is there anyone you're looking for?
Isn't he basically doing women black face?
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
...playing dress up and pretending to be someone he was not.
I've heard that a lot of them are thespians.
"@Althouse, so you're reading the Times obits now? Is there anyone you're looking for?"
NYT obits are great. I've read them continually since the 1970s. Such diversity and some of the most interesting writing.
Bailey was very popular as a regular guest on mainstream TV. Celebrity impersonators were loved back in the days of The Ed Sullivan Show, but usually for humor, not song performance like Bailey's.
There were also very significant male comedians who performed in drag -- Milton Berle and Flip Wilson.
Not interested in, or entertained by, female impersonators. They're creepy and repulsive, in much the same way as clowns are creepy and repulsive. In much the same way as gay sex is creepy and repulsive. Yuck.
Seconding what Mr Buddwing said.
This has nothing to do with transgender. He was apparently dressed as a woman on stage and nowhere else. He apparently never pretended to be a woman other than on stage and even there he did not pretend to be a "woman". He pretended to be specific people who happened to be women. No different from Dana Carvey pretending to be GW Bush
No more than Al Jolson and many others were trying to be black.
I fail to see any connection whatsoever between this story and that of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner (Kardashian?) a man who is pretending to be a woman.
I don't think he thinks he is pretending. I suspect that he is sincere in his belief. But he is not a woman, no matter how much he claims/pretends to be. He is still just a deeply disturbed man.
John Henry
If you/re a man and you often dress up as a woman, you're gay. More or less.
"Ann Althouse said...
There were also very significant male comedians who performed in drag -- Milton Berle and Flip Wilson."
Hardly a parallel. Everyone laughed the second Berle came on in drag, everone knew it was him. Same with Wilson, he played just that flirty Geraldine character. Everyone knew it was him.
I would regard doing Judy Garland impersonations as rather harmless. I don't take offense. The impersonation was good, but the fact that a male rather than a female did it diminishes rather than increases the accomplishment. He probably has greater lung capacity than Judy Garland and Streisand combined......Milton Berle was a full on transvestite although he never quite realized it. There's something ridiculous about a man dressed up in women's clothes. He realized that and played the condition for laughs instead of pathos.
I'll embed this one, which has him as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, Peggy Lee, and Marilyn Monroe...
...after they've had a serious beating with the ugly stick. I've never understood female impersonation. Women outnumber men, so it's not like there's a shortage of the real thing.
Note that the age of Caitlyn
Bruce has made no effort to legally change his name to Caitlyn. Why are people humoring this?
If he wants to be Caitlyn, it isn't that difficult to change your name legally.
I saw him in Ptown a couple times. He would work there all summer.
I am not into female impersonators but he was very good.
Mr. Bailey seems like a nice guy, having some fun, getting a little fame and money.
At any point in time, did he think he was a woman or that, if he chose, he could simply declare himself to be woman?
I doubt it.
Celebrity impersonators were loved back in the days of The Ed Sullivan Show,
And a little further back..as in Sulla, the Roman dictator who retired in 81 B.C.
From the Wikipedia page on Metrobius:
"However, even though he [Sulla] had such a wife at home, he consorted with actresses, harpists, and theatrical people, drinking with them on couches all day long. For these were the men who had most influence with him now: Roscius the comedian, Sorex the archmime, and Metrobius the impersonator of women, for whom, though past his prime, he continued up to the last to be passionately fond, and made no denial of it."
damikesc wrote:
Bruce has made no effort to legally change his name to Caitlyn. Why are people humoring this?
If he wants to be Caitlyn, it isn't that difficult to change your name legally.
He still has his penis. How has he transitioned?
"There were also very significant male comedians who performed in drag -- Milton Berle and Flip Wilson." Hardly a parallel. Everyone laughed the second Berle came on in drag, everone knew it was him. Same with Wilson, he played just that flirty Geraldine character. Everyone knew it was him."
I'm not presenting it as a parallel. I'm saying Bailey did 2 things that comics did, but Bailey wasn't comical. He was dramatic and musical. That was his great distinction.
I'm raising those other things — comic impersonators and comic drag — to inform or remind people about what was popular in the culture back then and how mainstream something was. In the case of drag, some readers might think that's something that only recently came to be appreciated by the great masses of Americans. In the case of impersonators, there just isn't much of that at all these days, but it was a big thing back them.
I'm interested in the Phyllis Diller performance. That's the one that's different, because Diller was herself dressing up as a woman. That wasn't natural Diller, but some amazing spoof of feminine beauty.
I remember Bailey but until looking at those clips I didn't understand what amazing talent he had. He was a strong singer, and could mimic the voices, but the gestures are what sell the performances. They are perfectly spot on. And what a pair of legs!
As for Drag way back in the 50's, it was easily accepted because it was non threatening. Many young males had performed in Drag. Drag performances were commonplace at men's colleges in those days, again as non threatening spoofs. And in WW II performance in Drag was a staple of troops performing for the troops overseas.
Anyway, respect for Mr. Bailey. Great talent.
Bugs Bunny did some of his best work in drag.
kzookitty
A discovery of sorts of Ed Sullivan, who gave him national television exposure and featured him numerous times on his variety show in the 1970s
I doubt that he appeared "numerous times" on the Ed Sullivan Show "in the 1970s" as the Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948 to 1971.
Janet Reno was a great female impersonator.
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