Show Notes
Grab your gin and settle into your speakeasy booth, babs—we’re heading back to the roaring, smoky clubs of 1920s Harlem. In the sixth episode of Time Travelling Queers, we’re unearthing the life of a true original: the legendary blues pianist and singer, Gladys Bentley.
Clad in a sharp tuxedo, top hat, and cane, Gladys wasn't just performing, she was rewriting the rules of gender and desire. From headlining the Ubangi Club with a drag queen chorus line to turning popular hits into scandalous lesbian anthems, she was a Black queer icon before the world was ready for one.
But what happens when the party ends? We’re diving into her mysterious marriage, the hostility of the McCarthy Era, and the complicated, messy reality of survival that forced a legend to reinvent herself. Join celebrity guest Farrel Hegarty, and historian Paula Akpan as Don One travels back in time to celebrate the unapologetic, the glamorous, and the forgotten. History has never been this queer. #ttqpod
Website: www.timetravellingqueers.com Social Media: @timetravellingqueers Follow Don One on Insta: @don1drag A Molly House Media Production. www.mollyhousemedia.com
Host : Don One Guest : Farrel Hegarty Historian : Paula Akpan Creator, Writer & Director : David Mark Graham Writer & Producer : Marie Horner Executive Producer : Rishi Khosla Editor : Lesley Posso Set Designer : Ellie Koslowsky Sound Designer & Dubbing Mixer : Jon Gray Theme music Composer : Adiescar Chase
CHAPTERS/TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - 2:57 intro 2:58 - 4:23 Time Travel 04:24 - 5:42 The great migration 05:43 - 13:31 Horoscopes, mummy issues and teacher crushes 13:32 - 18:30 The Clam House, a Harlem Queer Speak Easy 18:31 - 19:28 What’s on Trend?! 19:29 - 27:30 A queer prohibition triple threat 27:31 - 31:47 Filthy lyrics 31:48 - 34:57 From Clams to Crowns - Ubangi Club Royalty 34:57 - 39:11 Gladys’ or a “special friend” 39:12 - 52:36 A woman again- McCarthyism 52:37 - 56:03 Legacy 56:04 - 57:07 Sorting out the fare and outro 57:08 - 57:14 Easter egg
REFERENCES Gladys Bentley and the Performance of Queer Black Female Masculinity Gladys Bentley: The Life and Legacy of a Blues Singer The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules The Miraculous Masculinity of Gladys Bentley Gladys Bentley (National Museum of African American History and Culture) Gladys Bentley: Pioneering Queer Performer
IMAGE CREDIT Gladys Bentley circa 1930, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture via New York Times
More from Time Travelling Queers
CONTENT WARNING : this episode includes a reference to sexual assault
What happens when you're born a princess without a kingdom, fall in love with your governess, and end up risking everything to help people escape the Nazis?
Travel with us to meet the gender-defying ruler who demanded to be recognised on their own terms.
Meet Mary Frith aka Mary or Moll Frith aka Mal or Moll Cutpurse aka Mary Markham aka Mary Thrift. - the gender non-conforming outlaw who thrived in the chaos of the early 1600s made breaking the rules an art form. Whether they were the first woman to smoke in public, wearing “men’s” clothes, or pawning stolen goods, Mary refused to play by society's rules.
What do you get when you put a drag queen, a drag king, a Big Brother star and one of England's most controversial monarchs in the same taxi?