Long before Heath Ledger, Eskimo Joe or Melissa George, Western Australia’s first international entertainer, Effie Fellows, was wooing theatre audiences the world over… as a male impersonator.
The art of male impersonation was a show business phenomenon in the first half of the twentieth century, with women who dressed as men and sang ironic, comical songs drawing massive audiences all over the world. They were often the headline acts of vaudeville and music hall shows at a time when a woman’s role in society was strictly that of mother and homemaker.
Effie Fellows was born in Subiaco in 1893 and showed an early flair for male attire and performance, winning a fancy dress contest at the age of 17 dressed as a ‘half boy/half girl’- a popular vaudeville trick in which the performer appears as either a man or a woman depending on which side of their body they turn to the audience.
Dressed as a boy, she worked as a bellhop at the Palace Hotel in St George’s Terrace and during a brief stay in Melbourne she worked at a Toorak newsagency, with no one suspecting she was really a woman. However, she soon gave up the masquerade in 1914, when the outbreak of war meant all young men had to report for medical examinations.
She was discovered by Sir Benjamin Fuller, who launched her theatrical career and billed her as ‘Australia’s Perfect Boy’ on her promotional posters. Under the name of Master Freddie Manners, Fellows played several Perth theatres and toured wheatbelt towns before making what was then an enormous journey, to London.
In England, Fellows assumed the stage name Bobby Folson and was a great success in 1922 when she donned a top hat and tails to perform at the London Palladium. She was also a big hit on American stages, performing alongside some of the era’s most famous stars, Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker and Stan Laurel.
A review from a New York newspaper of the time states: ‘Effie Fellows is the greatest boy impersonator in her line, and we say that bearing in mind that there have been other great ones.’ High praise indeed considering Vesta Tilly, possibly the most well known male impersonator of the early twentieth century, had also performed in New York not long before.
Despite her travels and renown overseas, Fellows regularly returned to Perth where she headlined theatres such as the Majestic, Regent and the Luxor, (a flea-bitten vaudeville theatre on the corner of James and Beaufort Streets, opposite the Court Hotel) singing her signature tune, ‘I’ve Never Seen a Straight Banana’.
As vaudeville started to wane in popularity in the 1930’s, Fellows returned to Perth and settled back into life in Subiaco. She continued to perform in nursing homes and community centres, always in male costume, until her death in 1977 at the age of 84.
Effie Fellows was not the only male impersonator to have performed in Perth in the early twentieth century. One English-born male impersonator, Nellie Kolle performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre (later to become the Luxor) in 1924 and headlined the Coles Bohemian Company in a tent erected on the corner of Hay and Irwin Streets in 1939. She eventually retired and lived the rest of her life in Adelaide.
Hetty King, Nellie Small and Ella Shields are just some of the other fascinating women to have bought male impersonation to Perth audiences and the Museum Of Performing Arts, downstairs at His Majesty’s Theatre is sharing their stories with the public until May 22.
The exhibition, Berlington Berties, showcases some charmingly camp memorabilia including, original posters, flyers, musical scores and the top-hat and waistcoat worn on stage by Effie Fellows.
The Museum Of Performing Arts is open from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday and entry costs a gold coin donation.
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