Julian Eltinge ...

From the wonderful website: The Julian Eltinge Project

To paraphrase Winston Churchill speaking of that other security curtain (the Iron one), Julian Eltinge's life remains a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The details of his vaudeville and stage career, and his films, are for the most part readily available. But the facts of his personal life, from his birthdate to his cause of death are either ambiguous or contradictory. Some of this is due to Eltinge's own mythmaking, and his fervent desire to quell any gossip about his possible homosexuality. "I am not gay, I just like pearls" he has said. But this statement in itself is a bit of a give away. Eltinge had been dubbed by some critics as "the queerest woman in the world" and "ambisextrous". Eltinge worked hard to create an image of absolute 'manliness', with public displays of horseback riding, smoking cigars, cursing, endless engagements later broken off, fights in bars (usually 'arranged'), and a bout with 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett that was splashed across newspapers. While there is little hard evidence of his sexual persuasion many of his contemporaries assumed he was gay. Brooks Peters, ("GAY DECEIVER", OUT Magazine, December 1998) quotes Milton Berle: "In the days of vaudeville I did shows with some of the greatest female impersonators, Karyl Norman, Bert Savoy, and Julian Eltinge. Of course, I worked with straight men too". In an article in the Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1909 the wife of a sportswriter finds a photo of Eltinge as a woman in her husband's coat pocket signed 'Jules' and becomes enraged. To prove his innocence the sportswriter takes his wife to see Eltinge perform. But she is not any the happier for it, especially when Eltinge and her husband then go off together 'to the fights' while she goes home. Reading between the lines it is possible to suppose there was more than a casual relationship between the two men. Brooks Peters also notes that Norman Cohen, Professor Emeritus of History, at California's Occidental College, writing a biography of Eltinge, was told that Eltinge's true passion was for a male sax player in his band. And, there is the rumored affair with Rudolf Valentino. In any case Julian kept himself well in the closet, or at the least, guarded his secrets well.