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Gladys Bentley

General Articles

1945

  

1946

1947

Above, ...Really?! I have never heard of any album.
Los Angeles club

1948

Above, signed a contract as a writer...this was mentioned in the Ebony article

1948

   

1950

1952

    

Dresses & Wigs...

The JT Gipson Connection

Bentley's Ebony article (August 1952) says she was married
to "well-known West coast theatrical columnist JT Gipson."
And he was said to have emphatically denied that.

Above, about Bentley at Gipson's funeral. Odd that this column was dated
the same day as his death, July 11, 1952. The funeral was the same day?

   

Above left, creative reporting? While in my research I have read Many times
writers say that Gipson denied having married Bentley, this is the only time I have
found it in print. The puzzle is that Gipson died July 11, 1952,
and the Ebony article was August 1952

Gipson had a column in the California Eagle, circa 1944-46, and
in the Los Angeles Sentinel, circa 1950.
Though not good quality image, he's shown below.

1953

  

1954

   

1955

Above, article lamenting nightlife of yore....mentions Bentley, Read it All

Above, Los Angeles club

1957

Above, shown is the section mentioning Bentley in a long scurrilous article; Read it All
Billie Holiday is also discussed   

1958

On television...

1959

  

1960

Below, better quality photo image, which was identified as from 1950-1951.
Despite the "13 yrs in NY," which would make it circa 1940, I think early 50's is
likely correct, as I've found verification of the "Johnny Robinson Agency"
in Los Angeles in the mid-1950's

  

  

On the Groucho Marx show "You Bet Your Life" (May 1958) she said her
autobiography was called "If This Be Sin," but it was never published

There's still more.....Turn the Page

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Important Note for researchers: if you search newspaper archives you may run across the name Gladys Bentley
in connection with 1955 Senate hearings on Communism. This is another Bentley, and I was thankful
I could find her photo (below, center) to clearly verify this. That person worked for the "Brooklyn Eagle."