“No Tears for Alden”: Black Female Impersonators as “Outsiders Within” in the Baltimore Afro-American

Abstract

O n n e w Y e a r ’ s e v e i n 1938 , a national black newspaper, the Baltimore Afro-American, announced that famed Washington, DC, black female impersonator Alden Garrison had died. He was only thirty years old. Known for his appearances in nightclubs and stage performances in Baltimore, Atlantic City, and New York, Garrison was considered to be one of the most successful female impersonators on the Eastern Seaboard. Despite Garrison’s fame, the Afro-American lamented that there would be “No Tears for Alden,” as he died alone and penniless in Gallinger Hospital in Washington, DC. In fact, the paper disclosed that just a few “intimate friends” attended his funeral service. Nonetheless, a procession of curiosity seekers paraded by the casket prior to his last rites, hoping to get a glimpse of the performer who was largely known through coverage in the AfroAmerican. The popularity of female impersonators and gay men, often identified as the “pansy craze” of the interwar period, helps to explain the interest in Garrison’s body despite the fact that he had fallen into obscurity by the time of his death. Recently released from an Arlington, Virginia, jail, Garrison had voluntarily committed himself to Gallinger for malnutrition and chills a short time before his death. On its face, the story of Garrison’s death at such a young age is tragic but hardly surprising. Garrison was just one of many people who prematurely succumbed to death that year and every year. Of course, Garrison’s previous fame as a performer made his death worthy of attention. All three of the largest and most popular national black newspapers, the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, and the AfroAmerican, covered Garrison’s death, attesting to his prominence in the