Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Processing Information
Separated Material
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Ralph W. Judd collection on Cross-Dressing in the
Performing Arts
Dates: 1848-circa
2000
Collection number: Coll2007-020
Creator:
Judd, Ralph W., 1930-2007
Collection Size: 11 archive cartons + 2 archive
half-cartons + 1 records box + 8 oversize boxes + 19 clamshell albums + 14
albums. (20 linear feet).
Repository:
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90007
Abstract: Materials collected by Ralph Judd relating to
the history of cross-dressing in the performing arts. The collection is focused
on popular music and vaudeville from the 1890s through the 1930s, and on film
and television: it contains few materials on musical theater, non-musical
theater, ballet, opera, or contemporary popular music. The materials consist
primarily of sheet music, 1848-1988 (bulk circa 1895-1940), and studio
publicity stills of motion pictures, 1900-1996, and of television productions,
circa 1950-2000, that depict men and women dressed in attire considered
appropriate to the opposite gender. The collection also contains a series of
Research Files, arranged in a number of sub-series and consisting largely of
studio stills, supplemented by press kits and other publicity materials,
programs, reviews, photocopies, and clippings from newspapers and the popular
press. The collection includes Judd’s writings, both published and unpublished,
including his columns published in the cross-dressing press, as well as over
100 posters of motion pictures and theatrical performances that contain
cross-dressing, and the remainder of Judd’s collection of VHS videos of motion
pictures that depict cross-dressing.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access
restrictions.
Publication Rights
Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in
writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner.
Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in
the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant
copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for
all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Ralph W. Judd Collection on Cross-Dressing in the Performing Arts,
Coll2007-020, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles,
California.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Fred Berkovitz, October 19, 2002; November 30, 2002; March 2,
2003; March 27, 2003.
Custodial History
The albums of sheet music (Series 1) were received by Berkovitz from
Judd on May 2, 1999.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Michael Palmer, Jim Deeton, and David Hensley,
between November 2007 and September 2008. Processing this collection has been
partially funded by generous grants from Jim Deeton and David Hensley.
Separated Material
Bulliet, C. J.
Venus Castina : Famous female impersonators
celestial and human
. New York: Covici, Friede, 1928. Limited edition:
number 777 of 960. Transferred to Library Collection, locked room.
Biography
Ralph Waverly Judd was born in Zillah, Washington, on April 22, 1930. He
entered Harvard as a Harvard National Scholar in 1947. The following year he
enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard and was elected Chairman of the
Harvard Smoker Committee. He enlisted in the US Coast Guard in 1949, being
appointed cadet in 1950. While at the Coast Guard Academy he served as
editor-in-chief of the cadet magazine,
Surf 'n' Storm. Upon graduation in 1954 he
was commissioned ensign. In 1955, while serving on the Northwind, he helped
build the DEWline (Distant Early Warning). He served as Airborne Ice observer
during the International Geophysical Year, and delivered motor fuel to Sir
Edmund Hillary of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition to the South
Pole. After duty in 1958 as executive officer of the
Ivy, the world's largest buoy tender, he
returned to the Coast Guard Academy as cross country coach, and advisor to the
cadet magazine; he became Chief of the Physics Section in 1962. In 1964, he
obtained an MBA from George Washington University and was assigned commanding
officer of the
Comanche. In 1966, he was Executive Officer
for Precommissioning Detail, Tight Reign, in Bangkok, Thailand, then
Construction Expediter and first Commanding Officer of the only US Coast Guard
station in Vietnam. In 1968, he was appointed first Chief of Coast Guard
Exchanges, Commissaries, Clubs and Messes. In 1971, he served as commanding
officer of the
Rockaway out of New York. He retired with
the rank of Commander in 1972, and entered on a career as writer. He published
his first book,
The Coast Guard in Film, in the 1970s. He
began collecting materials for what became the world's largest collection on
cross-dressing in the performing arts in the late 1970s, and in 1988 earned a
PhD in Communications from Clayton University with his thesis,
Origins of Crossdressing: A History of performance
en travesty
. He continued to publish widely, including the pictorial
books
Drag Gags; Fun with Female Impersonation from the
Movies
(1991), and
Drag Gags Return; Tongue-in-Cheek Fun with Female
Impersonation from the Movies
(1992), and articles in such mainstream
periodicals as
Readers Digest,
US Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association
Bulletin
,
National Lampoon,
Christopher Street, and
Veterans Voices, and in a large number of
specialty publications addressing the cross-dressing community. He died in
Seattle, Washington, on December 20, 2007.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of materials collected by Ralph Judd relating to
the history of cross-dressing in the performing arts. The collection is focused
on popular music and vaudeville from the 1890s through the 1930s, and on film
and television: it contains few materials on musical theater, non-musical
theater, ballet, opera, or contemporary popular music. The materials consist
primarily of sheet music, 1848-1988 (bulk circa 1895-1940), and studio
publicity stills of motion pictures, 1900-1996, and of television productions,
circa 1950-2000, that depict men and women dressed in attire considered
appropriate to the opposite gender. The sheet music also includes a substantial
number of items whose covers do not depict cross-dressing, but which (1) were
performed by known homosexuals, (2) have titles with a “gay” connotation
according to present GLBT and mainstream sensibilities; (4) have front pages
that depict men or women in positions that could be construed as “gay” or
“lesbian” according to current sensibilities; (5) are considered “camp”
according to current sensibilities, and (6) celebrate patriotic themes. The
collection includes a separate series of sheet music and photographs relating
to Julian Eltinge, perhaps the greatest female impersonator of the 20th
century, and a small album of photographs and postcards relating to other
musical theater and vaudeville stars of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The collection also contains a series of Research Files, arranged in a
number of sub-series and consisting largely of studio stills, supplemented by
press kits and other publicity materials, programs, reviews, photocopies, and
clippings from newspapers and the popular press. The People sub-series includes
information on several prominent female impersonators, such as Jim Bailey and
Charles Pierce. The significance to cross-dressing of a substantial portion of
the materials, in particular in the Motion Pictures sub-series, is not readily
apparent from the documents at hand.
The collection includes a number of booklets on cross-dressing published
by Judd; copies of his regular columns published in the cross-dressing press;
and final drafts of several unpublished works on cross-dressing in motion
pictures and in television. The collection also contains small number of
periodicals published by the cross-dressing community; over 100 posters of
motion pictures and theatrical performances that contain cross-dressing; and
the remainder of Judd’s collection (originally numbering over 183 items) of VHS
videos of motion pictures that depict cross-dressing.
Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Cross-dressing
Eltinge, Julian,
1883-1941
Female impersonators
Film stills
Male impersonators
Motion picture posters
Motion pictures
Norman, Karyl, 1897-1947
Photographs
Pierce, Charles,
1926-1999
Publicity photographs
Sheet music
Tilley, Vesta, 1864-1952
Transvestism
Vaudeville