Barbette (performer)

Barbette (aka Vander Clyde, born December 19, 1904 in Round Rock, Texas, USA; † August 5, 1973 in Austin, Texas, United States) was an American trapeze artist in the circus.

As a teenager he joined a circus and learned the art of trapeze artistry and the wire act. Disguised as a girl, he joined together with another girl as a " pair of twins " on. After the death of his partner, he continued as a travesty Soloakt. Mid-1920s, he came to Europe and also had extraordinary success. He was friends with Jean Cocteau, who dedicated him an essay. For him Barbettes performance " a true masterpiece of pantomime: All the women he has exactly observed, he sums it parodying together and itself becomes a pattern image of a woman, in contrast, the most beautiful girls that are on the program before and after him, fade. Because do not forget, we are in that magical light of the theater, in that world of trap doors and double bottoms, where truth loses its validity [ ... ]. " During this period numerous photos, the photographer Man Ray of anfertigte him. During his appearance in November 1926 in Vienna, he is photographed by Madame d' Ora in the studio.

In the 1930s, he fell heavily from the trapeze and returned to the United States. The injury meant that he finished his career in 1938 as an artist.

• Travesty
• Trapeze Artist
• Americans
• Born in 1904
• Died in 1973
• Man