366:, A. D. Blount. However, when Bourbon failed to pay for the dogs' upkeep, Blount disposed of the dogs, most probably to an animal shelter. Bourbon became convinced that the dogs had simply been killed and he hired two men, Bobby Eugene Chrisco and Randall Craneto, to beat Blount up. Blount was shot once in the chest during the attack and died as a result. Bourbon was arrested 10 days later. He pleaded innocence, but was convicted with the two men and sentenced to a 99-year prison term. Bourbon died in hospital in
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albums on his UTC ("Under The
Counter") label, which were available at his performances and by mail order. In Los Angeles, he was arrested on a charge of "impersonating a woman" and the authorities closed down the club in which he was performing on the grounds that it was "presenting an indecent
207:, and to have first performed on stage there in 1913. According to the FBI, he returned to the US around 1917, married, and had a son, though again this appears to be untrue. Bourbon claimed to have been a stunt double for movie actresses and an uncredited actor in several silent films, notably
266:. He became noted for his outrageous material, and was later described as "a professional vulgarian, not to be confused with glamour drag." In the 1930s and 1940s, he appeared in hundreds of gay nightclubs across the US, notably in San Francisco,
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In
December 1968, Rae was accused of being an accomplice to murder. He traveled between performances in an old car pulling a trailer containing some 70 pet dogs; after the car broke down, he entrusted their care to a kennel owner in
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as one half of a double act with Bert Sherry and toured the US and
England. In 1929, he worked in another double act, Scotch and Bourbon, and in 1931 (as Mr. Rae Bourbon) modeled women's dresses in a department store in
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one who told many outrageous stories during his life. One friend stated: "Where Ray was concerned, we simply never knew what was real and what wasn't." Research published in 2021 indicates that he was born in
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Wilhelm) remarried, Rae was recorded in the 1910 census as Hallie Hughes, and in 1920 as Hal Hughes, living at both dates in
Texarkana. He claimed, apparently falsely, to have attended school in
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on August 11, 1902 as Hallie Board
Waddell. He was also known as Hal Wadell (or Waddell), Hal Hughes, Richard Mann, RamĂłn ĂŤcarez among others. Rae usually claimed this birth date, but
274:. He performed his own material or songs specially written for him such as "Mr. Wong Has Got The Biggest Tong In China", and occasionally issued recordings, such as
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By the early 1950s, Rae increasingly faced prosecution as well as declining sales, and his shows were too risqué for a mainstream audience. He issued a series of
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of comic material during the 1950s. He died while serving a prison sentence, having been convicted of being an accomplice to murder.
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The Gay And
Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary Of Major Figures In American Stage History In The Pre-Stonewall Era
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card, he gave his birth name as Hal Wadell, but at different times in his life claimed that he was the
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in 1922. Using the name RamĂłn ĂŤcarez, he may have appeared as a dancer at the opening of the
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sources state that he once claimed that his birth was in 1892. In a 1937 application for a
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By 1932, Rae was working full-time as a female impersonator, headlining "Frisco’s first
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The recent research suggests that, after his mother, Elizabeth
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Many details of Rae's life are disputed, as he had something of an
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607:, in Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra and Robert A. Schanke (eds.),
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Chicago
Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall
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Harbin, Billy J.; Marra, Kim; Schanke, Robert A. (2005).
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134:; August 11, 1902 – July 19, 1971) was an American
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Don't Call Me Madam - The Life and Work of Ray
Bourbon
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Don't Call Me Madam - The Life and Work of Ray
Bourbon
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in 1956, he claimed to have undertaken a "sex change"
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510:Murder in Mink! The Crimes of Comedian Ray Bourbon
469:, University of Wisconsin Press, 2012, pp.112-113
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298:to a sold-out audience. In 1944, he was hired by
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611:, University of Michigan Press, 2005, pp.68-69
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341:. This was probably untrue and no more than a
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329:performance." After an arrest in
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559:The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville
535:Ray Bourbon at Dragstravaganza
221:in 1923. He also performed in
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664:Works by or about Ray Bourbon
554:Slide, Anthony (1971-07-19).
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132:Hallie Board Waddell
42:Hallie Board Waddell
439:Don't Call Me Madam
335:gender reassignment
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326:spoken word
313:Diamond Lil
284:Bart Howard
272:Miami Beach
268:Los Angeles
264:Tait’s Café
262:in 1933 at
228:Bakersfield
188:congressman
91:Hal Waddell
89:Rae Bourbon
20:Ray Bourbon
677:Categories
627:2013-09-12
621:0472098586
577:2013-09-12
485:2013-09-12
444:2022-03-22
374:References
320:Later life
252:pansy show
232:California
223:vaudeville
158:Early life
148:nightclubs
144:monologues
140:vaudeville
93:Hal Hughes
48:1902-08-11
240:pseudonym
172:Texarkana
56:Texarkana
304:Broadway
300:Mae West
666:at the
236:Hookers
128:Bourbon
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347:cancer
339:Mexico
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205:London
130:(born
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176:FBI
152:LPs
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
