Neglected narratives: Soldiers, Sex and the Performing Arts
During World War One, hundreds of men connected to the performing arts enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
Their professional and personal narratives have been long forgotten and their contribution to the war effort underestimated. While some were engaged in battle many were seconded into the AIFs entertainment units where their primary duty was to entertain soldiers. Five major entertainmentunits were established by the AIF – The Coo-ees, Sentimental Blokes, Smart Set, Anzac Coves and the Kookaburras. From early 1917 until 1919 these units entertained soldiers on the western front and civilians in Britain.
One of the most popular acts on the war-stage was the female impersonator. Unlike the more familiar pantomime impersonator known as The Dame, the war-front impersonator was overtly feminised and at times provocative. The legacy of the war-time female impersonator has been overlooked both in the history of Australian theatre and in the evolution of contemporary impersonation.
Another aspect of war-time entertainment includes an examination of sexual identity within the entertainment units and the broader AIF. The very existence of homosexual men was officially erased within The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918. In Volume 3, it states that ‘The records of the A.I.F therefore provide no contribution to the place of the homosexual in a total war effort.’ This was an untruth. My research has resurrected the personal and professional narratives of these men and their contribution to the war effort and their subsequent challenges within homophobic civilian and military cultures.
My recent PhD project has investigated this overlooked chapter in Australia’s military and theatrical histories.